Interpreting Scripture

Intro

How we study scripture is important, the Bible has a great deal to say about our dependence on the Holy spirit and our effort that we apply

When the Holy Spirit is mentioned there is usually a mixed feeling that comes up in people

some minimize the H.S. and maybe even ignore him all together

Others may over emphasize him where all they focus on is the gifts he gives

One thing is for sure…. to ignore H.S. is the height of foolishness

so the question is what does it mean to depend on the H.S. as we interpret the H.S.

Dependence on the Holy Spirit

Bible can be treated as impersonal

An idea that if you implement certain principles or methods

Or if you just think carefully enough that you can get the full meaning

In reality it is quite personal because it must involve the Hole Spirit

This is crucial for 2 reasons

He is the source of the inspiration

God divinely guided the human authors of the Bible, using their distinct personalities and backgrounds so that the resulting texts are the authoritative "God-breathed" Word of God and infallible.

Peter expresses and affirms this idea in 2 Peter 1:20-21

2 Peter 1:20–21 ESV

knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Paul goes on to say that not only prophecy of scripture but that ALL scripture is Inspired by God

2 Timothy 3:16 ESV

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,

So it doesn’t matter if you read Jeremiah, Isaiah, Paul or Luke

you may get a different emphasis or writing style or words but the spirit behind the words is the same because they all had the same inspiration

This work of inspiration was organic

meaning that the Holy Spirit supervised and directed their words as a result the work is a work of God

at the same time the Holy Spirit used each persons unique personality, outlooks and experiences of the author

God chose to use many different types of people to write His word

priest

farmer

herdsman

medical doctor

fisherman

highly educated man

king

You can see the personalities flowing out of the words they write and that is important to the word of God.

He qualifies these different people to relate the word of God to us from many different backgrounds but the same spirit

Peter acknowledges this

2 Peter 3:15 ESV

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him,

He recognized that Paul wrote but that they were not his words but from the wisdom God gave him

He is telling us how Paul’s words should be recieved

Acts 4:25 ESV

who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit,

Peter and John led the church in an affirmation of psalm 2

Hebrews 3:7–8 ESV

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,

speaking about palm 95:7-8

The point is that Biblical authors affirm that the Holy Spirit is the source of inspiration and that they were written by human hands

Many people will say that they believe this but do not believe that it was protected from error

lets see what Jesus said about this in John 14:16-17

John 14:16–17 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

Jesus said that the Spirit of truth will be sent indicating that He is absolutely truthful and do not lie

part of our preparation should be to trust 100% what we are about to read without doubt.

So if the spirit inspired it and now that spirit dwells in me when i study i can rest that He will give me illumination

there cannot be a better teacher than the author of a book so when the one who illumines our minds is the spirit there cannot be anyone better that can give me understanding

This means that we cannot read this as we do any other book

We can and should start at the literary interpretation but if we stop there we miss what God has for us

In our human fallibility and sinfulness we cannot see the scripture in its pure meaning

1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

We must seek God for His Holy Spirit if we are to understand the scriptures

The general message of scripture can be understood or else it has no evangelical function

God INSPIRED authors and ILLUMINES us.

this illumination gives us knowledge that shapes our imagination, will, motivation, intuition, desire etc. it changes who we are not just what we understand

illumination produces change

1 Corinthians 2:11–13 ESV

For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.

Paul explains that without the Holy Spirit we have no hope of grasping what He has for us.

Need for Human Effort

What Can we do and is our effort needed?

Many people acts as if they would have preferred God given us His word as the Mormons and Muslims claim

Mormons believe that God delivered the book of mormon in complete form to Joseph Smith

Muslims claim the Quran descended from heaven

But our Scripture is written and produced by the use of personal authors

So if God chose to deliver His word to us via humans and we trust that he is perfect

The implications of that are that we should learn about these human authors God saw fit to use

we should consider who they are, where they came from, and as much context as we can

Many would ask the question why bother with your effort? simply let the Holy Spirit show himself to you.

God does not reward laziness

scripture is full of action words and commands us to put forth effort in our seeking of God and the meaning of scripture

Not only is God working through us granting us understanding but he is also working in us, sanctifying us while we diligently study His word

2 Timothy 2:15 ESV

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

Paul encourages Timothy to “Do his best” and as a “worker

just as our bodies receive nutrients through eating food the Holy Spirit illumines us through the process of reading and study

We must approach God’s word as objectively as possible

our past experiences and beliefs will always play a role because that is who we are

someone who grew up wealthy cannot understand what it means to live in poverty and need.

sometimes they rub up against what we are reading as truth and we try interpret the bible through our lives rather than our life through the bible

this is what i experienced how can i fit the bible into that vs this is what the bible says how does my life fit into that?

Romans 1:18 ESV

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

in our sinfulness we distort the truth as the example above

Hence our need for illumination by the Spirit

Conclusion

All spirit is inspired by God

consequently it is 100% true

God chose to use the unique traits of different humans to deliver His word to us

We must put forth effort in our study and in the way we live in order to grasp its meaning

since the author is the Holy Spirit it makes sense that we must seek Him for true un suppressed truth