BIBLE,
INTERPRETATION OF
In 1728, potatoes were outlawed in Scotland because they were not mentioned in the Bible.
Author unknown
I have nothing whatever to say against historical criticism. I recognize it, and once more state quite definitely that it is both necessary and justified. My complaint is that recent commentators confine themselves to an interpretation of the text which seems to me to be no commentary at all, but merely a first step towards a commentary.
Karl Barth
The historical-critical method of Biblical investigation has its rightful place; it is concerned with the preparation of the intelligence – and this can never be superfluous.
Karl Barth
Is there any way of penetrating the heart of a document – of any document! – except on the assumption that its spirit will speak to our spirit through the actual written words?
Karl Barth
John Calvin was committed to the interpretation that every word of the Bible is divinely inspired.
Karl Barth
Any part of the human body can only be properly explained in reference to the whole body. And any part of the Bible can only be properly explained in reference to the whole Bible.
F.F. Bruce
Let us know, then, that the true meaning of Scripture is the natural and obvious meaning; and let us embrace and abide by it resolutely. Let us not only neglect as doubtful, but boldly set aside as deadly corruptions those pretended expositions which lead us away from the natural meaning.
John Calvin
No man has a right to say, as some are in the habit of saying, “The Spirit tells me that such or such is the meaning of a passage.” How is he assured that it is the Holy Spirit, and not a spirit of delusion, except from the evidence that the interpretation is the legitimate meaning of the words?
Alexander Carson
Sacred Scripture, though, whenever it wants to teach us something like this, gives its own interpretation, and doesn’t let the listener go astray. On the other hand, since the majority of listeners apply their ears to the narrative, not for the sake of gaining some profit but for enjoyment, they are at pains to take note of things able to bring enjoyment rather than those that bring profit. So, I beg you, block your ears against all distractions of that kind, and let us follow the norm of Sacred Scripture.
Chrysostom
Be on guard against any tampering with the Word, whether disguised as a search for truth, or a scholarly attempt at apparently hidden meanings.
Martin R. DeHaan
Although the whole of Scripture is centered around Jesus Christ, each of its parts does not tell us all about him; just like the whole of a parable is designed for a purpose, or main object, though not every detail is immediately relevant to the end. Not every part of a lute produces harmonious sounds, but each of them is necessary for their production. According to Saint Augustine, it is the same for Scripture. The whole of it resounds with the name and mysteries of Jesus Christ, though not each individual part does. We cannot expect each part to resound, but they all play a part in the overall effect.
Attributed to Jacques-Joseph Duguet
Always begin by establishing the literal meaning.
Attributed to Jacques-Joseph Duguet
(After the literal, or, historical meaning, look for the Christological meaning.) Jesus Christ is the end of the law and we cannot understand Scripture unless we see him present in all of it.
Attributed to Jacques-Joseph Duguet
It is extremely important to declare what the Bible holds, and be silent where the Bible is silent.
Billy Graham
It’s not what you think, it’s what the Bible says.
Rodney Howard-Browne
Mary Queen of Scots asked, “Ye interpret the Scriptures in one manner, and they in another; whom shall I believe, and who shall judge?”
John Knox replied? “Believe God, that plainly speaketh in his word: and further than the word teacheth you, ye shall neither believe the one nor the other. The word of God is plain in itself; and if there appear any obscurity in one place, the Holy Ghost, which is never contrarious to himself, explains the same more clearly in other places.”
John Knox
I have been suspected of being what is called a Fundamentalist. That is because I never regard any narrative as unhistorical simply on the ground that it includes the miraculous.
C.S. Lewis
Only the cry of Jesus on the Cross admits of no allegory; the rest of the Bible and of authentic tradition is to be interpreted spiritually as the echo of that cry throughout the history of Revelation.
Max Huot de Longchamp
I have observed that all the heresies and errors have arisen not from Scripture’s own plain statements, but when that plainness of statement is ignored, and men follow the Scholastic arguments of their own brains.
Martin Luther
If there be any difference among professed believers as to the sense of Scripture, it is their duty to tolerate such difference in each other, until God shall have revealed the truth to all.
John Milton
A basic principle in the interpretation of the Bible is that one must first ask what a given Scripture was intended to mean to the people for whom it was originally written; only then is the interpreter free to ask what meaning it has for Christians today. Failure to ask this primary question and to investigate the historical setting of Scripture has prevented many Christians from coming to a correct understanding of some parts of the Bible.
Sir William M. Ramsay
Because of lack of fortitude and faithfulness on the part of God’s people, God’s Word has many times been allowed to be bent, to conform to the surrounding, passing, changing culture of that moment rather than to stand as the inerrant Word of God judging the form of the world spirit and the surrounding culture of that moment.
Francis A. Schaeffer
No public man in these islands ever believes that the Bible means what it says; he is always convinced that it says what he means.
George Bernard Shaw
I would sooner a hundred times over be inconsistent with myself than be inconsistent with the Word of God.
C.H. Spurgeon
Based on the assumption that an author is an articulate communicator (as we believe God to be), the primary presupposition of hermeneutical theory must be that the meaning of a text is the author’s intended meaning, rather than the meanings we may wish to ascribe to his words. If we abandon this principle, there remains no normative, compelling criterion for discriminating between valid and invalid interpretations.
Henry A. Verkler
The general rule of interpreting Scripture is this: the literal sense of every text is to be taken, if it be not contrary to some other texts. But in that case, the obscure text is to be interpreted by those which speak more plainly.
John Wesley
Try all things by the written word, and let all bow down before it. You are in danger of fanaticism every hour, if you depart ever so little from Scripture; yea, or from the plain, literal meaning of an text, taken in connection with the context.
John Wesley