Interpreting Scripture
When we are studying scripture and come across a difficult section, we have one of three interpretations we might apply.
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The option that most agrees with the culture and modern thinking.
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The option that may or may not reject the world’s current belief system but is contradictory to the whole of scripture.
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The historical and contextual interpretation that agrees with the whole of scripture.
Modern Interpretation
The first will always end in error as we learn from scripture. The world hates God’s teachings and thinks they are nonsense. Therefore, any interpretation which finds agreement with “common sense” or “public opinion” is likely contrary to the intent of scripture.
1 Corinthians 1:18
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
John 15:18-25
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have been guilty of sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’
Anti-historical or Non-Synonymous Interpretation
The second option results in beliefs that are incompatible and nonsensical. This often comes from cherry-picking verses or proof texts to support one opinion or another.
E.g. The Bible says to love your neighbor but I hate my gay/muslim/poor/addict/other denomination/black neighbor and treat them poorly.
Or
Christ says to feed the hungry and clothe the naked but I’m opposed to my church providing clothes or food to the poor.
Or
Christ says to love my enemy, pray for them, to be a peacemaker, and that those who live by the sword, die by the sword, and vengeance is the Lord’s but I’m a big supporter of military intervention and the state killing those I don’t like or don’t agree with.
This is the current and most damning accusation against the evangelical church today. And has its roots in the demonic attitudes of the Pharisees, men who knew the scripture thoroughly yet bent it to serve their own power, prestige, and prejudice rather than God’s intent.
Matthew 15:8-9
8 “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
Historical and Synonymous
Third and finally, we come to the interpretation that gives us a true meaning of God’s word and commandments.
For this interpretation we must look at the text as it stands within the sentence. The sentence within the paragraph. The paragraph within the chapter. The chapter within the book. And the book within the whole of scripture.
Scriptura sacra sui ipsius interpres or Sacred scripture is its own interpreter
Or more plainly, scripture must agree with scripture across its entirety.
Numbers 23:19
19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Verse and Chapter System
The numbering system of verses we have today is not a historical convention. Or rather, Jesus did not read Isaiah chapter 1 because there were no chapters in the scroll of Isaiah. Nor were there verse numbers or those helpful section headings most modern bibles contain.
Rather, the verse and chapter headings most familiar to people were included between the 1200s and 1600s as printing and mass production of the Latin Vulgate and other bibles became normalized; while a Masoretic tradition exists of numbering verses to ensure scribal accuracy.
However, these verses and chapters can actually lead to some very confusing ideas. For example, in Luke 20 and 21, Jesus’s indictment of the temple and its officials is separated by a chapter heading. This has led many people to take the story of the widow’s mite out of context, arguing that the widow giving her pennies to the massive, corrupt, and rich temple system of the first century was a desirable or even beneficial action.
Taken in context, it looks more like this:
Jesus, in the previous verses has just spoken publicly against the chief priests, the scribes, and the Pharisees in a parable, enraging them.
Luke 20:19
19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
And then if that weren’t clear enough, Jesus begins to call them out directly. Calling them “devourers of widows’ houses”.
Luke 20:46-47
46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 47 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
Then Jesus looks up, and sees a widow’s livelihood being destroyed.
Luke 21:1-4
1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
And finally Jesus prophesies God’s judgement on the temple.
Luke 21:5-6
5 And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, 6 “As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
Because of a lack of context and knowledge, and in some cases outright maliciousness, how many sermons have been preached encouraging “sacrificial giving” to a church or ministry with hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in the bank, to the detriment of their congregation? And how many evil men prey on widows houses?
Hosea 4:6
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
This is not a new problem. The same ignorance and willful distortion of God’s word that corrupted Israel’s priests is alive in pulpits today. God’s warning through Hosea was not merely historical — it was prophetic of every generation that trades knowledge of Him for the approval of men.
Rightly Dividing
The three interpretive paths laid out here are not equally weighted. Two lead to destruction — one fashionable, one self-serving — and one leads to life. The frightening reality is that the wrong paths are far more traveled, far more celebrated, and far more comfortable than the narrow road of honest, historical, contextual reading.
Jesus warned us this would be so.
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
The stakes of interpretation are not academic. They are eternal — for the one in the pulpit and the one in the pew. To handle scripture carelessly, selfishly, or in agreement with the spirit of the age is not a neutral act. It is a betrayal of the God who gave it, the Christ who fulfilled it, and the people who desperately need it.
Read the whole of scripture. Know the whole of scripture. Submit to the whole of scripture.
Let scripture interpret scripture, let context govern meaning, and let no cultural pressure, personal agenda, or comfortable tradition stand between you and what God has plainly said.
2 Timothy 2:15
15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
The good news is that God has not left us without help. The same Spirit that inspired the writing of scripture is available to every believer who approaches it honestly, humbly, and hungrily. This is not reserved for scholars or academics. It belongs to every person willing to slow down, read carefully, and let God’s word speak for itself. The narrow road of honest interpretation is hard — but we do not walk it alone.
John 16:13
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.