THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

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THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #1

Post by Eddie Ramos »

Since our method of biblical interpretation is the backbone of our doctrine, would God simply provide a book for us without teaching us how he intended for us to understand what he wrote? It's common knowledge that the most widely known and accepted method of biblical interpretation is the "Literal-Grammatical-Historical Method". This means that most doctrines people hold to be true are built upon this foundation.

My first question, to those who hold to this method is, can you provide any scripture that teaches this method as the correct method of biblical interpretation? For example, Timothy 2:15 tells us to rightly divide the Word of Truth, but we can't infer that this means to look for the Literal-Grammatical-Historical Method. It simply says to rightly divide it. And who can teach us how God intends for us to rightly divide it, if not the one whose very words these are? God himself.

It seems that so much trust has been placed on the scholars and theologians and church leaders who've handed us a method of hermeneutic that they've come up with, but that isn't actually derived from the scriptures themselves. Does anyone find that strange? But did you know that God has indeed provided us with scriptures upon scriptures that teach us just how he intended for us to approach His Word and rightly divide it?

I will begin by posting just a few and expounding from there as the conversations progress.

1. The Bible is a spiritual book, therefore, in looking for the literal understanding of a passage as our source of truth, we have missed the mark and the intended meaning of the deeper truth that God has provided, which is the gospel message.

Romans 7:14 (KJV 1900)
For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.


2. As a spiritual book, the Bible teaches us that we must compare, not literal with literal, but spiritual with spiritual if we expect the Holy Ghost to teach.

1 Corinthians 2:13 (KJV 1900)
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.


3. When we merely search for the Literal-Grammatical-Historical rendering of a passage, then we will miss the spiritual meanings contained within the Word of God. And that is exactly how God designed His Word, to conceal spiritual truth. God's hermeneutic is by design and easily rejected by those who trust more in man's wisdom than in God's.

Isaiah 28:9–10 (KJV 1900)

Whom shall he teach knowledge?
And whom shall he make to understand doctrine?

Them that are weaned from the milk,
And drawn from the breasts.
10  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
Line upon line, line upon line;
Here a little, and there a little:

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #31

Post by Eddie Ramos »

myth-one.com wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:02 pm
Eddie Ramos wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 10:39 pm
myth-one.com wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 9:35 pm [Replying to Eddie Ramos in post #27]

I believe the Bible, without any private interpretations.
Very well. Then the Bible will determine if that is so for each one of us, as it will either agree or contradict any doctrine we believe to be true.
Here's an example:
Eddie Ramos stated his doctrine on salvation when he wrote:The Bible, as a whole, focuses the key element to forgiveness of our sins (i.e. salvation) to death which satisfies the demands of the law.
But the Bible directly contradicts Eddie's doctrine on salvation:
Romans 6:14 wrote:For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
So Eddie will have to create a private interpretation of Romans 6:14 for Eddie to believe the Bible. Has Eddie started yet?
Yes, and I finished it. Perhaps you missed post #24 where I went into detail on Romans 6:14. You must have missed it because you didn't address any of it and you keep saying you're waiting for it. Romans 6:14 is speaking only to those who have become saved and not to everyone. Please take the time to review post #24.

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #32

Post by myth-one.com »

Eddie Ramos wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:47 pmRomans 6:14 is speaking only to those who have become saved and not to everyone. Please take the time to review post #24.
Romans 14 wrote:For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Yes, that is being written to the Christians in Rome, but it applies to all mankind.
Eddie Ramos wrote:The Bible, as a whole, focuses the key element to forgiveness of our sins (i.e. salvation) to death which satisfies the demands of the law.
The Bible states that whosoever believeth shall have everlasting life. "Whosoever" opens the door to salvation to any and every human:
John 3:16 wrote:For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

John 3:16 never even mentions the word sin. No forgiveness of sins or atonement for sins is mentioned -- so none is required.

The one, and only one, requirement for salvation is believing in Jesus.

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #33

Post by We_Are_VENOM »

Eddie Ramos wrote: Tue Aug 02, 2022 5:48 am I suppose the answer to my question would be the debate. I'll post it again here:

"My first question, to those who hold to this method (or any method you described above) is, can you provide any scripture that teaches this method as the correct method of biblical interpretation?"
Just wanted to weigh in on this question...the short answer is..

No.

I cannot provide any specific scripture that teaches any specific method as the correct method of Biblical interpretation.

However...a few points need to be made of importance...

1. Acknowledge: that there are some tough scriptures to interpret...we cannot pretend as if everything we read in the Bible is black/white. It took me a while to come to grips with this.

2. Be open-minded: about how there may be varying views of a specific doctrine/scripture, and as long as the view (such as whether there is a literal place of torment; Hell) doesn't effect the Gospel of salvation, then we should be able to agree/disagree while still viewing the person of whom we are in disagreement as a brother/sister in Christ.

This is a problem in Christendom.

3. Give God credit: for giving each one of us a mind to interpret scriptures on our own merit and not be necessarily dependent on second or third parties to interpret things for us. Yes, we can lean on others who may have a better understanding of certain things, but God gave us a our own mind, and we should use it.

4. Based on #3: when we lean on others for help in our Biblical understanding, we should acknowledge that we have right to disagree with the person. No person on this Earth was given supreme authority or divine understanding to the degree that everything that they say as it relates to Biblical matters is like Moses with the stone tablets.

Certain cults or sects aren't privy to this. We have a right to question or flat out disagree with ANYONE, if our spirit becomes disheveled by a persons interpretation of the scripture.

A wise man once said: I'd rather have questions that cannot be answered, than answers that cannot be questioned.

The idea is to pray in spirit and in truth, God will provide you the right answer.

Now, that being said...this is what I do...

----------------

The method I use to interpret scriptures is the same way the NFL treats its instant replays..it goes a little something like this...

Lets say, during an NFL football game, there is an alleged fumble.

Now, there are certain criterion that must be met for a play to constitute a fumble. When the play happens in real time, the official makes the call according to what he initially observes.

So, if the official initially observes a fumble, the play is called as a fumble.

Or, if the play isn't called as a fumble, then no fumble is called.

In this example, lets say the official makes an initially ruling of the play; FUMBLE.

The team that the call effects negatively may disagree with the ruling. Basically saying...

"Get your eyes checked. That was clearly NO fumble.".

So, team challenges the play.

When a team challenges the play, the official goes to the camera to review the play, to see if the right call was made.

In order to overturn the play, the official must see convincing evidence for his initial call to be overturned. If he sees convincing evidence, then the call is overturned; NO FUMBLE.

However, if he doesn't see any convincing evidence, then; THE RULING ON THE FIELD STANDS: FUMBLE.
-------------------

Now, I said that to say this, when it comes to the Bible...all readers are like NFL officials, we read, and we make or rulings according to our understandings.

If someone comes along and says "You may have made the wrong ruling on that play (scripture)", and that person proceeds to show what he believes is convincing evidence, contrary to your evidence.

Now, if the person makes a compelling case against your case, then your initial ruling is overturned (unless you have no integrity and are closedminded). But, if you don't find the evidence compelling, then the ruling on the scripture STANDS.
--------------------

That is about the only way you can do it.

I've had to use this method when it comes to commemoration of the Passover for Christians. My official ruling (no to Passover) was overturned to (Yes to Passover).

Or when it comes to baptism regeneration, the ruling on the scripture stands: No baptism regeneration.

So, in closing...go based on your own understanding first, but always be openminded to change, according to where the evidence takes you.
Venni Vetti Vecci!!

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #34

Post by Eddie Ramos »

[Replying to We_Are_VENOM in post #33]

I must say, I've never heard the NFL analogy before, but I think I understand what you're saying. Correct me if I'm wrong. When a person begins reading the Bible for the very first time, the natural inclination is to read it as you would any other book. Not everything will make sense when you read it this way, but you will definitely get a history lesson and moral lessons out of reading the Bible that way.

Then you may hear or read something somewhere that contradicts what you think you have understood from the Bible, and this should cause you to go back to the Bible and check it out to see whether or not the new scriptures that were provided, either agree or contradict your view.

And this is exactly what God wants us to do with every passage of scripture. We can't just take someone's word for what they say is true, even if they are highly esteemed among the Christian community.

Acts 17:11 (KJV)

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so
.
---------‐----‐-------------------------------------------
But we shouldn't think that the same God who gave us this book, wouldn't also give us a way to properly understand it, because he has. God has given us many passages which assist us in knowing this:

Isaiah 28:9-10 (KJV)
Whom shall he teach knowledge?
and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?
them that are weaned from the milk,
and drawn from the breasts.


These are those who have moved on from the milk of the Word, which is the basic understanding of it, like moral and historical, onto the meat of the Word, meaning spiritual understanding. And here's how it's done:

10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little:


I heard somewhere that a "rule for proper interpretation" was that if you're reading a certain book of the Bible, then you should stay in that book if you want to understand it properly, rather than bouncing from place to place throughout the Bible. Yet, God's methods are different. Since God is the author of this book, he sets the rules, and very often, his rules just don't make logical sense to our finite minds. Nevertheless he expects us to trust in his methods of biblical interpretation rather than to lean on our own.

And one of God's methods is to look at every precept, all throughout the Bible, in order to arrive at correct doctrines and understanding.

God's Word also teaches us that we can't define the words we read, in our respective languages, by turning to a secular or even "Christian " dictionary because God's way of defining his own words don't always line up with the way we would commonly define them. I'll give you one example of hundreds: If I asked you to define what an orphan is, you, me and I'm sure everyone else, including every dictionary, would say, it's a child without mother and father. In other words, if a child has at least one living parent, then we don't define that as an orphan. But the Bible does.

Lamentations 5:3 (KJV)
We are orphans and fatherless,
our mothers are as widows.

God defines an orphan as someone who only has no father but does have a mother. Why? Because God is using the analogy of an orphan to typify an elect child of God who has had his sins paid for and is no longer a child of the devil, but hasn't become saved yet, therfore he is also not yet a child of God either. This means he is an orphan until God saved him, then he became an adopted son.

Galatians 4:5 (KJV)
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.


Therefore the Bible is it's own dictionary as well as much more.

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #35

Post by Eddie Ramos »

myth-one.com wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 11:14 am
Eddie Ramos wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:47 pmRomans 6:14 is speaking only to those who have become saved and not to everyone. Please take the time to review post #24.
Romans 14 wrote:For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Yes, that is being written to the Christians in Rome, but it applies to all mankind.
Has all of mankind been made free from their sin, or only those who have become saved?

Romans 6:22 (KJV)
But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

Because if all of mankind has been made free from sin, then that means that all of mankind are the servants of God, and all of mankind can have fruit unto holiness, and all of mankind will receive everlasting life. The Bible does not agree with your understanding of what Romans 6 is saying and who it's referring to when it uses all of those personal pronouns from verse 1 - 23. God is speaking to those who were once unsaved but have now become saved. It is only they (not all of mankind because all of mankind isn't and wonxt be saved) to whom Romans 6 is referring to, to those who have become true children of God.

Romans 8:1 (KJV)
​There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.


But there is condemnation for sins to thise who are unsaved.

Ephesians 5:3-7 (KJV)

But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; 4 Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. 7 Be not ye therefore partakers with them.


But if you insist that Romans 6 applies to all of mankind, then please show which verse or verses in Romans 6 (or in the Bible) teach this.

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #36

Post by myth-one.com »

Eddie Ramos wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:27 pm
myth-one.com wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 11:14 am
Eddie Ramos wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:47 pmRomans 6:14 is speaking only to those who have become saved and not to everyone. Please take the time to review post #24.
Romans 14 wrote:For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Yes, that is being written to the Christians in Rome, but it applies to all mankind.
Has all of mankind been made free from their sin, or only those who have become saved?
Good grief! No human is free from their sins!!!!

But being free of sin is no longer a requirement for being saved. That is the meaning of Romans 6:14.

We reap the rewards of our sins here on earth. These may include prison time, jail, fear of detection, guilt, venereal disease, shame, lost opportunities, divorce, low self-esteem; and the list goes on, and on, and on.

Romans 6:14 seems so easy to understand!

Sin shall not control your salvation, because you are no longer under the law (the commandments of God) but under grace.

And "you" can be any human as the New Testament Covenant is between God and ALL of mankind.

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #37

Post by Eddie Ramos »

myth-one.com wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 5:05 pm
Eddie Ramos wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 4:27 pm
myth-one.com wrote: Tue Aug 09, 2022 11:14 am
Eddie Ramos wrote: Mon Aug 08, 2022 11:47 pmRomans 6:14 is speaking only to those who have become saved and not to everyone. Please take the time to review post #24.
Romans 14 wrote:For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
Yes, that is being written to the Christians in Rome, but it applies to all mankind.
Has all of mankind been made free from their sin, or only those who have become saved?
Good grief! No human is free from their sins!!!!

But being free of sin is no longer a requirement for being saved. That is the meaning of Romans 6:14.

We reap the rewards of our sins here on earth. These may include prison time, jail, fear of detection, guilt, venereal disease, shame, lost opportunities, divorce, low self-esteem; and the list goes on, and on, and on.

Romans 6:14 seems so easy to understand!

Sin shall not control your salvation, because you are no longer under the law (the commandments of God) but under grace.

And "you" can be any human as the New Testament Covenant is between God and ALL of mankind.
Suit yourself.

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #38

Post by Eddie Ramos »

In continuing with this topic, it is important to understand that the Bible contains everything we need to understand it. We need not look outside the Bible to understand the Bible.

The Bible is its own commentary, it's own dictionary and it's own interpreter. But most of all, the Words of God (the Bible) are spiritual words, which is why seeking for the literal understanding leaves people in confusion and far from the truth.

Romans 7:14 (KJV) 14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Colossians 1:9 (KJV) 9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

John 6:63 (KJV) 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

1 Corinthians 9:11 (KJV) 11 If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?


Hasn't anyone ever wondered where your own method of understanding the Bible comes from? Or do you just read and understand it like you would any other book? If so, then this perhaps is why you cannot see the spiritual truths that God has placed in his Word. Please consider.

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #39

Post by William »

[Replying to Eddie Ramos in post #1]
And who can teach us how God intends for us to rightly divide it, if not the one whose very words these are? God himself.
Should a person take that as literal or divide it?

It may have already been asked, but what does 'divide' mean in this context? Generally it means to separate something into its parts or pieces...

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Re: THE TRUE BIBLICAL METHOD OF INTERPRETATION

Post #40

Post by Eddie Ramos »

William wrote: Wed Aug 24, 2022 2:43 pm [Replying to Eddie Ramos in post #1]
And who can teach us how God intends for us to rightly divide it, if not the one whose very words these are? God himself.
Should a person take that as literal or divide it?

It may have already been asked, but what does 'divide' mean in this context? Generally it means to separate something into its parts or pieces...
The scriptures have 3 levels of meaning. The historical, the moral and the spiritual. Therefore, when we take any of the Word of God literally, we are able to glean historical and moral truths. But the spiritual truth is concealed within the Word of God. In order to be able to see the spiritual truth, the Bible tells us that we need to have the Spirit of God within us (be born again). And we rightly divide the scriptures by comparing spiritual things in the Bible with spiritual. This is how God's Holy Spirit teaches his children.

1 Corinthians 2:9–14 (KJV 1900)
But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

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