Navigating Biblical Interpretation: Truth vs. Subjectivism

"Father, we thank You that You not only have spoken to us, set down Your Word for us in writing, but that that Word is available to us, that in the privacy of our own homes, we can read for ourselves the truth that You have given to Your church. We thank You for this in the name of Christ. Amen." [00:00:47]

"But I tell you what terrifies me., I'm afraid that so often what people mean when they dismiss us lightly by, 'That's your interpretation,' is 'Well that's your interpretation. You read it one way, I look at it another way, and a third party over here reads it still a third way. And these three may be mutually exclusive, they may contradict each other, but that's all right because the Bible is a matter of individual subjective interpretation. Whatever it means to you is fine.'" [00:02:38]

"Yes, indeed, the principle of private interpretation was one of the most precious legacies that we have from the protestant reformation. It's a principle incidentally that we tend to take for granted. If you were sitting in your home reading the Bible in your own language, you may assume that that's a freedom and a privilege that is easily achieved, but the blood of the martyrs has flown through the streets of Europe to make that possible, because in the sixteenth century, one of the most important things that Martin Luther did when the reformation was started was to translate the Bible into the vernacular, into the German language, which was the first time it had been accomplished, and that created a hue and cry and protest throughout the Roman Catholic Church that brought all of the power of the church to bear to stop the printing presses from releasing copies of the Bible in native languages." [00:04:29]

"Rome was afraid that the body of Christ would be fragmented and fractured and that heresy would run wild if you gave people the right of private interpretation and of translating the Bible into their own native language. They were pretty accurate in their forecasting, and they said we will use corporal punishment, physical force, torture chambers, which were commonplace in that day. If necessary, we'll harm every joint of the human body if we can preserve people's souls from eternal torment in hell." [00:08:00]

"Sure, I can study the Bible on my own and I can interpret it on my own and it is theoretically possible that I can understand it in a way that for everybody else in the church has missed for two thousand years, but that's very unlikely. It's very unlikely; that's why it's wise to consult the interpretation of the church, to consult the best commentaries, to consult what other minds have garnered, because it's very possible that I can learn from others." [00:24:57]

"The difference is this: we have two technical terms in biblical studies that we need to learn. One is exegesis; the other is eisegesis. They both come from Greek verbs: 'ex.' We see it in the exit sign, we see it in a lot of words. 'Ex' means 'out of' or 'from.' The science of exegesis is coming to the text and drawing out of the text -- ex, out of the text -- what is actually in the text. Eisegesis, E-I-S comes from the Greek word, 'eis,' which means into. Eisegesis is when I come to the text and read into the text something that isn't there at all." [00:26:09]

"An invaluable lesson is conveyed that the Bible is a treasury of truth. We have little books that help us in writing and in literature, and in English, we call them thesaurus, Roget's Thesaurus, for example, and the word thesaurus means a 'treasury.' Well the ultimate thesaurus is Scripture and it is a treasure of meaning and application -- I mean a treasury of significance and application in every single verse. Each verse is pregnant with significance for our lives, and the professor could have gone on every day till next Tuesday and the Tuesday after that assigning fifty more and fifty more, and the most brilliant student would not have exhausted the possible significances and possible applications from each of those verses." [00:12:16]

"But dear friends, there's only one correct meaning. Truth is not contradictory. The Word of God is consistent. It functions in harmony, and if I interpret a portion of Scripture in a way that contradicts how you interpret that portion of Scripture, we know something at the outset that's very important, and that is that one of us, at least, is wrong. If your interpretation contradicts mine, one of us, at least, is wrong. We may both be wrong and a third party may come down and say, 'A pox on both of your houses,' and show us where we both made a mistake, and we both should change our minds. We both can be wrong, one of us might be wrong and one of us might be right, but if they are contradictory, they cannot both be right. Why? What's the working principle? The working principle here is: the truth is not contradictory." [00:14:11]

"You see, good friends, without a clear-cut understanding of a contradiction, there is no human way to discern the difference between Christ and antichrist, between godliness and ungodliness, between righteousness and unrighteousness, between truth and falsehood. Biblically, the contradiction is not the hallmark of the truth; it is the hallmark of the lie. That's why, even as uncomfortable as we become when we disagree, because we want peace; we want harmony; we want fellowship. When we're dealing with the Word of God, we have to understand that when those disagreements come, if we're really understanding each other, and if there really does exist a difference of opinion, somebody's wrong." [00:21:03]

"Now, so it's important to understand that the principle of private interpretation is not a principle upon which is to be established subjectivism or relativism. That was not clearly understood even in the sixteenth century after Luther set down his principle of private interpretation -- and remember the circumstances of that, where he got in trouble with the Roman Catholic Church over the issue of justification by faith alone, and he got in debates, and they said, 'Well Martin, how can you disagree with what the church council back here said?' And he said, 'Well church councils can make mistakes. I'm trying to read what Paul says here, and it seems to me that Paul is saying justification by faith alone.'" [00:22:43]

"Luther said, 'Well maybe the church made a mistake.' 'The church made a mistake? A church council made a mistake? How can a church council make a mistake?' Luther said, 'Well they're human beings just like us. They're not infallible.' 'But look here, the pope has' -- and Luther said, 'Well maybe the pope can err too.' And they say, 'Luther, how arrogant that you would set yourself up against church and council.' And you know what Luther said? When he was called upon to recant, he said, 'Unless I am convinced by sacred Scripture, or by every reason, I can't recant because my mind, my conscience is held captive by the Word of God, so in the final analysis, well, I have to go by what I understand the Bible to say at that moment.'" [00:23:26]

"Let's look at the idea that truth, that -- excuse me, contradiction is the hallmark of truth. A contradiction, it's not just an irony or a twisted meaning or even a paradox, which is an apparent contradiction that under closer scrutiny yields its resolution. We're talking of real contradiction, you see, where both ends mutually exclude the other one. There is a god; there is no god. Those two statements are contradictory; they cannot both be true." [00:17:17]