Often, people get the idea that biblical interpretation is simply an academic or intellectual exercise, that it has little or nothing to do with establishing solid beliefs or a godly lifestyle. This is just plain wrong.
Ever since the Garden of Eden, ignorance or misunderstanding of God's word has led to bad things. God clearly expects his words to be understood to the best of our ability. This is a matter of morality, character and faithfulness. Further, it is important to be able to know what is true and right in the midst of incorrect beliefs and practices around us. Simply following along the incorrect beliefs of others is not acceptable either.
However, Christians must question not only what others believe and teach about the Scriptures. They must also continuously refine their own understanding of the Scriptures. It takes a lot of character and integrity to challenge what one believes about spiritual things. A lot of people never do it.
Let's consider just a few incidents from the Bible itself that show us how important this is.
Jesus expected the Jews of his time to do more than just follow the traditions of their religion, however godly they might have seemed. He expected them to know and understand the Scriptures, and he expected them to make the right conclusions and take right actions based upon them. Even if this meant rejecting traditional practices and teachings. For example:
Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”
Matthew 15:1-9 (NASB)
Clearly, Jesus expected people to follow what God had said in the Scriptures, not just to follow along with the crowd's spiritual traditions. Jesus' measure of a "hypocrite" was not simply a spiritual actor or insincere person, but someone who claimed to be faithful to God's commands but followed the crowd instead.
If you are going to know the difference between spiritual traditions and the commands of God, you'd better learn good Biblical Interpretation skills.
Of course, one major issue in the gospels was that Jesus was the Messiah and yet the Jews of his day did not understand it. Jesus did not consider this a mere intellectual matter but a moral one. And their lack of acceptance of him was based upon their misunderstanding of the Scriptures. Many passages illustrate this, let's look at a few of them.
But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.
And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent.
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men; but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
John 5:36-47 (NASB)
Jesus recognized that they studied the Scriptures but ultimately did not have the love of God in their hearts. And what was the basis of that judgment by him? That they did not understand and believe what Moses wrote about him.
Didn't the Jews claim to believe what Moses wrote? Of course they did; and on that very basis they rejected Jesus. But their understanding and their belief was wrong, and it resulted in a completely wrong action-- the rejection of Jesus. They were too busy adhering to popular or traditional understandings that gave them the approval of their peers rather than adhering to the Scriptures and gaining the approval of God.
The issue of breaking or keeping the Sabbath was a major point of contention between Jesus and the religious leaders. Many traditions had grown up around the Sabbath, and The astute reader of the gospels will notice that Jesus provoked the Jews into examining these traditions by deliberately breaking them. He then used the ensuing dispute as a basis to challenging whether or not the tradition was in keeping with Scripture. For example:
Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
John 7:21-24 (NASB)
Again, there was no dispute that the Jews believed Moses about the circumcision and the Sabbath. There was no dispute about whether the healings actually happened and were legitimate. But their poor interpretation resulted in beliefs and a tradition that forbade healing on the Sabbath. Thus, they missed the hand of God. This was another Bible interpretation error that led the Jews to reject Jesus. This very topic came up again later in the Gospel of John.
They brought to the Pharisees the man who was formerly blind. Now it was a Sabbath on the day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also were asking him again how he received his sight. And he said to them, “He applied clay to my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” Therefore some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And there was a division among them. So they *said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?” And he said, “He is a prophet.”
The Jews then did not believe it of him, that he had been blind and had received sight, until they called the parents of the very one who had received his sight, and questioned them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?” His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him; he is of age, he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
So a second time they called the man who had been blind, and said to him, “Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner.” He then answered, “Whether He is a sinner, I do not know; one thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” So they said to him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?” He answered them, “I told you already and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become His disciples too, do you?” They reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.”
John 9:13-29 (NASB)
The interested reader may review the gospels and see how many times Jesus corrects or criticizes his hearers for things that have their roots in bad biblical interpretation. Jesus would address these at a logical and intellectual level, yet there was also a moral component to this as well. He took it as a testimony that one did not really love God if one was not devoted to properly understanding and following what he the Scriptures said, particularly if one just went with the rest of the religious crowd.
To Jesus, proper interpretation was never merely an intellectual exercise—it was a matter of the heart and faithfulness to God.
After the church began, we read an interesting story about the Christians in Berea.
The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
Acts 17:10-11 (NASB)
The Bereans were commended for this examining of the Scriptures in light of what Paul was telling them about this. How many religious leaders would be offended if somebody examined the Scriptures rather than just accepted what they said without question?
Now if we're going to practice good biblical interpretation ourselves, we should note that just because somebody did something, it does not mean that absolutely we must do it also. But should consider doing what they did if we are in a similar situation. This text shows that the Bereans were capable of examining the Scriptures themselves to check Paul's teachings. To the point we are talking about-- they were heralded for it. This is a powerful testimony to us having that same attitude and skill today.
Later, Paul wrote to Timothy and Titus with the following instructions:
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15 (NASB)
Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.
Titus 2:7-8 (NASB)
Timothy and Titus were urged to handle the Scriptures correctly. They were urged to have integrity in teaching. There is no idea here that the leaders were permitted to get good things done at the expense of mishandling or distorting Scripture. Doing so would compromise their credibility, ultimately damaging the cause of the Gospel itself with shame and condemnation.
Peter told the Christians of Asia Minor that misunderstanding what had been written was a gateway to spiritual destruction.
Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.
2 Peter 3:14-16 (NASB)
Some within the Christian community took the teachings of the apostles and distorted them. We don't have a specific example of what Peter is talking about here. We don't know if the distortions were deliberate or innocent. But clearly the church needed to be able to discern between a proper and distorted understanding of these writings.
Many other examples could be cited where the early church was expected to know and understand the Scriptures, and where they were warned against unfounded or distorted teachings that came from wrong ideas about the Scriptures. In fact, many of the New Testament writings were written specifically to correct wrong or distorted concepts.
Further, the Bible writers often discuss complex and deep issues from the Scriptures, expecting their readers to know and understand that which is being discussed, and to be able to understand the teaching being provided.
Paul once told a church that there were persuasive arguments that were just plain wrong.
For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. For even though I am absent in body, nevertheless I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good discipline and the stability of your faith in Christ.
Colossians 2:1-5 (NASB)
The Colossians were exposed to some "persuasive argument" that could delude them. These were concerning truth, and persuasive, but not faithful to truth. In our day, the Bible can be used to justify many teachings and practices, but those things are not really built upon a solid understanding of the Bible. Paul's instructions to the Colossians can help us today to avoid this trap.
Given the wide variance of teaching and practice today in the general Christian world, how much more is this skill needed today!
Often, church leaders will praise members or young Christians who are "eager to learn" and do what they are taught. Often the idea of being simple-minded, naive or trusting, especially to leaders, is praised.
Everybody loves to be praised, especially by leaders. But this is the very tool by which we can be deceived into following leaders blindly. One of Jesus' most important teachings about how discipleship works was about "blind discipleship."
And He also spoke a parable to them: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Will they not both fall into a pit? A pupil is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.
Luke 6:39-40 (NASB)
Discipleship is often taught in churches, but Jesus warns that a blind person would just lead another blind person astray. The only way to learn from another person is with your eyes wide open, and the first thing to pay attention to is whether their eyes are open too! You might be taught good things, but if your eyes are not open you will never know for sure. And you are being taught wrong or distorted things, you will only know it if your eyes are open.
This desire for the praise from others even kept some from being true to what they knew and believed about Jesus during his ministry.
Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.
John 12:42-43 (NASB)
The praise of others is a powerful potion. Our best protections against being deceived by it is desiring to please God first and foremost, good biblical interpretation skills, and the courage to stand by our convictions. The great thing is that if your convictions are based upon solid study of God's word, your study will verify that you are doing the right thing. This is especially beneficial if you are in a minority, if you oppose leaders, or if you are threatened for your faithfulness.
If you constantly challenge your beliefs, you will find that you constantly refine your beliefs. You trim away inaccurate understandings and replace them with more defensible ones. And for those beliefs that withstand the challenges, you confirm their accuracy every time.
It is stunning how little of Scripture has to do with church programs, church meetings, worship styles, order of services, facilities, and the like. These things are all staples of modern Christianity, yet were insignificant or even non-existent in Bible times. That doesn't mean those things are necessarily unimportant today-- but it does show a contrast between what was most important and most focused on then and now. While modern people tend to view people Bible times as being less knowledgeable, less intelligent, less sophisticated-- it is stunning how much more fluent and conversant they were about Bible things than we tend to be today.
Interpreting the Scriptures well is not just a matter of intellect but a matter of character and faithfulness. It will protect against wrong traditions and misguided teachings. It will solidify the foundation of truth and faith. And it will draw us closer to the heart of God himself, who has given us the Scriptures for our guidance in faithful living and a relationship with Him.
From beginning to end, the Bible is loaded with examples of people who diligently sought to understand and follow God's word, while warning those who simply followed what others told them or who remained silent out of fear of man. Which shall you be?