Latest / Clear Path Christianity / How to Read the Bible WITHOUT Twisting It || CPC Podcast Ep. 26
Transcript
- Cole Crone: Yeah, talk about bake show. Bake show week one has just came out. Everybody's talking about Nigella Lawson's massive bites that she takes. I don't know. It was it th that that was that's the internet for you. That episode came out on what night was it? Was it Friday night? No. Okay, so we don't get it till we don't get it until Friday. and the internet was already rife with with memes about the way that she eats cake. Which is like that tells you everything you need to know about the internet, right? This is like it was yeah. mean to be honest. Yeah. Yeah, she does take yeah, she does take she does take absurdly large bites. Yeah. It's very unpredictable. You don't know where she's with it. Yeah, it's it is a little bit it is it's a little bit frantic. It's a little bit frantic. Which I am too around cake, you know. Yeah. Yeah. So I would react the same, you know. Maybe. Maybe. Yeah, I don't know. I yeah, and then like and then I and then I saw something yesterday like I guess her and Hollywood don't get along. Which is like, come on, man, like don't don't ruin the don't ruin the facade. Like I don't I don't need to know if Nigella Lawson and and Paul Hollywood get along or not. I d what difference does that make? I don't need to bring Mary Berry. Yeah, that's that's what I'm saying. Bring back give me give me give me Melon Sue and give me Mary Berry. Anything anything and everything since has been a an inferior product. And I'll and I'll fight to the death over. I will I will g I will I will die on that hill, even if I'm the only man standing. I will die on the hill that give me Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry and give me Mel and Sue. I mean Yeah, it wasn't broke and then Netflix took over and tried to you know mix it up and it was like it's like everything Netflix touches just becomes a a an an inferior product. What's up with that? It's like, come on. We had we had the perfect product for however many seasons of bake off. And then here I mean, Allison's great. It's probably just America. Maybe maybe it's maybe it's just America. But yeah, everything American bake off. Do they? It won't be as good. Well I think they've already done one because someone Yeah, there's no there's no way that an American version of that show is as is as good as it's not. I'll I'm I'm I'll still die on the hill that the British office is better than the American office. I'll die on that hill. I'm happy to die with the re with my fellow with my fellow Brits on that on that hill. So this week's podcast episode I've titled How to Read the Bible Without Twisting It. Now I've been in a lot of Bible studies, a lot of Bible discussions, and a lot of times I've found people will quote a verse And then say something to the effect of, see, the Bible clearly says dot dot dot. And then you think, okay, that's that's fine. maybe it does. And especially when you're like a new believer, people quote the Bible at you a lot. And then you think, okay, I'll go look at that passage myself. And then you you read the verse and think to yourself, does it? Does does the Bible clearly state that? Or is it or is it in fact saying something entirely different? Now, this was one of the most important lessons that I learned as someone who came from a cult that weaponized the Bible. I was surrounded by people who would, at least on occasion, quote the Bible. the problem wasn't that they were quoting the Bible. The problem was their interpretation of their quotes, right? So a Bible verse can be quoted verbatim, word for word, and still be used to teach something that the Bible doesn't teach. And so in this episode, we're going to explore a few ways that we can learn to read the Bible without twisting it. So the first thing that we need to recognize is that the Bible isn't the problem. The the the problem is with us. Most people who claim to be Christians, at least people who believe that the Bible is the Word of God, are, whether or not they would say this explicitly, you are Implicitly saying that you are not. Right? So if you believe that the Bible is the Word of God, then you are implicitly stating that you are not the Word of God. Therefore, when our interpretation of one scripture conflicts with the plain reading of another scripture, the wrong question to ask might sound something like. How can I make scripture fit my interpretation? I I grew up with a lot of people who thought they knew what the Bible quote unquote clearly teaches and were constantly those those few people who would quote the Bible, would quote the Bible and then make you feel like you're the idiot for not coming to the same conclusion from that text that they did. And then you would find yourself, as you would explore the Bible yourself, coming across texts that seem to say the opposite of what this person says, their favorite quote from the Bible says. So the wrong question is how can I make scripture fit my interpretation? The right question, and the question that we should all be asking, is where might my interpretation be wrong? So the the my favorite go to passage concerning the Bible itself and and what the Bible says about itself is to go to Second Timothy three sixteen and seventeen. And the apostle Paul tells his protege Timothy that quote all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and For instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. So if you'll notice, the purpose of Scripture is not merely to give us ammunition for our arguments. The Bible is meant to teach, right? It's meant to convey information. The Bible is meant to The New King James says is for reproof, which is to bring a proof or a conviction of some kind. It is to correct. That's obvious, right? We notice that that training is part of it. And so there's there's some there's some element of of not just information, but of of actual action that is meant to be put into place, right? We're it's it is to in instruct us or train us in righteousness. And then all of these things are for the equipping, right? That we would be thoroughly equipped for every good work. Now all of these are create an important distinction between how do I get the Bible to say what I want it to say, to confirm my preconceptions about what it what I think it says, and how do I let the Bible actually speak for itself on its own terms and how do I make sure that I am interpreting it as faithfully as I can. We don't want to impose our own views upon the Bible. We want to discover what the Bible was meaning to say. on its own terms. Okay, so rule number one in in my opinion, for learning how to read the Bible without twisting it, is to read every verse and or passage in context. Now, my seminary professor taught us about context in a very memorable way, because I still remember it. And shout out to Dr. Miles, by the way. Great, probably my favorite professor that I had in seminary. Shout out to Dr. Todd Miles. He used to say, what are the three most important things in real estate? And that's a super weird question to ask seminary students. And so everybody was would look around and be like, I don't know what he's getting at. And eventually someone would go, that that old phrase, location, location, location. So what are the three most important things in real estate? Location, location, location. And then he would ass then he would say, Okay, similarly. The three most important things in Bible interpretation are context, context, context. And this was a tool that he would use to highlight the importance of context in interpretation. Now, context has layers. There are multiple layers of of context. It's like ogres. or ogres are like onions, they have layers. Context is like that. It has layers. There is immediate context, the the verse the verses immediately before or after the the verse that you are quoting or trying to interpret. There is the literary context, which takes into into consideration the paragraph in which the the text appears, or the argument that the the author is trying to make verse by verse, or the particular book within the biblical canon. These are all examples of literary context. Which particular book of the Bible you happen to be reading. Now biblical context differs a little bit slightly because it's how the verse or passage fits in with the rest of scripture within the whole canon, right? If you are, if you are reading wisdom literature from the time of Solomon, you are you are that text comes from a different a different part of God's redemptive story. whether you're looking at a text that is before the resurrection or after makes a big difference. And so that that would be an example of biblical context. And then finally, there's historical context. And this attempts to set a text within a very specific time and place by asking questions like who wrote this text, to whom, when, and why. And so and we get into a lot of trouble when we ignore or when we fail to ask. those questions of a particular text in the Bible. Now I've I've heard this phrase, which I go back and forth about whether or not I like it or not, as a as a as a rule, but people will say that the Bible was not written to you. And that's true. No text of scripture was written to you. Paul, for example, makes his audience very clear a lot of the prophets, when God speaks through the prophets, the audience is very clear because he says who the audience is. Say to my people, Israel, dot dot dot. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the Colossians. Now, that doesn't mean that those are the only texts that have audiences. Now, what whether or not the Bible was written to you means that we have to, we have to recognize that. Well while it's not written to us, of course it's it was it's been preserved and transmitted and all those things for us and for our benefit. But we have to recognize we're not the primary audience. And so these historical context questions are really important to ask. So here's an example of taking a text out of context. And this is a super popular one. I I the last episode we did on Bible I believe it was titled How to use the Bible like a cult leader. And it was all about how to take the Bible out of context and how cult leaders take the Bible out of context. And I picked on Hobby Lobby. And I guess I have to pick on Hobby Lobby again because I see this verse all over their merchandise. And it's Philippians 4.13, and it says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. so a common misinterpretation that I hear about From that passage is that it teaches that I I God will help me accomplish anything that I want. And if if I want whatever it is that I want, I can say, well, the Bible says that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Now, we have to remember that Paul wrote that to the Philippians. And in what context? Well, we know that Paul is writing about. contentment in all situations, in having plenty, in experiencing need, in abundance, and in hunger. So he says, regardless of my particular setting, I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. The the all things in this passage is connected to the idea of remaining faithful regardless of circumstances, not getting whatever I want. And so it's important to remember that Context doesn't make the Bible less powerful. But but context tells us what the Bible was actually meaning to say, what the author was actually meaning to say, which Because that's true, automatically makes it more powerful than anything anything else. A truth is always more powerful than a falsehood. All right. So rule number two is do not ignore genre. One thing that we need to understand when we come to the Bible is the Bible is not a book. The Bible is a collection of books. And these books come to us in a variety of literary genres. Some examples. You have texts that come to us in the form of a narrative. We have poetry, specifically Hebrew poetry. We have Hebrew Hebrew wisdom literature. We have prophecy. We have apocalyptic literature. We have the gospel accounts that aren't there aren't as straightforward as some of the narratives are. It it's this is this seems to be its own genre. We have epistle. We we have a number of different ways, a number of different genres that the various authors of the Bible chose to use to write their respective texts. And you don't interpret them all the same way. So let's look at a potentially controversial, let's call it, example. Psalm one o four five says this, speaking the psalmist is speaking of God. The psalmist says you laid the foundations of the earth so that it should not be moved forever. Again. Speaking of God, you laid the foundations of the earth so that it should not be moved forever. Now, if you if you read that verse straightforwardly, literally You would in you would be forced to believe that the earth is stationary in space, and that modern astronomy is therefore unbiblical. Because modern astronomy says that the earth is moving, that the earth itself is moving, right? The earth rotates, and it is also on an orbit around the sun. Or You recognize the genre of that particular text, that it is Hebrew poetry and and some type of hymnity. And then you realize that the verse is actually using rich imagery to convey the stability and majesty of God's creation. You see how one way to to read and interpret the text obviously puts it at odds with what we know to be true, just through observation. And another way of looking at the text actually communicates a beautiful reality. And that's that's the purpose of poetry. Right? But if you ignore the fact that that verse comes to us in in poetry, then you you you can't actually interpret the verse correctly. Some other examples of this very thing in action is to read the Proverbs as guarantees. Now, the Proverbs are part of the wisdom literature, the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, the Book of Job, right, Ecclesiastes. These are Hebrew wisdom literature. And so when you take what is meant to be general wisdom, train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Now, if you interpret that as a guarantee that if you raise your children in good Christian homes, that guarantees that they will grow up to be good Christians, well, you're you're taking that, you're ignoring the genre in which that verse was given. And then you can you can lull yourself into a f either a false sense of security or in retrospect, when one of your adult children walks away from the Lord, you can be devastated about the fact that you failed them. Right? Like if you take that if you take that that proverbial text and make it a guarantee Right? You're setting yourself up for the potential for some serious heartache. Another example is interpreting apocalyptic symbols as modern technologies. And I don't want to get on the bad side of the dispensationalists and all the, you know, American Baptists out there who who love the Schofield Reference Bible. But some of the stuff that some of the different interpretations of very difficult texts and passages from the Book of Revelation in particular or the Book of Daniel. and then l likening that vivid imagery to modern technologies seems to be, at least in my mind, obviously an interpretive stretch. And and and obviously you are you're disregarding the genre in which this particular text came to us. And then rule rule number three is just a a generally this is something that I was taught relatively early on, and it has really helped me to feel good about my ever developing theology. And that is to let clear passages help interpret more difficult ones. Now I'm definitely not advocating that we ignore Bible passages just because we struggle to understand them. Rather, I'm advocating that we not build an entire theology or doctrine on one obscure or difficult passage while ignoring the broader witness of scripture. So there's a there's a passage from Mark ten that is, I think quite commonly taken out of context and then misapplied by a certain type of church that use this that uses this passage to I think promote a very dangerous definitely false but very dangerous theology. This comes from Mark 10, 29, and 30. So Jesus answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brother or sister or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospels, who shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, and children and lands with persecutions. And in the age to come eternal life. Now, if you are someone who has a theology that teaches that God wants you to be happy and healthy and wealthy, you might say that this passage teaches the idea that God repays generous donors to a particular ministry, that if you donate to their ministry, God has promised to pay you, to repay you a hundredfold. In other words, if you give their ministry a hundred dollars, God has promised to take that hundred dollars and turn it into ten thousand dollars. Now, not only does that seem icky, or at the very least, it should seem like a very icky way of interpreting the words of an itinerate homeless preacher who lived two thousand years ago, it conflicts with interpretations of very clear passages in other places. And and I'm I'm just gonna quote Jesus, even though I could quote others, but Jesus was speaking in the verses before, and let's see what else Jesus says. Matthew six, nineteen through twenty, Jesus said this do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither mu moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Or Mark ten twenty three through twenty five, just prior to the hundredfold verses, by the way. Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, How hard is it for those who have riches to enter in the kingdom of God? And the disciples were astonished at his words, but Jesus answered again and said to them, Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. Finally, Jesus again in Luke twelve, thirteen through fifteen says, Then one from the crowd said to him, and this is Jesus speaking, or this is Jesus being asked this question, Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. So some guy has come to him, his brothers ripped him off, and you know, he thinks that. Jesus is going to solve his problems. But Jesus said to him, Man, who made me judge or an arbiter over you? And then he said to them, Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses. So if if your interpretation of one difficult or even one very clear passage requires you to reinterpret twenty clearer passages, that's good reason to reconsider your interpretation. So those are my three favorite rules for learning how to read the Bible without twisting it. Now I'm coming from a place where if the Bible was used, it was misused. It was if it was quoted, it was misquoted. if it was interpreted, it was misinterpreted. And a lot of people got really hurt. And there are still groups out there to this day irresponsibly using the Bible. And if we just learn these three basic interpretive skills, we will be miles and miles and miles ahead of where we would be otherwise. And so I want to encourage all of us out there. To learn to read the Bible without twisting it.