Problems In Interpreting the Holy Bible

One of the chief reasons why so many religions, denominations and cults have arisen that use the Bible to justify their false religions, is the fact that many of these groups have leaders who are “natural men”. That is, they are not born-again, blood washed believers. They profess to be Christians, but they have never been regenerated.

Because they are not true believers, and are still in the “natural man” state - the state of sinful Adam, not possessing the Holy Spirit - the Bible teaches that such “natural men” are INCAPABLE of understanding the spiritual things in the Bible, and as a result, WILL and MUST misinterpret the Bible:

“But a NATURAL MAN does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he CANNOT understand them, because they are spirituallyappraised.” 1 Corinthians 2:14

Natural men almost always take only “parts” of the Bible for their religion, usually ignore the context - what is said before and after any particular passage - and twist most other parts of the Scriptures to conform to what a particular denominational beliefs, that can’t be found in the Scriptures.

However, things are quite different with a TRUE believer who has been regenerated and is indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

“Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit, Who is from God, THAT WE MIGHT KNOW THE THINGS FREELY GIVEN TO US BY GOD, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those TAUGHT BY THE SPIRIT, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.” 1 Corinthians 2:12 & 13

A true believer, according to 1 Corinthians 2:12 & 13, has the capacity to UNDERSTAND and KNOW the revealed things in the Scriptures given to us. But even the true believer has to be TAUGHT BY THE SPIRIT indwelling him, how to understand spiritual things.

A believer is likewise required to STUDY the Bible and meditate on it in order to properly and spiritually discern its message (2 Timothy 2:15; Psalm 119:148). In addition to this, God expects a Spirit-led Christian to know his OWN written and spoken language, in how it is grammatically constructed, and how it is used. God expects the Christian to know all figures of speech (such as analogy, metaphor, symbolism, allegory, etc.) used in their own language and, of which, are also used in the Bible. It is surprising to see many Christians trying to understand their Bible, WITHOUT having a grasp of their OWN language with its own construction, figures of speech and rules of sentence structure.

No doubt some blame can be laid at the doorstep of the schools that no longer stress or drill their students in grammatical analysis and sentence diagraming, but God expects the Christian to KNOW these things. Thus, for some believers, for those lacking in a strong educational background, it may be necessary to review what may have been forgotten, or learn, on one’s own, the rules of grammar and figures of speech.

This little booklet intends to be a helpful supplement in showing the Christian how even the Holy Spirit, Who is the Divine Author of the Bible, uses and follows the rules of grammatical construction and many figures of speech. This, His Own Book, is the greatest piece of literature ever produced or ever will be produced on the face of this planet, and we as Christians need to study it diligently to gain the utmost from it.

1. LITERAL - means EXACTLY as stated - John 11:11-14; 1 Corinthians 3:16 & 17.

2. SYMBOLIC - a sign, symbol or thing used to REPRESENT a literal thing - Hebrews 9:1-12; Numbers 21:4-9 compared to John 3:14 &15.

3 FIGURATIVE - symbolic language representing something OTHER than what is figuratively stated - 1 Corinthians 4:6; John 10:1-6, 7-9; 16:25 & 29; Proverbs 1:5 & 6

4. CONTEXT - the total, topical over-riding idea(s) either BEFORE a verse or FOLLOWING a verse. Cross-references are OTHER Bible verses that are used to clarify what appears to be vague or difficult verses to understand. Some verses that stand alone in the Bible, cannot be properly understood WITHOUT the se of cross-references. (Cross-references are usually only found in the more expensive Bibles and are either in the center column or margin of a page.) False religions frequently ignore cross references or CONTEXTUAL analysis, and literally interpret figurative passages and vice versa.

5. SIMILE - something that is “like” another in comparison, but NOT IDENTICAL in the literal sense; Revelation 9:7-10 (like); Acts 10:11; Luke 18:17.

6. HYPERBOLE - an apparent exaggeration to emphasize a point; Mark 10:25.

7. ANALOGY - similarity between two different ideas used in a parallel manner; John 12:35 & 36, 46; 1 John 1:5-7, 2:9-11.

8. PARABLE - a great truth expressed in a figurative story; Matthew 13:24-30, 34-43.

9. METAPHOR - implied comparison between two things, NOT ALIKE, but with parallel qualities or characteristics; John 2:18-21, 10:7-9; Revelation 14:1; 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, 3:11; 11:23-26; Matthew 16:18 (who is the “rock”?).

10. ALLEGORY - a story told to TEACH a parallel idea, not directly revealed in the first story. Closely related to the allegory in the TYPE. Throughout the Old Testament, many of the stories or characters are symbolic “shadows” or “types” relating to something to yet be revealed later in the Scriptures. Even the people in the Old Testament were playing roles, many times UNKNOWN to themselves, or other people to appear in Bible history. Two examples follow to demonstrate FIRST, the “allegory” and SECOND, the “type”.

ALLEGORY: LAW VERSUS GRACE

It may be a:

1. Person, Romans 5:14
2. An event, 1 Corinthians 10:11
3. A thing, Hebrews 10:19 & 20
4. An institution, Hebrews 9:11 & 12
5. Or a ceremonial, 1 Corinthians 5:7

Types are usually found in the Old Testament and the things they relate to, are usually found in the New Testament.

SOME SIMPLE RULES OF INTERPRETATION...
I.
1. Who is speaking?
2. Who is being spoken to?
3. What is being spoken about?

II.
1. WHO? WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? WHY? HOW? HOW MANY?

III.
1. What does it say?
2. What does it mean?
3. How do we apply it?

IV.
1. “SPECS”...things to look for:

S = sins to forsake
P = promises to claim
E = examples to follow
C = commands to obey
S = stumbling blocks to avoid

V.
1. If the literal sense makes good sense, seek no other sense, lest it result in nonsense.
2. If the literal sense makes NO sense, seek another sense until it makes good sense.
3. If the literal sense seems to make good sense, but appears to be in contradiction to other parts of the Word, use cross-references, check original Hebrew or Greek, check context, tenses of words, arrangement of contradictory words and see other translations.

HAGAR	SARAH
Old Covenant	New Covenant
Mt. Sinai - Bondage: her children were slaves performing the rites of the Sinaitic Law	Mt. Calvary - Freedom
Jerusalem that now is	Heavenly Jerusalem - Hebrews 12:18-24
Bondwoman - after the flesh	Freewoman - Divine Promise
Her children born in slavery	Her children born into freedom
Powerless to change their status	Dignity of sons with a preferred status
Works	Faith

ALLEGORY: LAW VERSUS GRACE

HAGAR

SARAH