Some would consider this question an understatement. There definitely are passages that are very perplexing. Consider this passage from Deuteronomy 23:3–4:

No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the Lord; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the Lord, because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.

What does that mean, and how can it be applied to us today? Here is another difficult text, from Revelation 13:1–3:

And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

The Bible is full of bewildering statements that make any 21st-century reader scratch his head. Because of this, it is very easy to misunderstand what the biblical authors were trying to communicate. One author has illustrated this problem well in saying, “The Bible may well be the most abused book in the world.”¹

To interpret means “to explain or translate.”² When something is interpreted, it is explained; its meaning is expounded. For example, when I say that my head is as hard as a rock, you understand that I do not mean that my skull is composed of granite and stone. I mean that I am slow to understand or stubborn. When I say that my friend is a bull, you understand that I do not mean that my friend walks on four legs and has horns on his head. I mean that he is strong.

The process by which you grasp the meaning of these statements is the process of interpretation. In regard to Scripture, hermeneutics is “the science of Bible interpretation.”³ Practicing correct hermeneutics is vital to understanding God’s Word. “You’ll never gain a proper understanding of Scripture if you don’t or can’t read the text properly.”⁴ The following is a basic summary of hermeneutical principles that the Bible recommends for itself.

1. Authorial Intent

In describing authorial intent, Milton S. Terry writes,

We must not study [the Bible] in the light of modern systems of divinity, but should aim rather to place ourselves in the position of the sacred writers, and to study to obtain the impression their words would naturally have made upon the minds of the first readers . . . Still less should we be influenced by any presumptions of what the Scriptures ought to teach . . . All such presumptions are uncalled for and prejudicial.⁵

Terry goes on to write of the importance of the authorial intent by saying that “the fundamental principle [in hermeneutics] is to gather from the Scriptures themselves the precise meaning which the author intended to convey.”⁶

Authorial intent simply means that the writer of Scripture determines the meaning of his writings, not the reader. In the words of Milton Terry, the readers should “place [themselves] in the position of the sacred writers” and find out what they were communicating to their original audiences. One author described this process by saying, “To interpret we must in every case reproduce the sense the Scriptural writer intended for his own words.”⁷

If you want to know what Paul is saying in his letters, place yourself in his sandals. Seek to understand the history, culture, language, grammatical context, and circumstance of his letters. Find out what the Roman, Corinthian, Galatian, Ephesian, and Colossian audiences were like and what Paul was saying to them.

The biblical reason for this hermeneutical principle is found in 2 Peter 1:19–21:

So we have the prophetic word make more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own personal interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

The authors of Scripture were inspired in a special way; the readers of Scripture are not. The authors were “moved by the Holy Spirit” in what they wrote. Readers today are not given the same privilege.

The Greek verb for “moved” in verse 21 is pheromenoi. It means “to bear, to carry, to bring forward.”⁸ The same verb is used in Acts 27:15, 17 to describe a ship being carried along on the water. Another way to translate 2 Peter 1:21 would be, “For no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”⁹ This particular act of the Holy Spirit is nowhere promised to the readers of Scripture.

As a side-note, some authors of the New Testament seem to abandon this principle in their quotations of Old Testament passages. Here are a few examples.

Matthew 2:15:

He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”¹⁰

John 6:45:

It is written in the prophets, “And they shall be taught of God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Fathers, comes to Me.¹¹

Acts 13:47:

For so the Lord has commanded us, “I have placed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.”¹²

1 Timothy 5:17–18:

The elders who rule are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing.”¹³

In each of these passages, the New Testament author interpreted the Old Testament in a way that the authors of the Old Testament did not appear to intend. Yet, Richard Longnecker affirms that this particular hermeneutical approach is not to be repeated today.

I do not think it my business to try to reproduce the exegetical procedures and practices of the New Testament writers, particularly when they engage in what I define as ‘midrash,’ ‘pesher,’ or ‘allegorical’ exegesis. Those practices often represent a culturally specific method or a revelational stance or both – neither of which I can claim for myself.¹⁴

If the New Testament authors were allowed to change the meanings of the Old Testament authors, then the inspiration and authority of the Old Testament would be called into question – or the inspiration of the New Testament would be greater than that of the Old (which contradicts what the Bible teaches).¹⁵

Instead, the authors of the New Testament were engaged in what is known as ISPA – Inspired Sensus Plenior Application. The following is a description of this hermeneutical procedure:

One then discerns two kinds of uses of the Old Testament by New Testament writers. First, in some cases the New Testament writer abides by and applies the grammatical-historical sense of the passage. Second, sometimes the New Testament writer goes beyond the grammatical-historical meaning to assign a passage an additional meaning in connection with its New Testament context . . . We may call this an “inspired sensus plenior application” of the Old Testament passage to a new situation.¹⁶

Sensus Plenior means “fuller meaning.” When the New Testament writers interpret the Old Testament in a non-literal way, they are giving it a fuller meaning. If they were changing its meaning, they would be contradicting the clarity of the Scriptures, which is something Jesus Himself defends (see below).

In summary, since readers today are not “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21) as the authors of Scripture were, we do not have liberty to provide a fuller meaning to the Bible. We must interpret Scripture by looking for the authorial intent.

2. Clarity

The principle of clarity is summarized well by Robert Thomas:

Interpret each statement in light of the principles of grammar and the facts of history. Take each statement in its plain sense if it matches common sense, and do not look for another sense.¹⁷

William Tyndale, the translator of the first complete English Bible, said this about the principle of clarity:

The papists [Roman Catholics] divide the Scriptures into four senses, the literal, tropological, allegorical, and anagogical. The literal sense has become nothing at all, for the pope hath taken it clean away and hath made it his possession. He hath partly locked it up with false and counterfeited keys of his traditions, ceremonies, and feined lies. Thou shalt understand the Scripture hath but one sense, which is the literal sense, and this literal sense is the root and ground of all and the anchor that never faileth whereunto, if thou cleave, thou canst never err or go out of the way.¹⁸

The Scriptures are to be taken in their clearest, most literal sense.¹⁹

Psalm 19:7–11 echoes this principle of clarity.

The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.

The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether.

They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb.

Moreover, by them Your servant is warned;
In keeping them there is great reward.

Here, David considers the Scriptures – “the law of the Lord” – able to (i) make wise the simple (v. 7)²⁰ (ii) enlighten the eyes (v. 8), and (iii) warn God’s servants (v. 11). All of this requires some level of clarity. Simple/foolish people cannot be made wise without simplified information. Eyes cannot be enlightened without light – without something lucid. And vague warnings profit no one. The Bible can do all these things because it is written in clear language.

In Luke 16:19–31, Jesus tells the story of a rich man and Lazarus.

Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.

Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.”

But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.”

And he said, “I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house – for I have five brothers – in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” But he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!”

But he said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.”

Here, Abraham told the rich man that Moses and the Prophets – the Old Testament – was so clear that their teachings would keep others out of Hell (v. 29). They are so obvious and unambiguous that if the rich man’s brothers refused to believe them, they would refuse to believe the testimony of someone who returned from the grave!

The Bible should be interpreted with clarity because it was written with clarity. David said it was clear enough to make a fool wise, and Jesus Himself said it was clear enough that if someone did not believe its testimony, they would not believe the testimony of a man who rose from the dead.

3. Authority

In his Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem defines the authority of Scripture as:

The idea that all the words in Scripture are God’s in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.²¹

Millard J. Erickson describes the authority of the Bible by saying that it is:

The teaching that since God, the supreme authority, has given us the Bible by divine inspiration, it has derivatively the right to prescribe the belief and actions of Christians.²²

The principle of authority states that the Bible should be interpreted as if it has ultimate jurisdiction in the life of a Christian. The Scriptures do not give suggestions; they give commands. The reasoning for this has already been stated by Grudem and Erickson: since God inspired the Bible, the Bible contains His authority.

Joshua 1:6–9 explains this authority in the Old Testament. Here the Lord tells Joshua,

Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.

This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

In verse 7, the Lord commands Joshua to avoid straying from the law that Moses had written down. In verse 8, speaking more specifically about this writing, the Lord tells Joshua, “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.” In the life of this leader of Israel, the written Word of God was to have a role of supreme authority.

The authority of the Bible is also described by the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:16: “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness.” The Greek word for “inspired by God” is theoneustos. It means “inspired by God”²³ but it can also mean “God-breathed”²⁴ or “breathed out by God.”²⁵

Theoneustos is a Greek compound word that comes from theos (“God”) and neustos (“Spirit”). In saying that “all Scripture is inspired by God,” Paul is saying that all Scripture contains the Spirit of God in it – it is God-breathed. Because of this divine origin, Scripture is to take the place of authority in the life of every believer. Roy B. Zuck summarizes this authority in his book Basic Bible Interpretation:

The authority of the Bible for what we believe and how we are to live stems from the fact that it is inerrant. Inerrancy in turn stems from the truth of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. Since the Bible comes from God, it has an intrinsic authority. Jesus’ frequent quotations of the Old Testament, in which He recognized its supernatural origin, also indicate His acceptance of its authority. What He accepted as authoritative should certainly be authoritative for us.²⁶

The Bible claims the authority to decide what is right and what is wrong in regards to philosophy, ethics, morality, and human behavior. It also has the right to make claims regarding what God wants for His church. Only the Scriptures can decide whether a practicing homosexual can be a practicing Christian.²⁷ Only the Scriptures can decide whether a woman can be a pastor in a local church.²⁸ Only the Scriptures can decide whether non-Christians are going to Heaven.²⁹ No other source has this authority.

One more thought on the principle of authority: no other “authority” has the right to change the meaning of a biblical text. Some have used the authority of the culture to define the Bible. One example of this is the Christian feminist movement, which takes the role of women in secular society and tries to force that on the church. In order to do that, Christian feminists must reinterpret Scripture. To justify this movement, Mary A. Kassian writes,

Biblical feminists view the Bible as open to alteration. One of the basic presuppositions of Biblical feminist theology is that the Bible is not absolute and that its meaning can “evolve” and “transform.” Since the Bible presents no absolute standard of right and wrong, feminists maintain that they must decide this for themselves. This basic premise allows them to interpret the Bible in any manner appropriate to their immediate circumstances.³⁰

Such a statement is not warranted by the Bible itself. As a matter of fact, this thinking takes the source of authority from the writers of Scripture and places it on the readers of Scripture. And this makes the process of interpretation a free-for-all. If readers can determine the meaning, then the meaning can be anything and nothing at the same time.

Yet no human being has the right to alter what God has inspired. The meaning of Scripture is finished and complete³¹ and is therefore closed to any “evolving” or “transforming” to human opinions.

Scripture needs no updating, editing, or refining. Whatever time or culture you live in, it is eternally relevant. It needs no help in that regard. It is pure, sinless, inerrant truth; it is enduring. It is God’s revelation for any generation. It was written by the omniscient Spirit of God, who is infinitely more sophisticated than anyone who dares stand in judgment on Scripture’s relevancy for our society, and infinitely wiser than all the best philosophers, analysts, and psychologists who pass like a childhood parade into irrelevancy.³²

4. Sufficiency

The principle of sufficiency holds that the Bible is to be interpreted as an adequate authority. The Bible is sufficient to teach believers how to live their lives and serve the God of all creation.

In his book Truth Matters, John MacArthur writes,

The spiritually mature always turn to God for help in times of anxiety, distress, confusion, or unrest in the soul, and they are assured of wise counsel and deliverance. That’s because every need of the human soul is ultimately spiritual. There is no such thing as a “psychological problem” unrelated to spiritual or physical causes. God supplies divine resources sufficient to meet all those needs completely.³³

One of these “divine resources” that God supplies to believers is the Bible. This resource is described in Second Timothy 3:16–17. (Verse 16 is already quoted above.)

All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

All man needs for his physical life and spiritual life is found in the Bible. It leaves nothing out. If a man understands the Bible, he will understand God. As John Calvin poignantly states,

Hence it follows, that it is unlawful to treat [the Bible] in an unprofitable manner; for the Lord, when he gave us the Scriptures, did not intend either to gratify our curiosity, or to encourage ostentation, or to give occasion for chatting and talking, but to do us good; and, therefore, the right use of Scripture must always tend to what is profitable.³⁴

Scripture is “profitable” because it is sufficient. It contains everything we need.

Second Peter 1:2–3 further describes the sufficiency of Scripture,

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.

Repeating what Paul said to Timothy, the Apostle Peter writes that the omnipotence³⁵ of God has granted believers “everything pertaining to life and godliness.” As was stated earlier, nothing is left out. As Edwin Blum writes, “In bringing people to the knowledge of himself, God’s divine power supplies them with everything they need for life and godliness.”³⁶ Because of these and similar statements, the Bible should be interpreted as a sufficient book. It gives Christians all the information they need to understand and obey God.

Because of the sufficiency of Scripture, the Apostle Paul writes this in First Corinthians 4:6:

Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against another.

In commenting on this verse, H. A. Ironside summarizes Paul’s thoughts:

In other words, “You are not to put men in such a place of authority that you rally to them and to their instruction, and are carried away with admiration for their abilities, and forget that they as well as you have to be tested by that which is written.”³⁷

Since Scripture is enough, there is no need to add anything to it. There is no need to go beyond the teachings found in its pages. The Bible does not need modern science or philosophy to help it portray who man is and where he has come from. The Scriptures do not need the latest findings from secular institutions to shed light on their historical or geographical assertions. For this reason, the church of Jesus Christ should “learn not to exceed what is written.” To quote H. A. Ironside again,

The reason that so many people constantly refer to the thoughts of others, men like themselves, is that there is so little real familiarity with the Book. God has given His written Word, and any extraneous thoughts of even the best teachers will be mere speculation. God has given teachers to the church not so that they may supplant the Bible and save His people the trouble of studying the Word for themselves, but so that they may spur the people of God on to more intensive searching of the Scriptures.³⁸

End Notes

1 Roy B. Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth (Colorado Springs, Col.: Cook Communications, 1991) 7.

2 Webster’s New World Dictionary, ed. Michael Agnes (New York: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2003) 340.

3 Alan Cairns, Dictionary of Theological Terms (Greenville, S. C.: Ambassador Emerald International, 2002) 207.

4 Howard G. Hendricks & William D. Hendricks, Living by the Book (Chicago: Moody Press, 1991) 203.

5 Biblical Hermeneutics: A Treatise on the Interpretation of the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1947 ed.) 595.

6 Ibid., 173.

7 Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., “Legitimate Hermeneutics,” in Inerrancy, ed. Norman Geisler (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979) 118.

8 G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (New York: T & T Clark, 2001 ed.) 467.

9 This is the translation of the New International Version.

10 Here, Matthew is quoting Hosea 11:1.

11 Here, John is quoting Isaiah 54:13.

12 Here, Paul is quoting Isaiah 49:6.

13 Here, Paul is quoting Deuteronomy 25:4.

14 Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999) xxxviii.

15 See 2 Timothy 3:16 (quoted below).

16 Robert Thomas, Evangelical Hermeneutics: The New Versus the Old (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2002) 242.

17 Ibid., 155.

18 Quoted in Philip Schaff’s History of the Christian Church, Vol. 6 (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 2002 ed.) 718.

19 By “literal,” Tyndale did not mean that Bible readers are to ignore allegories and metaphoric language, but that Bible readers are not to look for “senses” that the authors did not intend. He believed the authors wrote in clear language. Hence, he says at another time, “The Scripture hath but one simple, literal sense whose light the owls cannot abide” (Ibid.)

20 “Simple” is another name for “fool” or “naïve.” See Psalm 119:130; Proverbs 14:15, 18.

21 Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000) 1236.

22 The Concise Dictionary of Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2001) 22.

23 Abbott-Smith, 205.

24 This is the translation of the New International Version.

25 This is the translation of the English Standard Version.

26 Zuck, 71.

27 1 Corinthians 6:9–10.

28 1 Timothy 2:12.

29 John 14:6.

30 Women, Creation, and the Fall (Westchester, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1990) 147.

31 Revelation 22:18–19.

32 John MacArthur, Truth Matters (Nashville, Tenn.: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004) 7-8.

33 Ibid., 2.

34 John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon in Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XXI (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005 ed.) 250.

35 Omnipotence means “all-powerfulness.”

36 1 & 2 Peter in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981) 267-268.

37 1 Corinthians in Ironside Commentaries (Neptune, N. J.: Louizeaux Brothers, Inc., 2001 ed.) 98.

38 Ibid.