If I ever say, you know, I really don't love this text so much. I don't like this text. If I ever say that, know that I've lost my mind and that it's time for me to stop preaching because all of God's Word is precious and all of God's Word can be understood.
If Elon Musk were to incorrectly set the coordinates for one of his rockets, even by just a couple of clicks, the results would be costly at best and disastrous at worst. Hi, I'm Bill Wright and welcome again to the Truth Pulpit with Don Green, founding pastor of Truth Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Today, as Don continues teaching God's people God's Word, he's going to show us just how critical it is to rightly divide or interpret God's Word. If you're ready, let's get started. Here's our teacher with part two of a message titled, How Shall We Interpret Scripture?
here on the Truth Pulpit. This brings us to our roadmap, point number three. We're all ready to point number three.
How about that? Point number three is the roadmap. And what I just said about the literal meaning is the general idea. And within the general idea, there are specific principles that you can follow and understand to help you understand what the author meant to say.
Now, a disclaimer here. I understand that I'm not going to say everything that should be said about this topic. What I want to do is to give you that which is basic. I want to give you that which is most predominantly helpful, realizing that lots of thick books have been written about how to interpret Scripture. And so we're not trying to replicate what long books say. We're trying to give something that is practical to somebody who is fairly new to reading the Bible and understanding and believing that these principles stand the test of much closer scrutiny. And so what can we say? What principles can help us arrive at the author's meaning?
I'm going to give you three, I believe it is. Three principles for you to use. And if you use these principles, you will go far down the road toward properly understanding Scripture, even on your own.
What's the first principle? First of all, beloved, you must pay attention to context. You must pay attention to the context of the verse that you're reading and trying to understand. Now, at this point, let me step off of my notes for a moment, which is always dangerous, to say something about the nature of our Bibles that work against you using this principle. My Bible, and probably yours, is like this as well. There's a tendency in Christian publishing to publish each verse as a separate paragraph. And so that you have one verse and then there's a break and there's a next verse, it's not like a book that you read where there are paragraphs and there's two or three sentences in each paragraph and then you move on to another paragraph. The Bible is written often in a way, published in a way where one verse is separated off from another as we have them now in our modern printing habits. Understand that the Bible was not originally written that way. That the verse divisions and chapter divisions were something that came many centuries later. When the biblical authors wrote, they intended for you to read the flow of thought. Our tendency today, I'm sure that some of your tendencies, even as we sit here today, is because a verse is set off in its own little separate paragraph, you tend to think about that verse as being independent from everything else.
And why wouldn't you? It's set apart. And so it invites you, the very way that the printed page is done, invites you to take that verse and look at it alone.
Look at it standing alone. But that's the wrong way to do it. You see, there were things that were written, unless you're looking at the first verse of the book, there were things that were written beforehand and things that were written afterwards. And the biblical author had a unit, had a flow of thought that he was expressing. And so it's a bad practice to pull out one verse and try to build everything that you believe out of one verse.
That's not the right way to handle Scripture. If we're going to understand Scripture and interpret it properly, we have to pay attention to the context. And there's three little principles inside this point that I want to give to you to help you, to give you some ideas of what to look for. The author's context, watch this, gives you an objective measure to see what was on his mind.
And so, context may be found, first of all, you can find the context in the author's purpose statement in what he said. Look as you're reading a book of the Bible, look for a place where he says, this is why I'm writing. And I'm going to take you to some scriptural examples now and we'll kind of illustrate this and some of these things may become more clear rather than abstract. Look at the Gospel of Luke, for example. The Gospel of Luke.
And this kind of stuff just really gets my juices going. Because in a big long book, like twenty-four chapters of the Gospel of Luke and, you know, the hundreds of verses that are in there. Here's a question, you know, and picture yourself as someone who is just for the first time coming to the Bible as a Christian and wanting to read and understand it. How do you get oriented?
Where do you find your bearings? Where do you find the reference points to know what this means? Well, the biblical writers knew that we were going to need that help. They had something that they wanted to communicate and often they said it very plainly what their goal was. And when you see and identify that goal, then you interpret the rest of the whole book in light of that.
It's very exciting to see these things. Look at what Luke says. Luke chapter one, verse one. He says, in as much as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, what's he saying there?
He said, a lot of people are talking about this. Verse two, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Luke says, we've received a lot of information from those who were with Christ and a lot of people are taking to write about this. Verse three, he says, it seemed fitting for me as well. Okay, and so he is laying out, the biblical author, Dr. Luke, is laying out what motivated him to write from the very start and he said, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus. That's the one to whom he addressed this gospel. So that you may know the exact truth about the things that you have been taught.
Wow. Simple, plain, and evident. Luke says a lot of people are talking about this. Well, what I wanted to do, what I did here was, I investigated everything carefully about the Lord Jesus and about his life and ministry on the earth. And I want to give you something that is accurate and that you can rely upon as you read about the life of Christ so that you could know the exact truth about the things that you've been taught. Right there, you have the purpose statement and everything else in Luke is designed to serve that one purpose, that overarching main purpose. And so as you go through and as you read the account of Jesus' birth and you go through his teaching and to the crucifixion and the resurrection and the ascension, the whole goal of all of that is the biblical author here is giving you exactly what happened so that it inspires in your heart a sense of confidence and accuracy in what you're reading.
Okay, this is what really happened. I know that because that's the author's intent. And so for us to go and to question and say maybe it didn't really happen that way is a violation of the author's intent. That could not possibly be a correct interpretation because it would violate the author's purpose in what he said.
Let me give you another example. Turn to the end of the Gospel of John, John chapter 20. Sometimes these purpose statements are put in the front, sometimes they're at the end, sometimes they're woven in the middle of the letter. You want to be looking for these fundamental clues that say, here's why I wrote this book.
And let that define in general that by which you would interpret the details. John chapter 20 verse 30 and 31 says, therefore, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples which are not written in this book. He says, there's a lot of things that I could have written about, but I just chose a few. Why did you do it that way? Why did you do it that way, John? Why didn't you give us everything about Jesus? Why didn't you write everything about Jesus? He said, that wasn't my purpose.
It wasn't my purpose to give you an exhaustive recitation of everything that the Lord ever did and said. My purpose was more narrow, it was more precise, it was more targeted, verse 31. But these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
Okay, so there's a narrow focus here. He said, I wrote this so that you would believe in Christ, my reader, and that believing you would have eternal life, you would have life in his name. He was writing to provoke a spiritual result, to bring a spiritual influence to bear upon the reader of his gospel, that purpose being that they would recognize Christ as the only Savior, believe in him, and have eternal life.
That's his purpose. And so as he gives seven different signs in the early chapters of the Gospel of John, reciting miraculous things that Jesus did, the point of those miracles is for you to believe that Jesus is unique, distinct, someone to be believed in, and the miracles lead you to believe his teaching, and when you believe his teaching, you believe in him for eternal life. And so that guides the way that you understand the individual passages in the Gospel of John. It's all laid out there.
Let me take you to one or two more. Turn to 1 John. I love these too. You know, if I ever say, I know I say that all the time. I love this passage. I love this text. Whatever. If I ever say, you know, I really don't love this text so much.
I don't like this text. If I ever say that, know that I've lost my mind and that it's time for me to stop preaching because all of God's Word is precious and all of God's Word can be understood when a godly Christian like you applies effort to learn it in dependence on the Holy Spirit. It can all be understood.
It's so precious. John gives us three different verses that indicate why he wrote. 1 John 1, verse 4. He said, these things we write so that our joy may be made complete. He's writing to promote mutual joy amongst his readers and a personal joy that he got out of it himself himself as he wrote. So there's a goal of joy. 1 John should promote joy in the heart of the one who understands it rather than morbid introspection. I know I'm using that word a lot lately, that term a lot.
That's okay. 1 John, chapter 2, verse 1 says, my little children, I'm writing these things to you so that, there's the purpose, you see it, so that you may not sin. He says, I want you to know joy, 1 John chapter 1, verse 4. He says, and I want to promote holiness in your life. The things that I'm saying will help you turn from sin and live in obedience to Christ.
That's why I'm writing. I'm writing to promote your joy. I'm writing to promote your holiness. In chapter 5, verse 13, he says, these things I've written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that, purpose, you may know that you have eternal life. And so as you read through the five chapters of 1 John, you see, okay, I know what he's trying to do here. He's writing to Christians and he's trying to cultivate deeper joy, deeper obedience, and deeper assurance into their lives. And the other things that he says, I interpret in light of those principles. I say, how does this particular verse connect to the greater purpose of which he is writing? One more that stands out. Turn to the book of Jude, just a little bit to the right there, just before the book of Revelation.
I love these things, this kind of stuff. What I like about it is that it's so evident. I know that you can see this for yourself. Jude 3 says, Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing, what?
That. Appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ. Jude says right at the start why he's writing, it's a different purpose than what Luke wrote his gospel for, or John's gospel, or the letter of 1 John. He says, I'm writing to you to encourage you, to uphold you, to contend for the faith because there are ungodly people operating in the church that are denying the reality of the grace of God and turning it and twisting it into something that it's not.
He said, I'm writing to protect you and I'm writing to urge you to protect the faith that has been given to us by a gracious and a holy God. And so everything else that you read in those in the surrounding 25 verses there, you understand that he's writing to accomplish that particular purpose. The context helps you understand what is being said. One way that you find the context is in the author's purpose statement.
Now it won't always be that clear. Sometimes there's other clues to his context, to his meaning. Context may be found in key words that he repeats over and over again that show the main theme. You can tell what's on somebody's mind when they keep repeating something else.
They keep repeating what themes and going back to that which they're talking about. You say, okay, I see this is heavy on his mind. You know, somebody's dealing with a problem in his family maybe and, you know, it seems to come up each time. And you say, okay, I understand that that family problem is deep on his heart. And that helps me understand other things that he says and other things that he does.
Because when I talk to him, I see that this comes out. Well, that gives you a clue into the inside of a man's character, right? Well, in the same way, when a biblical author starts to repeat words or to repeat themes, you have a sense of what the purpose is that he's writing about. So, for example, we won't look at all of these.
We won't look at any of them, actually. In the book of Romans, the word righteousness, the English word righteousness, occurs 35 times in those 16 chapters. Well, that influences your interpretation of each passage. And you look at the words and you compare how they're used in different ways and it rounds out your understanding of this theme of righteousness that he's trying to communicate.
Context might be found in key transitions. Look at Ephesians chapter 4. We use this one just because it's one we did recently from the pulpit, Ephesians chapter 4. And all we can do in a message like this is just mark out certain things for you to then take and apply and look for in your own reading. To apply them to every passage of Scripture would involve teaching Genesis through Revelation in detail.
This undergirds everything else. Look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1. Context may be found in key transitions is what we're saying here. And Paul says, Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called. And he starts it out in English, it's the first word, in Greek it will be the second word. He starts out with that word therefore.
Well, that therefore, see he didn't start out. Here's the thing that you see. When you're reading Scripture for yourself, you're reading it in context, you don't look at verse 4 and say, Oh, he is imploring us to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. That's the wrong way to look at the text.
That is inadequate, it is insufficient. Because he uses this word therefore. His command to walk in a manner worthy of Christ is based upon what came earlier. You know, when you read them earlier.
You know, one way to illustrate it. At the end of this day, at 3 o'clock, we're going to be done after four sessions and I'll say, Therefore go out and read the Bible and be encouraged. Well, that's going to be based on my call for you to read the Bible and be encouraged is going to be informed by everything that I said in the prior four sessions. Well, in the same way the biblical author says, Therefore, he's connecting it with what went before. And so when Paul here says, Therefore, what's he saying?
In that one little word, he's saying this. He's saying, In light of all that I've said in the first three chapters about God's gracious gift of salvation, how he chose us, adopted us, redeemed us, and sealed us with the Spirit, in light of the way that I've prayed and God has brought Jews and Gentiles together in the church and it's been this magnificent work of God in Christ. Therefore, I implore you to walk in a manner that's worthy of Christ. He's connecting it with everything that's said before so that you would remember the fullness of the greatness of salvation and that that would affect your motivation in order to obey the command to walk in a worthy manner. You see the context and rather than picking one verse out and turning it into a moralistic, legalistic thing, you need to obey Christ. Well, you do need to obey Christ, but what informs that? What informs that is the unfolding of great biblical truth about who Christ is and what he has done that makes you want to obey.
If you separate it from that context, you cut the nerve, you cut the umbilical cord, you separate it from the nerve that makes that muscle work. And so we said, what's the roadmap to the author's meaning? Pay attention to context. What's his purpose statement, for example? What themes is he talking about?
What transitions does he use? Sometimes it might be a contrast, but, you know, the Gentiles live like this, but you do something different. You look for things like that. But all of it, beloved, here's the thing, is understanding that these things are right there in what he already said. You don't have to look for something mystical that's not found in the words that he used.
Okay? So you pay attention to context. Secondly, what else would you do if you want to arrive at the author's meaning?
You do this. You pay attention to other Scripture. You pay attention to other Scripture. The Bible is the Word of God, and behind the human authors was the divine mind of God operating and directing them to what they would write.
They were human instruments that God used to express what he wanted to say, ultimately. Simple point, very profound, very helpful in helping you understand Scripture properly. Understand that the divine mind of God brings a unity to what Scripture says. He is a God of truth. He will not contradict himself. And so we interpret individual passages of Scripture in harmony with other Scripture that teaches on the same subject.
So, for an example, just generally basically speaking, simple and so easy to understand these things. Let's put it this way. You know that Scripture teaches that salvation is by grace through faith. Scripture teaches that. That's woven throughout Scripture from beginning to end. Now, if you come to an individual passage that seems to suggest that maybe our works play a role in our salvation, well, you shouldn't run with that interpretation and say, oh, you know, I found a verse that overturns the Reformation. Actually, salvation is by works, and here's the one verse that shows that.
No. No, that would be wrong. That would make God's Word contradictory, inconsistent with itself. And so, as you're interpreting a passage, especially a difficult passage of Scripture, that would make God's Word different. If you're interpreting a passage of Scripture, you say, okay, what does Scripture say about this elsewhere? And let Scripture interpret Scripture and give you guidance so that you get to the right meaning.
And so when you think that you've understood what a passage means, be mindful to compare it with other passages on the same subject to see if you have a word. Let me just give you a closing word of comfort as we remember the Lord Jesus Christ. He Himself was a man of sorrows and was acquainted with grief. He knew what it was like to weep.
He knew what it was like to be thirsty and tired and hungry. He's a Savior who understands our weaknesses because He is of like human flesh with us. And so, my friend, take your burdens to your understanding Savior. He is a true friend in this time of need. Thanks, Don. And, friend, there'll be more from our series called Effective Bible Study next time. I'm Bill Wright inviting you to join us then as Don Green continues teaching God's people God's Word here on the Truthful Book.
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