Can I Really Trust My Interpretation of the Bible?

Ask Pastor John
Episode: 1896

[transformers_quotes]

The second scenario is helpful in my struggle with assurance of salvation. The people I’ve talked to about it (who I’m confident are strong, biblical believers) believe I am saved based on the gospel i (at times weakly) believe and the fruit they see in my life. My pastor cited the healing of Naaman, who wanted something more ceremonious (2 kings 5), and Gideon, who kept demanding signs from God (judges 6). I guess my paranoia is that I can always say my fruits are counterfeit, but it’s helpful to remember that I can’t be perfect, that God doesn’t expect me to be because he is sanctifying, and even Paul admits he isn’t perfect in passages like Philippians 3. Also when i do see impure motives mixed with fruit, i can simply repent and ask God for help in changing. It could be the enemy trying to discourage me from doing anything at all. I must believe that “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Fruit is a result of Christ’s work in a believer, in me. I’m not where I want to be, but I didn’t used to struggle the same way I do now. I didn’t used to believe that if God asked me why he should let me into heaven, the only thing I could say is that Jesus died to pay for my sin

[semajbest]

Such an encouragement to hear these in the mornings. I really appreciate yall

[HermitKE]

Praise God! Thank you Pastor John for such wonderful edification.

[michealjackson]

Every once in a while I see your video titles and I know listening will bring on convictions to me.

Thank you for your honest and sincere attempt to bring the truth undiluted. It is truly a blessing. Not only does it spotlight areas for personal growth but is also reminder of how hopelessly reliant I am on Jesus and the grace he has provided because of his goodness.

[TheCreepypro]

help us to trust you Lord more so than anyone's interpretation including our own

[PMA]

1) Read the whole bible to make sure you take things in context and do not get unbalanced by ignoring sections.
2) Check doctrine like Bereans.
3) Get guidance from reliable teachers.

[anduinsuchan]

Wow that second part pierces deep. Makes me wonder how much guilt his son may have for walking away from the faith and such a clear teacher of God's truth. Let alone the fact that it was his own father. God save us all.

[ArthurMagoola]

Thanks for this. I think an applicable verse in this case is Jesus' warning in Luke 19 to those who did not want Him to be their King. You see, there will always be people who will reject Jesus' Lordship, and I was one of them until He rescued me two years ago. We will all give an account to Him at the judgement, and great will be the fall of those who did not dig deep to build their house on the firm foundation. By the same token, those who built their house on the firm foundation will see Him rescue them, and this hope is the inspiration for continuing to preach the gospel to all, both believers and non-believers, that they may know the truth and respond to Him.

[maxaplin]

The way I see it is if we pray and seek God and do our best to understand what the Bible is saying, we are bound to make progress in understanding what is true. God will help us.

All of us surely believe some wrong things, no matter how hard we pray against that. And we will never reach a point before death where we are on the right side on every disputed point. Nowhere near.

But if we put in the time to study Scripture as best we can, and if we soak all our Scripture reading in prayer, we are bound to make progress.

[ChaseTheGood]

I struggle with the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.... I hate my thoughts and heart. I wish I had a clean heart and mind, but I see my wickedness... it's disgusting.. 😔😞😖😩 I feel like giving up sometimes....

[lancegreene]

People looking for signs in order to believe are non believers . But people asking other believes or those who have read the Bible, what they understand, can be taken as Open Bible Study . And if someone doesn’t understand something correctly, you can add your discernment or Learn something from someone who has discernment. I listen to all kinds of preachers, just to see if I can learn something . If they talk about things that I don’t agree with or understand, I still listen to take it all in and then for cross referencing reasons, with the Bible, for accuracy . Everyone gets corrected by the Holy Spirit . Anytime someone teaches wrongly or suggest wrongly or rightly, I’ll see the scripture . Then I’ll read it and I’ll say, what the said was accurate, or, sometimes parts are left out, that mean something so, I note that, and take the parts left out into consideration, it’s Gods word . Reading chapters and not just verses, became a thing, because of this . But yes, I know some people that just want to argue, to show, they know scripture . Those people, I cannot judge, they trying to do what they understand for the Lord . All I have to do is Love them, they just want to throw scripture back and forth and I just take it as Bible study . When they send me 10 scriptures with emotions and personal messages, I just go look up the scripture - sometimes . Most times, I get caught up in the chapter and I’m happy those people, sent those scriptures. I take it as God working . Look at televangelist, how many people say bad things but how many people found God ? You see ? Those people may not be perfect but we need Jesus Christ, but. God is using everyone If someone is bringing souls to Christ Jesus, he’s being used by God . He’s doing the work. We don’t know who is doing wrong for sure, most people are just starting problems along the church . So finally, get the conversation going ... keep it coming, so that we all can help someone looking to find fellow believers to talk about the things of God with .!

[trappedcat]

Okay, the title question seems to be about "Translation" and yes there are both poor and bad translations out there. Bad ones are typically used by cults.

[angeperdudw]

I think one reason I'm hesitant to accept my own initial interpretations of the bible is because, honestly, the promises seem too good to be true as a person struggling with what feels like life-threatening, gluttonous greed. And what's worse is that I research about and and read the bible daily, yet I slip to the same defeating mindset: I don't understand if I'm to continue strategically fighting my sin each day (which I often fail at because I'm trying to obey the law?), or just pray for the Holy Sprit's gift of self-control, which I do constantly among praise and prayers for others. I read that human will isn't where the power to defeat sin comes from, but then I think about the "change of attitude" command by John the Baptist; I just feel confused. So if my prayers potentially go unanswered because of disobedient sinning, and I keep sinning because of failing self control efforts, it feels wrong to expect any of the promises from God to realize. On top of that, I feel selfish for believing "oh if I just beat my flesh into submission, God may help me control it better". I feel like I shouldn't expect anything like that since some people go unhealed to glorify Him. So I don't know if i'm just interpreting the bible wrong or if I'm truly supposed to believe the promises while accepting the painful run from this dangerous sin for the rest of my life.

I know I need to keep studying and keeping notes so I actually remember what I felt and understood, but I fear even after this, I'll still commit this sin that's ruining my health daily, and I may never be healed if it's outside the Lord's will.

Please send thoughts to help me correct this? Where am I going wrong?
Thank you!

[pieceofparadise]

I love and cherish the Bible BUT, Jesus is Word of God, not the bible. The Bible calls Jesus the word of God(rev 19:13) and people will get offended because I say the Bible is not the word of God. “The incarnation is the perfect translation.” -Francois Du Toit. Great advice pastor John!

[mattr.]

Much of the Bible is vague enough that it can be interpreted in multiple ways.

[phieble]

Using proper hermeneutics certainly helps with proper interpretation, although there is no way to arrive at perfect or full interpretation because of how sinful and finite we are. Biblical hermeneutics are based upon logic and the conviction that all of the Bible books are the inspired word of God and nothing besides those books have the same level of inspiration and authority. If you don't affirm that then there's no consistent basis upon which to hold to any of it as having any weight. Under that are the following rules:

1. The Bible should be interpreted literally unless there are indications that the language is symbolic in some way. For example, the book of Genesis says that in the beginning God created the heavens and earth and then it goes on to say that God created within night and day increments divided by evenings and mornings. Because we all know how long a day is and that it is divided into evenings and morning as indicated by the movements of the earth and sun, there is no reason to believe that the earth was created not in literally six days but instead by undefined periods of time that made up six "ages." There is also no reason to disbelieve that God created a literal Adam and Eve since the process of their creation is told in plain language and the consequences of their decisions, particularly Adam's, literally effect us all from then to now.

2. The Bible will not contradict itself nor does progressive revelation nullify previous revelation. This means that before we rush to assert what a text seems to be saying, we have to read the rest of the Bible to confirm it and no human author in one place will teach something that contradicts the doctrine of another.

3. Never separate one singular verse or a few verses from the whole passage and form an interpretation based on the few rather than the whole. There are certain passages that cannot be applied to us as ithey were in historical times and the full context of a passage will help you to identify which ones those are. For example, women don't have to wear head coverings today because it was a cultural sign of submission in Corinth, but women still are not permitted to operate in positions of authority over men and preach in corporate worship services because the command is based on the roles given to men and women since our creation which are not subject to cultural shifts.

4. When it comes to interpreting symbolic language, especially in prophetic portions of Scripture, look for clues in the passage that help you interpret what the symbols might mean rather than just assuming their meaning based on what you've heard before or what sounds good. For example, when we read about Gog and Magog in Revelation, there is no need to do a wide search through history books and geographic locations in ancient times and then plug that research into the text to arrive at an interpretation that says that Gog and Magog refer to Turkey, Russia, or whatever, when the text itself tells us that it symbolically refers to all the nations of the world.

5. Let doctrine, grammar rules, and basic definitions guide you throughout the entirety of Scripture and don't let preconceived beliefs and other philosophies interpret a text for you. For example, Paul says clearly in Romans 3 that we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ rather than works (obedience to any and all of God's commands), yet in Romans 10 he seems to say that we are saved by verbally confessing or calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, which opens the door for calling people to say a 'sinner's prayer'and confess Jesus verbally to be saved rather than repentance and faith in the heart. If we interpret Romans 10 to be saying that confession is necessary then that contradicts salvation by grace through faith which is the way of salvation throughout the Old and New Testament, therefore Romans 10 and what Acts 2:38 seem to be saying MUST be really saying something else. Also, the grammar in John 3:16 does not mean that Jesus died for every soul on earth thus enabling every human being to use their supposed free will to choose him.

With all of these things in mind, of course we have to pray that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and away from error plus give us the strength to apply the word as we should, however this does not mean that we must wait for the Holy Spirit to dramatically or emotionally tell us with a whisper in the ear or a dream or something what precisely a text means, although that would be nice, before we can be confident in our interpretation. The Bible says what it means and means what it says and though we are limited with prayer and diligent work we can understand if sufficiently for our salvation and sanctification.

[tyriethompson]

Romans 7:16-25
Authorized (King James) Version
16 If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

[a.syching]

The Holy Spirit teaches you, even if you try to learn from others you would know if it feels wrong or right because the Holy Spirit will convict you.

In the end learn how to read and understand the bible from a theologian point of view, use your rational mind which God gave you then ask God for understanding through the Spirit when seeking Spiritual truths and let him convict you !

[OceansMocean]

This is why I don't trust Calvinism's interpretation of the bible:
John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the -Father- Son but through -Me- the Father.

[Treesinus]

Well.. Christians have been adding in.. And not following it.. so why are you leaning in and interpreting.. And others cant also do the same? Paul did not blindly follow Christians and he was not a follower and yet he still managed to understand to be the word of God and stand up to bullies like all of Gods people demonstrate.