Accurately understanding Scripture is essential for Christian living. God gave us the Bible so we can know Him, understand His plan of salvation, and learn to live in obedience to His will.
For these things to happen, three key elements are necessary: illumination, interpretation, and application. The approach we take when interpreting Scripture is key to understanding its true meaning.
For illumination, as discussed in a previous Insights article, the work of the Holy Spirit is needed. Because the Bible is a completely divine work, it takes God’s Spirit to open our eyes so we see the light of God’s truth.
The second key element is interpretation. The Bible was written over a period of 1,500 years by 40 or more authors using three languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). The authors wrote in different literary forms and had different vocabularies, personalities, cultural backgrounds, and social standings. The Holy Spirit moved each of these men to produce God’s inspired Word but He allowed their various writing styles and personalities to be expressed in its pages. Their world was very different from ours and so it takes effort on our part to understand what they meant when they wrote to the recipients of their day. That’s why this process is called interpretation.
The third and final element that needs to happen for us to know God, His plan of salvation for us, and to live lives in obedience to Him, is application. Application, which we will look at in next month’s Insights article, is the process of determining the relevance of Scripture’s meaning to our lives today and then actively responding.
Some people approach understanding the Bible with a false mysticism thinking, “The Holy Spirit will show me what this means.” Then they proceed to butcher the text and completely miss what the Spirit is actually saying. Others abuse and twist Scripture forcing it to say what they want it to. Others skip interpretation altogether and say, “This is what this means to me.”
It was because of approaches like these that the Apostle Paul warned against false teaching and told Timothy, “Work hard so you can present yourself to God and receive his approval. Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, emphasis added).
Determining authorial intent is key to correct interpretation of the meaning of a passage. While there may be many applications of a passage there is only one meaning. That means we have to get into the author’s mind and setting. That involves following some fundamental rules and principles.
The fundamental overarching rule is that we must understand Scripture according to its normal meaning in the historical and cultural settings in which it was written while allowing for normal use of figurative language.
Just as we understand words in our normal, everyday communication we need to do that with the Bible. When we read a news story about a car accident we understand it in its normal sense. It is a story about a car, not a banana. When interpreters disregard the normal meaning of words and look for hidden meanings, the true meaning of God’s Word is lost and abused. Imagination and speculation go wild as the interpreter arbitrarily assigns this or that meaning to the text without any solid historical, grammatical, or lexical foundation for their interpretation.
Even though the Bible uses symbolic or figurative language, most of it’s clear to the reader. The use of figurative language in Scripture only enhances the plain meaning of the text. For example, Jesus said, “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” (Matthew 7:3).
We know we are dealing with a figure of speech if the literal would involve an impossibility (cf. Revelation 1:16), is an absurdity (Isaiah 55:12), would demand immoral action (John 6:53–58), if there is an explanatory literal statement (Revelation 11:8 cf.17:18), or if the words “like” or “as” are used indicating a simile or metaphor.
To correctly interpret we must begin with careful observation and take into consideration:
History
Every book of Scripture was written in a historical context that should be understood in order to help understand the book accurately. That history also includes the social, political, religious, and literary aspects of that day.
Literary Forms
The Bible contains numerous forms of literature, and each one needs to be interpreted according to principles befitting its particular style. There is historical narrative, poetry, prophecy, apocalyptic, and epistles to name a few. Each classification uses language in a particular way. This means we don’t treat poetry as if it were historical narrative and vice versa.
Context
If I said, “It was a ball,” you have no idea what I am talking about. A context of baseball, dancing, or a fun time will determine my meaning. Words and sentences do not stand in isolation. All the words and sentences in Scripture have a context too. Take them out of their context, and you will miss the meaning and possibly abuse the passage. The context must be studied in order to see the relation that each word, verse, and passage sustains to that which precedes and that which follows. Besides the immediate context, look at the theme and scope of the whole book and even further, understand how the theme of the whole book fits into the context of the entire Bible.
Grammar
To understand biblical words according to their normal meaning we have to look at the grammar and meaning of words—their form, their tense, and their relation to other words around them. Every word of the Bible is important and though some words will hold more importance than others, all the words and sentences are a part of God’s inspired communication to us.
Clarity and Analogy of Scripture
This simply means that while always keeping history, literary forms, context, and grammar in mind, we also need to allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. Interpret difficult passages with clear ones. Scripture must remain theologically consistent. If an interpretation of a passage contradicts other plain passages of the Bible, then something is wrong with the interpretation.
The dual authorship of Scripture (divine and human) makes it necessary not only to know the human author’s meaning but also God’s. God’s meaning may not be fully revealed in the original human author’s writing but is revealed when Scripture is compared with Scripture. We must allow for a sensus plenior, a fuller sense, which allows for an expanded, though directly related, meaning in the mind of the divine Author of Scripture.
We cannot say that the human authors of Scripture always understood the full implications of their own words but when we compare Scripture with Scripture, we can discover the fuller divine authorial intent.
We must also be mindful of progressive revelation. Over the span of when the Bible was written, God progressively revealed more truths about many subjects. What is often unclear in earlier passages is made clearer through more revelation in later passages.
Theological Bridge
The final aspect of interpretation is to ask, “What are the theological truths we can glean from the author’s meaning?” The theological truths are the bridge from the author’s day to ours. They are the basis for living obediently for the Lord in our day—an aspect to be developed further in the next article on application.
Without clear and accurate interpretation, our understanding of Scripture can easily become distorted, resulting in confusion or misapplication. Proper biblical interpretation is crucial, as it allows us to discern the authorial intent behind each passage, ensuring we grasp the message God intended to communicate. This approach to interpretation is essential for understanding the true meaning of God’s Word and serves as the foundation for applying it to our lives in a way that aligns with His will and purpose.
