How to Interpret the Bible Correctly

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Practical Hermeneutics:
How to Interpret the Bible Correctly
Part One
by Thomas A. Howe

This article first appeared in the Christian Research Journal, volume 25, number 4 (2003). http://www.equip.org/free/DI501-1.htm

SYNOPSIS

As a student of the Bible you have probably encountered someone who disagrees with your interpretation of a passage. That person may be a cultist, a member of another Christian denomination, or even another member of your own church or family.

When a debate over the meaning of a passage can’t be settled, often someone says, “That’s just your interpretation,” or, “No one really knows what this means, so let’s just agree to disagree.”

It is true that we should hold our interpretations with humility, but we must not settle for anything less than the correct interpretation of the Bible, since it is the very Word of God.

In principle, it is possible to have a correct interpretation of the Bible (to argue otherwise is self-defeating), but this doesn’t guarantee that we will discover it.

In practice, we must use sound principles of interpretation in order to know what the Bible means.

These sound principles of interpretation are known as the grammatical-historical method. This simply means that we understand the meaning of the words and sentences of the Bible according to the way they were normally used by the speakers of the language, and in their historical context.

To do this we must interpret the Bible in light of five factors:

• its original languages,
• its historical/cultural setting,
• its kinds of literature,
• the principles of communication and understanding, and
• our own preconceptions and presuppositions.

Each of these factors plays a significant role in good Bible study.By learning how to apply the basic principles of interpretation we can understand and interpret the Bible correctly.

FOR FURTHER STUDY
Principles of Bible Interpretation- "Grammatico-Historical Method"
(from "Biblical Hermeneutics" www.fornanswer.org)

This method of interpretation focuses attention not only on literary forms but upon grammatical constructions and historical contexts out of which the Scriptures were written. It is the primary hermeneutical methodology embraced by virtually all evangelical Protestant exegetes and scholars. It embraces each of the ten principles enumerated below.

1.Plain Sense: Take every word at its primary, usual, meaning, unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and fundamental truths, clearly indicate otherwise.

2. Context: The context is that which accompanies the text. The Word of God is a perfect unit. The scriptures all hang together, a perfect unity. Search and consider the verses immediately before, after, and around the passage.

3. Scripture Interprets Scripture: God did not reveal an important doctrine in a single, ambiguous passage. All essential doctrines are fully and clearly explained - either in the immediate context, or somewhere else in the Bible.

4. Progressive Revelation: God initiated revelation, but He did not reveal His truths all at one time. It was a long and progressive process.“The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed, and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.”

5.Accommodation : The Bible is to be interpreted in view of the fact that it is an accommodation of Divine truths to human minds: God the infinite communicating with man the finite, to make God (and, indeed, all of reality) knowable. The Bible was written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. The Bible was also created in space, in time, and in history so that man could understand it.

6. One Interpretation : Every verse in the Bible has only one interpretation, although that verse may have many applications. The one correct interpretation is that which mirrors the intent of the inspired author.

7. Harmony of Scripture : No part of the Bible may be interpreted so as to contradict another part of the Bible. The Christian presupposes the inerrancy and harmony of Scripture as a necessary result of a perfect Creator God revealing Himself perfectly to Mankind. Proper application of hermeneutical principles will resolve apparent conflicts.

8. Genre Principle : Proper interpretation must take the general literary category of any given passage into consideration, as the author intended. Are we dealing with poetry or prose? Are we dealing with history or prophecy? For example, here are some books and their respective genres:

Psalms - Poetry

Proverbs - Wise Sayings

Isaiah - History and Prophecy

The Gospels - Biography and History

The Epistles - Teaching and Doctrine

Revelation - Eschatology and Prophecy

9. Grammatical Principle : The study of word meanings, grammar, and syntax of the original languages is important for a proper understanding of Scripture. There are a number of tools available - lexicons, Bible dictionaries, detailed exegetical commentaries - that can provide a deeper understanding of crucial passages.

10. Historical Background The Bible was composed in a specific culture at a particular point in time. While they are universal in application, the truths in the Bible can most fully be realized only when taking the surrounding culture and history into account.

Common Exegetical Fallacies

a. Taking Figurative Language Literally : We approach the Bible as we would any other book, taking figurative phrases, hyperbole, poetic personifications, and other figures of speech into account in our interpretation.

b. Over-Contextualizing While we must safeguard against taking words or phrases out of context, there is no warrant for taking an absolute statement and confining it to immediate context. Jehovah says He knows of no other gods. He says this in the context of chastising those who worship idols, but this context does not limit His statement, as if there might BE other gods He doesn't "know of", any more than the Great Commission is limited to the disciples who heard Jesus speak it.

c. Allowing the Implicit to Explain the Explicit Allowing the implicit to explain the explicit - the possible to explain the certain - is not a sound interpretive principle. Scripture indeed interprets Scripture, so long as clarity explains ambiguity, and not the other way around.

d. Modern Day Revelation Some groups claim that God continues to reveal Himself in various ways to an elite cadre of spiritually mature and/or gifted individuals. Some, like Latter Day Saints, believe that this modern day revelation has produced new scriptures. When contradictions between these "revelations" and the Bible are pressed, these groups often respond that God's revelation is progressive, and thus may accommodate new or revised doctrines for the modern era. But progressive revelation may never be used to overthrow the principle of the harmony of Scripture. God may have chosen to reveal Himself gradually to humanity, but He does not contradict Himself.

e. Harmonization by Denial The Bible declares that Jesus was a man (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:5; etc.). It also calls Him God (John 1:1; 20:28; etc.). God says in Hosea 11:9 that He is not man. Non-Trinitarians that hold to the principle of the harmony of Scripture, believe these verses present an apparent contradiction, and they resolve this contradiction by denying the fully Deity of Christ. However, Scripture is harmonized by complete affirmation of its teaching. Thus, when Scripture tells us the Christ is both Man and God, we should allow these truths to shape our view of Christ's nature, rather than deny one or the other.

f. Problems Relating to Literary Genre To properly take genre into consideration, we must first understand the genre in its historical context. In most cases, this is not difficult. However, some genres - such as "proverbs" - offers some considerable challenge. A proverb is not a promise - those who approach the book of Proverbs in this fashion are likely to be disappointed when the expected promise is not fulfilled.

g. Historical Fabrication The reconstruction of Biblical history presents a whole host of opportunities for interpretive fallacies. The interpretations of the New Testament offered by scholars such as those in the Jesus Seminar depend largely on theoretical reconstructions of various "communities" in the early years of the Christian Church. The problem is that we have almost no access to the history of 1st Century beliefs outside the New Testament. Some speculation based on extra-canonical texts is certainly possible, but it is a fallacy to think that speculative reconstruction has any force in informing our interpretation of Scripture.

h. (Sillie Lizzie's contribution - not in the original article) - The Bible does not APPROVE all of what the Bible RECORDS. It is necessary to apply ALL of the foregoing principles in order to discern the difference.

Conclusion

Interpretation of Scripture will never be an exact science. The beliefs we bring to the text - our theological presuppositions - will inevitably color our interpretation to some degree. In fact, "pretended neutrality" - the attribution of bias to one's opponent while implying that one is theologically neutral - is an exegetical fallacy as potent as any other. By applying the principles briefly delineated in this paper we can minimize the possibility of error and bias. We can never eliminate our presuppositions (nor should we, if they are Scripturally sound), but we can "test all things" - including our interpretations - and "hold to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21)