How To Interpret The Bible

[BanjoPicker]

It is almost a universal idea that the Bible is hard to understand and must be changed to be understood, and that it is full of mysteries, secrets, and hidden meanings veiled in spiritual language which only a few special men of God can understand. Some believe that the Bible has many different meanings, that one man’s interpretation is as good as another, and that one can prove anything by the Bible. How far from the truth are such ideas! Not one of them even verges on the truth. The following is truth:

The Bible is the Most Simple Book to Understand
This sounds ridiculous to the average person, but if you will stop to consider a few simple facts you will change your mind and see how sensible such a conclusion is. The reason for this claim are:
1. Because The Bible Is A Revelation. The Bible is an inspired revelation from God. A revelation is an uncovering or unveiling so that all can see alike what was previously covered or hidden. The only excuse any man would have for not seeing something that was uncovered for him to see is his wilful refusal to look. Any thing that is revealed is clear, or the purpose of the revelation has failed.

2. Because Of Its Repeated Truths. Over and over the Bible repeats truth so that “in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established” Deut. 17: 6, 7; 19:15; Mt. 18:16; 2 Cor. 13:1; 1 Tim. 5:19; Heb. 10:28. Any doctrine that is not plainly stated in Scripture is best left alone. If God did not say anything about a question, then man has no right to teach anything about it as being taught in the Bible. Anything that is not taught in the Bible should not be taught at all by the Bible teacher, as being in the Bible. He should limit his teachings to a “thus saith the Lord” or leave it alone. His opinion is of no value toward proving something the Bible does not teach.

3. Because The Bible Is Written In The Most Simple Human Language Possible. Certainly anyone who understands the most simple human language can understand what it says. Every time any group of persons reads a particular part of the Bible, they read the same thing. If they should read it again, it would still be the same. If they were asked to tell what the passage says, they could all do it without exception. If they could tell what it says, and if they can read what it says, then they all can believe what it says, and that is all that is necessary to understand the Bible. What is there hard to understand about something that all can read and believe alike without interpretation?

 

[buckpasser]

There’s nothing hard about it, but there are areas that we interpret differently. The “grey” areas if you will. They don’t amount to separating ourselves over, but that’s what happens. A righteous “catholic” church that followed the word closely and sought to honor God over self would have/should have never split.

A couple of examples to consider:

Will there be a rapture of the church? If so, when? Before the great tribulation? Afterwards? Middle?

Who are the two witnesses in Revelation? Are they people? Books? Other?

You see what I’m saying?

 

[BanjoPicker]

Because God Is The Author Of The Bible
2 Tim. 3:15-17; 2 Pet. 1:21. If God is the author, we have a right to expect it to be clear. No man can make a book more simple than God can. If God can make a book as simple to understand as man can and did not do so, then we have to conclude that He did not want man to understand His Word. Why then did He give His Word to man? In that case, man should discard the Bible and accuse God of injustice, since He would be judging man on the basis of something that he cannot understand. Since we cannot conceive of God in this light, we are forced to believe that the Bible is simple enough for all to understand alike if we want to understand it.
A God who could not make Himself clear, or who had to be interpreted every time He said something, would be no God at all. Almost any human being can express himself clearly enough to be understood. Furthermore, a God who could make Himself clear and chose to do otherwise in such a way as to confuse and hide from man those things He seeks to reveal to him, would not be worth hearing. A God that gave man a revelation and deliberately sought to hide it from him, and then judge him for not being able to understand it, would be a tyrant instead of a God of love and justice.
Away with such slanderous concepts of God How any person can claim any degree of intelligence and love for God can believe these things is beyond conception. It is the work of the devil to get man to hold slanderous ideas about God and His eternal revelation. The devil wants men to interpret and change God’s Word to mean what it does not say so that they will be judged by God in the end for not believing what it says. We had better wake up now to understand the satanic deception before it is too late. Satan knows that God means what He says, but wants to deceive men so they will be lost.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Let us believe, like sensible men, that God can and speak to men in the most simple human language, that He meant exactly that He said and said exactly what He meant, that He expected men to understand it on the same basis, using the same principles of human language that they use to understand other books, that He will hold them responsible for what He says, not for what men interpret His words to say, and that He has a right to judge men in the end if they constantly make Him false in all that He says, and if they listen to satanic theories instead of what God says. Jesus said, “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day “ Jn. 12:48; Rev. 20:11-15.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Should this not be enough warning to quit the foolishness of changing God's Word to mean anything we want it to mean? It is the height of ignorance for anyone to claim to be a better interpreter of the Bible than God Himself. The Bible needs no interpretation apart from its own interpretation of what it says. The Bible interprets its own terms, and its own symbols, parables, allegories, figures of speech. We should let God's own Word be the final word of authority on every question. We should let what God says mean what He says and reject any theory of men to the contrary.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The Bible is simple because it was given by God to be understood by the simple. Following the commonly accepted argument that a perfect God cannot make anything imperfect, we can scripturally say that God did not fail in His purpose of giving man a simple revelation that could be easily understood by all men alike, even by the simple Deut. 29:29; Ps. 119:104, 130; Prov. 1:1-4; 2 Tim. 3:15-17. Paul speaks of "the simplicity that is in Christ" 2 Cor. 11:3. Jesus thanked God that the truths of the Bible were hidden from the worldly wise who refused to believe, and stated that God has "revealed them unto babes" Matt. 11:25-27. He gives the reason truths are hidden from anyone. it is because they refuse to humble themselves to believe and conform to the Bible Matt. 13:10-17. He speaks of the devil taking the Word from the hearts of men lest it should bring forth fruit Matt. 13:19-23. Paul speaks of the devil blinding the minds of men lest they should believe, and he also speaks of men wilfully handling the Word of God dishonestly and deceitfully 2 Cor. 4:1-6.

The most simple beginners can understand the Bible one line at a time, for this is the way it was given, and it is the best way to understand it Isa. 28:9-13. No man can get all the vastness of the Bible at once. It is the seemingly infinite scope of truth that causes some men to think the Bible is hard to understand. It is like a man arguing that he cannot understand water because he cannot drink the ocean dry at one drink. Naturally it takes time to get a simple knowledge of the whole Bible, but taking it a line at a time, verse at a time, or truth at a time, it cannot be hard to understand. One cannot look at any big book and get all of its contents at a glance. A man is foolish to say the Bible is hard to understand until he gets into it and gets acquainted with its contents. If a man will do this he will find the Bible truths opening up beyond his fondest dreams.

 

[Spotlite]

Two biggest things - lean not unto your own understanding.

And, don’t think of yourself as wise and prudent.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Proverbs 1:2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
1:3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
1:4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel:
1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The ones who contend that the Bible is hard to understand are of several classes:
Those who are ignorant of its contents.
Those who are too lazy to master its contents.
Those who are biased contrary to its contents Mt. 15:7-14; Jn. 8:43.
Those who refuse to believe what it says and get entangled in a maze of hopeless theories and interpretations that they have been taught.
Those who listen to the old theory that it is hard to understand and who give up in defeat before they try to master its sacred contents.
Those who have been brought up in the wrong school of thought concerning the Bible and wonder if God means what He says Mt. 16:6-12; Lk. 24:25; Mk. 16:14.
Those who are too worldly wise and know more than the Bible ever did know and who, through their unbelief and pride, discount its contents.
Those who are unstable and unlearned and wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction 2 Pet. 3:16.
Those who wilfully handle the Word of God deceitfully to cover up their own sins which the Bible condemns 2 Cor. 4:1-4.
Those who permit Satan to take from their lives the Word and cause them to be blind concerning the truth Mt. 13:19-23; 2 Cor. 4:1-4.
Those who make merchandise of fighting the Word of God Mt. 15:7-14; 2 Pet. 2:1-3.
Those who refuse to be converted and become as little children Mt. 18:3; 28:9-15; Isa. 6:9, 10; Acts 28:24-29.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The Bible is simple because reading and believing with a simple heart what is read is considered by God all that is necessary to understand it.

God commands all men to be saved and to understand His Word Ps. 32:9; Prov. 4:5; 8:4-10. Men are not to add to or take from the Bible in one detail, that is they must take it as it is written Deut. 4:2-6; 12:32; Rev. 22:18, 19. Men are to search and study the Bible and apply their hearts to it, so they must be able to understand it Jn. 5:39; Ps. 1:2, 3; 90:12; 2 Tim. 2:15; 3:15-17. God created men with a spirit to understand His Word. God made both man and His Word, and they fit together as a lock and key (Job 32:8; 38:3-6; Jn. 1:4-9. Even the ungodly can understand if they so desire Rom. 1:16-20, so the old theory that must be saved and be spiritual in order to understand the Bible is unscriptural. All the references above apply to all men alike, saved and unsaved. All men can understand the letter of the Bible alike, and if they want the experiences taught in the Bible they can understand them by the letter sufficiently to attain to those experiences. Because some do not live up to the light they receive, God will have just basis to judge them in the end.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Some argue from 1 Cor 2:14 that the Bible is hard to understand, but this passage does not say this. It says that the "natural man" cannot receive the things of the Spirit, but it does not teach that sinners cannot understand the letter of the Word. some use 2 Pet. 3:16-18 to teach that sinners cannot understand the Bible, but this passage does not say that. It does say that the "unstable and unlearned" wrest the Scriptures to their own destruction. If sinners could not understand the Bible, how could they get saved or know what God requires of them? How could God judge them if they cannot understand the things for which they will be judged? The fact is that many sinners understand the Bible better than saints, because they are more sensible than saints and will take the Bible to mean what it says. If saints would all do this, they would have a distinct advantage over the sinner in that they have the Spirit of God in their lives to illuminate them, while sinners do not have the Holy Spirit Jn. 14:17; Rom. 8:9.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The Bible is a simple book to understand because most of it is history and simple instructions how to live.

About 25,007 verses of the Bible, or about 80 per cent of it, is history, commands, warnings, promises, rebukes, and plain instructions by which men may understand the will of God and a record of the past. What could there be in any one of these verses that any natural man could not understand? Anyone with common intelligence ought to understand the language of all these verses. The other 6,207 verses of the 31, 214 verses of the Bible are prophecy written in the same simple human language that is used to record history. Of these 6,207 verses, 3,299 have been fulfilled and are now history. The 2,908 other verses are unfulfilled prophecy and are just as easy to understand as history, for prophecy is simple history written beforehand. If one can understand what has happen by simple record of it, he should be able to understand what is yet to happen by a simple record of it. What then, is there hard to understand about either history or prophecy? What is there hard to understand about any part of the Bible? So, the Bible is a very simple book to understand if we will believe it as it is written and let it be our rule of faith and practice.

 

[BanjoPicker]

INTERPRET

This word as we use it means to state the true sense of God's message as He expresses it, that is, give to the reader the exact statements of Scripture without change to prove every question discussed, to state exactly what God says and where He says it. Consider this all sufficient. The modern way to interpreting the Bible is to change the meaning of what is written to suit one's fancy and to harmonize the Bible with one's theories. This is call, "How not to interpret the Bible," because it transgresses every known sensible principle of true interpretation and places man as the authority above God concerning the Bible.

The Bible is clear in itself when all traditions, wrong interpretations, manifold changes, and spiritualizing of Scripture are abandoned. The average person is blind to many simple truths of Scripture because they have been overlaid with so many human traditions and interpretations designed to serve a church, a party, or some personal fancy.

 

[BanjoPicker]

HERMENEUTICS

Is the science or art of interpretation and explanation. It comes from the Greek ermeneuo, meaning to explain, to expound, and to interpret Jn 1:38-42; 9:7; Heb. 7:2. It is the science which establishes and classifies the principles, methods and rules, by which the meaning of the author's language is ascertained. The interpretation of any piece of literature will depend upon the nature of the work under consideration. Poetry, history, fiction, and each form of human expression require a different set of rules. The rules that would make clear fiction would not be suitable for history. Accordingly, the rules that govern Bible interpretation depend upon the character of its separate kinds of writings, just as is true of different kinds of writings in other books.

Since the Bible is like other books in that it is written in human language, it must be interpreted like all other literature. If heavenly, supernatural, and spiritual truths are written in human language, we must understand such truths on this basis. One must understand the works and expressions in the Bible the same as if they were found outside of it. There can be no special Bible logic, rhetoric, or grammar. The laws of grammar apply to the Bible as they do to other writings.

Christ and His disciples prove this method of interpretation. In about 400 quotations from the Old Testament in the New Testament, the phrase "it is written" is held as all that is necessary to prove the sense of God's message. This will settle every point of doctrine today if we are to be Christlike. Not one example is found in Scripture where the plain literal sense of Scripture was done away with by the allegorical, mystical, speculative, spiritualizing, and symbolizing methods so prominent today. We must lay aside all such methods if a true knowledge of the Bible is to be gained.

 

[BanjoPicker]

BIBLE HERRMENUTICS

Is the science which establishes and classifies the principles, methods, and rules by which the Word of God is made plain.

EXEGESIS

Is the application of the rules of biblical hermeneutics to the unfolding of the meaning of a passage of Scripture. Interpretation expresses exactly the mind and thoughts of another and is purely a reproductive process, involving no originally of thought on the part of the interpreter. Exegesis is the use of the science of interpretation in the reproduction of the thoughts of God as expressed in Scripture. To be a faithful exegete is a great responsibility and will be greatly rewarded, but to be an eisegete [one who is faulty in the explanation of Scripture] may mean the loss of the soul of the interpreter as well as those who follow him.

 

[gordon 2]

"Not one example is found in Scripture where the plain literal sense of Scripture was done away with by the allegorical, mystical, speculative, spiritualizing, and symbolizing methods so prominent today."

Scripture meaning the "use of scripture" by Jesus and the Apostles, was in fact mystical and spiritual, symbolic and for this way prophetic of human life. The Apostles were men of dreams and visions interpreting them as features full of symbols and meanings. They were men of falling down from our horse spiritual experiences. Like the heroes of the old testament who talked and supped with the Father, they talked and supped with The Son in instances of theophany.

The kingdom for example was not a political kingdom. The restoration of the office of the king of the Jews, Was Not David's heir come upon David's throne. It was fitted to the Lordship that was prior to David's kingship that only a sound spiritual(ized) reading could bring to the understanding of those lost to spiritual logic and understanding.

The Old Testament was written by mystics and poets with a close relationship with God as their basic experience of God and so knowledge of God's will. God reveals his designs through them with all the skills the writers possess regards language. Their languages are describing relationship with God as opposed to transactions with God. The spiritually dull witted in Jesus' days read scripture from a transactional mindset, a this for that mindset, practically ignorant of the spiritual natures of God in essence and expression.

The equivalent today might be a flank of Christians who claim salvation for the Cross and this its main purpose and yet know little of the spiritual, mystical relationship or walk with God of all their biblically misunderstood heroes. The knowledge and experience, a witness today, that to be with God is "a thing" of spiritual life in Christ, due the cross is seldom said or appreciated, valued.

Mindsets in scripture that cannot spiritually discern, " love your neighbor as yourself", for the mind set that the purpose of the cross is foremost salvation for the individual, might have need of their understanding of scripture reviewed by Jesus today on what the Cross made much more possible regards understanding scripture now or since.

Maybe Jesus needs a bit more time today on the road with those who have walked away, as was with the two individuals on the road to Emmaus.

 

[Big7]

Instead of "how to interpret" as the OP suggests, the question should be "why".

2 Peter 1:20 says, "knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation".

The Bible is not for self- interpretation.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Reasons for Biblical Hermeneutics

The Bible is a heavenly massage conveyed in human language, and the same principles of interpretation used with all human language must also apply to the Bible.

The Language of the Bible differ in some respects from the English in grammatical structure and idiomatic usage. These differences must be known in order to understand certain passages.

The Bible is a composite Book of sixty-six books.

The Bible is a religious book for this life and the life to come.

The Bible is a varied Book, and oriental library. It contains all forms of human expression and all kinds of literature.

The Bible is a product of many lands and peoples with strange habits and customs that are different from ours.

The mutability of the English language and its unfaithfulness in literally translating every phase of thought of the Hebrew and Greek makes it necessary to observe certain rules in order to arrive at the meaning of a certain passage.

Two Seemingly Contradictory Ways to Read the Bible

It is to be read like any other book from the beginning to the end, getting the thought of each writer, the meaning of the words and peculiar expressions he used, the manners and customs of the Bible lands and times, the purpose God had in mind in each particular message, and the particular people to whom he wrote.

It is to be read differently from any other book because it is an inspired book. Much of it is a revelation from God 2 Tim. 3:15-17. It should be read slowly, prayerfully, frequently, reverently, meditatively, searchingly, perseveringly, believingly, and obediently.

 

[BanjoPicker]

Historical Sketch of Hermeneutics

A brief knowledge of the history of biblical interpretation is of great value. It helps guard against making the same errors others have made. It shows what influences caused men to make these errors. The science of interpretation has passed through many false concepts just like the other sciences, but thank God, as in the other sciences, are beginning to demand reasons for certain interpretations.

The efforts of men in the past have demonstrated the utter foolishness of doing away with the plain liberal sense of Scripture. The belief that the Bible was a divine book almost completely closed the eyes of ancient interpreters to its human elements, its literary and grammatical construction, its history, and its literal, original and intended meaning. Both Jews and Christians have sought hidden meanings in the minutest jot and tittle of the sacred text. They did not consider what the original purpose of God was. Just like the average person today, their main burden seems to be to prove their own speculations and human theories, regardless of how they contradict the Bible. With such abuse of the Bible, it came to be looked upon as a mysterious book beyond the understanding of the common people. Among the Jews it was believed that none but the rabbis could understand it, and among the Christians it was thought that only a few select heads of the church could unravel its mysteries. Millions today are taught that the common man cannot understand the Bible and that it should be left to the priest and preachers to interpret it. This is one of the greatest fallacies of Christendom.

 

[BanjoPicker]

The Jewish Method Of Interpretation

Jewish exegesis from Ezra to Christ may be traced in the Apocrypha, the works of Philo, Josephus, and the Talmud. Interpreters of this period set a value on each letter and held each one to be the source of great mysteries. To every letter they attach a numerical value and imposed fantastical meanings on plain historical statements. For example the letters in the name of Eliezer have a numerical value in Hebrew of 318. In Gen. 14:14 we read that Abraham had 318 trained servants. This was made to indicate that Eliezer was equal in value to all these servants. The word Keturah in Hebrew means sweet odor. We are told that Abraham married Keturah. This was interpreted to mean that he wedded a holy life. In Gen. 25 we are told that Abraham had six sons by Keturah, so if we believe the Jewish method of interpretation, we could not believe the literal, which states that Abraham married a woman and had these sons by her. The Scribes carefully guarded against errors and interpolation in the text, but they set up an oral law or tradition, which in time came to be looked upon by the Jews as equal in authority to the Scriptures. Christ swept away all these traditions and interpretations and and excepted the plain literal written Word of God as the only truth Mk. 7:1-13. Paul also rebuked the Jews for taking their traditions before they would the Word of God Gal. 1:13, 14; Col. 2:8; 1 Tim. 1:4; 6:20; 2 Tim. 2:14-16; Titus 1:14; 3:9.