INTERPRETATION
(Hermeneutics) Christ and the apostles interpreted the Old Testament literally. This is our model on how we should interpret the New Testament, though there are symbols, figures of speech, similes, and metaphors, such as “Ye are the light of the world,” etc. There is also the possibility of drawing an allegory (see ALLEGORICAL) from an event recorded in Scriptures, still, the people and events themselves are historical.
Some ministers do not believe the events and miracles of the Bible, but will talk of them only to bring out what they call a “deeper truth.” The vast majority of scholars today, and even ministers of churches, do not believe in Adam and Eve. They are a joke to them; yet they believe they came from animals. They do not believe that Christ was born of a virgin; they say it is a “biological impossibility,” yet they believe that the first living cell came into existence without a father or a mother. They do not believe that Christ is God; they believe He was delusional. They do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ; they believe He rotted. They do not believe that Jesus Christ created everything in the universe. They believe that man is a product of chance mutations and that the whole universe was an accident.
Now I ask you, if today’s scholars see the world through the eyes of unbelief, how do you think that affects their perception of God’s Word and their interpretation of it? “While many have doubted the accuracy of the Bible, time and continued research have consistently demonstrated that the Word of God is better informed than its critics” (Norman Geisler).
There have also been many who have explained away the miracles of the Bible by reducing them to natural causes, but the miracles of the Bible all happened as stated (1 Corinthians 10:1–11). When the Bible declares Christ walked on the water, He literally walked on water. The same could be said about the bodily resurrection of Christ or the ten plagues that Moses called down on Egypt, etc. Does not one interpret a math book or a newspaper literally? I am not putting other books on the same plane as the Bible, but only bringing out that any book will have to follow the normal rules of grammar or it could mean anything one wants it to mean. If one studies his math book and then takes a test and writes that 2 + 2 = 6, he will flunk. He may try and convince the teacher that though his math book seems to say 2 + 2 = 4, he still believes there is a deeper meaning or that it cannot be taken literally, but the teacher will have to inform him he will be retaking the class.
One must “study” to rightly interpret the Bible. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Basic Steps for Interpretation
Know the time period, and to whom it was written, also who is speaking: God, the devil, or a righteous man? The Bible is the Word of God, but it contains the words of complainers, the backslidden, the lost, and the devil. Of course, context greatly matters and not only the chapter that the passage is in but in some cases what the purpose of the book was: history, doctrine, rebuke, or encouragement. And more importantly, what have I learned and what must I apply to my life?
By reading our Bible, we become familiar with it. Supposed mistakes or contradictions in the Bible often come from those who have not studied the Bible and are not saved. The Bible is, after all, a spiritual book and if someone has not been born of the Spirit, how can he understand it? “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man [lost] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:13–14).
In the Bible, genealogies or events that are not the main point will be given first and then the following text may expand on the most important part of the previous passage. I have heard lost people who do not understand this think that they have found a mistake in the Bible. (“The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools” [Proverbs 26:20].) For example, in Genesis 10 we have genealogies and some place names, and about a third of the way through this chapter (v. 10) it mentions a place named “Babel” but does not tell us what happened there. Chapter 10:20-21 tells us these different people groups had different languages “after their tongues,” but not how they got them. Then in the next chapter, the first verse says, “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech” (Genesis 11:1). But the first nine verses of chapter 11 are not genealogies, but an explanation of the most important event in the last chapter, which was the tower of Babel and where all the different languages came from. The Bible waits till it finishes a section on genealogies and place names and then backs up to explain an event. The same in Genesis chapter 1, where we have the six days of creation and then in chapter 2, which is not a different creation account, as I have heard some say, but a retelling of the most important day, the sixth day, of the creation of man, and adding much more detail (see STUDY).
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). We cannot take a passage of Scripture and make it mean something that the rest of the Bible would not agree with. Let the Scriptures interpret the Scriptures. Compare what is said in one place with what is said in another passage about the same thing.
Interpreting Prophecy
It is especially true in prophecy (also parables) that you compare what is said in other passages when interpreting symbols or types to see how they are used in other places, sometimes other books of the Bible, to find similar accounts to see how these types or symbols are used, again the Bible interprets itself. As an example, see Revelation 17:1 where it says, “I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.” These are symbols, for a “whore” does not sit upon “waters.” In verse 15 of this same chapter it explains, “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” These “nations” are Gentiles or non-Jews. (This is why in Revelation 13:1 where it says “and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,” it is believed that this “beast,” which from further study shows to be the Antichrist, is a gentile, for he comes up out of the “sea.”) As to the identity of the “great whore,” this is found in Revelation 17:18: “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” This “woman” represents a “great city” that existed in Paul’s day, “is.” Though the judgment of it was still future, this great city was already ruling: “Reigneth over…the earth.” This could be none other than the city of Rome. Also verse 9 of this same chapter said there “are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” And again, Rome sits on seven mountains. (See Wikipedia “Latin: Septem colles/ montes Romae,”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_hills_of_Rome.)
As to why this woman was called a “whore,” it is again figurative as a city could not fornicate. This would be spiritual adultery, as when a city or nation becomes unfaithful to the Lord. As in Ezekiel 23:37: “With their idols have they committed adultery,” also “for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord” (Hosea 1:2 and many other verses).
And in prophecy there exist gaps. By this I do not mean that some of God’s Word is missing but that a passage will jump from one time period to another. In Luke 4:17–20 Jesus is quoting a passage from Isaiah and says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel…To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book.” This prophecy was about Himself and His ministry at that time. Now compare this with what He quotes from in Isaiah 61:1–2: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings …To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.” When Christ quoted this passage, He stopped at the comma after “the Lord,” and then closed the book of Isaiah. Why? Because the rest of the same sentence says, “the day of vengeance of our God.” What Christ had quoted was fulfilled in His life, but the part about “vengeance” was future. So between the words “year of the Lord, and the day” has been almost 2,000 years so far. And at times prophecy can have these undeclared spaces of time (gaps) (see END TIMES; see REVELATION).
Prophecy can even jump from one person who was alive at the time of the writing, who was a type of a person who would live in the future. This is known as “near and far fulfillment.” For example, in Hosea 11:1 it says, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” In this verse Israel is called God’s “son,” but in the New Testament we are told it was ultimately “fulfilled” in Christ: “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:15). This is worthy of bringing up because we are often taught: “Scripture has only one interpretation but many applications,” and I almost always agree with this. “Thou shalt not steal” means do not take what is not yours. But this can be applied many ways: do not steal money, affection, loyalty, time from your boss, etc. But prophecy can have a near and far fulfillment (see Revelation 17:9–10; see END TIMES; see RETURN OF CHRIST, last part).
(Hermeneutics) Christ and the apostles interpreted the Old Testament literally. This is our model on how we should interpret the New Testament, though there are symbols, figures of speech, similes, and metaphors, such as “Ye are the light of the world,” etc. There is also the possibility of drawing an allegory (see ALLEGORICAL) from an event recorded in Scriptures, still, the people and events themselves are historical.
Some ministers do not believe the events and miracles of the Bible, but will talk of them only to bring out what they call a “deeper truth.” The vast majority of scholars today, and even ministers of churches, do not believe in Adam and Eve. They are a joke to them; yet they believe they came from animals. They do not believe that Christ was born of a virgin; they say it is a “biological impossibility,” yet they believe that the first living cell came into existence without a father or a mother. They do not believe that Christ is God; they believe He was delusional. They do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ; they believe He rotted. They do not believe that Jesus Christ created everything in the universe. They believe that man is a product of chance mutations and that the whole universe was an accident.
Now I ask you, if today’s scholars see the world through the eyes of unbelief, how do you think that affects their perception of God’s Word and their interpretation of it? “While many have doubted the accuracy of the Bible, time and continued research have consistently demonstrated that the Word of God is better informed than its critics” (Norman Geisler).
There have also been many who have explained away the miracles of the Bible by reducing them to natural causes, but the miracles of the Bible all happened as stated (1 Corinthians 10:1–11). When the Bible declares Christ walked on the water, He literally walked on water. The same could be said about the bodily resurrection of Christ or the ten plagues that Moses called down on Egypt, etc. Does not one interpret a math book or a newspaper literally? I am not putting other books on the same plane as the Bible, but only bringing out that any book will have to follow the normal rules of grammar or it could mean anything one wants it to mean. If one studies his math book and then takes a test and writes that 2 + 2 = 6, he will flunk. He may try and convince the teacher that though his math book seems to say 2 + 2 = 4, he still believes there is a deeper meaning or that it cannot be taken literally, but the teacher will have to inform him he will be retaking the class.
One must “study” to rightly interpret the Bible. “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).
Basic Steps for Interpretation
Know the time period, and to whom it was written, also who is speaking: God, the devil, or a righteous man? The Bible is the Word of God, but it contains the words of complainers, the backslidden, the lost, and the devil. Of course, context greatly matters and not only the chapter that the passage is in but in some cases what the purpose of the book was: history, doctrine, rebuke, or encouragement. And more importantly, what have I learned and what must I apply to my life?
By reading our Bible, we become familiar with it. Supposed mistakes or contradictions in the Bible often come from those who have not studied the Bible and are not saved. The Bible is, after all, a spiritual book and if someone has not been born of the Spirit, how can he understand it? “Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man [lost] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:13–14).
In the Bible, genealogies or events that are not the main point will be given first and then the following text may expand on the most important part of the previous passage. I have heard lost people who do not understand this think that they have found a mistake in the Bible. (“The legs of the lame are not equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools” [Proverbs 26:20].) For example, in Genesis 10 we have genealogies and some place names, and about a third of the way through this chapter (v. 10) it mentions a place named “Babel” but does not tell us what happened there. Chapter 10:20-21 tells us these different people groups had different languages “after their tongues,” but not how they got them. Then in the next chapter, the first verse says, “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech” (Genesis 11:1). But the first nine verses of chapter 11 are not genealogies, but an explanation of the most important event in the last chapter, which was the tower of Babel and where all the different languages came from. The Bible waits till it finishes a section on genealogies and place names and then backs up to explain an event. The same in Genesis chapter 1, where we have the six days of creation and then in chapter 2, which is not a different creation account, as I have heard some say, but a retelling of the most important day, the sixth day, of the creation of man, and adding much more detail (see STUDY).
“Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (2 Peter 1:20). We cannot take a passage of Scripture and make it mean something that the rest of the Bible would not agree with. Let the Scriptures interpret the Scriptures. Compare what is said in one place with what is said in another passage about the same thing.
Interpreting Prophecy
It is especially true in prophecy (also parables) that you compare what is said in other passages when interpreting symbols or types to see how they are used in other places, sometimes other books of the Bible, to find similar accounts to see how these types or symbols are used, again the Bible interprets itself. As an example, see Revelation 17:1 where it says, “I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters.” These are symbols, for a “whore” does not sit upon “waters.” In verse 15 of this same chapter it explains, “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” These “nations” are Gentiles or non-Jews. (This is why in Revelation 13:1 where it says “and saw a beast rise up out of the sea,” it is believed that this “beast,” which from further study shows to be the Antichrist, is a gentile, for he comes up out of the “sea.”) As to the identity of the “great whore,” this is found in Revelation 17:18: “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” This “woman” represents a “great city” that existed in Paul’s day, “is.” Though the judgment of it was still future, this great city was already ruling: “Reigneth over…the earth.” This could be none other than the city of Rome. Also verse 9 of this same chapter said there “are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” And again, Rome sits on seven mountains. (See Wikipedia “Latin: Septem colles/ montes Romae,”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_hills_of_Rome.)
As to why this woman was called a “whore,” it is again figurative as a city could not fornicate. This would be spiritual adultery, as when a city or nation becomes unfaithful to the Lord. As in Ezekiel 23:37: “With their idols have they committed adultery,” also “for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord” (Hosea 1:2 and many other verses).
And in prophecy there exist gaps. By this I do not mean that some of God’s Word is missing but that a passage will jump from one time period to another. In Luke 4:17–20 Jesus is quoting a passage from Isaiah and says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel…To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book.” This prophecy was about Himself and His ministry at that time. Now compare this with what He quotes from in Isaiah 61:1–2: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings …To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God.” When Christ quoted this passage, He stopped at the comma after “the Lord,” and then closed the book of Isaiah. Why? Because the rest of the same sentence says, “the day of vengeance of our God.” What Christ had quoted was fulfilled in His life, but the part about “vengeance” was future. So between the words “year of the Lord, and the day” has been almost 2,000 years so far. And at times prophecy can have these undeclared spaces of time (gaps) (see END TIMES; see REVELATION).
Prophecy can even jump from one person who was alive at the time of the writing, who was a type of a person who would live in the future. This is known as “near and far fulfillment.” For example, in Hosea 11:1 it says, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.” In this verse Israel is called God’s “son,” but in the New Testament we are told it was ultimately “fulfilled” in Christ: “Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:15). This is worthy of bringing up because we are often taught: “Scripture has only one interpretation but many applications,” and I almost always agree with this. “Thou shalt not steal” means do not take what is not yours. But this can be applied many ways: do not steal money, affection, loyalty, time from your boss, etc. But prophecy can have a near and far fulfillment (see Revelation 17:9–10; see END TIMES; see RETURN OF CHRIST, last part).
