Why So Many Interpretations?

Why Many Interpretations of Scripture Arise

How do you get many interpretations of scripture with one God, one spirit leading and guiding?

Bad hermeneutics is the answer. And if you don't know what that is, hermeneutics is the art and science of interpreting written communication. And we are, by nature, bad at it. Because we tend to read our own ideas and our own wants into a written text.

And if you don't believe me, the Supreme Court is a hermeneutical institution. It was designed for the purpose of ensuring that the laws of this land are in accordance with the Constitution. That the Constitution is what all law must be governed against and determined against.

And their job is to interpret the Constitution. And they're supposed to interpret it according to a set of rules, grammatical and historical. And when they don't, we know it. Because they come up with all kinds of foolishness that does not go along with the original intention of the writers of the document.

Same thing is true for the Bible. There is a grammatical and historical method for interpreting scripture. Can it lead to two men having disagreements, as some of us do? Yes, because we bring with us our own traditions.

We bring with us our own wants and our own experiences. That's the hard part. That's why we come to different conclusions. But that doesn't mean that the document itself is faulty. The failure is with the interpreter.

Observation, Interpretation, and Application

And so how do we become better? Is we become better interpreters, better students of hermeneutics, better at observing and interpreting the text according to the rules of grammar and historical context.

So that's why it's bad. The vast majority of people who go to the Bible get the order out of it. And I'm sorry, I'm not going to preach. I'm sorry. The order is observation, interpretation, and application.

Which means, what does the text say? It cannot mean what it does not say. Therefore, that's first. It must be interpreted in light of what it says. It will not mean what it does not say. And then it must be applied according to what it has meant and what it has always meant.

Why Starting With Application Leads to Error

That's the order. Men begin with application. How does this text apply to me? If that's how you start your Bible study, you are wrong. Because that is doing it upside down. And that's where so many men and women arrive at wrong understandings with the same Holy Spirit.

Because they're not applying the proper methods of interpretation.