How to Interpret the Bible So as to Find Its
‘For we are not as the many, corrupting the Word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.’’ — 2 Cor. 2:17, K.V.
” Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not: (2) but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the Word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every mans conscience in the sight of God. (3) And even if our Gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish: (4) in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.” — 2 Cor. 4:1-4, E.V.
‘’“Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.” — 2 Tim. 2:15, E.V.
“The Devil... saith unto him,,,. it is written.” — Matt. 4:5-7.
My subject this morning is, How to Interpret the Bible so as to Find its True Meaning. I have four texts. The first is 2 Cor. 2:17, R. V.: ‘’For ive are not as the man]/, corrupting the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ.” The word translated ‘’corrupting’ in this verse is the participle of a verb derived from a noun meaning ’ * a tavern keeper, or a wine merchant, a petty retailer, a huckster, a peddler,” and the thought is that as tavern keepers and wine merchants and peddlers frequently adulterate their wines or fruits, or other wares, so many alleged teachers of the Word of God adulterate the Word of God. That is certainly true of not a few preachers and Bible teachers’’ and * theological professors’’ in America and elsewhere in these days. Paul says he was not in that contemptible disreputable business; and we ought to be careful that we are not when we teach or when we study God’s word.
Our second text is 2 Cor. 4:1-4: ‘’ Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not: but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish {are perishing): in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the mvbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them,” The word translated “handlimg deceitfully’’ in these verses means to “corrupt” as metals are debased or wine adulterated, and the thought is that of debasing the pure gold of God’s Word, or adulterating the pure wine of God’s Word, by minglin-g with it false ideas. That too is a common practice to-day. Paul says that he has “renounced the hidden things of shame” and that he is “not walking in (theological) craftiness (cunning or subtlety)” — it is evident that he had not had the advantage of an education in some of our American institutions — and that he was not debasing the pure gold of “the Word of God” or adulterating the pure wine of the Word of God’’ by mixing in his own preconceived notions. Here too we also greatly need to be on our guard when we study or teach the Word of God.’’
Our third text is 2 Tim. 2:15: ‘*Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, handling aright the word of truth.” The Authorized Version, as you know, reads, * ‘Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to he ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth,” The Greek word Paul actually used means, “cutting straight,” and that would be a better way to translate it here than the way in which it is rendered in either the Authorized Version or the Revised Version. Then the verse would read * * Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, cutting straight the word of truth.” I tell you there is a lot of crooked cutting nowadays when men come to the study and interpretation of the Word of God, especially when they find something they do not wish to believe. Some years ago, a friend of mine passed by a carpenter and joiner’s shop in a Southern city. Over the door was this sign, “All sorts of twisting and turning done here.” That would be a fine sign to put over the door of some of our theological seminaries, and many of our pulpits and Bible classes, and many a room where Christians are studying the Word of God alone; and each one of us needs to be very much on our guard that this may not be an appropriate sign to be put over the door of the room where we study our Bible alone. Remember, as you study the Bible that it is God’s Word and be sure to ‘cut it straight.’’ My fourth text is Matt. 4:5-7, “The devil... saith unto Him, ... it is written.” You see from this passage that the devil can quote scripture and interpret or misinterpret scripture, and argue from what ‘’is written” in the Book of God. If you think he has quit the business, read “Pastor” Russell’s “Millennial Dawn,” or Mrs. Eddy’s ^’Science and Health,” or some of the productions of the “American Institute of Sacred Literature” or the Chicago University, or some of the Sunday School helps sent out by some of our denominational Boards. But I would not advise you to spend much time on this evidently devil-inspired trash. It is not enough to study the Bible, nor even to spend several hours in Bible study daily. We must seek diligently to ‘’cut it straight,” We must find out how to interpret the Bible so as to find its true meaning, so as to discover just what God meant to teach by each verse we study: and then interpret it that way in every instance. Of many passages of scripture there are several possible meanings; one man says it means one thing and another man says it means another thing. Now God intends only one of these meanings. We should seek to find out not what men say it means, even good men, but what God intended it to teach. Is there any way in which ordinary men like you and me can tell to a certainty which interpretation of several possible interpretations of a passage is the right interpretation, the exact meaning God intended to convey? There is. There are certain Laws of Interpretation that will enable you to know in at least almost every instance just what is the true interpretation of every verse in the Bible, what is the true sense of the passage, just what God wishes to teach. I shall endeavor to state these laws so you can all understand them and then apply them for yourselves.
/. Get Absolutely Right with God Yourself by the Absolute Surrender of Your Will to God
The first great law of correct Bible interpretation, which will be recognized as a law of God by any fair-minded person who gives it a few minutes’ consideration, is Get Absolutely Right unth God Yourself by the Absolute Surrender of Your Will to Him. The only man who is at all competent to interpret the will of God is the man who is in harmony with God, and the only man who is in harmony with God is the man whose will is fully surrendered to God. If you are not right with
God yourself, you certainly are not competent to say what Grod means by any passage in His Word. Our Lord Jesus Himself says this in John 7 :17, R. v., “If any man willeth to do Ms mil, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself. ‘^ Nothing else so clears up our minds to understand the Word of God as the surrender of our wills to God. The will is the eye of the soul. Our Lord says that also. He says in Matt. 6 :22, 23, R. V., “The lamp of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye he single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness.” And it is clear from the next verse that by a * ’ single eye” He means a will fully surrendered to God. His words are, ‘’No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. ‘^ If your will is surrendered to God and to Him alone, your ‘eye’’ is ^’single,” and your “whole body full of light.’’ But if your will is not fully surrendered to God and Him alone, your “eye’’ is “eviP’ and your whole person is “full of darkness.’’ Nothing else gives us such a clear eye to discern, as we read God’s Word, just what God means, as an entirely surrendered will. A surrendered will will do more to qualify any one to be a competent and dependable interpreter of the Word of God than the fullest possible university course in Greek and Hebrew and the cognate languages. As I said last Sunday, I have known great Greek scholars and great Hebrew scholars and men deeply versed in the cognate languages who were blind as a bat to the real meaning of the scriptures because they lacked that clearness of spiritual vision that comes only from a surrendered will. And on the other hand I have known very ordinary and quite uneducated men and women, men and women with no pretensions whatever to scholarship, who had a wonderful understanding of the meaning of God’s Word because their wills were surrendered to God. We get this same principle of Bible interpretation from Psalm 25:14: “The secret (or, the friendship) of Jehovah is with them that fear Him; and he will show them His covenant.’’ The same thought is found in Prov. 3 :32, ‘The f roward is an abomination to Jehovah: but his secret is with the righteous.” A closely similar thought is found in our Lord’s last words to His disciples on the night before His crucifixion, in John 15 :15, E. V.: ‘No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I heard from my Father I have made known unto you.’’
The first great principle of Biblical interpretation is then, that the one who would interpret the Bible must himself he in harmony with the Author of the Booh by the surrender of his will to God. Every theological professor whose will is not fully surrendered to God, should be turned out of the chair he occupies in any Seminary or University.
When Mr. Alexander and I were holding meetings in a university city in England, Mr. Alexander was invited out to dinner by one of the most prominent officers in one of the theological schools connected with the university. This man, who was a fine man in many ways, took exception to some of our teachings. He accompanied Mr. Alexander after dinner out to his carriage, and as they stood by the carriage and had a few earnest parting words Mr. Alexander put the question straight to him, ‘Have you ever made a full surrender of your will to God?’* This prominent theological university teacher very frankly and gently said to Mr. Alexander, * ‘No, Mr. Alexander, I have not.” That accounted for his misunderstanding of the Word of God, and the same thing accounts for the misunderstanding of the Word of God on the part of a great many students of the Word to-day. See to it that you are not blinded in a similar way to the real meaning of God’s Word. Unless you fulfill this first great law of correct Bible Interpretation it will not help you to fulfill the other laws. You will get nowhere in your study of the Word.
77. Be Determined to Find Out Just What God
Intended to Teach and Not What You
Wish Him to Teach
The second principle of correct Bible interpretation is. Be Determined to Find Out Just What God Intended to Teach and Not What You Wish
Him to Teach. One great reason why many do not find out the true meaning of God’s words is because they do not really wish to find out the true meaning of God’s words, but they wish to find some way in which they can force God’s words into harmony with their own notions. Many men and women see in the Bible just what they wish to see in the Bible. This is the cause of the blinding of the eyes of many. Some one asked me the other day, * ‘Why cannot the Jews see that their own Old Testament Scriptures predicted a suffering Messiah, who should make atonement for sin by His death and that Jesus is that Messiah? It is so plain.” The answer is simple, because they do not wish to. And I asked the person who asked me this question another question, ^’Why do not Christians to-day see that there are other predictions in the Old Testament just as plain and far more of them, that the Messiah is coming as an all-conquering King to rule the nations with a rod of iron, that Jesus, the true Messiah, is coming again r’ The answer to that is just as simple — because they do not wish to.
There was a time many years ago when I was so certain that all men would ultimately be saved and the devil too, and was so determined to establish that doctrine, that I interpreted everything I found in the Bible on the subject of future punishment in the light, or rather in the darkness, of that determination of mine, to make the Bible square with my own view, which I reasoned out pMlosophically and was ready to defend against all comers. But when I reached the point where I desired not only to make the Bible square with my philosophical arguments for universal salvation, but to find out just what God really taught, I easily found just what God did teach; and my universal salvation arguments evaporated into thin air. We must all of us be on our guard at this point, that in absolute honesty we have but one wish and that is to find out just what God means by the verse we are studying and that only, no matter how much it may conflict with our previous ideas.
Ill, Get the Most Accurate Text
The third principle of correct Bible interpretation is. Get the Most Accurate Text to Interpret. It is the original manuscripts of the Bible that are the very Word of God. Now we do not have the original Mss. of the Bible. We have many Mss. but not one of them is the original. There are many variations in the Mss. which we possess. But by a comparison of the very many Mss. we have of the various parts of the Bible — and we have far, far more Mss. of the books of the Bible than of any other ancient book — we can come very close to the original texts as they came from the hands of Paul and John and Matthew and the rest of the writers of the books of the Old and New Testaments. Indeed we have now what is to all practical intents and purposes what is the original text as it came from the hand of the original writers of the various books of the Bible. It is wonderful when one thinks of it, when we remember how old these books are and how often they were copied and how very many Mss. we have and the advances in scholarship, especially in textual criticism, that have been made in the time between when the Authorized Version was published 310 years ago in 1611 and when the Revised Version was published only a few years ago, in 1881 (The N. T.), that there are so few differences of real importance between the Authorized Version and the Revised Version. There is not one single doctrine of any vital importance affected in the least by the variations between the two versions, not one. That is amazing and shows the wonderful providential care with which Grod guarded His own written word. But there are slight differences and, of course, we wish the exact mind of God and, as that is found in the original Mss., we therefore desire and should seek the purest text, the most exact text, the text which is closest to the original Mss. There can be no honest question that, taken all in all, the Revised Version presents a text more nearly exactly the same as that of the original Mss. than the Authorized Version. So, though for many reasons the Authorized Version is the better for the general reading of the average Christian, nevertheless, every one who wishes to find the exact words of God should have and should study the Revised
Version. There is one glaring misrendering in the Revised Version. It is f onnd in 2 Tim. 3 :16. The Revised Version reads, Every scripture inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness,” putting the *4s” after the “inspired of God’’ instead of before it as in the Authorized Version. There is absolutely no warrant for this change. It is utterly indefensible. It should read “Every scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’’ But the fault in that case is not in the Greek text upon which the Revised Version is built, but upon the translation of the text. There is no question about the Greek text even in this case. Many uncertainties about the meaning of various passages in the Bible would be easily settled if we would just look at the more correct text as given in the Revised Version. Take as an illustration, 1 Thess. 5:22. The Authorized Version renders this “abstain from all appearance of evil;” the R. V. renders it * * abstain from every form of evil.” While the Greek text King James translators and the revisers used is the same, there is no room for doubt that the English text in the Revised Version gives the true sense of the Greek text better than the Authorized Version. We are not so much to * * abstain from the appearance of evil” but from what is actually evil, and from what is actually evil in every form m which it appears, every form of evil.’’
IV, Fimd Out the Most Exact and Literal Mea/tiing of the Text
The fourth principle of correct Bible interpretation is, Find Out the Most Exact and Literal Meaning of the Text. It is one of the most firmly established principles of law in England and in America that “a law stands as it is written,” i. e., that a law means exactly what it says and is to be interpreted and enforced just as it reads. This is just as good a principle for interpreting the Bible as for interpreting law. If Shailer Mathews and the rest of the higher critics and “new theology” men were practicing law and should try in any court of justice to interpret laws as they interpret the BiblCj they would be laughed out of court. It is no wonder that the one who has done more to prick the iridescent soap bubbles of the higher critics and new theology men than almost any one else was a brilliant lawyer, knighted by King Edward for his eminent legal talents, my late intimate and beloved friend, Sir Robert Anderson. The primary meaning of any passage of Scripture, just as the meaning of any law on our statute books, is the literal meaning, unless it is perfectly plain from the context or from other scripture or from the manifestly figurative character of the passage that something else than the literal sense is intended.
Those who do not wish in any particular case to accept what God actually says, including some who really are scholars, who ought to know better, often take refuge from the plain meaning of a text by saying, Oh, but you know the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life,’ “by which they mean the literal sense of a passage, the interpretation that takes God as meaning just what He says, kills, but a ‘* spiritual” interpretation, i. e., an interpretation that makes God mean something He does not say, gives life. If any one will look up PauPs words, ‘Hhe letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life” (2 Cor. 3:6, E. V.) in their context, he will see that Paul never dreamed of such an interpretation or application of his words as these men give to them. It is clear as day from the context that what Paul meant was that the mere written letter, “written with ink” (v. 3) or engraven “in tables of stone” killed, but the Word of God written “with the Spirit of the living God” on our hearts (in tables that are hearts of flesh”) gives life. These men who thus misuse 2 Cor. 3 :6 call those who hold fast to the actual literal meaning of the words deadly literalists. “But if that kind of literalism is ’ deadly,” then Paul himself, the very one who wrote these words, was one of the most “deadly literalists” the world has ever known; for Paul constantly insisted upon the literal meaning of words and would build an argument upon the tense, number or case of a word used. A very distinguished Hebrew scholar, a
I professor in a leading American theological seminary, once tried to work this interpretation of 2 Cor. 3:6 on me. In a friendly discussion I had driven him into a comer by quoting a plain statement of God’s Word. He could not escape, but tried to by the subterfuge of saying, ‘’But you know ’ the letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life.” ‘I replied, ‘’Now Professor, do you really think that is what Paul means by those words?” And he frankly said, “No, I know it is not.”
Another very easy and very common way of reading out of the Bible what God lias put into it, is for men to say when they are driven into a corner by some plain passage that they do not wish to believe,” Oh, that is figurative,” by which they mean it does not mean what it says, but you can take it to mean whatever you like. That is a very common way nowadays with the post-millennialists of reading out of the Bible what God so plainly says in it about the personal, visible, bodily, imminent coming again of our Lord Jesus. It is outrageous trickery, unworthy of any one who has sense enough to subordinate his own crude and fallible opinions to the plain teaching and infinite wisdom of God’s Word. When statements are plainly figurative, of course, interpret them as figures, but even then remember that figures stand for facts, and that God’s figures never overstate the facts, and never misinterpret the facts, and that an honest man’s figures never mean just the opposite of what they seem to teach.
The most plain and obvious meaning of any passage in the Bible is always to be preferred to a subtle and ingenious one; for the Bible was written for plain, honest-minded, humble-minded, common folk and not for a. few sublimated mystics. Did not Jesus Himself say, I thank thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight!” (Matt. 11:25, 26, E. v.). Well, do not forget it. A man who really was a great scholar once said at a Bible Conference, “I think the best method of Bible study is the haby method,” by which he meant just what Jesus Christ means here, that God reveals His truth to the humble, teachable mind, to the one who comes to Him as a babe. Remember how Jesus said again, “Except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:3.)
V. Note the Exact Force of Each Word Used
The fifth principle of correct Bible interpretation is. Note the Exact Force of Each Word Used. Remember that the Bible is Grod’s Word and that God always says exactly what He means, no more, no less. Remember that the Bible is verbally inspired; i. e., that the Holy Spirit, the unerring Spirit of God led the Bible writers in the choice of every word they wrote, led them to write the word that exactly expressed what was in the mind of God, or, as Paul puts it, Which things also we speak, not in words ivliich man’s toisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth; combining spiritual things with spiritual words.’’ (1 Cor. 2 :13, R. v.). N’ote every word and the exact force of every tvord. Take, for example, Rev. 2 :10: * *Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life. “Now this is constantly interpreted as meaning that we are saved by being faithful unto death, but it does not say so. It says, “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of life.” It tells us, not the way to be saved, but the way to obtain the crown. Take Luke 6 :30, R. v., “Give to every one that asketh thee.’’ This is constantly interpreted as if it meant “Give to every one that asketh thee, just what he asJcs/^ but it does not say so; it says, ‘Give to every one that asketh,” but does not specify what to give to him. And it means exactly and literally what it says. It is far better to give some men advice than it is to give them money. The whole context shows we are to take God as our example in our giving and in all else that we do, and while God gives to every one that asks. He certainly does not always give even to His own children, the very thing we have asked. Take ‘Eph. 4 :30,” Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption.” This is constantly interpreted as meaning that we are not to “grieve away the Holy Spirit.” But it does not say so. So far from teacMng us that we can grieve away the Holy Spirit, it tells us in the last part of the verse that we cannot, *4n whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption,” But while we cannot grieve Him away, if we are children of God, we can grieve Him, and alas, we do.
VI. Interpret the Words Used m Any Verse
According to Bible Usage
The sixth great principle of correct Bible interpretation is. Interpret the Words Used in Any Verse According to the Bible Usage of those words. Some people when they find any word in the Bible, run off for “Webster’s Dictionary or the Standard Dictionary to find out just what the word means. No, go to the Bible. Take your concordance and look up every passage in which the word in question is used and you will have God’s definition of its meaning. For example, take the word “death.” In Rom. 6:23 we read, ‘For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What does “death” mean here! Many run off to a dictionary and decide it means “cessation of existence,” but take your Bible and concordance and go through the Bible and you will find it means nothing of the kind in the Bible. God Himself defines the ‘death” which is the ultimate result of sin in Eey. 21 ;8: ‘But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which hurneth with fire and hrintstone: which is the second death,” A man came into my office in Minneapolis. This text was hanging among others upon the wall and he read, “The wages of sifi is death,” and then turned to me and said, ^’Do you believe that?” I knew the man was an annihilationist and said, ^’Yes, sir, I believe it, but do you know what death’ means T’ and then I took my Bible and showed him that his understanding of the word “death’’ was not the Bible meaning and I think I convinced him of his error. Take the word “sanctify,” a word of very frequent occurrence in the Bible. Many define the word for themselves and take it to mean, ^’to make absolutely holy in character,” and build up a whole system of theology, and an utterly false system of theology, on their wrong definition. If they would take their Bibles and concordances and look up every one of the very many passages in the Bible where this word is used, they would find that the primary meaning of *Ho sanctify” is He set apart for God,” and so they would find that the Bible teaching on this exceedingly precious and important subject of sanctification is entirely different from what they suppose. Just so with the word ^’justify” and a multitude of other words. When you are in doubt as to the exact meaning of any word in the Bible, take your concordance and look up every verse in the Bible where this word is used and you will see just what the word means.
VII. Interpret the Words of Each Author in the
Bible With a Regard to the Particular
Usage of That Author
The seventh principle of correct Bible interpretation is closely connected with the sixth. It is, Interpret the Words of Each Author in the Bible with a Regard to the Particular Usage of That Author. While God is the real Author of every book in the Bible, He used the individual personality of each man He employed to write the various books which make up His own Word. So we should find how the particular writer that we are studying uses any word. For example, James does not use the words “faith” and ‘^ believe” in the exact sense Paul uses them, nor in the exact sense in which John uses them. When James talks about “believing” he means a mere intellectual conviction of the truth, and so he says, “the demons also believe, and shudder” (James 2 :19, E. v.). Paul speaks of “believing” as a conviction that governs a man’s whole inner life, his intellect, his emotions, and his will; so he says in Rom. 10:9, 10, E. V.: ‘’If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ‘* And he said to the Philippian jailer in Acts 16:31, R. V., ‘’Believe on the Lord Jesus, and thou shalt be saved.’’ John, too, when he speaks of “believing’^ means a conviction to which a man utterly, unreservedly and gladly surrenders himself. So he says in John 20:31, R. V., “These are written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name,” And he says in 1 John 5:1: ‘’Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God;’’ and four verses farther down, ‘Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.”
VIII, Interpret Individual Verses With a
Regard to the Context
The eighth principle of correct Bible interpretation is, Interpret Individual Verses with a Regard to the Context. Many a verse might mean two or three or more different things if it stood alone, without any setting; but in the connection in which it is found in the Bible, taking note of what goes before and what comes after, it cannot mean but one of these three or four different things. So we must notice carefully what comes before the verse we are studying and what comes after it, if we are to find out the exact meaning of the verse before us. For example, take Acts 2 :39, R. v., “For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him,” Now what is” the promise” to which reference is made in this passage? Some say it is the promise of salvation; others say it is the promise to the individual of the baptism with the Holy Spirit. Which is right? If the verse stood alone either one might be right. But when we look at it in its context, only one is seen to be the true sense. Read the verse that goes immediately before, “And Peter said unto them. Repent ye and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,” Then he goes on immediately to say, ‘’For unto you is the promise’’ — what promise! The promise, of course, of which he has just spoken, “the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Take John 14 :18, R. V.: * I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you.” To what coming does this refer, to the Second Coming of Christ, or to His coming in the Holy Spirit to dwell in their hearts? It might mean either, if it stood alone. But if you will read the two verses that immediately precede and the five verses immediately following, you will see it refers to His coming in the Holy Spirit to dwell in their hearts. He says in the verses that immediately precede, * * And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you.” Then He says,” I will not leave you desolate: I come unto you,” This becomes even clearer in the verses that follow where He speaks of the coming of the Holy Spirit in which He will manifest Himself to them and will come and make His abode with them.
IX. Interpret Individual Passage in the Light of Parallel or Related Passages
The ninth principle of correct Biblical interpretation is, Interpret Individual Passages in the Light of Parallel or Related Passages, The meaning of many passages in the Gospels whose meaning seems doubtful would be settled at once if one would only read the parallel passages in another Gospel. Take for example, Luke 14: 26, 27, R. V.: “If any man cometh unto me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.’’ Now that looks hard. It has puzzled more people than almost any other passage in the Bible. But turn to the parallel passage, Matt. 10 :37, 38, and it is all cleared up. “He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that doth not take his cross and follow after me, is not worthy of me.” So it is evident that our Lord Jesns used the word hate’’ in Luke 14 :26, 27 in a sense in which it is used a number of times in the Bible, as a comparatively less love. Our love for God should be so immeasurably superior to our love to even the dearest of our earthly relatives that in comparison with our love to God our attitude toward them should be like aversion, or turning away from them.
Take John 14:3, R. V., “I will come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” Now our Lord might refer to His coming again to receive us at death, or He might refer to His Second Coming. To which does He refer? Another passage clearly and unmistakably answers the question, 1 Thess. 4 :16, 17, R. V.: For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” There are four points in each statement; they exactly cover one another and make it clear that PauPs words are an inspired commentary on our Lord’s words. Jesus says, I will come again;” Paul says,” The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.” Jesus says, “And mil receive you unto myself;’’ Paul says, “We... shall he caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,” Jesus says, “That where I am, there ye muy he also-/’ Paul says, ‘’So shall we ever he with the Lord,” Jesus says in introducing this promise, ‘’Let not your heart he troubled;^’ Paul says in closing, “Wherefore comfort one another with these words,” Take Matt. 13 :33, R. V.: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till it was all leavened.” Now some say this means that the Kingdom of God, the truth of God and the Gospel of God, are going to gradually grow and spread until they pervade the whole world. Others say that the leaven represents the corrupt doctrine, that the woman, an apostate church, mixes in the children’s bread and which multiplies like the yeast germs until the whole life and doctrine of the church is leavened. Which is right? Turn to 1 Cor. 5:6-8, R. V., and you get God’s answer to this important question: ‘Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lumpf Purge out the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are unleavened. For our passover also hath been sacrificed: wherefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” This is an inspired commentary on our Lord’s words and makes it as clear as day that the * heaven” refers to corruption, error and sin. The Bible itself is the very best commentary on the Bible. There is not a doubtful or difficult passage in the Bible anywhere that some other passage does not clear up and explain, if we seek long enough for it. The best book to help you in finding these other passages that clear up uncertainties and solve difficulties is the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.’’ Of several possible explanations of a passage, choose the one in harmony with the general teaching or trend of the Bible. If any one received a letter from me that had a statement in it that was capable of two interpretations, one of which was in harmony with the general trend of my letter and my other writings, and one of which was utterly at variance with the general trend of my letter and with my other writings, he would not hesitate for one moment to give that interpretation that was in harmony with the general teaching and trend of my letter and of my other writings, and just so we ought to act in interpreting the Bible. This does not mean that we are to distort and twist a passage out of its obvious meaning so there may be no apparent contradiction between it and some other clear passage in the Bible. One of the most vicious principles of Bible interpretation is that we must reconcile every passage
with the teaching of every other passage. As the Bible is the revelation of an infinite mind that presents all sides of the truth, it is inevitable that there should be in it two lines of truth which it is perfectly easy to reconcile in a mind of infinite wisdom, but which we in our limitations of thought and onesidedness of thought, cannot reconcile at all. So, for example, we are not to try to explain away the clear teaching of the Word of Grod as to the sovereignty of God on the one hand, nor the clear teaching of the Word of God as to the freedom of the human will on the other hand. But if there are several very easily possible interpretations of a passage and one fits in more harmoniously with the general teaching and trend of the Bible than the other, that is the one to be accepted.
X. Interpret Obscure Passages in the Light of Passages That Are Perfectly Plain
The tenth principle of correct Biblical interpretation is. Interpret Obscure Passages in the Light of Passages that are Perfectly Plai/n. Many do just the opposite thing. There will be a number of passages, the meaning of which is as plain as day. There will be another passage which is more or less obscure, and they will ignore all these perfectly plain passages and try to explain them away in the uncertain light of the obscure passage. Just the other procedure would be the rational one. Take, for example, 1 Cor. 9:27, R. V.: ‘^I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected’^ (rather, be disapproved). Now this might seem to imply a fear on PauPs part that even after his faithful work he might be lost (taking the exact force of the words and looking up their Biblical usage, we find that the verse even when taken alone cannot possibly teach this), but there are numerous passages in the Bible which make it plain as day that Paul entertained no fear whatever of such a character. He says in 2 Tim. 1 :12, R. V.: ^’For which cause I suffer also these things: yet I am not ashamed; for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day,” And he says in 2 Tim. 4:18, R. V., ‘’The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be the glory for ever and ever.” And our Lord Jesus Christ distinctly said in John 10:28, R. V., “I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish y and no one shall snatch them out of my hand,’’ And in 1 John 2 :19, R. v., John says,” They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us,’’ thus distinctly teaching that when one is really born again he will not fall away.
XI, Interpret Any Passage in the Bible as Those Who Were Addressed Would Have Understood It
The eleventh principle of correct Biblical interpretation is. Interpret Any Passage in the Bible as Those Who Were Addressed Would Have
Understood It. Words that were addressed to any people were intended to be understood by them. There may be exceptions to this principle, but they are rare. An illustration of an exception is found in John 2:19, R. V., where he says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’^ John tells us Jesus was speaking of the temple of His body, but the Jews would not have so understood it. In this case our Lord Jesus was not speaking for the present moment but for the days that were to come. This John explains in the 22nd verse where he says, ‘When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that He spake this; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.” In interpreting the Bible we need to have a knowledge of the times and places and customs where the words were spoken. For example, our Lord said to Peter in Matt. 16:19, E. V., “I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’^ Now this was perfectly understood by those to whom he said it, because they knew the customs of the day. When one graduated from one of the Rabbinical classes, he was given by the Rabbi a “key” to indicate that he was now ready to open the secrets of the kingdom; and so our Lord promised to Peter *Hhe keys of the kingdom of heaven” to indicate that Peter would be able to open the truth of the kingdom of heaven to men. We see Peter using the keys with the Jews on the day of Pentecost and with the Gentiles in the household of Cornelius. There was another well-known usage of the day that explains the remainder of the verse. The words “bind and loose’’ were used constantly of the Rabbis as referring to * forbidding and permitting.” For example, Shammai, a very strict Rabbi, was said to “bind,” or “forbid’’ what Hillel, a more generous and liberal Rabbi, was said to “loose,” or “permit.”
Z7/. Interpret What Belongs to the Christian,
as Belonging to the Christian; What Belongs
to the Jew, as Belonging to the Jew, and
What Belongs to the Gentiles, as
Belonging to the Gentiles
The twelfth principle of correct Biblical interpretation is, Interpret What Belongs to the Christian, as Belonging to the Christian, What Belongs to the Jew, as Belonging to the Jew, and What Belongs to the Gentiles, as Belonging to the Gentiles. One of the commonest causes of misinterpretation of the Bible is the taking what is said, or what applies, to one class of people and applying it to another class. Take, for example, Rom. 8:35, R. v., ‘’Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?’’ Now this is distinctly said, as the context clearly shows, of the believer, of the one who is “foreordained,” “called,” “justified.” Many take it as teaching that nothing can separate anyhody “froni the love of Christ.” It teaches nothing of the kind.
XIII, Interpret Each Writer vnth a View to the Opinions the Writer Opposed
The thirteenth principle of correct Biblical interpretation is, Interpret Each Writer with a View to the Opinions the Writer Opposed. That is to say, in interpreting Panl, when he is opposing the Judaizing tendencies in certain circles of his day, we should bear that in mind in interpreting his epistles; for example, in interpreting the Epistle to the Romans and the Epistle to the Galatians. When we are interpreting James, we should bear in mind that he was opposing the antinomians of his day, those who taught that if a man believed correctly about Christ, he was under no moral obligations, he could live as he pleased and yet be a saved man. In interpreting John in his First Epistle, we should bear in mind that he was opposing the gnostics of his day who were degrading Christianity by combining it with a fantastic philosophy, very like to the philosophy of “Christian Science,” and in some forms of Gnosticism the philosophy of * ‘Theosophy.”
XIV. Interpret Poetry as Poetry and Interpret Prose as Prose
The fourteenth principle of correct Biblical interpretation is, Interpret Poetry as Poetry, and Interpret Prose as Prose, For example, in interpreting the 18th Psalm, we should bear in mind that it is largely highly poetical, a remarkably vivid, poetic description of a thunderstorm in which God put forth His power in defense of His servant. The highly poetical character of the Psalm should be kept in mind in interpreting the Psalm; for example, the 8th verse, “There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.” Now this is not to be taken literally as representing God as a Being out of whose nose literally there poured forth smoke and fire out of His mouth. It is a wonderfully vivid and highly poetical description of a thunderstorm. Some people have no poetic sense and do everything in a matter-offact way. The story is told of ayaan of this hopelessly prosaic type of mind who read the well-known verse, ’ There are books in brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything,” and he at once made this criticism “that is not what the writer meant to say. What he meant to say was that there are sermons in books, stones in brooks and good in everything.” Poetry should be interpreted as poetry. That is not to say it does not mean what it says, but it says it in a figurative way and sometimes in a vividly pictorial way, that represents an idea by a picture.
But while we interpret poetry as poetry, we should interpret prose as prose. It is just as grave a breach of every sensible law of interpretation to interpret prose as poetry as it is to interpret poetry as prose. This is one of the outstanding faults of many of the so-called “modern” interpreters of the Bible. They find a statement in the Bible that is evidently prose, but it contains a truth they do not wish to accept and they at once say, “this is figurative.” They criticize those “stupid” people who interpret poetry as prose but do not realize they are open to just as grave criticism for interpreting prose as poetry.
XV, The Holy Spirit Is the Best Interpreter of the Bible
The fifteenth principle of correct Biblical interpretation is, The Holy Spirit Is the Best Interpreter of the Bible, The best interpreter of any book is the author of the book, and the Holy Spirit is beyond any honest question the Author of the Bible: ‘no prophecy ever came by the will of man; but men spake from God, being moved (more literally, being borne along,’ or * carried along’) by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 1:21, E. V.) This being true, of course it admits of no question that the Holy Spirit is the best interpreter of the
Bible, and the man who in his study of the Word seeks and obtains the illumination of the Holy Spirit is a far more dependable interpreter of the Word than the greatest scholar on earth who is not illumined by the Holy Spirit. As we pointed out last Sunday, “the natural man receive th not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them, because they are spiritually judged.” (1 Cor. 2:14, E. V.) Therefore, no matter how well founded one’s claims to scholarship may be, if he is not a Spirit-taught man his interpretations of the Word of God are absolutely valueless. The humblest and most uneducated Christian here who is taught by the Spirit of God w’ould be a far more competent and reliable interpreter of the scripture than the greatest university professor, or theological professor, on earth who was not in right relations to God and, therefore, was not taught by the Spirit of God. Our Lord Jesus said to His disciples on the night before His crucifixion, “Howbeit when Ee, the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all the truth” (John 16:13, E. V.). Now while this promise was made primarily to the apostles and is a guarantee of their inspiration and their absolute dependability as teachers, it also belongs in a lesser way to the individual believer. John, the beloved disciple, himself applies it to the believer. He says in 1 John 2 :27, E. V.: ‘* And as for you, the anointing which ye received (i. e., the Holy Spirit) of Him (i. e., from Christ) abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things/* So in your study of the Bible, in your eager desire to discover its true meaning, your determination to find out the exact mind of God, as He has revealed it in His Word, above all else seek the GUIDANCE OF THE HoLY SpmiT. The Way to get His guidance is to ask for it. Our Lord Jesus Himself said, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ash Him,” (Luke 11 :13, R. V.) How often you have thought as you have heard some Bible teacher who has been especially helpful to you, * * Oh, if I could only go to that man every day and have him for my teacher, I would make some progress in the knowledge of the things of God.” But every time you open your Bible alone by yourself, you can have a far more competent and skillful teacher than any human Bible teacher this world ever saw. You may have the Author of the Book to interpret it to you, and the greatest of all secrets of true interpretation of the Word of God is to have the Spirit of God for your interpreter of the Word. And if you are in right relations to God, trusting in the finished work of Jesus Christ as the sole ground of your acceptance before God, looking to the Risen Christ to give you daily victory over sin, absolutely surrendered in your will and your affections and in your thoughts to the will and mind of God, and then ask the Holy
90 yALUE OF PEOPER BIBLE STUDY
Spirit each time you open the Word, to come and interpret it to yon, and really mean it, and are whole-heartedly willing to accept and act upon what the Holy Spirit will show you, you may have the Holy Spirit as your Interpreter every time you open the Book.