Anyone can learn to interpret Scripture properly for themselves; you do not have to be a well-trained or experienced theologian. The way you can do this, is by following four very simply rules. Truth moment: I did not make these up, I learned them from my own hermeneutics classes and studies on biblical interpretation, and they are commonly taught in biblical academics.
1. Read in context
The simplest way to define the word "context" is, the words which surround the words I'm studying; so for me to "read something in context" means to interpret the word, the phrase, the clause, the verse, the paragraph, or even the entire chapter in light of the words which surround what I'm studying. The definition of the words I'm studying must fit with the words around them. To place a meaning on the words I’m studying simply because it sounds right to me, or because I want that passage or verse to mean that certain thing, is to read out of context.
Context not only protects us from misinterpreting a passage, but it often provides meaning when we can't seem to understand something. Here's an example: In Australia a sweater is called "a jumper." Now, if someone who didn't know this term, heard it for the first time by itself, outside of a sentence and thus with no context (that is, with no other words surrounding it), they'd have no idea what it meant. They might assume it referred someone who jumps up and down, or perhaps someone who was suicidal and about to jump of a bridge. However, if someone said, "It's cold today, so I'm going to wear a jumper when I go outside," they could conclude that a jumper was a warm article of clothing like a jacket or a sweater. Why? Because context provided them meaning; it will do the same for us if we use this practice when studying scripture.
How may this be applied? A good rule of thumb is to read at least the same size portion of Scripture before and after the portion of Scripture you are trying to interpet. For example, if I'm studying a verse, I should read the verses before and after it; if I'm studying a passage, I should read the passages before and after it; and if I'm studying a chapter, I should read the chapters before and after it.
2. Do word, term, or phrase searches with peculiar words.
When attempting to interpret Scripture, it is also vital to consider audience relevance. What I mean by audience relevance is, how the original readers or listeners would have understood the words they read or heard. Why? Because culture very often affects the meanings of words, phrases and even full statements. Here are some examples:
· In the southern United States, a biscuit is a circular type of bread that should always be eaten with gravy; but in Australia and the United Kingdom, biscuits are what Americans usually call cookies.
· If you said "Bless your heart" to someone in other English-speaking countries, people may just think you're pronouncing a blessing on someone's bodily organ; but, in the southern parts of the United States, that phrase is an expression of sympathy or pity.
· In Australia the term "true blue" means that something is real/genuine, while anywhere else in the world it only refers to the color blue.
· If an American happened to be in a foreign country during a pouring rain and made the statement to a local that "It's raining cats and dogs"—even if stated correctly in their language, there's a chance that he wouldn't understand what the American meant; such a statement is what's called an idiom, and all cultures have their own idioms made up of words, clauses, or phrases unique to them.
So it's easy to see that culture can often affect the meaning of certain words, clauses, terms and phrases. If one does any research on ancient Hebrew language or simply reads the Old Testament or the book of Revelation, it's pretty easy to see that ancient Hebrew poetry and prophecy is full of metaphors, idioms, and imagery. If we want to interpret the Scriptures accurately, it's imperative to consider audience relevance; we must consider what the words, terms or phrases meant to the writer or speaker and original readers or hearers back in their time and culture, rather than interpreting everything through our own 21st century, western-world lenses.
The question then is, "How are we to know how they understood these words?" Fortunately, I don't believe we need to do deep cultural research to discover this. We can find out much about how the ancient Hebrew writers and the original audience thought by conducting word, term, phrase, or clause searches in Scripture. What I mean by this is, searching throughout other parts of Scripture for the words or terms we want to interpret, reading them in their context in those other areas to see how they're used there, and then allowing that to influence our interpretation of those words and terms we are studying.
For example, let's try this with the phrase "the fear of the Lord." A common assumption is that this means to be terrified of God, His anger, or wrath. But let's find this phrase in Scripture, consider it in its contexts, and see what we learn about what it means in the Bible:
"Follow the Lord your God and fear Him, and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serveHim, and cling to Him" (Deut. 13:4). Here we see from the context of the verse that to fear the Lord is linked to keeping His commands, listening to, clinging to, and serving Him.
"How blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments" (Psa. 112:1). Here we see from the context of the verse that to fear the Lord is equated to greatly delighting in His commandments.
"Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord and walks in His ways" (Psa. 128:1). Here we find that fearing the Lord is linked to walking in His ways.
So from these verses we can conclude that "to fear the Lord" isn't speaking about being terrified of Him, but rather about honoring Him by obeying Him and walking with Him. And how did we come to this conclusion? Surely if we interpreted this phrase by what made sense to us today, we would misinterpret it. But by looking at how that phrase is used in other places in Scripture, we see what it meant to the original readers and listeners, and we find the correct interpretation. Ta da!
3. Pay attention to and research Old Testament citations in the New Testament
When a Jewish teacher wanted to cite an Old Testament passage or prophecy without quoting the entire chapteror book, a common practice was to quote merely a sentence or even a clause from that passage. When they did this, the minds of their audience—who were generally quite familiar with Hebrew Scripture—would bring up the teaching of the entire context of that quote, or they'd at least know that the entire context of that quote was being implied in the teacher's lesson.
I assume this came into practice because there were no chapters and verses for them to quickly reference, so a brief quote from the passage became the norm. For example, today if I were teaching that the attributes of love concern what's beneficial to others rather than self, and I wanted to cite First Corinthians 13:4-8 without reading them all, I could just say, "as it says in First Corinthians 13:4-8!" But back in that day without chapters or verses, I'd say something like, "As the Apostle Paul wrote, 'love is patient, love is kind,'" and by that they'd know I was referring to the First Corinthians 13:4-8 passage.
This is very helpful, because if we go look at the whole passage from which the quote was derived, it can shed a ton of light on the message Jesus or the New Testament author was trying to convey; but when we aren't aware of the significance of these references, we can miss out on a great deal of very important information.
Let's look at an example of an Old Testament reference in the New Testament to experience this significance: When Jesus overturned the tables of the money changers and said, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a den or robbers" (Mat. 21:13), He was calling to mind two Old Testament passages: Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7. If we read those passages, we'll gain loads of insight into what Jesus was trying to say. (For brevity's sake I'll exclude some parts or verses of the passage, focusing on the portions which communicate the gist of the passage the quickest.)
Let's first check out Isaiah 56:3 & 6-7:
Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, "The Lord will surely separate me from His people." … "The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant, even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings andtheir sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples."
So a quick summary of this passage would be that God wants all people, who want a relationship with Him, to have access to Him and be able to come and pray in His temple or house.
Now let's check out Jeremiah 7:3, 5-7, & 11:
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, "Amend your ways and deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. ... If you truly amend your ways and deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers. … Has this house, which is called by My name become a den of robbers…? Behold, I, even I, have seen it," declares the Lord.
So in this passage we find that Israelites in the temple were oppressing orphans, widows, and foreigners; and because they were called "robbers," we can safely assume the way they were oppressing them was by stealing from them or at least greatly overcharging them. So, by Jesus flipping over the money changers' tables, it doesn't mean that any type of money dealings in a holy place are wrong and so the next time your church's youthgroup is doing a bake sale for a mission trip you should flip over their tables; In light of what it says in Isaiah 56 and Jeremiah 7, we see that Jesus’ anger was because of the money changers corruption of and theft from the poor and less fortunate, which made it hard for them to come into the presence of God. This certainly puts Jesus in a better light than him simply getting angry because someone was dealing with money, but this is what we can easily assumed without digging further. The way we came to the other conclusion was by noticing Jesus’ Old Testament reference and interpreting his message in the context of that.
We can tell when something is a quote from the Old Testament a few ways: Often before a passage is referenced, it will state something like "as the Scriptures say" or "as Isaiah or (insert name of prophet here) said"; other times in the Bible, an Old Testament quote will be indented, capitalized, and/or italicized, with the book title, chapter, and verse from which the quote is taken in a marginal notation.
The next rule is one I don't use often because I find that, for the most part, Scripture explains itself; but, in those times when I may not be able to find a good explanation for a thing or two, it's very helpful to know.
4. Interpret problem Scriptures through the lens of the majority of Scripture
What this means is, when we have a verse or passage which doesn't seem to make sense or maybe appears to contradict something, we should look to what the majority of Scripture says on that subject to gain a better understanding of it. Here's an example: What did Paul mean when he wrote, "As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated'" (Rom. 9:13)? Did he mean that God felt hatred or disdain for Esau? It would appear to be that way from this verse alone, and I admit I struggled to understand it for some time; but looking at the majority of Scripture helped me deal with this. See, since…
· God is (the epitome of) love (1 John 4:16), since…
· God abounds with love (Exo. 34:6; Num. 14:18; Neh. 13:22; Psa. 5:7; 36:5; 57:10; 69:13; 86:5; 103:8; 117:2; 119:64; 145:8; Lam. 3:32; & Joel 2:13), since…
· God's Spirit includes the very attribute (fruit) of love (Gal. 5:22-23), and since…
· God isn't of the flesh of which hatred is a work (Gal. 5:19-20), then…
Paul's statement in Romans 9:13 can't mean that God felt hatred/disdain for Esau, which means there must be an alternate meaning for this verse. Whatever explanation we decide upon, it must be compatible with the majority of Scriptures which teach that God's very nature is love, and He loves humans immensely. I personally believe this verse is speaking of God's rejection of Esau as His chosen one for the Messianic lineage rather than a feeling of hatred for Esau. But regardless, whichever conclusion we come to, it must align with what the majority of Scriptures say.
So there you have it. I hope this is a blessing and helpful tool to everyone in there studies.
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