By INTERPRETATION, some believe that
you can look at a verse in the Bible and apply whatever meaning you think is
right.
Peter, an apostle, and someone who
walked closely with Jesus, didn't agree.
He said that God's words cannot be mixed with the person's desire (human
will). Since God spoke the words, then
the meaning originated with God.
While there are some internal arguments
within Christianity over certain passages and events—the days of creation, the scope
of the flood, meanings of Old Testament prophecies, baptism by sprinkling or immersion,
the role of women in the church, the number of times we must do communion, the
interpretation of Revelation as a past or future prophecy, how the world will
end—99.9% of the Bible is pretty clear to all sides.
Christians believe in the existence of
the people, the places and the events of the Bible and they don't really interpret
them any other way. The words Jesus
spoke were verified by four eyewitnesses.
His death and resurrected witnessed by hundreds.
Now some things we must keep in mind so
that we can properly interpret scripture.
CONTEXT - was the passage
spoken within a certain event and is someone today lifting the verse out of
context and applying another meaning. If
I said the Bible says "God hates" I would be correct. However the verse came from Deuteronomy
16:21-22 - "Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole beside the altar you
build to the Lord your God, and do not erect a sacred stone, for these the Lord
your God hates." The context of
the verses says that God hates false idols, not that God is hateful.
GENRE - the Bible is a
multi-faceted book that expresses itself through history, poetry, biography,
apocryphal prophecy, warnings and encouragement. You cannot take the poetry literally and you
can't interpret the history poetically.
You have to know what is being expressed and how. Psalm 91 talks about God's feathers and under
his wing we will find refuge. Does God
have feathers? No, it's a poetical
expression comparing a mother hen and her chicks to God and his people.
CULTURE - certain passages
are addressed to certain cultures at certain times in their history. Women were treated differently and needed to
behave in a certain manner in that first century culture. That has changed today. While the principles may apply, the limits of
what is acceptable and not-acceptable may have changed.