Evaluating Biblical Arguments - Part 9

HERMENEUTICS #9 -- What NOT to do.

2 TIMOTHY 2:15: "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth."

This passage reminds us that "accurately handling" the word takes diligence and care. We must treat the word correctly if we are to get from it what God intended. Now that we have covered the major principles of sound interpretation, I am going to discuss several "don't's" -- errors to avoid as we study the scripture.

First -- NEVER make your point at the price of the proper interpretation.

It is easy, and tempting, for a Bible teacher or pastor to sneak a foreign meaning into a text in order to get a desired response. Remembering that there is usually only one proper interpretation of a given passage, it should be a warning when a teacher rarely discusses that proper interpretation, but seems so eager to apply the passage in a way that does not really relate to that primary meaning.

Watch out for teachers who use scriptures out of their proper context, and change their meanings, in order to support their arguments. What they are doing is making their points at the price of the proper interpretation. I think Ezzo's "use" of the passage about Jesus crying out on the cross to support letting babies cry is one of the most egregious examples of this!

Let me try another example: Many young people today are having their bodies "pierced" in a lot of places! And some of them are suffering some pretty unhealthy side-effects of this. In fact, some people are warning about the future consequences of some of these piercings. Now -- let us say that I am against any and all body-piercing, including even pierced ears. Let us say that I am so adamantly against this that I want to preach against it from the pulpit. So I try tofind a scripture that I can use to support my position.

Remember -- I have already decided what to preach. I have already reached my conclusion. Now all I need is to find a passage that can support me. I look for it, and cannot find one that speaks directly to the issue I want to preach about. Were I to treat the scriptures as so many are doing today, that would not stop me at all! All I have to do is find a passage -- any passage -- that I can twist to make it appear tosupport me, even though, in context, it says no such thing.

And sure enough -- I find one: Phil. 3:2 "Watch out for those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh." See how I can do it? I can preach that piercing of the ears is mutilation of the flesh, and then I can point to this passage for support. "See -- even Paul warns against those who would mutilateyour flesh." But -- as a discerning, diligent, and careful student of the word of God, you should look up that verse, and seek to understand it in its original context.

Were you to do so, you would find that Paul is NOT talking about ear-piercing, or ANY kind of body-piercing, but about CIRCUMCISION. He is warning these Philippian Christians to beware of the Judaizer, those who were preaching Christian circumcision as a moral and religious duty.

Now -- how should you react to ME were I to do this? Shouldn't you at least be very wary of my teaching? Shouldn't you at least be very cautious about accepting what I say without checking it out? And --as in the case of Ezzo -- what if it were HABITUAL for me to do this? What should you do then? Well -- the NT spells it out pretty clearly how we should respond to a teacher who does this. And I'll just bet that most of you know what it says to do, even though many Christians refuse to do it.

Beware of any teacher of the word of God who has a habit of using scriptures out of context, changing their intended meaning, to make them appear to support his teachings. If he can't find plain scriptures that plainly support what he is teaching, then maybe there aren't any.

#1 = Don't make your point at the price of the proper interpretation.