What do people mean by the statement, \u201cThat\u2019s just your interpretation\u201d? They mean: \u201cYou\u2019ve got your view of what the Bible passage means and I\u2019ve got mine\u2014and who\u2019s to say mine\u2019s wrong and yours is right?\u201d The matter is further muddled when one considers the fact that on any given religious question, there are knowledgeable, presumably sincere \u201cauthorities\u201d on both sides of the issue. But let\u2019s think through this notion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God has given us a written revelation with the understanding that it can be correctly<\/strong> comprehended. This means that for every teaching, there is a meaning that God originally intended to convey. It is our task to ascertain the correct interpretation. Jesus said, \u201c[Y]ou shall know the truth\u201d (John 8:32). Paul said to \u201cspeak the same thing\u2026be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment\u201d (1 Corinthians 1:10). Peter said, \u201cIf anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God\u201d (1 Peter 4:11). And Paul insisted that we are to be involved in \u201crightly handling the word of truth\u201d (2 Timothy 2:15, ESV). When Peter wrote, \u201cno prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation\u201d (2 Peter 1:20), he verified the fact that even God\u2019s inspired spokesmen did not express their own views, opinions, or interpretations. Rather, they were merely conveying God\u2019s<\/strong> views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So there\u2019s no such thing as \u201cmy<\/strong> interpretation\u201d and \u201cyour<\/strong> interpretation.\u201d There\u2019s only God\u2019s<\/strong> meaning, and with proper study and correct reasoning, we can<\/strong> arrive at the truth on any subject that is vital to our spiritual well-being<\/strong>.1<\/sup><\/a> Rather than shrug off the conflicting views and positions on various subjects and dismiss religious differences as hopeless, unresolvable, or irreconcilable, we can and must be about the business of studying and searching God\u2019s Book (Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:21). We must cautiously refrain from misinterpreting and misusing Scripture (2 Corinthians 4:2; 2 Peter 3:16). We must carefully consider all sides of every issue (1 John 4:1; Proverbs 14:15). We must \u201ctake heed how [we] hear\u201d (Luke 8:18), i.e., make certain our hearts are genuinely receptive to the truth (Luke 8:15). We must realize that there are those who are \u201cever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth\u201d (2 Timothy 3:7). Having given sufficient attention to these important keys to ascertaining God\u2019s will, we can be certain<\/strong> of our ability to come to the knowledge of the truth that God wants us to know (1 Timothy 2:3-4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup><\/a> There are many things that we cannot know since God has not chosen to reveal them to us. However, we can know those things that God intends for us to know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What do people mean by the statement, \u201cThat\u2019s just your interpretation\u201d? They mean: \u201cYou\u2019ve got your view of what the Bible passage means and I\u2019ve got mine\u2014and who\u2019s to say mine\u2019s wrong and yours is right?\u201d The matter is further muddled when one considers the fact that on any given religious question, there are knowledgeable,… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27892,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87,11],"tags":[],"kids-category":[],"people":[273],"bible-book":[],"language":[168],"age-group":[172,173],"publication":[248],"class_list":["post-27873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bible-interpretation","category-doctrinal-matters","people-dave-miller-phd","language-english","age-group-teens","age-group-adults","publication-reason-revelation"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Thats-Just-Your-Interpretation-DM-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27873"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27873\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38279,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27873\/revisions\/38279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27873"},{"taxonomy":"kids-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kids-category?post=27873"},{"taxonomy":"people","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people?post=27873"},{"taxonomy":"bible-book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible-book?post=27873"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=27873"},{"taxonomy":"age-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age-group?post=27873"},{"taxonomy":"publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication?post=27873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Endnote<\/h2>\n\n\n\n