Did you ever date one of those girls who took everything you said or did and interpreted it as some kind of an insult. You hold the door for her and it’s an attempt at turning back the feminist movement and submitting her under a patriarchal thumb. You say, “Your hair looks nice today,” and she takes it to mean that normally her hair looks like crap. You comment on how lovely her skirt is and she accuses you of being a pervert. I don’t claim to understand women, but these kind of women are never understood! Of course there are men like this too, but I’ve never dated them. There’s something wrong with this type of individual who misunderstand and misinterprets everything that others do or say. The problem is that they are not being very logical. You see there are real rules that govern our interpretative processes. Yes, as I said last week, God oversees even our interpretations, but he also expects us to use our minds and tools of logic to make good interpretations of his text. It is because we fail to do this that so often we find a variety of interpretations.
When it comes to interpretation there are a few simple rules that we must keep in the forefront of our mind if we are to attempt an accurate understanding of the text. The problem, as always, is not with the text of Scripture (nor with its clarity), but rather with the interpreter. So keeping these markers before you will help guide you to the right interpretive path.
1) We are always interested with the author’s intent! What matters in the interpretation of any text is what the author intended to communicate. How it makes us feel, what it makes us think, our response and reaction are not unimportant but they are not of primary importance. As you wrestle with a text, then, ask what its author may have wanted to communicate. Why did Paul write Galatians? What did he want the people to understand? Why did he want them to understand it? These are important questions to answer that will get you close to grasping the right interpretation of a text.
2) What was the historical context for this text? Understanding the author’s original intent will require us to inquire about the historical context. What was going on in Galatia when Paul wrote the letter? Where was Paul when he wrote it? The answers to such questions will factor into how we understand Paul’s language in the text. It will help us determine why he is harsh in some letters and not in others. It will help us understand why he talks about certain themes in one letter and not in another. The Letters of the New Testament are all very occasional, that is they are addressing a specific context. By understanding that context we can come to understand the meaning of the text itself.
3) How does Jesus fit into this text? This is what marks Christian interpretation out from every other kind of interpretation. We believe the whole Bible is about Jesus. The Savior himself testifies to this when he rises from the dead and discusses the Scriptures with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24:27 reads, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” All Scripture is about Jesus. Does it foreshadow him? Does it speak directly about it him as savior? Does it point back to him? Does it call us to live in light of his work for us? All sorts of questions may be asked here, but the key is neither to force the meaning, nor to deny its presence. Jesus is the key to understanding all of Scripture!
4) Lastly, how do the sentences fit together? The most important piece in any interpretive process is understanding the grammar. If you want to know what the meaning of a text is you have to wrestle with the language of that text. How do the verses in the passage fit together? How do these verses relate to the other verses surrounding them? How do they relate to the whole chapter and the whole book? The context is supremely important for understanding the meaning of a specific passage. You may do word studies and find them helpful and insightful, but ultimately it is not the word alone that declares the meaning. The sentence is the most basic form of communication and therefore we must understand sentences and paragraphs if we are to make sense of meaning. Grammar is not a minor detail in interpretation…despite that so few pastors seem to care for careful study of the sentences and contexts of Scripture (see my review of “Interpreting the Pauline Epistles” for more on this subject).
This of course does not ultimately lead to unanimity in interpretation. Many who seek to answer these very questions come to still differing conclusions on the text. We have discussed some of why that is (see Part 3), but ultimately among those who have submitted to the authority and inerrancy of Scripture there is general agreement on the key doctrines of Scripture.
There is one more dimension of this clarity discussion, however, which warrants our attention. Perhaps clarity is not rooted simply in our understanding all that God says. After all, we have seen that to some degree our interpretations can and do differ. What if, then, without undermining the reality that God does give us the ability to understand His Word, we inserted an element of subjectivity in this doctrine? Join me next week for more on this discussion point.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 