OR,

How Not to Interpret the Bible

I’d like to begin this lecture with a quote from Proverbs:

Blessed is the man who finds wisdom,
the man who gains understanding,

for she is more profitable than silver
and yields better returns than gold.

She is more precious than rubies;
nothing you desire can compare with her.

Long life is in her right hand;
in her left hand are riches and honor.

–Proverbs 3:13-16

It is essential that every believer seek after wisdom and understanding and gain knowledge. For the believer, true knowledge comes from a solid understanding of the Word of God. It is the repository of the sum total of God’s revelation to man.

I know that you all believe in the Bible; I know that I am in good company and that we agree on this. The Bible-for us as evangelical Christians-is the undisputed Word of God. We do not just view the Bible as a collection of good ideas and good advice, but that it is what it claims to be: God speaking to us. The Bible is God the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts of certain individuals called apostles, prophets, and disciples such that they wrote down everything God wanted them to write down. This was not done in a mechanical fashion; these men did not go into trances nor were they robots. The Holy Spirit wrote through the personalities and mindset of each of the Biblical writers so that they would record exactly what He wanted them to record but in a way that was respectful of their character, temperament and intelligence. We call this revelation; certain men received a unique gift from God so that they could receive and write His revelation, which we call the Holy Bible.

All this is standard orthodox theology. If you were to read any protestant theology book, this is what you would read under the heading of “The Inspiration of the Bible.” However, I would like to show you how to apply this orthodox theology in your day-to-day lives. I feel this critical because, as it turns out, while Christians have a very high view of the Bible, they use it in very odd ways, almost as though the Bible is a kind of “spiritual Silly Putty.” Let us consider these two examples:

Example #1

Here is an attractive, young, single woman who is having trouble getting a date. So, because she is a Christian, she prays and asks God to give her some encouragement from His Word. Therefore, she prays, asking Him to speak to her and then she opens up her Bible and the Holy Spirit gives her a verse: “If any man come after me, let him…”

Now, of course, that is just a story and it never really happened. However, here is an incident that did happen. I was speaking to a church one time and a woman came up to me after the service and said that in her church there was this particular woman who was married and dating another man. This woman has been praying for God to give her direction on this relationship. In addition, she was asking Him to speak to her through His Word. Then, the Holy Spirit gave her a word: “Put on the new man.” And she did. She dumped her husband for the new man.

Example #2

There was a young, single man attending a church who was attracted to the worship leader, who was a young single woman. He was praying for direction about this mutual attraction. He was praying that God would speak to him. They were both single, they were both attracted to each other and his prayer involved dating and courtship and marriage. So, as he was praying and looking for confirmation, lo and behold he found this confirmation in the Scripture as the Holy Spirit lead him to a phrase in a verse that goes like this: “Grace be to you…” And of course, as it happened, the woman’s name was Grace.

Our Response

How do we respond to those two examples? In the first example, “Put on the new man,” people will chuckle, laugh a little and groan because it is so bizarre; it is funny, and so bizarre it is tragic because here is someone using the Bible in an inappropriate way to justify immoral behavior. If this woman wanted a verse for guidance, she should have gone to the Ten Commandments and read the commandment that forbids adultery! After all, the Holy Spirit is responsible for that verse, too.

However, this woman did not want a principle that was for everybody, for all time. She wanted a special “word from the Lord,” especially for her and her situation, because “it was different.”

In the second case, “Grace be unto you…” there are different responses. There are usually a few chuckles, but no shaking of the head and no groans. Why? In the first story, the Bible was being used for something immoral and something obviously wrong. But in the second case, there was nothing immoral going on. The situations are different, and I would bet that some of you are thinking maybe God really did give that verse to that young man. In the first instance, clearly God had nothing to do with it, but in the second instance, where hearts are right, and motives pure, how can we be sure God didn’t give a special word to that young man?

Wrong Methodology

In both instances, there was a particular method of “Bible study” being employed. In both instances, both individuals were seeking a tailor-made message from the Word, just for them, addressing their particular situations. And I take issue with that method. In fact, I would like to build a Biblical case to show you why that method is not Biblical and not godly in any way.

Having said that, I recognize that for most of you, this is a standard practice in your prayer life and devotional life, and I can say that because it is a standard practice throughout evangelicalism, even among pastors.

In seminaries and Bible colleges, in courses like the one you are taking, we learn good, sound hermeneutics. We learn about taking verses in context and we learn to respect the literal nature of the Word of God. Yet when we get into the “real world” of the church, we see practiced a second form of hermeneutics, different from the one we learned, and yet it seems this second form of hermeneutics is just as valid as the first form. It isn’t long before we start to practice this second form of hermeneutics at the expense of what we know to be true. We know that God gave a special revelation to the Biblical writers and that the Bible is the wholly, and Holy inspired revelation from God to man, to be used in all areas of life and that this Holy Bible is the final truth. In addition, at the same time, we believe that, under certain circumstances, in the providence of God, He gives very personal messages through a personal revelation of His Word into our hearts. In this case, the individual words of Scripture and the context of the verses are not important at all. What is important is that we get a personalized revelation from God. In other words, context is important as we study the Bible, but not at all important when the Holy Spirit is giving us a phrase or a verse that is meant to encourage us or give us direction.

It’s So Easy!

This second form of hermeneutics is so insidious because it is so easy and so natural. Think of periods of grief, how easy it is to pluck a verse from the Bible-any verse-and “give it” to somebody, even though the context is ignored. A favorite at funerals is Jeremiah 29:11-

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

A grieving widow can receive great comfort from that verse, and to be honest the context didn’t matter at that particular moment, what mattered is how that poor woman felt as the Holy Spirit gave her that verse. We say He “gave it” to her, because we have to justify taking the verse completely out of context. It has nothing to do with a grieving widow whatsoever. It does not even have anything to do with Christians. And we know that, so we use the “give away” phrase to excuse a sloppy use of a verse, even though it was not sinful and we were sincere.

How Do We Know He Didn’t?

Of course, the question immediately arises, how do we know the Spirit gave the verse? Or, how do we know He didn’t? It is very subjective, is it not? The verse “pops” off the page,or we are worried about a particular problem and all of a sudden, we read a verse that seems to address that problem. At least it does to us. Acts 16 and the Philippian jailer come to mind. How many believers have claimed his promise as their own because they have unsaved loved ones? What justifies a person lifting that one sentence out of the text, from its object meaning, and finding a new, hidden subjective truth in it just for that one person? Which, by the way, does not apply to me when I read that verse; why isn’t the Holy Spirit telling me that MY family will be saved like yours? Why isn’t it true for me like it is for you? What makes you so special?

Why Do We Do It?

Why are we so quick to use this second method of hermeneutics? There is, really only one way to read the Bible, but some people have determined there are two ways; the literal way and the “spiritual” way. I want to show you that there is no such thing as a “spiritual” way to read the Bible. There is a right way, and that is to read it in context. The wrong way is any other way. As we go on, I hope to disabuse you of a way of handling the Word of God that might be very dear to your relationship with God, but is a false way to view the Scriptures. What justification do we have for lifting a verse out of its context and claiming it has a special message for me but not for anybody else?

As to why we so often seek a deeper, mystical, personal, spiritual meaning hidden in a verse, there are two reasons:

1. A Cultural Reason. The point of view that rules our culture today is relativism, which says there is no absolute truth; that there are different truths for different people in different situations. Relativism elevates personal experience and says that what is right for me may not be right for you. This relativism is deeply hostile to the Word of God and makes it increasingly difficult to preach the Gospel in a way that postmodern man can understand, let along accept. This dangerous worldview has found its way into the church in many, many areas, not just limited to our view of the Bible. And so we, because we are so influenced by the culture around us, we read our Bibles this way, in part, because this method fits into a cultural norm that has saturated our way of thinking. Even though we know better, we know that truth is objective and that there is an absolute truth, we somehow think that sometimes God bends the rules just for us. But we don’t call this “relativism,” even though that’s what it is. We have baptized this aberrant cultural practice in the church so now it’s “revelation knowledge,” or some other typically spiritual-sounding term. No matter what you call it, it is still wrong and still unbiblical. It never fails that some Christians get very upset when we say things like that because this truth about the Word strikes at a practice some have been using all their Christian lives, and nobody likes be told they are wrong.

2. A Personal Reason. In the latter half of the 20^th century, Christianity had been presented to us as having a “relationship with Jesus Christ.” While that is a true statement, it has been taken to a ridiculous extreme by the faulty reasoning of Christians who have imported cultural mores into the quality of that relationship. For example, the modern definition of prayer is something like this: “Prayer is a conversation with God.” In other words, in prayer, we talk to God and God talks to us. That definition is very appealing because it makes prayer and God so personal, but that is a postmodern definition of prayer, it is not a Biblical definition of prayer because nowhere in the Bible are we taught that when we pray we are to wait around for a revelation from God. In fact, nowhere in the Bible will you find the word “relationship” in regard to what it means to be a Christian.

And so, we have these two reasons for having two different kinds of hermeneutics. Now, let me ask you this question: When it comes to reading your Bibles, would you rather study the Bible, as Paul admonished Timothy to do, that is, study it in context, making proper application of the words of Scripture to our lives, 2 Timothy 3?

OR

Would you rather avoid all of that work and simply pray, then open your Bibles and read one or two verses and ask God the Holy Spirit to give you a special word just for you from those couple of verses?

What do you think the majority of Christians would rather do? The second method, of course, because it just seems more personal and more spiritual, and isn’t that what a relationship with God is all about? The answer to that question is a resounding NO! At least, not Biblically, anyway. Christianity is not about having a relationship with God, as we understand “relationship” in our postmodern world. People say things like, “I don’t want to know about God, I want to know God.” While I understand that sentiment, if you carry that thinking to its logical conclusion, you are only interested in “feeling” God, not knowing Him because in order to know Him, you have to know about Him. Otherwise, it’s like a one-night stand with God! That is, you want the intimacy, but not the information.

Because of this, there is a tremendous Biblical illiteracy, even among pastors. And it results in Christians having all kinds of “personal truths” but never knowing the truth that was given by the Holy Spirit.

Biblical Reasons for Proper Hermeneutics

Now I would like to give you the Biblical reasons for approaching the Bible in the correct manner; studying it in context and applying the rules of sound hermeneutics and thus avoiding the “personal revelation”-kind of thing. Here, then are the reasons why we need to practice sound Biblical hermeneutics.

1. The Bible is inspired. 2 Timothy 3:16, 17 says this, All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. The phrase “God-breathed” is from the Greek, theo pneustos, and the word “Scripture” is from the Greek graphe, meaning words. According to Paul what is inspired? The words are inspired, not the ideas you are having while you are reading the writings.

2. We are to Study. How are we to understand these inspired writings? Again, according to Paul, we are to understand them in the correct way in 2 Timothy 2:15, which says, Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. This means that there is a correct and an incorrect way to handle the word of truth and the way to handle it correctly is by studying that which the Holy Spirit has in fact given. Consider how time and again the writers of the Bible urged their readers to go back to the words of the Biblical text. How many times did Jesus say, “It is written” in response to a question He was asked? Consider the exchange in Luke 10:27, 28. The man quoted the words of the Law, and Jesus said that he was correct. Jesus did NOT ask the man, “What is the Holy Spirit telling you?” That phrase is never used in relation to the Scriptures. Jesus and the apostles drove people back to the words of the text. Also, consider Exodus 34:27; Jeremiah 30:2; Psalm 119:160; etc.

3. The truth must be protected and guarded. Note especially 2 Peter 3:16, 2 Corinthians 4:2 and 2 Timothy 1:13, 14; 4:????

4. The Bible never teaches another approach. Not only does the Bible teach against unwarranted “spiritualization,” it never gives us any leeway. There is never an instance where, “God might” give somebody a secret revelation.

Resistance to the truth

Whenever I teach on this issue, invariably I encounter resistance from some people. This is very understandable because, as I mentioned previously, nobody likes to be told that what he or she are doing is wrong. Since time in limited, if you disagree on these points, you have two obligations as a Christians: (1) if you have a view of revelation that is contrary to what I just taught, you must give me a Biblical argument for it because you are engaging in a practice that the Bible cautions against. (2) Answer my Scriptural arguments to the contrary. In other words, tell me where I am wrong using the Bible as your source.

The easy way out of this is say simply, “Well, I just don’t agree. I’m going to read the Bible my way because I know when the Spirit is speaking to me.” If you do that, you have done a very unchristian thing because the only way you can know when the Spirit is doing anything is if the Holy Spirit Himself has told us that this is a way we are supposed to experience Him and this is why the objective Word is given; so that the Church, for all time, would know the objective, unchanging truth about God and how He works and manifests Himself in His people. If you want to know how the Holy Spirit works, you do not use your imagination to invent ways that He interacts with you. That is what Mormons do. That is what cults do. That is what New Agers do. God wants to protect us from that by giving us clear guidelines to follow. Now, if you can find Scriptural evidence that says all Christians can get special revelations from God, then have at it! And if it teaches that you have the freedom to change the meanings of verses to suit your situation, then go for it! However, you will be disappointed, because the Bible in no way teaches any of those things. If God’s truth can be twisted, then it cannot be objective and it cannot be the standard.

Solutions

There is a way to avoid this problem, and it is a two-part solution, and it does not involve becoming a theologian!

• Stop looking for personal messages in the text. They are not there. This is a superstitious habit of the Church that is not taught in the Bible and is fully consistent with the pagan, godless practice of relativism.
• Never read a Bible verse. If you want to know the meaning of a verse, read a paragraph or more.