This entry is strictly for my students in the Bibliology and Hermeneutics Class at The Master's College to respond to. No other responses will be approved.
Students: Respond in about 150 words to the following statement. The responses are due by the time we meet next Monday. I will be judging spelling, grammar, etc., as well as content, so consider your response carefully. I may or may not respond to your input, but we will discuss them all next Monday.
You are discussing some issue or passage in the Bible with someone and in the discussion that person, says, "well, that's just your interpretation." How do you respond?
There is no room for interpretation by men. It is God’s Word, not man’s. No man has the right to put his own meaning into God’s mouth. If someone took what you had to say and changed it to mean what he wanted, how would you feel about that? The same goes for God, anyone who changes His Word to mean something other than what God intended, is blaspheming the Scriptures. If interpretation were left up to men then anyone could interpret any part of scripture to mean what he wants it to mean. Therefore scripture can have only one true interpretation. But can be applied to various situations. 2 Peter 1: 20- 21 says, “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”
Posted by: Kristina Hammer at June 14, 2006 10:38 PMI have heard that often. I think our misunderstanding lies in the process we use to interpret Scripture. Often times we interpret Scripture through the lens of our life experience or our emotional state. Many times our view of Scripture is shaped by our limited knowledge. These approaches are wrong.
We must remember that the Holy Spirit guided men to record the Scripture. In fact, every passage of the Bible has a specific statement, idea, or concept that it is making. Just like our conversation now has one specific purpose.
Our goal in understanding Scripture is to pinpoint exactly what the original meaning of the passage is. That meaning hasn’t changed. We must understand the context of the passage as well as the time and culture of the author and his hearers.
Using this process, our understanding of a passage will be based on observation and not our personal interpretation.
Yes, it’s my interpretation. However, I think you are missing a key point: is it the correct interpretation? The argument you make seems to assume that _interpretation_ of the Bible is somehow wrong, when it’s only true that people can _use_ wrong methods of interpretation or _an interpretation_ is wrong.
Interpretation is vital in reading any document. “What’s Shaun trying to say?” you ask as you read this. “What does he say?” Logically, this is the process any person goes through when reading the Bible. This is especially true since the Bible demands a response from the reader. It’s this reason that the Psalmist in Psalm 119 prays five times for understanding when approaching Scripture.
I’ve interpreted here, and now you must determine whether or not I’m right. Am I accurate in light of...
>…history and culture?
>…established truths (does the interpretation contradict other Scripture)?
>…context?
>…the Spirit’s witness?
It may be my interpretation, but can we both be correct? If we look at the Bible like other pieces of literature, we would agree that the author can only mean one thing when he writes a passage. If we treat contemporary literature with this respect, how much more so should we afford the Word of God? God is the author of truth; He can not contradict Himself. That sentiment is equally true for a single passage or the Bible as a whole.
When interpreting the Bible, we must look at the context, history, grammar, and word choice of the author. This takes effort and time, but the Bible commands this level of attention. Most importantly, we must realize that the Holy Spirit is to guide our interpretation. (II Peter 1:20) Only then can we be free from our own prejudices, experiences, and expectations when interpreting the Word of God.
Yes, it is true that it is “my” interpretation, but I believe that there is only one true interpretation of Scripture. This interpretation is not made by merely reading that one single passage. It is made by thorough examination and understanding of the passage through its cultural, historical, literal, and theological context.
If I examine a passage exclusively without looking at it from these four points, then yes, you can say it’s “just my interpretation,” because it has absolutely nothing to support it.
It is very easy for me to insert my emotions and experiences into the passage and draw a wrong interpretation out of it. That is why I make sure that when I’m interpreting a passage, I don’t put my words into the Bible. Instead, I draw out from the Bible what God is telling the people in the past and in the present.
Friend, given the unfortunate reality that man has chosen to “interpret” God’s word to accommodate their own preconceptions; I’m not surprised that you think the Bible is open to personal or “private” interpretation.
In fact, the Bible itself warns against this very thing. In 2 Peter 1:20 the apostle Peter states, “…knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
You see, man is not the “author” of the Bible, God is; therefore, we need to know that God has exact intensions for what He wrote. When we read a passage in the Bible, we need to seek what God’s intended meaning is and not interject our own understanding.
Although we may apply Scripture differently in certain situations, there is only one interpretation; God’s interpretation.
Man’s responsibility is to study the Bible carefully and completely so to gain God’s intended meaning.
My interpretation means nothing without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, I disagree with you when you say it is just my interpretation because the Bible cannot contradict itself or lie so if our discussion pertains to biblical matters than answers are in the Bible.
Being a child of God you can pray for wisdom from His Word and that will not be my interpretation (Mat 21:22, “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”) but it will be from God to you.
If today, you don’t believe God’s Word to be of divine inspiration (2 Tim 3:16), tested and tried by great scholars and philosophers before us then maybe one day you will be ready for the whole truth and nothing but the truth which is only found in one place, the Bible.
Remember this, Christopher Columbus claimed the world was round, no one believed him. Truth must be discovered, believed and implemented. I will pray for you.
(Martha Estrada-Monday Night)
Friend, the bigger issue is do you accept the fact you are a sinner? 'If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us' (I John 1:8). Your walk in life is darkness. For he 'doesn't know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes' (I John 1:10). Unless the sin nature is acknowledged by you, you will always be left with an unanswerable issue or obscured passage. When you repent of your sin, which is turning from sin to God, we are reconciled to Him in saving faith. The Holy Spirit will abide in you and teach you in all things (I John 2:27), as you prayerfully ponder and seek His guidance. He will lead you in the interpreting the Scriptures both understanding it and living it.
May our dedication to Scripture bring us to experience the promise put forth in Psalm 1:1-3.
Scripture is not up for my interpretation or yours, 2Peter 1:20-21 says,
"But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."
God's word is of utmost importance, we must study it in it's historical context and pay close attention to grammar and syntax to be sure we are understanding the Author's intent.
Take into consideration who wrote the text, to whom was the text was written, when, where, and for what purpose? Then cross reference the text to be sure you have an understanding of God's overall say on the matter through out all of Scripture.
Also keep in mind, "[The] truth of Scripture stands in judgment of men; never do men stand in judgment of it. " (John MacArthur)
It is important to remember that while there are various ways the Scripture can be applied, there is only one proper interpretation. Therefore, we must be diligent to understand the actual intent of Scripture.
In order to do this, we must first look at the original context of the Scripture. We cannot look to how it would be interpreted in our culture today. Instead, we must look to the intent of the original writer and how the recipients of that time would have understood it.
In addition to this, we must look to the Holy Spirit for guidance in our lives. In reference to this, Jesus said “He will guide you in all truth (John 16:13).” If we are diligent to understand both these things, we will be able to know the true meaning of the Scripture and then be able to properly submit our lives to it.