Hopefully if you read a love letter I wrote to my husband you wouldn’t assume the words of affection were intended for you. This unnatural (and very awkward) method of interpreting a love letter, as if it was written directly to you, is however, how we sometimes read the Bible.
For example, there are stories of groups who have taken Mark chapter 16 as speaking directly to them and therefore they drink poison and let deadly snakes bite them. Alas, many of these group members don’t live to tell the tale or more importantly, preach the Gospel.
How can we know what the Bible says?
This deadly approach is just one way people interpret the Bible that they read, and the method used will in large part determine what someone believes the Bible teaches or does not teach. The words of the Bible themselves are not wrong, rather they are the perfect words of a perfect God who cannot lie and because He is all-knowing, He never makes a mistake. God teaches such foundational truth throughout all of Scripture and yet, as we all know, there are many different views on lots of different verses and topics.
This does not expose weakness in God or His Word, but the weakness of sinful humanity and our inability to know all things and the sin-tainted glasses we wear. So, while we can never perfectly understand God’s Word, we must exercise (with the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit) spiritual wisdom and discernment through a careful study of God’s Word as it was written, to whom it was written, why it was written, and the context in which it was written.
In our family it has become a bit of a joke, since we currently live in Canada, that Abraham was called by God to Canada! Acts chapter 7 verse 4 (and other similar passages) says, “God had him move to this new country in which you are now living (emphasis added).”
Now obviously, Abraham did not move to Canada, but taking this single verse out of context it would be possible to see why someone might think this is what it means. While this example is a bit of humour in our family, this same method of interpretation is often applied to other verses in the Bible without us questioning them (e.g. Philippians chapter 4 verse 13; Matthew chapter 18 verse 20; Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 11)
Now, certainly these example verses are God’s truth and there are very real, comforting, and timeless principles every believer can apply in their life; however, before we automatically assume every verse is speaking directly to us and interpreting and applying it wrongly (which can lead to another whole host of issues), it’s important we ask some key questions.
These questions are likely the same questions we naturally and subconsciously ask every day when we open the newspaper, read a blog post, check our emails, and skim (or skip) the terms and conditions on any number of documents. Therefore, in the same way, when we read the Bible, it is important to approach it with a desire to learn what God has said, not what we want it to say.
Key questions:
Firstly, it is necessary to affirm God inspired men to record the Bible and yet God is the ultimate author of Scripture, and yet it is important to ask who the individual was who wrote the portion of Scripture we are reading. Knowing as much as possible about them will help us understand what has been recorded.
However, not only should we know who wrote the section, but who was it written to. For example, was it written to Israel, was it written before, during, or after Judah’s exile, was it written to believers or non-believers, was it written to Jews or Gentiles? These sample questions will further help us understand the context in which the author originally wrote and the intended purpose he had in writing to the intended audience.
The 40+ authors of Scripture also wrote in a variety of genres, therefore it’s important to understand the genre they used. For example, poetry is typically understood in a different manner to that of a legal document, and a historical record is not the same as a personal letter.
These key questions and the content of the literature may also provide an understanding of why the piece was written and therefore help us understand the meaning behind what we are reading.
Furthermore, no verse should be taken out of the context in which it’s written (i.e. the surrounding verses, consideration of the whole book etc.) and no verse should be interpreted without a study of what other verses in Scripture also speak to the same topic. Therefore, it is important to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, not our society or anyone or anything else.
These basic, yet key, questions should help open our spiritual eyes to understand the original and intended meaning of the text. Following these important first steps in interpretation, we can then consider how the truth applies in our own life through the timeless principles of Scripture. Isn’t this what we want? Don’t we want to know what God says so we can learn about Him and how to live for Him?
Lots more could be said, but I think this is a good and solid starting point to help us all understand what God has said and how it is now relevant to us. May we also go forth and share this truth with others, proclaiming a loving God has sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for sin, in the place of all those who repent and believe in Him!
Genevieve Wilson is Canadian. a happily married home-schooling mum of 3, whose passion is to see people come to know Jesus. She is a seminary wife to her amazing husband.