The claim is frequently made: “You understand the Bible one way, and I understand it another. Neither of us should condemn the other.” Another variation of the same tune is this: “Well, that is your interpretation of the Scriptures. I have mine as well. Perhaps both of us are right.”
These statements contain a logical contradiction. There is no such thing as “understanding the Bible differently.” If two people differ on the meaning of a biblical text, one of them is wrong about the matter – possibly both. We might misunderstand something differently, but we do not understand something differently.
Moreover, a passage does not yield two different interpretations; somewhere, there is misinterpretation.
The concept of Biblical Interpretation is also known by its more technical term of “Sacred Hermeneutics”, which is the study of the methods of determining the meaning of the Bible.
Before going into the thoughts of Biblical interpretation and whether or not we can understand the Bible the same, it should be noted that there are a few ‘ideas’ out there that have made the concept of understanding the Bible a point of controversy.
- There are some that say that the Holy Spirit within a person gives them the understanding they need and that Biblical interpretation is not necessary. This is largely a Calvanistic doctrine of “illumination” and has no basis in scripture. Calvanism declares that a man is totally depraved and that means that he is incapable of doing good in and of himself. In fact, man is even incapable of understanding scripture by himself.
- Another idea contends that experience shows us that everyone has his own interpretation and that is the way it should be. Therefore, we don’t need a standardized hermeneutic because it simply won’t work. This idea sounds a lot like “existentialism”.
- A third idea says simply that the Bible is too difficult to understand so why bother. This is someone who has simply given-up and, therefore, sees no benefit in study at all. Such a person typically derives their whole understanding of religion from the words of some preacher or other secular materials. They claim to be “spiritual” and do not deny a belief in God but they simply don’t care to understand His word through their own effort.
I will address each of these briefly in order.
- The Calvanist doctrine leans heavily on the Holy Spirit for bringing understanding to the regenerate man. Typically, people who subscribe to this doctrine also believe in the idea of “Irresistible Grace”, meaning that the Holy Spirit must force such an unregenerate person to accept the gospel initially. Subsequently, the Holy Spirit must continue to enlighten a person even after he becomes a Christian. A passage sometimes cited in support of illumination is 1 Cor. 2:14-16. The context of this passage is not that of any individual Christian having the power from the indwelling Spirit to discern the meaning of scripture, but rather refers to individuals only in the first century who had miraculous spiritual gifts that allowed them to reveal the mind of God and discern when the mind of God was being spoken.
Because Christians today do not have these miraculous spiritual gifts (the word is complete), we must rely on other means for interpreting scripture, and its not illumination. It is more like ‘perspiration’ that yields a correct interpretation of scripture. Were illumination true, everyone who is a Christian would be able to interpret all passages alike. The essence of illumination is false.
- The question of Existentialism relys on the premise that we all come up with our own interpretation. Does that necessarily mean or imply that any person is welcome to his own interpretation of any passage of scripture? Reason will not allow such a conclusion. If it were true, we would end up with no absolutes. God could not define what is authoritative in scripture, thus, there would be no authority in scripture making the Bible a useless document.
The questions one must properly ask to combat this form of thinking is: Was there a purpose to the writing of each book of the Bible? Who was the intended audience? Did God inspire the writing to communicate certain ideas that He had in His mind and in His will? If so, then we must come to know God’s mind and His will. If not, then each person becomes his own authority, his own interpreter, instead of God giving His authoritative will in the scripture. This makes ‘self’ the god of ones life. That is self-idolotry and is simply not right.
- The idea that the Bible is simply too difficult to understand is simply a ‘cop-out’ or mental laziness. Granted, there are some parts of scripture that are indeed difficult to understand; Revelation, Ezekiel, Zechariah are all difficult books. To suggest that the whole Bible is difficult is nothing short of hyperbole.
God appeals to man’s intellect in the sacred scriptures. He wanted to communicate things like love, salvation, husband-wife relationships, among many others. If it is too hard to understand then we are in trouble. Either God is not capable of accomplishing such a task (and that challenges His very nature as The Supreme Being) or God is capricious, and He is sadistic in nature in giving us a book that we cannot understand. Such thoughts are neither true nor tolerable. 1 Cor. 2:10-13.
Can God Make Himself Understood?
We operate daily upon the presumption that we, frail mortals though we are, can make ourselves understood to our peers. A department store places an advertisement in the newspaper about an upcoming sale. Hundreds of people flock to the same establishment on the correct day at the right time expecting specific items at a certain price to be available for purchase. How is it that they understand the ad alike?
A recipe is printed on a cereal box for oat bran muffins. Hundreds of ladies across the country follow it and bake delicious muffins for their families. Do they understand the instructions alike?
A physician prescribes an antibiotic for someone with the flu, do we believe that the pharmacist will understand what the doctor has prescribed, and are we confident that we can understand the instructions for taking the medicine?
If we can sensibly operate our lives on a routine basis, recognizing that we are able to communicate with one another in an intelligible fashion, why can’t we acknowledge that God, who is infinitely wiser and abler than man, can clearly make His will known to humanity?
God Calls For Unity
We need to understand the Bible alike because different interpretations destroy unity among believers. Jesus prayed for unity in Joh. 17:20-21. He prayed for His apostles, disciples that would follow Him and He prayed that believers would be united as He and the Father were united. Paul called for unity in 1 Cor. 1:10, Eph. 2:14-18, Eph. 4:3 and the oneness of the Lord is explicitly stated in Eph. 4:4-6. If there is one God, and there is one Lord and there is one Spirit, and no one would deny that, in the same way there is one church and one faith and one baptism. If we look at the church, which there is one church and one body. To view this differently is to have violated this passage. We must understand that the one way is the way that brings unity.
Why People Don’t Understand the Bible Alike
God would not bind something upon us that we could not accomplish. Nor would he put before us a document that we could not understand alike. Both would reflect upon his character. So its proven that we can understand the Bible and understand it alike. For the sake of brevity, I cite three reasons why men do not understand the Bible alike.
1) Ignorance – We lack a full knowledge of the word. This could be because of distractions with the world and not prioritizing the study of scripture. We tend to rely too heavily on what other people, preachers and teachers tell us. This will not be an excuse in the end.
2) Prejudice – We bring preconceived notions to the scriptures such as to already have our thoughts ratified with our selfish feelings, thus resisting the pure meaning and intent of God’s word. It is important to approach God’s word without the rose-colored glasses.
3) Improper Hermeneutics – Everybody has a hermeneutic. We have certain rules that we apply to interpretation of scripture. Some are good, others may be faulty but they must always be flexible towards correction.
Conclusion
We must desire to seek God with the proper attitude in order for His truth to be properly revealed and subsequently followed. This attitude must include a sense of humility. To understand God’s word, we must deny self, take out the worldly trash of our minds and seek understanding with a genuinely pure heart. This is a conscious effort.
If one suggests that Jehovah could not clearly make Himself known to man, he reflects upon the power of the Lord. If one argues that God purposely did not reveal Himself to mankind in a lucid fashion, he reflects upon the benevolence of his Maker. If one contends that man has no responsibility to understand and to obey the precepts of the Scriptures, it is he who evidences great ignorance of his obligation to Heaven.
