THE KEY TO THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE

 

 

It is legitimate to interpret the Gospels in terms of the intent of their human authors. However, many scholars stop there without considering the intent of the greater author – the Holy Spirit. The Bible warns us against such a bias in a number of ways. First, it claims that the Bible is God-breathed-out:

 

·       2 Timothy 3:16–17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

 

This is also the claim of the Apostles:

·       1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

 

The Spirit even warned the Hebrew Prophets that what they write, they will not always understand because it was written for a later generation:

 

·       1 Peter 1:10–12 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.

 

Because of this, our unbalanced method of interpretation – looking just at the intent of the human authors – biases the resulting interpretation. Instead, if the Bible is the Word of God, then we have to also treat it as God demands – as the one plan of God from beginning to end. This requires us to interpret each verse in conjunction with the rest of the Bible. If we do not start according to the approach delineated by God Himself, we will inevitably derive wrong interpretations.

This is also the way we attempt to interpret any novel – to understand the end from what has already been laid out in the beginning and even throughout. If the Bible is God’s Word, why then shouldn’t we interpret it as the coherent work of its one managing Author! Consequently, we derive the essential principle – Scripture interprets Scripture!