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Welcome to The Rapid Bull, daily edition, where we provide a quick biblical interpretations and applications. This is a ministry of striving for eternity.
This week what we did was take a look at some of the common passages that are so often misinterpreted and yet it doesn't take much to rightly interpret them. Just as some simple questions you can ask, just reading it within context and asking who is the writer writing to?
What we are going to end up seeing is that for many of these verses, just looking at the context or looking at who these passages were written to helps us to understand what the passages really mean and we get to see how so many people that interpret these misinterpret them because they don't follow those simple principles.
Always make sure to read in context and ask the question, who is writing and who is it being written to? Let's look at some passages now. There are some passages of the Bible that are just misinterpreted and misapplied over and over again.
One of those passages, probably one of the most common ones, is Matthew 18 verse 20 which states, for where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them. That is an encouraging passage to many people who have small churches or a Wednesday night Bible study where they are having a few people in numbers and they use this passage to say where there are two or three gathered, Jesus is here, but is that speaking of a prayer.
Meeting?
Hmm.
Actually, no. How do we know the meaning of this passage? We look at the context. What you end up seeing from this context is that this is dealing with an issue where a brother has sinned against another brother and they've gone to them privately and they didn't repent.
So they went and brought two or three witnesses as required in the Old Testament and those are the two or three. So where it says where two or three are gathered in my name, I am among them, that's referring to the two or three witnesses that witnessed someone who is unrepentant in sin.
This isn't a prayer meeting. This is people who are going to have to put someone out of the church, which no one wants to do, and it's an assurance that those two or three witnesses witnessed the unrepentance and God is there with them.
That's how this passage should be interpreted. Again, staying in the context that we saw in yesterday's episode, in Matthew chapter 18, the verse just before it is often misinterpreted as well. That is verse 19.
Matthew 18, 19 reads this way. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. That verse is used very often, mostly by charismatics unfortunately, but it's used to argue that God somehow is obligated to give you whatever you want as long as you can get two people on earth to agree about it.
I actually saw this played out when I was in college and had someone who couldn't afford.
A car.
He wanted me to co-sign a loan for him.
I'm not that dumb.
But if his parents weren't willing, I'm certainly not willing. And the next day he told me he's getting a brand new car. How's that? Because he didn't have the money just yesterday. And he took this verse, found two other people that would pray with him, and because they asked on earth, he believed God was obligated to give him a new car.
Needless to say, he never got a new car, at least not during his college years. But the thing is that that's not what this verse is talking about. As we saw yesterday's episode, this is dealing with the issue of church discipline.
And the two or three are two or three witnesses. And when you have to put someone out of church, no one wants to do that. It is an encouragement to know that they went through the process, the two or three or two witnesses of unrepentance, not asking for anything you want.
A passage of scripture that's on so many gospel tracks is Revelation chapter 3 verse 20, and that reads, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.
I've seen that on so many different gospel tracks, trying to say that Jesus is standing at the door of your heart knocking, and if you open the door, he'll come in and eat with.
You.
But is that really what it's saying? Well first off, when you want to do interpretation, a good thing to do is ask who is the audience. Well John is writing here to the church of Laodicea. Did you get that word?
The church? That's right. He's writing this to people who already believe. So how could this verse be referring to people who do not believe?
Well it doesn't.
That's really what it comes down to.
It doesn't.
That's not the meaning of this passage. This is a letter written to this church where they are needing encouragement, where they're doing things that God wants them to be useful for his purposes, and he's saying to them in verse 19, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
He's calling them to repentance, those who already believe, and that he's standing at the door welcoming them back. Not to the door of their heart, but basically to the door of the church saying, come back, repent and be a church.
It's not to unbelievers. Why is it that so many of these passages seem to be misinterpreted right close to one another? Because here's another one in the same passage we looked at yesterday, Revelation 3, and this one is verse 15, where it says, I know your works.
You are neither cold nor hot. Would you, would that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my.
Mouth.
And so many people take this and they talk about being on fire for God, and that's the hot, or being completely dead to God, having nothing that you do. God wants one of those two, but being indifferent he doesn't want.
Well, God doesn't want indifference, but is that what this passage really is saying? Think about this for just a moment. Does God want people that claim to be Christians that have a dead faith that aren't doing anything?
Of course not. Just because the word hot and fire means is hot, doesn't mean that's what this is talking.
About.
This isn't talking about that. There were hot springs that were in the land of Laodicea, and there was also these cold,.
Refreshing streams.
And where the two of them met, it was lukewarm. The hot springs were good for healing, and the cold was refreshing for drinking. But where those two streams met in Laodicea, they were useless. This is not talking about being on fire for God or being dead for God.
No, this is referring to being useful for God, and that's what God wants you to be. One of the most popular verses that people memorize and want to use as a life verse is Jeremiah 29 .11. And it says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
And so many people love that because it sounds so good. But let's read things in context. Because again, we want to see who is this written to. But if we look at the context just a few verses down, you see some of the same language in verses 18.
It says, And I will pursue them with sword, famine, pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them.
Wow.
How come no one wants that as their life verse? See, people take chapter 29 verse 11 because they like the way it sounds. But is this a promise to you? Well verse 10 tells us that. Let's look at the context and see who it is that Jeremiah is writing to.
He says in verse 10, For thus says the Lord, when seventy years are complete for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. In other words, this was written to the Jewish people who were taken into captivity in Babylon.
After seventy years they returned. So if you're not part of that seventy year Babylonian captivity, then this verse isn't directly to you. But what does it apply to you? Well it shows that God is faithful.
That's something that we can hold on to.