Principles of Bible Interpretation an excerpt from The Open Bible

 Principles of Bible Interpretation

Since the Bible was written by many men over a period covering 1,500 years, and since the last author of the Bible has been dead 1,900 years, there are definite problems in understanding the exact meaning of certain passages of the Bible.

There is a need to interpret clearly certain passages of the Bible because there is a gap between the way we think and the words we use today and the way of thinking and the words that these Bible writers used thousands of years ago. Bible scholars have pointed out that there are language gaps—differences in words that we use; there are cultural gaps—different customs were in vogue then. There are geographical gaps—certain rivers that are spoken of in the Bible have long since dried up. Some places that are spoken of frequently in the Bible are not on our modern maps. And then there are historical gaps—the Bible speaks of kings and empires that existed years ago.

Therefore, there is a need for Bible interpretation. This is a fascinating study in itself, but I want to give you just a few principles of interpretation of the Bible that will keep you from error and help you understand the difficult passages of the Word of God.

1. Always remember that the Bible is God’s infallible, inerrantly inspired Word. There are no mistakes in the Bible. God has included everything in the Bible that He wants you to know and that is necessary for you to know concerning salvation and your Christian life.

2. The second principle of interpretation is to interpret the Bible in the light of its historical background. There are three aspects of this:

a. Study the personal circumstances of the writer. In studying The Revelation, it is important to understand where John was and what he was doing when God gave him this marvelous revelation. See Revelation 1:1–10.

b. The second aspect of this principle is to study the culture and customs of the country at the time that the writing or story was taking place. For example, to understand the Book of Ruth, it is important to study the customs concerning widows, redemptions of property, and so on, as they are explained in Leviticus 25 and Deuteronomy 25.

c. A third aspect of this principle is to study and interpret the Bible in the light of the actual historical situation and events that were taking place at the time of the story. For example, in studying the Gospels it is important to realize that the entire land of Palestine and all of the Jews were being governed and oppressed by the Roman Empire at that time.

3. Interpret the Bible according to the purpose and plan of each book.

Every Bible book has its specific purpose intended by the Holy Spirit to bring some special message to humankind. For example, it is important to remember that 1 John (see 1 John 5:13) was written to Christians. Therefore the promise in 1 John 1:9 is specifically applied to Christians.

4. One of the most important principles of interpretation is always to interpret according to the context of a verse.

The “context” includes the verses immediately preceding and immediately following the verse you are studying. If you do not take care to interpret the verse according to the context, you could make the Bible teach atheism. For the Bible itself says, “There is no God” (Ps. 14:1). But the context makes very clear what this verse means: The whole sentence says, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ ”

Always study the passage immediately preceding and immediately following any verse, word, or topic to make sure that you see this truth in the setting that God intended.

5. Always interpret according to the correct meaning of words. You can find the correct meaning of a word in several ways. First of all, look up the usage of the word in other parts of the Bible to find how it was used in that generation. Another way is to look up its background or its root. You could do this with the use of a dictionary. Still another way is to look up the synonyms—words that are similar in meaning but slightly different: for example, “prayer,” “intercession,” “supplication.”

6. Also interpret the Bible according to all of the parallel passages that deal with the subject and according to the message of the entire Bible.

The more you read the Bible, the more you will understand that in it God is revealing His way of salvation to humankind from beginning to end. And when you come to a difficult passage, think of it in the light of the overall purpose of the Bible. For example, the animal sacrifices of the Old Testament are meant to be a picture of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

If you will follow these simple guidelines, you will be kept from error and extremes, and you will be helped to understand correctly the teachings of even the more difficult passages in God’s Word.

https://biblia.com/books/openbibl/Ge1.1

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