does the Spirit interpret the same piece of scripture differently for each person?
Question on Scripture
- Thread starter CoffeeDrinker
- Start date
Usually there are 3 reasons why Scriptures are interpreted differently and none of them involve the Holy Spirit.
1)
We’re sinful. Our sin keeps us from seeing things clearly. We want certain things to be true, and we close our eyes to other things we don’t want to be true. I see this happen all the time. I see people’s ability to reason go down in proportion to how strongly they’re resisting God and His authority over their lives.
I think that a carful reading of Romans 1 will verify this.
2)
People often have a second authority in addition to the Bible to which they’ve granted the final word on their interpretation. Whether that authority is parents and family, church tradition, ideas in the culture, or the head of a denomination, if the Bible is interpreted through and under something else, the result will be distorted (particularly when coupled with reason #1).
In other words, we grew up in a church and were taught that it was in the Bible that divorced men can not be Pastors and deacons. Now, there are people who will go to their grave believing that, no matter what the Bible says. By the way, the Bible actually says that a man "Must be married to ONE woman" and does NOT say a divorced man can not be a deacon.
3)
Not everyone is using good hermeneutical skills to interpret the Bible. Being “learned” doesn’t guarantee that you’re using what you’ve learned, or even that you learned it in the first place. When you see that people have different interpretations, dig a little deeper. Why do they interpret the passage the way they do? Ask questions and follow the trail of their reasoning. Do they stay within the text to make their case, or do they appeal to something else? Can they show you how the biblical writer’s train of thought leads step by step to their conclusion? Are they considering the passage in the context of the chapter, the book, the Bible? Are they interpreting it in light of the genre (type) of the writing (history, wisdom literature, gospel, etc.)? Are they taking the author’s time and culture into account?
Hey Major
thanks for your reply..although i dont think you have answered my question...i understand that we mis-interpret for many reasons as you have just mentioned..
If God gives you a scripture to help you with your walk with Christ, then it makes sense to listen to what the scripture is saying.
For example, let's say you are looking for an answer to a question you have. You pray to God and you feel led to read psalm 46:10. In this scripture it says to, "be still and know that I am God." What do you think God is telling you to do? We listen to this leading and we become still and listen to God. Simple, eh? If God led you to do this and you obey it, then God will certainly answer your question.
It all depends on what leading God gave you to answer your question.
Sometimes you can ask and receive nothing. During such times God could be asking you to continue waiting on Him, or He wants you to make the effort and work this out yourself.
There is no formula for this, but if you are sincerely trying to do God's will, then it will work out in the end (Romans 8:1).
In peace
I think it is a lot to do with belief and faith. Bible is filled with promises. The real question is whether we are taking it to our heart and believing them. And God might put a verse right in front of us. We can choose to ignore and say that's not for me or take it to heart and believe that God is going to fulfill that in our lives. I struggle with this myself. We need to have child like faith. When I tell my kids that I am going to do something or buy something, they trust me whole heartedly. I don't know if I trust my Lord in the same way. I am still working on that.
Ravi - Nice to see you again. I know that you probably will have more time here soon. 
Blessings...
Blessings...
Thank you so much!Ravi - Nice to see you again. I know that you probably will have more time here soon.
Blessings...
Agreed my brother. Nice to see you!
Hello, Major;
I also want to thank you for the fellowship. I always enjoy your posts and look forward to learning more from you and everyone here.
God bless you, brother and your family!
That is a wonderful thing to say to me and I am blessed that you did so!
If I can ever be of any help in exegeses of the Scriptures please feel free to ask either openly or in a PM.
I feel as if this site will now improve and we will see more participation and Christian fellowship.
Hello RDJ;
I'd like to add to what you and Major shared regarding your question. Yes, we can interpret scripture differently but we cannot put a measure on whether all, or some or just one, because we all are created as unique individuals by God.
Peter was an example of this interpretation of Jesus' teaching, even as he was led by the Holy Spirit. Peter may have had a disagreement about the interpretation of forgiveness, (remember later he cut off the ear of Malcus the high priest's slave in John 18:10) but did the wise thing by asking Jesus in Matthew 18:21-22;
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
RDJ, what you may interpret in scripture, I may interpret differently, and I feel God understands us the way we are. What matters is at the end of the day, we are brothers and sisters who belong to the same body as One in Christ, and must be open to discern the Spirit, learn from our interpretations and if we have disagreements, we should have discussions, ask questions and learn from one another.
God bless you and your family.
Thank you, Pastor;
It means alot to me that you say we can discuss openly. I'm always willing to discuss and learn the scriptures correctly, and how this can help my personal walk with Jesus.
God bless you always.
hey Bob
i humbly disagree..when Peter did what he did John 18:10 and asked what he asked in Matthew 18 21-22 he had not as yet recieved the holy spirit and therefore could not understand the teachings of Jesus..now that we have the Spirit,we should through the Spirit and by fellowship looking into the word of God come to the same conclusions.
We are urged to be of one mind Philippian 2:1-8,,,Romans 15:6 and there are more verses concerning this..we are supposed to have the mind of Christ..we need to all agree in one..one body one mind..
The spirit is our teacher..i do not believe He would teach or explain scripture differenly to each of us.it just does not make sense as there is no unity if we all pulling in different directions..i dont see any evidents in the scriptures that agree to what you are saying.
the point here is that there is no my interpretation and your interpretation..the Spirit knows the deep things of God and He will paint the same picture of God to all of us.
So now the question is why do we all have different doctrines about the same God?surely something is not right
thank you
The
The Holy Spirit only arrived 50 days after the resurrection on the day of pentecost.
The Holy Spirit only arrived 50 days after the resurrection on the day of pentecost.
Hello RDJ;
There are 3 points brought up here.
When you asked, does the Spirit interpret the same piece of scripture differently for each person? No.
I agree with you that Spirit is our teacher and there is no Scripture that has contradictory meanings. People will interprete the scripture for personal motives, because he or she believes it, stands on their fundamental position, etc...and then credits the Spirit.
The teachings of the Spirit, Holy Spirit or Spirit of God, is revealed throughout the Old Testament, Genesis 1:2 "the Spirit of God, in Genesis 2:7 the "breath" is translated elsewhere in the Word as "spirit", in Judges 3, 4, 6, 10, 12 and 13 the "spirit" anointed the 12 Judges, and one of the most profound is found in Isaiah 42:1-9 the orchestration of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The Spirit, Holy Spirit or Spirit of God was not limited to the New Testament, which led to the decisions by interpretation prior to the Holy Spirit's descension in Acts 2.
Still, people received the interpretation of the Spirit differently. At the same time God's leaders and people made horrific mistakes because of their disagreement in interpretation of God's Word, teaching, instruction and direction.
RDJ, the Holy Spirit requires a "disciplined interpretation" as one of the teachings. In our relationship with God our Holiness is closely connected to the ability to interpret the Spirit, or the Spirit's teaching correctly.
2 Peter 1:21, 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Disciplined interpretation of the Spirit has been agreed and disagreed for centuries amongst believers, scholars, theologians all who are followers of Christ.
Whether we accept the other's argument, agree or disagree, the upside is to have a discussion with our views. The benefit comes from learning from each other.
God bless you, RDJ, and your family.
I am afraid that I must strongly disagree.
1 Cor 13:9-12 makes it clear that the things of God are not truly nor fully known. A brother may have a seemingly incompatible interpretatiin than another. When in reality each has only a partial understanding.
There is great danger here. It leads to false taugologies such as:
- I am saved
- The Holy Spirit will always guide my interpretation.
- I will always understand His leading.
- That person holds a to very different interpretation.
- His view is against scripture.
- The Holy Spirit cannot be in him.
Consider the various subjects the rules of this forum discourage. They are areas where brothers hold disparate interpretations. many have considerable scriptural evidence on many sides.
Every word in the scriptures will be proven infallible, but that does not apply to interpretations.
Proverbs 21:2 applies
WOW! This is the very 1st time that anyone has disagreed with me!...……..(Not).
I do not know for sure, but I suspect that The reason why this site has rules about not debating certain theological subjects is because people seem to be unable to remember that they are Christians and after a short time begin to be rude, and confrontational and call others names because they do not agree with them.
I have personally been part of conversations here on the Rapture where I had to walk away because of the Intense anger that was being on display by some of our brothers.
Would you call that SIN???
I would and I do.
I admire you for simply saying "I disagree with You". THANK YOU!
However that is a rarity on forums and then when time evolves, arguments proceed and then the mods close the thread.
I agree that a different theology may lead to false ideas which is why proper hermeneutics and contextual correctness is vital.
My experience over the years has shown me that a great number of people are "self taught" and when they are told something different than what they believe, they immediately bow their feelings and argue instead of opening their heart to grown and learn.
I think that you will agree with me that not everyone is using good hermeneutical skills to interpret the Bible. Also that being “learned” doesn’t guarantee that you’re using what you’ve learned, or even that you learned it in the first place. When you see that people have different interpretations, dig a little deeper. Find out WHY!
Why do they interpret the passage the way they do?
Ask questions and follow the trail of their reasoning.
Do they stay within the text to make their case, or do they appeal to something else?
Can they show you how the biblical writer’s train of thought leads step by step to their conclusion?
Are they considering the passage in the context of the chapter, the book, the Bible?
Are they interpreting it in light of the genre (type) of the writing (history, wisdom literature, gospel, etc.)?
Are they taking the author’s time and culture into account?
All of that matters but the number one thing IMO is that we are ALL sinners and sin always clouds our understanding.
This is how you can compare the different interpretations. Usually, if you start digging into the reasoning behind the conclusion, it doesn’t take long to discover who seems to be making the better case according to the Word of God.
Last edited:
Yes I am.
IF born again believers can not talk in loce one to another about the deeper things of life, then who in the world can?
Hmm,
I must admit to few little misgivings here that are based on a dislike of the word “hermeneutics”. Plank is in my eye. I know it. But there it is.
This stems from experience. At a time when I was formally asking to join a congregation, I was asked to affirm conform to their statement of beliefs. But I could not agree with all parts. The pastor and I had many discussions about the disagreement. He would present the churches views and its basis. I would respond with mine.
We rarely disagreed with the meaning of individual words and phrases of scripture, although where there were alternative meanings within context, we might select different ones. Application often were far apart,
The big difficulty was that he relied extensively on what the ancients and church fathers thought. But he was dismissive when I shared writings from Augustine and St Francis.
I am probably wrong, but it seemed to me that his evaluation credibility or applicability of any extra scriptural source was dependent on whether it supported his views.
The upshot of all this is that in my view, if he was using hermeneutics correctly, and I am not trained in this area, hermeneutics is flawed by too heavy reliance on human authority.
Too be clear, In most cases the views of the saints down through history are immeasurably valuable. But consider:
The views of the Hebrews concerning the messiah prevented them from recognizing Christ. Hermaneutics relying on human authority for interpretation would not have corrected this.
All the substantive refinements in understanding brought about during the Reformation could not have occurred if no one could disagree with the previous authorities.