The Importance of Understanding the Bible

Whether you want to believe it or not, every single person who reads the Bible participates in Biblical Interpretation. When you read the Bible you are either intentionally or unintentionally interpreting what it is saying. The question is, are you interpreting the Bible correctly?

Correctly interpreting the Bible is extremely important, especially today when there are all kinds of wild theories and opinions about the times that we are living in. Too often people want to have "revelations" or "special insights" into the Scripture that fundamentally changes the original meaning of the text. 

Lots of people are running to the Book of Revelation to find answers to the news stories of today, questions like, “Could the COVID Vaccine be the Mark of the Beast?” I just stumbled upon a YouTube video that had almost 200,000 views where the guy was making that exact argument.  

In the book "How To Read The Bible For All It's Worth" by Gordon Fee, it has this helpful quote, "A text cannot mean what it could never have meant for its original readers/hearers... the true meaning of the biblical text for us is what God originally intended it to mean when it was first spoken or written."

Quick example: Jude 1:8 ESV "Yet in like manner these people also, relying on dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones." 

I've heard the argument that "defile the flesh" in this passage is referring to the painting of the flesh or what we would consider makeup. This argument is made because the Greek word used for defile is 'miaino' which means 1) to dye with another colour, to stain. 2) to defile, pollute, sully, contaminate, soil. 3) to defile with sins.

In the context of Jude, which definition is most likely intended? It's obvious from the text that defile the flesh is meant to mean exactly that, to pollute or stain or contaminate the flesh through sin. Here are the preceding verses to give clarity on the context.

Jude 1:5-8 “Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day - Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet, in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.”

Just because one of the definitions is to dye with another color doesn’t mean that it is proper exegesis to make defile the flesh refer to dying your hair or wearing makeup. It’s a misrepresentation of the text.

There are two ways we can interpret Scripture, one is called Exegesis, which means to pull out the intended meaning of the text. The other, which is something we should never do, is called Eisegesis, which means to read into the text what isn’t there. 

In a time where there are so many different denominations and beliefs within Christianity and in a time where progressive Christianity is rising, we need to make sure that we understand how to properly read and understand the Bible. I know, someone is going to say, ‘The Bible says what the Bible says’! Or ‘I just read the Bible literally’! 

Do you read the entire Bible literally? When Jesus said in Matthew 10:34 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.” Is that literal? Are we literally supposed to spread the gospel through violence? Some people have taken that position, but you can see that we don’t always interpret the Bible literally, we interpret the Bible correctly according to the plain meaning of the text. 

The Bible is the inspired Word of God, but it is also literature, this means that within the Bible there are genres of literature, for example: Narrative/Historical, Poetry, Wisdom Literature, Gospels, Epistles/Teachings, Prophecy. You don’t read Song of Solomon the same way you read the Book of Romans, you have to understand what you are reading. 

Let me give you two more examples of poor Biblical Interpretation:

In Joshua 6 we find the Children of Israel commanded to march around the walls of Jericho once a day for six days, on the seventh day they were to march seven times and blow trumpets and shout and the walls would fall. They did it and they conquered Jericho. This was a historical event, a narrative of what happened in the Children of Israel’s journey to the promise land. What is inappropriate is taking this passage that happened one time and using it to say that if we are facing obstacles in our lives all we need to do is march around a church and shout at the top of our lungs and the walls will come down in our life! 

Is Joshua 6 a prescriptive text or a descriptive text? In other words, is this text telling us something that applies to all of us for all time, or is this just describing what happened to Jericho? It’s descriptive.

Finally, 1 Corinthians 13:1 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.”

This text is used to show that there are different kinds of tongues. Heavenly tongues and earthly tongues, in other words, some believe that in your prayers you can speak in angelic tongues directly to God and in earthly languages when you are not talking directly to God. Does this text actually teach this?

First, we must understand that this is the only passage in the entire Bible that mentions tongues of angels. So it's not something the Bible refers to often. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean it's not true, but before we grab it and teach it we must make sure that we are properly understanding what Paul is writing about and how his audience would have understood it.

The first thing we need to consider is what leads up to verse 1? In Chapter 12 Paul is teaching about spiritual gifts and the body of Christ. He is showing that while we are all the body, we are not all the same.

1st Corinthians 12:27-31 “Now you are the body if Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healings? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you are more excellent way.”

Notice how Paul ends chapter 12 and remember that the original manuscripts didn’t have chapter breaks, “And I will show you a more excellent way.” Chapter 13 is considered the love chapter, the entire chapter is showing that without love none of what he just said matters. Now let's look at chapter 13.

1st Corinthians 13:1-3 “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”

Do we believe that Paul understood all mysteries and had all knowledge? Did he have all faith to move mountains? What is Paul doing in these verses? He is using Hyperbolic language to make a point. Paul is not teaching that it was possible to speak in angelic tongues any more than he was teaching it was possible to have all knowledge or to literally move mountains. He is saying hyperbolically, even if I could speak in the tongues of men and angels, but don’t have love, I am nothing. Even if I had all knowledge or understood all mysteries but don’t have love, I am nothing. Even if I gave all I had and delivered my body to be burned for my faith, but I don’t have love, I am nothing. 

Paul is showing how important love is, the context is not teaching about tongues or knowledge, or faith. 

So next time someone tries to explain why something is the mark of the beast or teach you something new, make sure that you understand the context of the verse being used and test it against the whole counsel of Scripture. The Bereans in Acts 17 should be our example.

Acts 17:10-11 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Barea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.”