Conclusion

Handle With Care—Using Scripture Appropriately

The Word of God is precious. It is a gift to us from God that gives us God’s heart, God’s voice, God’s plan, and God’s will. It is of utmost importance that we seek to embrace sound interpretive principles in order to hear its message correctly in the context of our believing, Spirit-filled community.

Understanding the cultural, historical, and grammatical issues that go into biblical interpretation can be challenging at times. But we should never abandon the literal (plain sense) meaning of Scripture, following the rules of grammar with specific attention given to the style or genre of the literature we are seeking to interpret. With the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts to illuminate the text, we can approach this task in faith that God’s Word is still speaking to us. Only then can we better know the author’s original intent and what it meant to those who first heard or read it so that we can better apply those principles.

But it is often the case that these principles are ignored or set aside due to ignorance or modern-day tendencies to read or use the Bible for modern-day agendas.

In the course of this book, we have seen several ways Bible stories can be misread, misused, or misunderstood. We should be on our guard against the following list of errors that could steer us in the wrong direction.

• Ignoring the context. This is perhaps the most common mistake when it comes to misused or misinterpreted verses or stories. Taking anything out of context is almost always going to give us a false interpretation of the truths God intends for us to understand and apply to our lives. Furthermore, comprehension of the nature and genre of a book, such as the historical book of Acts or the apocalyptic symbolism in a prophetic book like Revelation, will help us more faithfully discern a text in context.
• Misunderstanding the main point. Many preachers, for the sake of seeking to connect emotionally or pragmatically with their audience, put the main emphasis of a Bible story in the wrong place, essentially eclipsing the main point of any given text. Zacchaeus was curious, but the story is more about Jesus seeking him rather than the other way around. True, there are interesting and applicable side notes that can be discerned from studying God’s Word, but let us never miss the main point God wants us to get, lest we make the Bible into a practical how-to guide instead of a book that highlights the glory and character of God and his saving plan for us. The story of Jonah is about God and his pursuing grace, not about Jonah himself or a big fish.
• Reading modern-day biases into the text. All of us are biased. We all come to the interpretive task with baggage and preconceived notions of reality. The trick is to know what our biases actually are, and with the best of intentions seek to put our modern-day tendencies aside in an effort to enter into the biblical worldview of the time these documents were written. This may mean that we imagine ourselves as first-century Jews with all the customs and traditions associated with that worldview so that we can better hear the Word of God in its original context. Bible study aids can truly help us hear the author’s original intent and help us discover what our modern-day biases may actually be.
• Dismissing discovered truth that goes against what we already believe or think. Often modern-day thinking and agendas will be offended by biblical truths. Words like submission or subjects like homosexuality are controversial to modern-day minds. But the Bible and what it teaches can serve as a corrective to our philosophical objections, such that we should be committed to pursuing the way God thinks about our world instead of what we want our world to be. Our sinful flesh will always be offended by the gospel and its claims on us, but surrendering to God’s way of thinking frees us to live the abundant life.
• Allowing tradition to clouds the facts. Many people make the mistake of taking a human tradition and imposing that tradition back onto their own understanding of Scripture, without checking the factuality of that tradition with the text itself. The story of the wise men is a perfect example of this.
• Reading into parables what is not really there. Parables were stories Jesus told that contained hidden spiritual truths about the kingdom—truths that can only be discerned through the eyes of faith and deeper study, and we should avoid reading them allegorically as if each participant in the story stood for something else hidden that is not obvious. By design, their spiritual insights were hidden from the unbelieving heart. But for those with ears to hear and eyes to see, they shed a powerful light on the principles of the kingdom that God intends the believer to know and live by.
• Ignoring what the Bible teaches elsewhere on any given topic. Sometimes more light is shed on a Bible story or idea when we look at what the Bible teaches about it in another section of Scripture. For example, we learned so much more about how to interpret the Cain and Abel story by looking at what the Bible teaches about it later, in Hebrews 11. Such is often the case—we must consider the whole counsel of God when it comes to interpreting and applying principles derived from these stories. The Bible sheds more light on things than what we may initially grasp. Since the Holy Spirit is the inspiration and authority behind all that is written in Scripture, we can expect him to help us by giving us a consistent message and further clarification as we study.
• Giving new meaning to words and ideas that are not consistent with God’s Word. This is the tactic of many false teachers and cults, using Christian words without Christian definitions. Even importing a new meaning for phrases like sowing your seed is another way to mislead someone. Word studies themselves are helpful, but can be limited because words may mean something different in a different context. Again, context is crucial, and knowing how a biblical author is using a term or phrase is essential to correct interpretation. This is especially true for the term baptism of the Holy Spirit.
• Missing the plain-sense meaning of a text or ignoring figurative language. We should always seek to interpret the Bible literally unless it is obvious that figurative or symbolic language is being used (which some genres, such as apocalyptic literature, may include or employ more often). When Jesus said, “This is my body” as he held the bread up before the disciples at the Last Supper, it was obvious that he was speaking figuratively. The same is true for when he told the disciples that if your hand causes you to sin, “cut it off.” He was obviously not speaking literally, but making a spiritual point to cut sin out of your life through true repentance.
• Taking a man-centered approach instead of seeing God and his glory as the central focus of Scripture. Remember that the Bible is primarily a book about God. The Bible is God’s revelation of himself and his saving plan for us, which makes it more about him. We all need application to fill our lives so that we can live faithfully, but knowing the person and character of God is what will sustain us in this life and the life to come. Each time we come to a text, we should ask ourselves, “What does this teach me about God?” Only after we have discovered what that is should we look at ourselves as individuals and as a church to know how we should live.

Much more could be said about interpreting Scripture correctly. These ten ideas are not meant to be exhaustive. But my hope is that knowing these stumbling blocks and reading these stories in context will help you in your journey of discovering God, his heart, and his plan for your life.

None of us are perfect, and there are times when our understanding of God’s Word may change as we grow spiritually and study more. Surely we are to grow up and cast aside ignorant understandings or false conclusions that were made in error or without full knowledge of the context. Though we may change, God’s Word never does. It stands forever. You can have faith that God’s promises will be fulfilled, because they are rooted in the very character of God himself, who never changes.

People are hungry for truth but don’t always realize it until their soul craves it. But the ability to discern God’s truth can only come as a result of the work of the Holy Spirit in the heart. My prayer is that this book will be an aid to the student of the Word who seeks to understand it better so that they may live a more faithful life.

But more than that, my desire is that you will hunger to know God the way he has revealed himself in the pages of his Word. A right view of God will transform us and renew our minds so that we are better equipped to carry out the mission of the gospel he has called the church to bring to a lost and dying world.

Let us strive to be faithful, and in humility, allow ourselves to be corrected along the way.