November 12th: The Interpretation of Scripture
Speaker: Duncan Wyncoll
The rules for correctly interpreting God’s Word, contained within its own pages, outlined and explained.
Introduction
· Given all the different views & practices amongst Christians you’d think the Bible is difficult to interpret
· But numerous views on Scripture are not inevitable
2 Peter 1.20,21 - ‘Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.’
BCF chapter 1 section 9 & 10 ‘The infallible rule for the interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself, & therefore it must be searched… The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined… can be no other than the Holy Scripture, delivered by the Spirit’
· Modern Mysticism says - ‘What is God saying to me?’ i.e. a passage may mean something different to different people
Rom 15.5 - ‘Now the God of patience & consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus’ - Same opinion/mind-set…
Infiltration of Modern Liberal Approach > widespread global damage
1. What was the original author trying to say to the people?
2. What was the culture of the day? (holy kiss & head covering cf. women teaching & homosexuality)
3. What theology would the author have known? – Progressive Revelation (only previous revelations can help ® NT cannot shed light on OT)
4. Each passage has only one sense (Psalm 51 – David’s repentance only?)
5. Don’t read any religious opinion into any passage!
Result
· God’s Word dies in our hands; sermons are dry, impotent & empty
Eg: Carey’s great sermon, using Isaiah 54.2,3 – ‘Enlarge the place of thy tent, & let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, & strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand & on the left; & thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, & make the desolate cities to be inhabited.’
· Modern approach strips out the message – many modern commentaries are of no help
· People adrift in the churches – scripture becomes less relevant
· Confusion & numerous opinions eg: confusion/error on the Christian TV channels
Matt 22.29 – ‘Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God’
Great gulf between ‘liberal approach’ & the ‘real method’
Example 1. Deut 25.4 - ‘Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.’ What is this about? Humanity or oxen? 1 Cor 9.7-10, 13 & 14 - …Instruction about reward for labour
Example 2. Deut 22.10,11 - ‘You shall not plough with an ox & an ass together. Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woollen and linen together.’ 2 Cor 6.14 – ‘Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers’
A principle for life!
Remember - the real author is NOT the penman – 1 Peter 1.10-12
1. Invariably scripture is more profound than the penman – hence modern approach is disastrous – The writers studied their own prophecies
2. Message was much bigger than the messenger
3. God the author is not the author of confusion – He wants us to be instructed clearly by His book
Perhaps some of the modern confusion stems from a lack of respect for God’s word…?
RULES FOR INTERPRETATION
1. Prayer & reverence
Ps 119.18 - ‘Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.’
· Implication – I tend to miss wonderful things, I need illumination
· Not a revelation – but find the objective/clear standards
· Of course I need daily feeding, & I need to avoid fanciful interpretations
· Respect His Word – it’s not highly complex, & yet not trivial
· It is His Word by which I’ll be judged; it is His commands
2. Avoid Wrong Attitudes
a. Avoid overconfidence – esp. young men… come humbly, desiring to see new things
b. Be prepared to have your views changed. Be prepared for rebuke & correction as well as encouragement – much easier for us, since not in public life!
Illus: e.g. Politicians who make mistakes – rarely apologise…
c. Don’t use Bible to try to justify existing opinions, or win arguments
d. Avoid superficiality: but desire depth. Look for doctrines & applications
e. Not technical knowledge (dates, places); Long for spiritual advance –
- Why has the Holy Spirit written this?
- That’s why we avoid some SS lesson systems & ‘types of quizzes’
3. Commitment to Accuracy
a. Slow down & observe the detail, don’t rush – public reading is supposed to be slow & deliberate (just one of the reasons we use the KJV – it makes us think)
E.g. Are miracles frequent in the NT – As suggested by power evangelists? Actually, the NT is full of witness without miracles
b. Work out the meaning of crucial words E.g. James 5.14 – ‘Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; & let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.’
…anointing him with oil = oiling with oil, greasing with perfume
Not consecrate; not a spiritual act, but practical one – massage, soothing
Modern equivalent might be financial help, care & support
4. Sensible Sense First
a. The plain sense of the penman – Moderns stop here
b. Type of book – Historical, prophetic, poetic, letter. Genesis & Rev
c. Context – Most ignored rule of all?
Example 1. Matthew 7.1 - ’Judge not, that ye be not judged’ - must be read in context of 7.6 & 7.15…dogs & false prophets. Thus, it refers to hypocrisy & judging while guilty of same error. Chapter context is about discernment
Example 2. James 5.15 – ‘& the prayer of faith shall save the sick, & the Lord shall raise him up…’ Is this a right to healing? Must be in the context of God’s will – James 4.15
5. The Analogy of Faith – a Reformation term
· Does my interpretation agree with the whole faith?
· Assumption is that God’s word cannot contradict itself
a. Check vs. fundamental doctrine. E.g. can a believer lose salvation?
b. Is it taught in other scriptures – Build up the doctrines from a number of texts
E.g. speaking privately in ecstatic tongues built on 1 text
c. Not dependent upon non-biblical information
6. Look for the practical lessons
§ We are instructed to look for Christ & His Church in the OT – Acts 28.23
Paul preaching when he arrived in Rome ‘…persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, & out of the prophets, from morning till evening…’
§ Hebrews 11 – tells us how to view the heroes of Faith
§ Expect profound help from all scripture. Rom 15.4 – for our learning, 1 Cor 10.11 - ensamples, 2 Tim 3.16 – all scripture is profitable
7. Normative for today?
§ Holy kiss, wearing of head-coverings etc. What it cultural?
§ What else was cultural, & what is not?
8. What do the commentators think? – Can give some recs if required…
Hence the reason for a Systematic Theology, Code of Belief & Doctrine Class
