How to Interpret Scripture
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s vague interpretation is mainly from a few obscure passages of scripture, with a long stretching of what they are actually teaching to the original audience, at the time of their writing:
It seems these passages and their interpretations are based on man’s reasoning. They follow manmade tradition more than God’s Eternal Word and Promises.
The Problem We have to Recognize:
- The Bible is the best interpreter of itself. (a.k.a., Scripture interprets Scripture, is the first rule of interpretation.)The Bible is unique in that there are over 63,779 cross references in total, where one scripture is connected to another scripture that gives both scriptures a fuller meaning and a deeper understanding. The more you read the Bible, the more familiar you will become with these illuminating interconnected cross references.Each time you read more of the Bible, with good intention, you should expect to grow more in your understanding and interpretation of the scriptures.
- A Text without a Context is a pretext. (The second rule of interpretation.)In other words, every scripture is designed to be understood and interpreted from the point of view of the author’s original intention, not the reader’s vain imagination.A liar (or any ignorant person) can intentionally try to make a text say anything he wants, if he pulls it out of its original context in which it was written.As you grow in your understanding of the context of a particular passage scripture, so will you grow in your understanding of all the other scriptures interconnected with it.That is why the Bible is often times understood as a closed book to those who don’t want to learn it it’s message in context. When a person chooses to become ignorant of the meaning of one particular scripture, they simultaneously become ignorant of all the many other scriptures that are interconnected with it.
Thankfully, the opposite is also true, when a person diligently seeks to understand a particular scripture in its own context, and seeks to understand all the interconnected scriptures that come in contact with it, seeking to know them all in context, the readers mind expands many fold, just while reading and interpreting the plain text in context.
- When common sense make the best sense, any other sense is nonsense. (The third rule of interpretation.)In other words, when the plain literal interpretation is plain as day, any other spurious interpretation is simple unfounded and likely in error.
(2 Peter 1:20-21)Note: The tools of literature are as active in the scriptures as they are in all other human communication: Metaphor, Symbolism, Parallelism, Hyperbole, Allegory, Poetry, Apocryphal Language, and other literary devices are often employed in writing, and necessary to be used when reading the scriptures, just like when reading a newspaper.If you don’t understand the plain meaning of the text, chances are you might not be privy to the symbolism being used. Therefore it is a powerful tool to reference others scriptures that help explain the symbolism.Thus returning to the first rule: The Bible is the best interpreter of itself; And the second rule: A Text without a Context is a pretext; will help you see life, and all of its depth from God’s perspective. And all of this is: “Good in Thy Sight!”
These 3 rules are actually principles of inductive reasoning, where we allow the Bible to have the greatest voice in our study. And they help us Give God’s Word preference, over man’s traditions in our study of His Word.
We will need to apply these 3 rules of interpretation towards the scriptural theologies presented below.