Do you remember Samuel from Lesson 1? Samuel read the Bible each day, but he did not hear God’s voice speak through what he read. What was wrong? Samuel did not have a process for interpreting what he read. He read, but he did not understand.
[1]Acts 8 tells the story of another man who read but did not understand. Philip, a deacon in the early church, was led by the Holy Spirit to the desert road leading from Jerusalem to Gaza. There he met an Ethiopian official returning from worship at the Temple in Jerusalem. The official was reading from Isaiah as he traveled.
Philip asked this official, “Do you understand what you are reading?” (Acts 8:30). The official responded, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” (Acts 8:31). As Philip explained God’s Word, the man believed on Jesus as the Son of God and was baptized as a new believer.
Knowing how to interpret what we read is crucial. In the next few lessons we will study the process of interpreting scripture. We will learn practical steps for interpretation.
[1]“Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart.”
- Psalm 119:34
The Importance of Interpretation
Three judges are discussing their work in court. The first judge says, “There are guilty people and there are innocent people. I identify them for who they are.” This judge believes that there is absolute truth. There are guilty people and innocent people, and the job of the judge is to declare what is true.
The second judge says, “There are guilty people and there are innocent people. I try to discern whether a person is guilty or innocent.” This judge knows that there is absolute truth, but he also realizes that he may be mistaken in his opinion about someone.
The third judge says, “A person is not guilty or innocent until I give my verdict.” This judge does not believe in absolute truth. He thinks his announcement makes something true.
Sadly, many Christians believe that scripture has no absolute meaning. They say, “What is true for you may not be true for me.” In this view, every reader creates their own “truth.” They think a biblical statement means whatever they want it to mean.
Like the second judge in the story, Christians need to understand two important truths:
1. The meaning in scripture is absolute, and our job is to try to understand God’s truth in the text.
2. Our understanding is limited. Because of this, our interpretation may be wrong. We should be humble.
In the observation stage, we asked, “What do I see in the text?” In the interpretation stage, we ask, “What does the text mean?” Later, we will look at the application of scripture in our lives.
We start the process of interpretation by asking, “What did the author intend to say?” This prepares us to ask, “What does this scripture mean to me?”
Challenges to Proper Interpretation
There are many challenges to a modern reader who interprets an ancient text such as the Bible. The time and distance that separate us from the original author makes interpretation difficult. We speak a different language. Our culture is different than the culture of the biblical authors.
This picture shows the challenges involved in interpreting the Bible for our day. The Bible was written for an ancient world (1). The first readers lived in a different culture than today’s reader. The river (2) that separates their world from today makes it more difficult for us to understand the Bible. This river is made up of the differences between our culture and the world of the Bible. What are the differences between a modern reader and the original author?
Language Differences
The Bible was written in three languages: Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Today, most of us read the Bible in our own language. This creates a distance between us and the author. Anyone who speaks a second language understands the difficulties of language.
Cultural Differences
Similar to the difficulty of language is the difficulty of cultural difference. The human authors of scripture were part of a culture that may be much different from our world. As we study scripture, we should ask, “What can I learn about the culture of the ancient world that will help me better understand and interpret the message of the Bible?”
Unfamiliar Geography
Biblical events happened to real people living in real places. The better we understand geography, the better we are able to cross the river that divides our world and their world.
Knowing that the road between Jericho and Jerusalem passes through a dangerous mountainous area explains the caution of the priest and Levite (Luke 10:31-32). It also gives an appreciation for the compassion of a Samaritan who risked his own safety to help an injured stranger (Luke 10:33-34).
Readers have asked, “Why did the disciples doubt Jesus’ ability to feed 4,000 in Mark 8 after he fed 5,000 in Mark 6?” A map provides an answer. In Mark 7, Jesus travels to the Decapolis, an area populated by Gentiles. The question for the disciples was not, “Can Jesus feed these people?” but “Will he feed them?” They did not believe Gentiles deserved the same miracle. They did not yet understand that Jesus had come for all people.
Mark 6
Mark 7
Mark 8
Place
Galilee
TRAVEL
Decapolis
People
Jews
-
Gentiles
Mark 4 tells how Jesus quieted a storm on the Sea of Galilee. In a Bible atlas, we learn that the Sea of Galilee is a large lake, 210 meters below sea level. Because the higher elevation around the lake acts as a funnel, winds often create violent storms within a few minutes. As fishermen who had spent their lives on this sea, the disciples were accustomed to violent storms. The fact that they feared for their lives tells us that it was not an ordinary storm. This was an unusually powerful storm, but it took no more than a few words for Jesus to bring the sea to a great calm. No wonder they said, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mark 4:36-41).
Unfamiliar Literary Forms
Each type of literature must be read in a different way. When we read Romans, we must carefully trace Paul’s argument as he shows how we are made right with God. When we read a parable, we listen to a storyteller teach through a wonderful story.
Conclusion
Look again at the picture. Even though a river of language, culture, geography, and literature separates us, the Bible has a message that speaks to all cultures. This is the bridge (3) across the river. The bridge is made up of the principles that the Bible teaches. These principles are true for all cultures in every age.
The map (4) asks us to consider where we are in the biblical story. The coming of Christ fulfilled many of the prophecies and laws of the Old Testament. Remembering this will change how we interpret and apply these passages of scripture.
Finally, we arrive in our world today (5). In this step, we ask how the principle we found (3) will be applied in our world.
We will come back to this picture in future lessons. For now, you should be aware of the steps.
[1]Image: “Interpreting the Bible” drawing by Anna Boggs, available from https://www.flickr.com/photos/sgc-library/52377290578, licensed under CC BY 2.0. Concept from J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays, Grasping God’s Word (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012)
Common Mistakes of Bible Interpreters
There are several common mistakes Bible interpreters can make.
Misreading the Text
Some preachers have preached that Paul said, “Money is the root of all evils.” But Paul didn’t say that! He said, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils” (1 Timothy 6:10). It is possible to have money without loving it, and it is possible to love money, even if you don’t have much money. Paul’s warning is not primarily about money; it is about a heart controlled by the love of money.
Some Christians misread Psalm 37:4 to say, “God promises to give me the desires of my heart. I want to be rich, so God will make me rich.” The Psalmist said, “Delight yourself in the LORD; and he will give you the desires of your heart.” The psalm promises that if we delight in the Lord, God will give us our delight – the Lord. Later, Jesus promised that if we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we will be filled – with righteousness (Matthew 5:6). This is not a promise of financial prosperity; it is a promise of something better – spiritual prosperity.
The first step we learned in this course was observation. Our observations must be accurate, or our interpretation will be wrong. Be careful not to misread the text. Someone said that the first three steps of Bible study are:
1. Read the text.
2. Read the text again.
3. After Step 2, read the text again!
Twisting the Text
Throughout history, false teachers have twisted scripture to defend their errors. Paul warned that some people would twist his teaching on justification by faith alone to defend their desire to continue in willful sin (Romans 6:1-2). There have been times when people used scripture to defend slavery or a government’s murder of an ethnic group. Today, some evangelists twist the promises of God into a prosperity gospel that is contrary to the truth of scripture.
Peter warned of those who twist the scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). Similarly, James spoke of the serious responsibility of those who teach (James 3:1). We who teach the Bible must be careful that we do not twist scripture to support false ideas.
Giving Imaginary Meaning
The story of the three judges illustrates another common mistake of Bible interpreters: the idea that the meaning of the scripture comes from the imagination of the reader. Some people only ask, “What do I feel scripture means?” While emotion and feeling are important, the ultimate truth of scripture is in what the author wrote, not in what I feel about what he wrote.
Being Overconfident
An interpreter trusts his own reasoning too much if he thinks he could never be wrong. We study the Word to arrive at conclusions about the meaning of the text; however, we must have the humility to admit when our conclusions are wrong. No one has every answer.
Humility in interpretation is important. As you study the Bible, you will find areas in which godly Christians disagree. That does not always mean that one side has purposely twisted scripture; it may be a sincere disagreement between two sides that are both committed to the truth of scripture. We must maintain humility regarding our own interpretation and be able to tolerate others having different opinions.
Your Turn
Below are some inaccurate statements people make, thinking they are quoting scripture. To gain a better appreciation for careful reading, find the text which is twisted in each example and note what the Bible actually says. The first example has been completed for you.
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