Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Nov/77

Contributor - Will Kroon

Title - Interpreting The Message Of The Bible

Topic - The Church in the World

When the General Synod of the Christelijk Gereformeerde Kerk, one of the more conservative Christian Reformed Churches of The Netherlands, debated whether or not to allow the singing of biblical hymns during the Sunday worship services, it had to deal with the words of Paul that Christians ought to be "filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs singing and making melody to the Lord . . " (Eph. 5: 15). Here Paul gives the impression that it is quite in order to sing good hymns when giving praise to God. However, many of the elders, pastors and professors in theology were in disagreement on this. Thus far they have never sung hymns in church and many of them would like to keep it that way. Others are aiming for a change and quote the Scriptures to prove their point.

When a reporter listened to the arguments pro and con hymn singing in church, he noticed that the delegates gave at least five different interpretations to the text quoted above. This may not be too surprising to a biblical scholar but it is very confusing to an outsider who looks to the Bible for guidance. If the professors and synod delegates, who all take the Bible seriously, cannot agree on the meaning of one text, what will happen if the Bible is interpreted by persons who have little or no biblical training? Is it a wonder that many interpretations are confusing and inaccurate ?

Why Bring It Up ?

Have Protestants made the mistake of giving the Bible into the hands of persons who are unable to interpret its message? This is hard to judge. We cannot tell for sure. What is certain, however, is that the misinterpretations of the Scriptures have led to thousands upon thousands of divisions in the Church. It has led to war, persecution, burning at the stake and to the formation of countless of sect groups. Christian leaders should stop giving the impression that the Bible is a simple Book. It is not. Of course, it is true that there is much in the Bible that speaks to the heart of all who search for the Truth. It is also true that a person who lives with God and reads His Word faithfully all his life, may get a grasp of the Message of Salvation that is second to none. Yet, this does n.ot take away the fact that special gifts are required to interpret the message of Scripture.

The Bible is an Adult Book

All through the Old Testament and until quite recently many Christians in the world did not have a copy of the Bible in their homes. This is still true in many parts of the world. In biblical times the copies of the Word of God were kept and interpreted in the temple or in the synagogues. The Christians in the New Testament had until thirty years after the Lord's resurrection only the scrolls of the Old Testament and the living witnesses of the resurrection, who knew the message by heart. Or, to put it differently, many biblical believers had the Word of God engraved in their hearts. Interpreting the Word of God was not entrusted to anyone who could read. It was entrusted to the leaders, to the older people. Later on it were the Scribes, the Pharisees who were in charge of interpreting God's Word. When the Scribes were forced to deal with difficult points, they would not deal with the matter publicly. They would go for a walk with a trusted scribe and wrestle with the issue together.

The Bible is an Adult Book. Even when the Lord taught the people, His message was often too difficult even for His own followers. He had to help them with the interpretation of it. When the Ehiopian Eunich was reading a scroll from the prophet Isaiah, he was unable to grasp its content. Philip the Deacon had to help him with the interpretation. The same thing was true with Cornelius the Roman centurion, who had shown an interest in the faith for a long time. He needed interpretation -and further instruction from the Apostle Peter.

I want to point out that the Bible has always been regarded as an adult book and that its message should only be interpreted by persons who have studied the Bible, who believe its message and are willing to be guided and directed by the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, every believer should be humble enough to admit that there are still many mysteries in the Scriptures which are still beyond one's comprehension. Even the great Apostle Paul had to admit that he was often still looking as through a dark glass, spiritually speaking.

Points that need to be stressed

1. Bible study requires hard work. A Bible study is a responsible undertaking that requires work and prayer. An understanding of the language of the Bible is necessary. A grasp of the whole Bible, a study of the key words, the reading of an entire passage which contains a certain message, and so much more, is required to understand the meaning. What is also very helpful, is the reading of sermons of famous persons in the past who interpreted the Message in their day. Bible study is more than a sharing of religious feelings; it is a sharing of religious discoveries and the passing on of biblical insights to others.

2. Read both the Old and the New Testament. The Apostles and the teachers of the New Testament explained the death and resurrection of Christ, based on the prophesies and promises in the Old Testament. (Read Acts 2 and Hebrews 11 and so many other passages'.) They all warned that the New Testament is not to be read apart from the Old Testament. What happens if we ignore the Old Testament? Many things may happen, the main one being that the New Testament message will be misinterpreted. Furthermore, the importance of God the Father will be ignored, the background of the Sacrament of baptism and Holy Communion will be minimized, the covenant which God made with His people, will be disregarded. What is needed today is a renewed emphasis, that the Old Testament is just as much the Word of God as the New Testament. Let us not forget the fact that many of the New Testament Christians grew up with nothing but the Old Testament message and the eyewitness accounts of those who preached Christ and Him crucified for the salvation of all peoples.

3. Read a message in context. Quoting Scripture can be a dangerous practice. This is especially so when it is done by those who do not subject themselves to the Word -of God. They quote Scripture to support their own ideas. When we take the Bible out of context in which a passage is given, we can make the Bible say anything. By selecting a text here and a text there, we can give the impression that God wants what we want. What do you think will happen when you go to the library and get hold of an ancient document, select an important paragraph and take scissors to cut out one sentence from that paragraph. You then take that one sentence and say: "This is what Luther, or Calvin said!" Result: you may convey what was said, but when you take just one sentence you cannot explain the real meaning! In the same way do we misuse the Word of God if we just quote one verse out of context and apply that verse to a different situation!

4. Interpreting the prophesies given in Scripture. There is perhaps no part of the word of God that is more used and misused than the prophetic messages given in the Bible. Here I am especially thinking about the prophetic messages that deal with the end of time. Part of the reason for this abuse is that the prophesies are given to certain people, who faced a certain crisis at a certain time. It was God who spoke to them through His prophet and His message was a direct message for, their situation. Only when we read these prophesies within the context in which they were given can we see how God dealt with His people then and how God may deal today with His people in a similar situation. Another reason why the prophetic messages are often misused is that people are interested in God's program. They want to know what the future has in store for them and when the Lord will return. Many writers try to get the attention of their readers by telling them more about God's hidden plan than is written in the Bible. By taking the prophesies out of context and by making the wrong combinations they often tell us the year when the Lord will return. This has been the case since the end of the first century and this will remain so till the end of time. I predict that we will read a great deal about these predictions as we approach the year 2000. Books like "The Late Great Planet Earth" ' have always been selling like hot cakes, but since they take prophesy out of context they are not trustworthy.

However, I should add that some of these books on prophesy may serve a useful purpose of some kind. They may encourage people to study the Scriptures or give them a sense of urgency to commit their lives to the Lord. On the other hand these books may undermine the Word of God. Since the predictions made in these books about the end of time turn out to be wrong, the reader may be inclined to draw the conclusion that therefore the Bible is unreliable. What the reader may not see is that the writers of these books used the Bible to their own advantage and monetary gain.

5. 5. Learn a biblical vocabulary. We live in a time where we don't have to be ashamed of talking about being born again, of being saved, of being a child of God. Many of our leaders do so in public. However, there is great confusion as to what is meant by these words. People speak about sin, salvation and accepting the Lord Jesus Christ, but they axe too vague in spelling out what they mean by these words. As long as there is no -common understanding as to what these words mean, real communication is very difficult. And how do we determine the meaning of these words? B studying the Scriptures and observing how these words are used.

6. Become Aware of the different types of books in the Bible. Our Bible is a library of sixty books bound together and as much they make up the Old and New Testament. Some of these 66 books are called the law books, others history books and again others are called the books of prophesy, the books of wisdom. In the New Testament we have the four Gospels, the Epistles and the Book of Revelation. My reason for pointing this out is that these different books are meant to be interpreted in a different way. Genesis is different from the Book of Revelation, and so is Proverbs different from the Gospel of John.

7. The Role of the Holy Spirit. Let us not forget that the Holy Spirit plays a key role in the right interpretation of Scripture. All Scripture has been written under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the same Spirit is required for the understanding of Scripture. But how is the Spirit guiding the believer? Does a person who has received the Holy Spirit require no further training? He certainly does! The oly Spirit guides His Church through involvement, through struggling and long debates. It may even happen that the Church may only see the direction of the Spirit after some of its leaders have been called home to glory.

CONCLUSION

During the past generation the Church has spent much time and effort to translate the Bible into many languages. It has spent much on producing more copies of the Scriptures. At this moment in time much of our time and resources should be spent on the training of adults for the interpretation of the Bible. The Church will win the respect of the world when its adults have a mature understanding of the Word of God and have acquired sufficient wisdom to interpret it.

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