How to Interpret the Bible
Interpretation is not a Mystery
“Why should I make the effort to learn how to read the Bible, when truth seems to be different for each person? Won’t truth simply dawn upon me as I live my life and absorb information from the world around me?”
Or perhaps you’ve wondered how ordinary people can interpret the Bible without someone else to teach them. And what if the teacher puts her own “truth” into it, and it’s not right? How would you know, and does it matter?
The Bible is not a magical book, with short, pithy sayings for every occasion. Yet, that is often how we treat the Bible. We are feeling sad, so we look for a verse to cheer us up. Our friend’s mother dies, so we hunt for a verse to give comfort. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with our desire to find answers in the Bible, but the Bible is so much more than that.
How to Interpret the Bible: It's a Story!
It is a story – the story of Jesus Christ, and his life on earth as told in four Gospels. In addition, it’s a story that effects how we live our lives, based on Jesus’s story. Gospel means “good news.” And I won’t be a spoiler and tell you how the story ends, but it is good news.
Actually, the Bible is one of the oldest, most-read books in the world. Unlike other ancient books, the Bible is not that hard to grasp. It was written to communicate truth. It would have been pointless if we couldn’t understand it.
You’re still reading this blog because you want to know how to read the Bible, and you’d like to discover more about it. Perhaps you are far enough along in your walk with God to know that you should be feeding yourself spiritually. Or maybe you are even ready to teach others, but you want to make sure that what you teach is, indeed, God’s truth. How can you be sure? The apostle Paul wrote, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth” (Second Timothy 2:15).
How to Interpret the Bible: Words!
If you want to learn how to handle God’s word accurately, you need to understand how written words should be interpreted. You do it all the time, without even thinking about it, but somehow with the Bible, it seems different. It’s called Interpretation. Webster’s Dictionary gives these definitions of the word interpret: “to explain or tell the meaning of; to conceive in the light of individual belief, judgment, or circumstance.” Interpretation is the act or result of doing these things. But how do we do them?
If your friend tells you that her children had a ball at the birthday party, you know immediately what she means.
They were not throwing snowballs, they were not dancing at a ball, and they were not planting trees. The definition of words is important, but so is the context in which we use them.
In fact, keeping things in context is probably one of the most important things to remember about reading any book. There are, however, several different ‘contexts’ to consider.
How to Interpret the Bible: Context!
1. The time context in which the piece was written can have a bearing on what happened. In the case of the Bible, many of the sections were written sometimes centuries apart. Finding out about the era in which a book was written helps to understand the whys and wherefores of the text. This is so necessary before you decide how the section might apply – or not apply – to your life. I can’t just decide to build a boat because God told Noah to do that!
2. The location context is also important, as you realize that the Bible was written from the Middle Eastern point-of-view. Therefore, many customs and events that may seem strange to you made perfect sense to the people in those countries. Understanding those cultures better will help you extract principles for living in your century and your location. Just because David had to fight a giant doesn’t mean we have to. Although. There might be a powerful lesson for us.
3. The immediate context can be defined as the reasons for the author to have written the piece you are reading.
- Who was the author and what were his credentials?
- What was the situation that caused the author to sit down and pen this section?
- For whom was the writing intended?
- Who were those people and how did they receive the written word?
Much of this information is often included in your Bible at the beginning of each “book.” Just remember that this info is included by the publisher and is not a direct part of the Bible text.
4. Finally, you have the textual context. I made the comment above that the Bible is not a magical book with short, pithy sayings for every occasion. When you read a novel, you begin at the beginning and – usually – you don’t go to the last chapter until you actually get there. In Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet,” you would not understand why Juliet says, “O happy dagger!” in one of the last scenes.
The Bible is much the same way. Each ‘book’ in the Bible has a beginning, an argument, and an ending. Some of the historical books also have plot development and main characters. (The miracle of the Bible is that it includes 66 separate writings, written by 35-40 different writers, over a time-span of almost 2000 years. Yet everything has combined to tell one sweeping story of Jesus Christ.) when you read a whole section or a paragraph or a verse from the Bible, it’s very important to glance before and after that part to see what the immediate context is. Many cults and sects base their false teaching on bits ripped out of context to prove a dubious point.
How to Interpret the Bible: Verify!
If other people give you information about what the Bible teaches, ask them for the verses and then look at the context to make sure they are telling the truth about what the Bible teaches.
There are whole books written about how to interpret the Bible. I have given you a brief summary. If you want to read and understand the Bible, just be honest with what you read, and God will be glad to help you understand more. That’s the wonderful mystery!