“That’s just your interpretation.” Those four words are becoming pretty popular. They are popular among people who like to dodge what the Bible is saying. You think homosexuality is a sin? “That’s just your interpretation.” But they’ve also become a popular explanation for why two Christians can come to the same passage and reach two different conclusions. God speaks to Bobby one way and to Billy another way, both from the same passage. They have different “interpretations” and both are equally valid.

But there’s a problem with this approach. Imagine if your words meant whatever somebody interpreted them to mean. When you say, “I love to go fishing,” that means whatever someone wants it to mean. If somebody thinks you mean: “I’m lazy and would prefer to sit on a lake and relax,” and someone else thinks you mean: “I am the greatest fisherman in East Texas,” and a third thinks you mean: “Fishing is a sport I enjoy a lot” – are they all equally valid? Clearly not! Yet that’s how we treat God’s Word.

Instead of focusing on “our” interpretation, we should seek to know what God intended His words to mean. What is it that God is trying to say through this passage? If our interpretation accurately reflects what God meant, it is valid. But if our interpretation doesn’t reflect what God intended, it isn’t valid. With that in mind, here are two questions to ask of a Bible passage to help you see what God intended:

1) What is the context? How does your passage fit into the flow of what comes before it and what comes after it? Your interpretation must make sense of what comes before and after your passage.

2) What did it mean to them? Ask yourself what the passage meant to the people to whom it was originally written. Once you understand what it meant to them, you have a better sense of what it actually means because what it meant to them is what it means to us.

I hope these two questions move us beyond those four popular words to these four words: “What is God’s interpretation?”

With love,

James Seward

“That’s just your interpretation.” Those four words are becoming pretty popular. They are popular among people who like to dodge what the Bible is saying. You think homosexuality is a sin? “That’s just your interpretation.” But they’ve also become a popular explanation for why two Christians can come to the same passage and reach two different conclusions. God speaks to Bobby one way and to Billy another way, both from the same passage. They have different “interpretations” and both are equally valid.

But there’s a problem with this approach. Imagine if your words meant whatever somebody interpreted them to mean. When you say, “I love to go fishing,” that means whatever someone wants it to mean. If somebody thinks you mean: “I’m lazy and would prefer to sit on a lake and relax,” and someone else thinks you mean: “I am the greatest fisherman in East Texas,” and a third thinks you mean: “Fishing is a sport I enjoy a lot” – are they all equally valid? Clearly not! Yet that’s how we treat God’s Word.

Instead of focusing on “our” interpretation, we should seek to know what God intended His words to mean. What is it that God is trying to say through this passage? If our interpretation accurately reflects what God meant, it is valid. But if our interpretation doesn’t reflect what God intended, it isn’t valid. With that in mind, here are two questions to ask of a Bible passage to help you see what God intended:

1) What is the context? How does your passage fit into the flow of what comes before it and what comes after it? Your interpretation must make sense of what comes before and after your passage.

2) What did it mean to them? Ask yourself what the passage meant to the people to whom it was originally written. Once you understand what it meant to them, you have a better sense of what it actually means because what it meant to them is what it means to us.

I hope these two questions move us beyond those four popular words to these four words: “What is God’s interpretation?”

With love,

James Seward