BIBLE STUDY GUIDE
Bible Interpretation

This page is part of our Bible Study Guide.  If you are new to the Bible, you should read our The Basics page first. 

In this section, we'll address general Bible Interpretation principles and issues.  See our Book-by-Book Study Guides of the Old Testament and New Testament for additional interpretation principles which apply to the specific books. 

While the Bible itself is without error, our interpretations are not.  We have been given a great privilege in that God chose to reveal Himself through His Word.  With this privilege comes our responsibility to interpret it as accurately as possible.  While we're incapable of totally accurate interpretations at all times, we'll list some basic interpretive methods and principles to help minimize our interpretive errors. 

Table of Contents

Scope

This page is intended for all levels of Bible students (with the possible exception of the top notch elite scholar).

The beginner should read this page without getting too "hung up" on any technical details.  Your main focus at this point is in reading the Bible, along with some basic background material (see our Bible Basics page).  Once you're comfortable with a basic knowledge of the Bible, you'll be ready to go deeper.

For others, due to time and space restrictions, we obviously can't provide the level of detail that can be found in many good books; however, our intent for this page is to provide a good overview of Bible interpretation principles and methods.  We hope to pass on some basic knowledge that will greatly enrich your Bible studies, and provide a decent foundation for those who are interested in further study of interpretation techniques. 

We're currently working on our "Genre Analysis" and "The Role of the Holy Spirit"  pages.  We're also working on a "Word Study Methods" section.  The vast majority of Bible students, including most pastors, simply don't have the time to detailed word studies from scratch, so we depend on lexicons, commentaries, word-study books etc, but we should have a basic working knowledge of a proper methodology in order to determine if the commentator has done his homework or just a quick background study in determining his conclusions.  As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions regarding this page.

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How to Approach Biblical Interpretation

I'll mention the most important Bible study principle first.  The Word of God should be approached very carefully, with humility and much prayer.  What better person to consult than the Source Himself.  Because the Bible's authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit, we need the illumination of the Spirit to properly interpret it.   (Our page on the role of the Holy Spirit is in progress)

The goals of Bible interpretation are to determine the author's original intended meaning, how it applies to us today, and how to proclaim its truth to others.  Interpretation must be done in that exact order!  We cannot accurately proclaim the truth to others if we don't know what it means to us.  Likewise, we cannot properly apply the Scripture to our lives without understanding the author's original intent.

Caution:  Bible students should familiarize themselves with the contents on this page; however, we recommend reading an entire book (the entire Bible is even better) before getting "bogged down" trying to determine the meaning of a particular part or verse.  The individual parts cannot be properly interpreted without a proper grasp of the whole text.  Unfortunately, modern scholars and commentaries tend to overemphasize word studies and dissection of isolated passages, which can yield valuable information, but apart from the whole, the parts have no meaning.  Since many of the words from the original language can be translated into several different words in the destined modern language (each of which may have multiple potential meanings), we must look at how it is used in context to determine the correct translation which conveys the author's intended meaning.   See the sections on "Context" and "Word Study Methods" (in progress) for more information.

Therefore, we recommend you approach your Bible study from the "forest to the trees", that is getting a good grasp of the whole prior to tackling the individual parts in light of the whole.  We have attempted to structure our Bible Study Guide to do just that.

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Author's Intent & Patterns of Meaning

In our Interpretation Guide, we make many references to determining the author's "original meaning" or  "intended meaning".  This is the first and one of the principle goals of Bible interpretation, so I think it is important to explain what we mean.  First, we must understand that the ultimate author of Scripture is the Holy Spirit (2Tim 3:16, 2Pet 1:20-21).  Under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the human authors used their own writing styles to relay God's message to us, exactly as God intended.  So, when we speak of the author's meaning, we refer to the message that the Holy Spirit deliberately intended to affirm.  We are not attempting to unduly restrict a passage's meaning to one central intention. 

We believe there are times when the human author was not fully aware of the entire pattern of meaning of his communication.   A good example is Paul's prohibition of getting drunk on wine (Eph 5:18).  The "pattern of meaning" includes a prohibition against getting drunk on any other kind of alcohol and being under the influence of mind altering drugs (see our Drugs and Alcohol article for additional discussion).  

To summarize, our application of the term "author's original intended meaning" (or variances thereof) includes both the central intended meaning of the human author and the "pattern of meaning" as purposefully willed by the Holy Spirit.  We must however, keep in mind that we are illuminated by the Holy Spirit to interpret the author's meaning from the Scriptures, not inspired by the Holy Spirit to read our own meaning into the Scriptures.

A similar principle to "pattern of meaning" is sensus plenior, or "fuller meaning" of a passage of Scripture.  This principle is associated with prophetic Scripture, so it will be discussed in the NT Prophecy section of the Genre Analysis Guide.

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Context, Context, Context

Scripture must be interpreted in context.  This is so important that I've heard of seminary professors telling their students, that if they doze off during a question, they will have a fifty percent chance of being correct by answering "context".  The word "context" refers to the background, the situation, and the interrelated conditions surrounding a passage that can throw a light on its meaning.  Statements (Biblical or otherwise) simply have no meaning apart from their context.

I can't stress this rule enough.  You can make the Bible say almost anything you want by taking certain verses out of context with the rest of scripture.  Violation of this rule has birthed many cults.  All apparent contradictions can be resolved by properly understanding the context.

Context is traditionally divided into two categories, historical (situation surrounding the events)  and logical (thought development). 

Historical Context

The historical context provides us with the author, date, original audience, purpose and theme, and other important information about the historical or background setting of the book.  Probably the best source to consult for this info is the introduction sections of the better commentaries.  Choose one that is up-to-date and contains the latest archeological discoveries.  Also check out introductions to the Old and New Testament, and sections such as the Pentateuch, Epistles etc.  Other sources are dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, and books on Biblical culture and customs.  Remember, we're looking for broad outlines rather than fine details at this point. 

We must also note that these extra-biblical materials are preliminary only (not inspired like Holy Scripture), and must be subject to correction as we study the actual Scriptures.  We must never force the meaning of Scripture to comply with these resources.   One of their primary purposes is to get us out of our twenty first century mindset, mentally transporting us back to Biblical times, and helping us to ask the right questions and apply the appropriate rules of interpretation.

Logical (Inductive) Context

We use the logical or inductive approach to determine the thought process of a book and how it influences the meaning of a particular passage.  We look for parallels with other Scripture, type of literature (genre), flow of the narrative etc.  Techniques within this approach include charting the book and diagramming and summarizing the paragraphs.  In selecting resources, we should research other text in order of it's importance or relationship to our subject text.  We should start with verses surrounding our text, then adjacent chapters and the rest of the book.  We then should check out other books by the same author and verses relating to our subject throughout the Bible.  Finally, we might consult commentaries, writings of the church fathers, church creeds, rabbinic literature, and historians such as Josephus, as applicable to our subject.

Watch for the following in determining context:

• Notice the placement of the text (why the author included it here rather than elsewhere)
• A gap in time, or change in place or setting will often indicate a new context, particularly in narratives
• The author may dwell on a certain event, subject or person
• A repeated term or phrase that acts as a heading to introduce an new topic, or that acts as a summary possibly indicating that the author is about to switch subjects
• A key word or phrase may be repeated several times within the current theme (discontinued use may indicate a new subject)
• Watch for transitions (conjunctions or adverbs such as "then, therefore, and, but, so that, etc)
• A change in the tense or mood of a verb may indicate a new section
• A rhetorical question will often indicate the start of a new argument
• In a few unusual cases, the author will actually include a heading to his section

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Some Basic Interpretation Principles

If you haven't done so, we strongly recommend reading the above sections before beginning this one. 

Interpret the Bible Literally where possible.  The Bible says what it means and means what it says.  When the literal interpretation of the scripture makes common sense, this will be the correct meaning in almost all cases unless the facts of the immediate context clearly indicate otherwise.  I must clarify that, to "interpret the Bible literally" means to interpret the scripture based upon the "original intent" of the author, within the genre (type of literature, see the Genre Analysis section) being used.  For example, plain speech should be interpreted as plain speech, poetry as poetry, hyperbole as hyperbole etc (see the Figures of Speech section).

Scripture is its own best interpreter. The Bible will never contradict itself, therefore no part of Scripture can be interpreted in a way that will render itself in conflict with what is clearly taught elsewhere in Scripture.  We should always interpret the explicit (what is actually said) in light of the implicit (what is left unsaid, but implied), never the implicit in light of the explicit.

Interpret Narratives by the Didactic.  The Bible records the vices of the characters along with their virtues, so be very cautious when drawing principles from narrative.  The speaker could be speaking sarcastically, or using hyperbole or other figures of speech.  You should always attempt to validate a narrative from the didactic literature (that which teaches or instructs).  For example, the Epistles should interpret the Gospels in most cases (but not always) rather than the Gospels interpreting the Epistles.

Pay attention to paragraphs.  We recommend using a Bible that separates the text by paragraphs.  Chapter and verse divisions were added in the mid-sixteenth century by Stephanus, a publisher from Paris.  Unfortunately, both the chapter and verse divisions were often chosen poorly (some have joked that he performed this on horseback, and the divisions were the result of the horse jostling his pen).  Therefore, the paragraph, rather than the chapter and verses, should be our key to proper divisions of thought.

In determining what the Scriptures mean to us today, be aware of Cultural differences.  Without intending to, we all bring our prior teaching, church backgrounds, personal experience etc to our reading of the Bible.  To further complicate things, the original authors, while writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote in their own personal style using illustrations relating to their particular culture and history.  We must first determine the author's original meaning in the original historical setting before applying the the intended principle to our current situations.

Recognize that many words have multiple meanings.  Many controversies have developed due to the failure to heed this warning.  A good dictionary or lexicon can come in handy in determining the original intended meaning of a word.  One category of words can cause particular problems, those which have become doctrine, sometimes referred to as "technical terms".  Regarding the doctrine of salvation, for example, we sometimes tend to read the full-blown meaning into every occurrence of the word salvation or save, when the author may be speaking of a rescue from a lesser calamity than eternal death.  Another case is that of "sanctification", which can be equated with the moment of Justification (Romans 6), and with the process of spiritual growth elsewhere.

Be alert to various Figures of Speech.  See the Figures of Speech section.

Watch out for Idioms (slang).  Anyone with a teenager can attest to how often the nuances of language can change.  The Bible contains some slogans of the day which would be unfamiliar to us.  A good commentary should come in handy here.

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Additional Rules of Hermeneutics

When faced with Hermeneutical questions (the discipline or rules of interpretation), here's a few guidelines to help us reach more consistent conclusions:

• The Scriptures should be interpreted in the same way that we interpret other written or verbal communications.
   
• Always attempt to read the truth out of the Scriptures, not into the Scriptures.  The meaning and implications of the text belong to the author, not the reader; the value or significance (how the meaning affects the reader and how he responds) is the responsibility of the reader.
   
• As mentioned previously, Exegesis (finding the author's original intended meaning) must be done first before attempting to determine the applications for us today.
   
• A text cannot mean anything that contrasts with what it meant to the original author.  The "meaning" intended by the author cannot change (it's locked in past history); however, as note above, there can be additional "patterns of meaning" of which the human author might be unaware.  In addition, the implications and significance can change with our situations.  For example, when Jesus says in Acts 1:8 that "you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth",  His intention is that the Gospel message should be spread throughout the world.  Depending on one's calling, the significance could be teaching a class, contributing monetarily to missions, working in local ministries, or doing mission work overseas.  
   
• The text may often give a principle which has implications which go beyond the author's intended meaning.  The author, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, frequently won't even be aware of these additional implications.  For example, in Ephesians 5:18, Paul forbids getting drunk on wine.  A study of the context reveals the intention is to be controlled by the Spirit rather than a foreign substance, so we conclude that this passage (by implication) also applies to beer, whiskey, narcotics etc.
   
• Whenever we share similar life situations with the original audience of the Scripture, God's Word is the same to us as it was to them.  For situations foreign to the original audience, the application should be extended only if the Biblical principle can be sustained apart from this single text, otherwise, it should be limited to its original intent.
   
• Distinguishing between Scripture that is cultural relative and that which is relative for all times can sometimes be very difficult. There's not enough space here to deal with it adequately, but generally, to find the timeless principles, look to the Bible's core message (those messages that stay consistent across many cultures), the inherently moral or immoral items, and the items that are expressly accepted or forbidden (vs those which the Scriptures merely acknowledge).
   
• Find the permanent, unchanging message in the Scripture, that is, the consistent message behind a certain doctrine within all occurrences.  For example, in the doctrine of the Atoning Sacrifice for Salvation, the form changes from the OT sacrifice system to the NT (the Cross).  The unchanging message is the need for a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins.

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Questions to Ask

Who -- Who wrote the passage?  Who is speaking? Who is the audience? 

What -- What does the passage say?  What is the main subject?  What is the immediate context.  What is the overall idea the author is talking about (broader context of the chapter or book)? 

When -- When was it written? When do the events occur (pay attention to verb tenses)?

Where -- Where does an event take place?

Why -- Why was this written (many authors state their purpose in the text)? 

How -- How will these events take place?   How do my conclusions compare with others who have studied and commented on the passage.  How must I apply this to my life?

Answers to the "W" questions can usually be obtained from the historical and cultural backgrounds.  The "how" question is usually answered inductively.

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What to Look For

Here's a few things to look for when reading scripture and asking the above questions. 

A Special Message from God for Today -- This will vary based upon the scripture that your studying, and your particular situation and current needs.

A Command to Keep -- God gives these commands for our benefit.  As Adrian Rogers always said, "When God says 'Thou shalt not', He means 'Don't hurt yourself', and when He says 'Thou shalt', He means 'Help yourself to a blessing'."

A Promise from God -- You'll find these throughout scripture.  Not every promise is for you.  You'll need to check the context.  Some are for Israel and some for the future.  There's also some promises that you don't want (promises of judgment for unbelievers).  You should also note whether there are any conditions attached to the promise.  For example, God promises to be faithful to forgive our sins if we confess them. 

An Eternal Principle -- The Bible contains timeless principles on almost every subject to guide us in our daily living.  Because God chose to communicate His eternal principles within the particular circumstances of human history, it is sometimes difficult to discern whether a particular statement is a timeless principle, or merely addresses a situation relevant to the time period in which it was written.  When in doubt, I prefer to err on the side of interpreting a statement as principle rather than violating that principle by dismissing it as not relevant for today.

An Application for my Life -- After you've found a special message, command, promise or principle, you should ask yourself, how can I apply this to an area in my life?  The study of God's Word is not just for obtaining knowledge, but it is a practical tool that, if properly applied, will change your life.

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Figures of Speech

Man's knowledge of God is limited to that which God reveals to us.  A primary method by which God reveals Himself is through His written Word, the Bible.  All languages have a limited number of words to use in expressing thoughts and ideas. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit (through human authors) chose to use all type of expressions (figures of speech) to create pictures in our minds and enhance our understanding.  The following are a few common figures of speech used in the Bible.

Simile - compares two subjects using the words "like" or "as."
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing (Mt 23:37).   Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1Pet 5:8).

Metaphor - a direct comparison between two or more seemingly unrelated subjects; usually takes the form: "The [first subject] is a [second subject]." Generally, the attributes from the second subject are used to enhance the description of the first.
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want (Ps 23:1).  The Lord is not a literal shepherd, but is described as having attributes of a shepherd (caring for His people).

Personification - assigns human traits and qualities to a non-personal or non-living thing.
You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands (Is 55:12).

Anthropomorphism - (a form of personification) attributes human characteristics and qualities to God.  God is a spirit without a body, but since we have trouble understanding a spirit, the Bible mentions God's "ear" or his "strong right arm" etc.

Hyperbole - a deliberate exaggeration for effect or emphasis.
If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell (Mt 5:29-30).  In this quote from Jesus' sermon on the mount, He is not commanding us to amputate body parts, but stressing that we must deal firmly with sin.

Typology - interprets a character(s), story or event in the OT as an allegory foreshadowing a character(s) or event in the NT. 
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life (Jn 3:14-15).  This refers back to Numbers 21, when God had Moses put a bronze snake on a pole, so that anyone bitten by a snake could look up at the bronze snake and live.  This event foreshadowed Christ on the cross.

Principles for Identifying and Interpreting Figures of Speech

Always attempt to interpret the passage literally first.  If it makes no sense to apply it literally, then it’s probably a figure of speech.

Next, look at the context to attempt to determine the meaning.  Many times the type of literature will also shed some light on the subject.

Check out the definitions above and look for form, key words, and specific points of similarity and contrasts.

Keep in mind that all figures of speech break down when pushed to far.  It is very important that you don't interpret past the author’s intended meaning.

See the Genre Analysis section for principles on interpreting the various types of literature found in the Bible.

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What's Next

You should now have the basic knowledge to obtain a deeper understanding while reading and studying the Bible.  You'll probably want to refer back to this page and the OT and NT Book pages while doing your Bible studies.  Please contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding this page. 

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