chapter seven THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE
chapter seven
THE INTERPRETATION OF THE BIBLE
What are the three teachers God has given to instruct his people, and what do we learn from them?
I once heard Dr. Alan Cole of Sydney, Australia, remark that, surprising as it may seem, God sometimes blesses “a poor exegesis of a bad translation of a doubtful reading of an obscure verse of a minor prophet!”
This is true. He does. But it gives us no possible excuse for slovenliness in biblical interpretation. On the contrary, if the Bible is indeed God’s Word written, we should spare no pains and grudge no effort to discover what he has said (and says) in Scripture.
How then shall the student of the Bible grasp its message with accuracy? Where is he to look for help? Perhaps we should begin our answer by warning the reader against any pretension to infallibility. God’s Word is infallible, for what he has said is true. But no Christian individual, group or church has ever been or will ever be an infallible interpreter of God’s Word. Human interpretations belong to the sphere of tradition, and an appeal may always be made against tradition to the Scripture itself which tradition claims to interpret.
Nevertheless, God has made provision for us to grow in our understanding of the truth and to be protected from the worst forms of misinterpretation. He has given us three teachers to instruct us, and three principles to guide us.