Text, Interpretation, and Speculation
I come from a tradition that claims to hold absolute authority for Scripture alone. The only truth that can be completely trusted is what we find in the Bible. There are other truths as well, to be sure, like what can be seen, experienced and tested. However, the special place that Scripture has over those other truths is that Scripture comes to us from beyond our physical reality. And it has information—vital information for our lives—that we could never hope to discover or know on our own.
Now, the challenge with all truths, those we find in Scripture a well as in the world, is that we need to understand and interpret them accurately. Presuppositions can be introduced into scientific inquiry, for example, that will cloud our understanding of what we are seeing and lead us to the wrong interpretations, rendering what we know about a given reality to be false. We can lose truth through faulty interpretation.
That same hazard is encountered in our reading of Scripture. That is why we test what we discover. We see if it holds up in reality. We compare it to interpretations and experiences of others. And, in the case of the Bible we have the wealth of centuries of interpretation from millions of readers. We have a lot of truth from Scripture that has been soundly interpreted and tested.
An interesting aspect of this caution regarding how we read Scripture is what you might call the “timeline factor.” Things like prophecies that were written and later fulfilled can be read rather dogmatically. Even then though, there is often a multiple application aspect to prophecy that forces us to hold in reservation our claim to full understanding of such passages.
Where people really tread on thin ice is with prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled. We often can only say that we know what God has promised, but can’t claim to know how He will bring those promises about. Consider as an example any claims from Jewish leaders and teachers regarding the Messiah before Jesus’ day. Whole systems of belief were established built up on faulty understandings of how that was going to work out!
So, anyone you hear in these days claiming to know how events will transpire to bring about God’s plans is a nearly sure bet to be wrong. Anyone you see consciously taking action to bring about God’s said plans is guaranteed to be mistaken. Oh, they might be playing a role in God’s plan, but it is certainly not going to go the way they expect. Such self-seen heroes are usually the villains of the piece. At best they usually end up as pawns in the villain’s hands.
Now, the challenge with all truths, those we find in Scripture a well as in the world, is that we need to understand and interpret them accurately. Presuppositions can be introduced into scientific inquiry, for example, that will cloud our understanding of what we are seeing and lead us to the wrong interpretations, rendering what we know about a given reality to be false. We can lose truth through faulty interpretation.
That same hazard is encountered in our reading of Scripture. That is why we test what we discover. We see if it holds up in reality. We compare it to interpretations and experiences of others. And, in the case of the Bible we have the wealth of centuries of interpretation from millions of readers. We have a lot of truth from Scripture that has been soundly interpreted and tested.
An interesting aspect of this caution regarding how we read Scripture is what you might call the “timeline factor.” Things like prophecies that were written and later fulfilled can be read rather dogmatically. Even then though, there is often a multiple application aspect to prophecy that forces us to hold in reservation our claim to full understanding of such passages.
Where people really tread on thin ice is with prophecies that have not yet been fulfilled. We often can only say that we know what God has promised, but can’t claim to know how He will bring those promises about. Consider as an example any claims from Jewish leaders and teachers regarding the Messiah before Jesus’ day. Whole systems of belief were established built up on faulty understandings of how that was going to work out!
So, anyone you hear in these days claiming to know how events will transpire to bring about God’s plans is a nearly sure bet to be wrong. Anyone you see consciously taking action to bring about God’s said plans is guaranteed to be mistaken. Oh, they might be playing a role in God’s plan, but it is certainly not going to go the way they expect. Such self-seen heroes are usually the villains of the piece. At best they usually end up as pawns in the villain’s hands.
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