Most of what’s in the Bible is pretty much what it appears to be and means pretty much what it appears to mean. Don’t be fooled by people who make it seem harder than it is—especially if they’re selling something.
That said, there certainly are some hard parts in the Bible. When you come upon those places you have to decide whether to surrender your understanding to someone who claims greater insight or dig for understanding on your own.
Whether you tend to default to guidance from someone you perceive to be more expert or to your own reasoning and spiritual insight, here are some simple rules to help you test the quality of your understanding.
- Words matter. Words in the Bible generally mean what those same words mean anywhere else. Bible translators, on the whole, work to make the text as clear and unambiguous as possible (Now and again, you’ll run into theologians and preachers who come in behind the translators and muddy the water).
- Form matters. Read poetic, lyrical passages as poetry and songs. Read letters as letters from one person to the person or persons he addresses. Read historical passages as history. This is important because the benefit of, say, Paul’s letter to Titus, begins with understanding that you’re reading other people’s correspondence. So question one is: Who is Paul in relation to Titus and what does Paul want Titus to know and do? The next level of benefit comes from interpreting and applying that correspondence to yourself insofar as possible. Chances are, for example, you don’t know any slaves. So how do you interpret and apply Paul’s advice to Titus regarding Christian slaves in your current circumstances? Is now the time to improve your bottom line by acquiring slaves?
- Sources matter. The Bible records the words of liars as well as truth-tellers; fools as well as sages. Before you take what someone in the Bible says as gospel, consider the source. This is especially important if you encounter something that seems out of step with the rest of the Bible text.
- Context matters. The Bible is, to a large degree, self-interpreting and it’s in the context—immediate and extended—that you’ll find interpretive clues.
- Look for clues to the meaning of unfamiliar or confusing words in the passage where you find them. If that doesn’t clarify the meaning you can refer to a Bible concordance to see where else the word is used in the Bible, or a Bible dictionary or commentary to see what an expert says.
- Start looking for clues to the meaning of a confusing passage in the book where you encounter it, then move to other writings by the same person (for example, Paul generally interprets Paul better than Isaiah interprets Paul. So, if you want to understand Paul’s advice to Titus on the subject of slaves, start with everything Paul wrote on the subject of slavery. You can, of course, read Isaiah as well.)
- Look for clues to the meaning of confusing passages in related writings. Paul wrote two letters to Timothy and two to the Christians in Corinth and two to the Christians in Thessalonica. The four Gospels cover the same ground. Quite a few books in the Old Testament run parallel to each other rather than one after the other—so, for example, the references to Hezekiah in Second Kings, First & Second Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Micah and Zephaniah are all historically related.
Context matters because it keeps us from what’s called proof-texting. Proof-texting is the practice of drawing a broad conclusion from a narrow or isolated text. The problem with that is more or less the same as the problem with drawing a conclusion based on the words of a liar—those words are in the Bible all right, but you may want to think twice before you go off and start a new church on that basis.
All of which is to say, let the Bible interpret the Bible. If you need help beyond that, there’s plenty available.
Two more rules and we’re done.
- Keep it simple. In the case of competing interpretations, it’s generally (though perhaps not exclusively) true that a simpler interpretation is preferable to a more complicated one.
And finally…
- Keep moving. If you get lost in the woods, see if you can backtrack to a place you recognize. Don’t get hung up forever on something you don’t understand; move on for the time being and come back to the difficult passage later. It’s not going anywhere and you may return better prepared to comprehend it.
