BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION AND A KNOWLEDGE OF ALL THE SCRIPTURES

Biblical interpretation requires us to have a knowledge of the entirety of the Scriptures. Here is one perplexing example:

We all have knowledge of God and are therefore accountable for our sins (Romans 1:18-20). God’s laws are even inscribed on our hearts (Romans 2:14-16).

It’s therefore perplexing that in his second evangelistic speech, it seems that Peter lets his listeners off the hook:

·       “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” (Acts 3:17)

How could they have been ignorant in their rejection of their Savior and miracle Worker? However, the context indicates that their ignorance was partial and yet culpable. They were only partially ignorant and not willfully ignorant. Nevertheless, they were aware of Jesus’ miracles but ascribed them to Satan, as had their leadership. Therefore, Peter directed them to “Repent” (Acts 3:19).

The Old Testament consistently taught that some sins were of greater gravity than others, based on both the condition of the heart and the act itself (Jeremiah 17:10):

·       The man who acts presumptuously [rebelliously] by not obeying the priest who stands to minister there before the LORD your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12)

·       Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. (Psalm 19:13)

Presumptuous sins were both purposeful and rebellious. The Psalmist reveals that he could be forgiven of inadvertent or unwilling sins and would then be “blameless…innocent of great transgression.”

I am assuming that Peter’s “ignorant” audience had not been acting rebelliously. Their ignorance had not been as culpable as what we read about in Hosea, where Israel’s ignorance was willful:

·       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. (Hosea 4:6)

They were ignorant of God because they had rejected God. Paul also mentioned His relative ignorance. Paul had not been rebelliously ignorant. Therefore, he would be eligible for the grace of God despite the fact that he was the worst of sinners:

·       though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief. (1 Timothy 1:13)

Nevertheless, Paul hadn’t been entirely ignorant. He too had hardened himself against the things of God, as he explained to King Agrippa:

·       “And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’” (Acts 26:14)

It seems that Paul had been kicking against the knowledge of the truth (and perhaps also the Holy Spirit) in his zeal for Judaism, as he wrongly understood it. Elsewhere, he claimed that he had been “blameless”:

·       …as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:6)

“Blameless” even though also the worst of sinners! How can this be? Even though, Paul was committing the worst of sins, he was acting in “unbelief,” and not in rebellion.

This brings us to a set of verses, which I had found most difficult to interpret:

·       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. Whoever hates me hates my Father also. 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. (John 15:22-24)

Here, Jesus is referring to those who hate Him and the Father. Theirs was an ignorance of the worst kind – a willful and rebellious ignorance (Hebrews 10:26; Ephesians 4:18-19). Even though they had directly witnessed Jesus’ miracles, they, in their hatred and love of the darkness, ascribed them to Satan, against all reason (Matthew 12:24-32).

Nevertheless, it is perplexing that Jesus would say, “they would not have been guilty of sin,” since all sin and require the mercy of God. Evidently, Jesus must have been referring to great rebellious sin (Psalm 19:13), a distinction that the Lord had explained to Israel:

·        “If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. But the person who does anything with a high hand [purposely], whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the LORD...” (Numbers 15:27-31)

One last thought – Some fear that perhaps they have gone too far, and there is no longer hope for them. However, if you still desire the things of the Lord, it means that  you haven’t gone too far. In contrast, there are others who have no esteem for the things and forgiveness of God:

·       The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

This is a person who is totally committed to the darkness and hates the things of God (John 3:19-20). If you still want the Lord and esteem His forgiveness, He is evidently drawing you, and you can trust in this promise:

·       For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:12-13)

Now, let’s stand back a bit. I hope that you can see that the knowledge of the Scriptures, even of the OT, is essential to Biblical interpretation.