What We Bring To The Table Of Interpretation
In previous articles we noted that Bible interpretation requires more than mere “spiritual” impressions. Often our impressions become simply an extension of our wishful thinking. I want the end to come now, therefore, I believe God “laid on my heart the fact that the wars in the Middle East signal the end.” “God even led me to some scriptures to substantiate this fact.” Our impressions make us feel good. It gives us chill bumps to know that Jesus may come tomorrow. When Jesus speaks to me, however, I don’t get chill bumps. I grow obstinate and bow up because he usually ask me to come out of my box, into the unknown, and do the sacrificial thing. Human nature balks at sacrifice. This feel good mentality reflects our post modern society which in essence, places feelings above reason. Self centeredness directs us toward our feelings and steers us away from a patient kind of rationality that whispers, “Wait on the Lord.” So, we need to understand how our disposition enters into our Bible interpretation.
Each of us comes to the table with a “world view.” Our world view tells us why things are the way they are. A uniformity exists among each Christian’s individual world view. Christians believe in a sinful fallen world. That’s how they interpret evil events. They also believe that Jesus came to redeem and save the fallen. Those who respond positively in faith to his sacrificial love and unmerited grace, find salvation. The Bible authors saw life through their own Middle Eastern world view. The New Testament writers lived in a world dominated by Rome, taxes, and a Greek pantheon. They suffered intense opposition to their new found faith. Many faced gruesome deaths. God speaks through our world view. That’s the beauty of his love. He enters our lives playing by his rules on our turf. When we sit down at the interpreter’s table it’s difficult to play with foreign rules on our field. Yet, we must recognize the situation and ask God to adjust our thinking.
Furthermore, within our world view we each possess premises. Christians part company at this point. The word “premise” literally means “to send before.” A premise or presupposition is what you believe about the Bible, the end times, and so forth before you ever study the matter on your own. Life’s experiences, our families, and our teachers shape our premises. For instance, a person can hear a great sermon on the end and let that message predetermine his understanding of the Bible. I read Hal Lindsay’s book The Late Great Planet Earth in 1975. I then saw the movie narrated by Orson Wells. No one had a more convincing voice than Orson Wells. He drove people to suicide with his 1938 radio broadcast of The War Of The Worlds. Lindsay keyed his dates concerning the end on Jesus’ words from Matthew 24 when he declared, “This generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.” (NRSV) Lindsay, a dispensationalist, (more on this later) also keyed in on Israel’s becoming a nation in 1948. He reasoned that a generation by Hebrew standards was 40 years. Any second grade math student can put the numbers together and find Lindsay’s proposed date for the end-1988. Well, 1988 came and went. In the mean time, Hal Lindsay said he miscalculated. So, he did some more math and came up with approximate dates (Book sales were down at this point) ranging from 1990 to whenever. In his book he determined that one tests the validity of a prophet by the out come of his prophecy. If a prophet prophesies and his words come true he is legitimate. On the other hand, if his words do not come to pass he is a false prophet. Lindsay failed his own litmus test. In 1975 I formed my premise about Bible prophecy from Hal Lindsay’s work. The logician of time disproved my premise. Peter held the ancient Hebrew premise that all Gentiles were unclean. Meanwhile, Cornelius, a captain in the Roman army, inquired into the Jewish faith. Jews called him a God fearer. He needed help with his inquiry. God tagged Peter for the job. Before Peter took the assignment, God gave him a vision that shot his premise down. (Story found in Acts Chapter 10)
Sound Bible interpretation requires that we ask God to help us lay all premises aside. We must look at the text as if we never heard anything about it before. Our task is simply to represent the Bible text, not our own feelings, convictions, and judgments.
Some may conclude, “What you propose can only happen through trained scholarship. Why, uneducated people have read and interpreted the Bible for centuries.” To be sure, I recognize this objection. The authority of the Protestant faith begins not with scholars, or bishops, as in Roman Catholicism, but with the Bible itself. The New Testament authors, however, addressed friends, and those acquainted with their world. They didn’t need a rocket scientist to interpret for them. As generations speed by, words lose their meaning. Pastors today recognize this problem and should help their parishioners learn to interpret for themselves. That’s why I write this series and that’s why I will continue in the next few weeks to offer principles and guidelines for interpreting the Bible.
