BIBLE INTERPRETATION
The word of God includes the whole of Divine revelation, the doctrine of the Gospel faithfully preached, the mind of God or the divine intellect and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Most people assume that the Bible is a mysterious book and you need some extra ordinary abilities to be able to understand it. They assume that it has a lot of hidden meaning or secret codes that can only be revealed and understood by those who are chosen. Well its true that it takes more than just a casual reading to understand the meaning of Bible passages but not because of some mysterious or secret code but because of its nature.
We must always remember that the Bible was written for common people. Many of the New Testaments epistles were written for young Christian churches, so they are simple instructions and teachings to be understood by every Christians.
The goal of proper interpretation is not to find new revelations unrevealed to anyone before, but rather to understand its plain and simple message. Using proper guidelines of interpretation we should be able to distinguish between:
(1) the right
(2) the possible,
(3) and the erroneous interpretation.
The correct or right meaning of many Bible verses can be understood by using proper guidelines of interpretation. Please note that some difficult verses, by its very nature could have more than one possible interpretation.
Erroneous interpretations are those interpretations that were given to the Bible verses in violation of the guidelines of proper interpretation. Although there are difficult verses where it is impossible to have a consensus of interpretation among Christians, the basic doctrines of Christianity are all based on clear teachings from the Bible. All possible interpretation of a passage should not contradict the basic doctrine of Christianity. It should remind us also that we should be slow in calling other teachings that differs from our own denomination heretical. We should analyze all interpretation on the basis of the basic guidelines of interpretation and the basic doctrine of Christianity.
As mention earlier, many are fascinated with “mysterious” interpretation. Like finding deep secrets hidden inside the letters of the Bible. This has caused many erroneous interpretations because these interpretations are subjective. Subjective interpretation has no standard to evaluate its validity. It is interpreting the Bible in a way that others won’t be able to find at all no matter how they study the verse itself. It is putting the meaning into the verse rather than finding the true meaning of the verse.
Therefore one of the most important guidelines to interpretation is to interpret literally. Literal interpretation doesn’t mean reading the words and just doing what it says. Literal interpretation is taking the Bible at face value and reading it as a literature. Literal interpretation recognizes the differences between a historical narrative and a parable, or the difference between written laws and poetry. In another word, literal interpretation is not just reading and doing, it is reading with common sense, because it takes in consideration the real form or style of the passage. Literal interpretation is what we do everyday, we differentiate between an instruction from our boss and a joke we hear from him, and we interpret them accordingly. Literal interpretation also requires analyzing the literary genre of the passage in the Bible.
GUIDES TO BIBLE INTERPRETATION
The guides provided in this article are meant to help you master the Bible and serve God better. It gives you a handle on how to approach the Bible to become good and accurate interpreter of its contents.
1. Learn the native tongue in which one reads the Bible. For example, master the English language if the English Bible is to be used.
2. Give the same literal meanings to words, and apply to the Bible the same rules of grammar, figures of speech, types, symbols, allegories, parables, poetry, prophecy, history, and all other forms of human expression that you would if they were found outside the Bible.
3. Learn the Bible manners, customs and peculiar idioms
4. Get acquainted with the geography of all Bible lands
5. Get a general knowledge of the history of the Bible peoples and kingdoms so as to understand Bible history
6. Get a general knowledge of the plan of God in the Bible – of the ages and dispensation and the ultimate purpose of God to defeat Satan, restore man’s dominion, rid the earth of all rebellion, and establish an eternal kingdom on earth ruled by God, Christ and the resurrected Saints (Gen. 8:22; 9:12; Isa. 9:6-7, Lk. 1:32-33; Rev. 11:15; 20:1-10; 22:4-5)
7. Recognize the three classes of people dealt with in Scripture – the Jews, Gentiles, and the Church (1 Cor. 10:32)
8. Keep in mind the historical background of each book and the circumstances under which it was written.
9. Never change the literal meaning of the Scripture to a spiritual, mystical, symbolic, or figurative meaning unless it is done by God Himself. Take everything in the Bible unless this could not possibly be the meaning. When the language is used in a figurative sense get the literal truth convened by it.
10. Get a complete concordance such as “Strong’s” to look up any subject and to define any Hebrew or Greek word if there is any question of proper translation.
11. Be just as intelligent and fair with the Bible as with any other book. Study it, not to disprove it, but to master its sacred contents and conform to its teachings and you will find it to be in unity.
12. It must be settled once and forever that the Bible does not contradict itself and all scriptures on a subject must be harmonized. It has a way of confusing its enemies and blessing its friends. The only thing difficult about the Bible is that it is a very large book and it will take time to master its contents enough to get a general understanding of it. Read it over and over and practice its teachings and it will soon become a very simple and practical book
PETER M. I. PETERS
