Cheryl Schatz

For those who might also think Paul is giving an allegory for the church, I ask, where is the marker that qualifies this as being an allegory? Where is the meaning of the allegory listed? Where is the church said to be unsaved? If there is no answer to my questions, then how would we ever have a Scriptural tool how to identify this as an allegory, unravel the meaning of the allegory, check to see if our understanding is correct and then apply the allegory?