Stephen
Terry, Director
Why Is Interpretation Needed?
Commentary
for the May 9, 2020 Sabbath School Lesson
"How, then, can they call on the one
they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they
have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And
how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: 'How beautiful
are the feet of those who bring good news!'" Romans 10:14-15, NIV
The
quarterly lesson topic this week is a strange one. Perhaps a better question is
"How can interpretation of the Bible ever be avoided?" Anyone who has ever read
through the Bible more than once may understand this very well. As we read
through its pages, it speaks to our hearts and resonates with what we are
feeling and experiencing in life. We may feel the presence of the Holy Spirit
touching our innermost being with the light of understanding things that
suddenly become clear, where before they were opaque. But what is most amazing
about this book is that when we read the same passage some time later, we
derive a profound understanding of an entirely new insight. How is this possible?
Why didn't we get this gem from the passage the last time we read it?
We
come to the Bible, not as blank slates for the Holy Spirit to write upon. We
come as fully unique individuals, shaped by all the data that our senses have
gathered up until then. We have extrapolated conclusions from that data and
adjusted our lives accordingly. This progressive development means that when we
return to the Bible later, we are not the same person we were. And because we
have changed, the Bible has the ability, because of its nature, to change in
what it says to us. Has it really changed though? Unless we are reading a
different translation, it is still the same words printed on paper that we, and
others before us, have read. But we now bring to it different tools for
interpretation, and that makes the experience different each time. What we are
experiencing is a feedback loop. In a feedback loop, we take the lessons we
learn from scripture, apply them to our lives, see the result and then compare
the results to our initial experience with the Bible. The Bible then responds
with the revelation of a new perspective based on the data we accumulated
through experience since our last reading.
Feedback
loops can be positive or negative. An example of what a negative loop might
look like is one based on a refusal to adjust based on real world experiences.
For instance, suppose you read in the Pentateuch that sinners should be stoned,
so you find some people who are not observing the ancient statutes found in the
Bible. Then, wanting to be biblically faithful, you tell them that they should
be stoned for their behavior. While you may feel biblically justified, they may
respond by stoning you instead, which would be an extremely negative outcome.
Another negative outcome might be if we decide the world is so evil, we
withdraw to an eremitic lifestyle. This happened beginning in the third
century, when eremites began to exert a growing influence within the early
church and inspired later monastic movements. But the early hermits in the
Egyptian desert perhaps found it somewhat easier to withdraw from society with
the arid buffer of miles of sand and rocks than more modern devotees may find
in attempting to live "off the grid" in many parts of the world. Nonetheless a
romanticism still attaches to the idea and may even influence somewhat
Adventism's fascination with self-sufficient country living.
While
some may feel that these ideas are not negative, withdrawal from society means
that one's spiritual experience is now like a plant kept only in a greenhouse.
Gardeners know that to have a successful garden, those green house starts must
be gradually "hardened off" by exposing them for ever greater periods to real
world conditions. Taking them directly from greenhouse to garden, into the
drastic changes in temperature that can occur over a 24-hour period, may give
the gardener untoward results, with some plants struggling to survive and even
dying from the shock. Christians can experience this also. Raised in a cultural
bubble, they may encounter ideas and experiences overwhelming to their
"greenhouse" faith. As a result, if their faith survives, it may be more
cultural than experiential as they seek to preserve what they can of the
bubble, but withdraw from confrontation because they have not experienced even
enough to tread water in the flood of ideas seeking to overwhelm them.
A
positive, progressive feedback loop relies on the experience of testing one's
faith in the real world. Instead of creating a false dichotomy of righteous church
versus evil world, a model where the Holy Spirit works in both is foundational.
After all, if the Holy Spirit did not work in and through the non-church world,
how would anyone not in the church ever be reached with the gospel? This lends
validity to the idea that the data we gather from our experiences can inform
our Bible reading, even our non-church experiences. As we bring those
experiences with us to our reading of scripture, we can understand better how
our faith affects our interaction with others and what those interactions can
do to help us become more effective in our interpersonal relationships. The
Bible gives us the special advantage of being able to compare our speech and
actions with those of the leading characters in scripture, with the character
of Jesus being the ultimate model for our own behavior. This may be a gift from
our Creator that helps us to identify with role models in this way. Even those
with no religious experience will still identify with central characters in
movies, books, and even superhero comic books and seek to emulate some of their
qualities.
Acknowledging
our ability to grow through life experience and the influence of the Bible
means that we recognize that the developmental goal the Bible presents is an
elusive one, for if it were easily attained, there would soon come a point
where further Bible study would be meaningless. This is a similar problem to
perfectionism. It seeks to reach a state of sinlessness which effectually means
no longer needing a savior. However, if we stash these goals in the safe
keeping of the Parousia, then life becomes a constant progression of personal
development and growth of understanding toward that event. Of course, the
nature of our feedback loop can influence whether that progression is
ultimately moving toward or away from that goal. If we allow only the church to
be an influence on our experience, our result will rise or fall based on the
church's standing. Historically, at times, that has been a perilous choice. But
failure to do so can result in a plethora of denominational and personal
dogmas, all claiming biblical derivation. Actual experience has demonstrated
that is indeed the prevailing situation.
While
some may feel that is the result of each man doing what is "right in his own
eyes,"[i]
it may also be the result of a highly personalized experience with the Holy Spirit.
Does this mean that everyone with a different point of view is right because
they can quote proof texts? Hardly, but is it our job to sort everyone else out
or should we concentrate instead on sorting ourselves out? The Parable of the
Wheat and the Tares[ii]
and the Sermon on the Mount's reference to the beam in one's eye[iii]
both seem to indicate that our problem may be that we worry too much about what
others are doing rather than too little. This may even imply that we have
little or no faith in the Holy Spirit's work with those not under our control.
But the Bible reveals that the Holy Spirit works even with heathen rulers as
the examples of Joseph and Daniel illustrate. Perhaps we, also, when we
interact beyond the boundaries of the cloister, will find ways to facilitate
what the Spirit is doing, for God makes highly effective use of willing hearts.
Joseph's willingness to be of service to others, whether haughty rulers or
humiliated prisoners helped to prepare him to be of service to God. Had his
understanding of God caused him to put up barriers between him and the heathen
around him, his ultimate rise to power in Egypt would perhaps never have occurred.
Instead, he might have ended up as some do today, brooding about how evil the
world is and self-righteously congratulating themselves for having nothing to
do with it. If we interpret God's will for us in this way, we have imprisoned
our faith as effectively as the bars imprisoned Joseph, with the exception that
we may not even have the blessing of being granted the trust that Joseph's
jailer place in him.
Ultimately,
everyone who reads the Bible interprets it based on their current experience.
Some may interpret it negatively, seeing the Bible as either a weapon to use
against others or a wall to keep others away. Others may see it as an
opportunity to understand themselves and their motives better as well as a
guide on how to be of service to others, eventually helping the lost sheep
looking for a way home to find healing and comfort. If we find only
condemnation in the Bible, we likely will project that to others. But if we
find healing and comfort for our hurting hearts, we have the potential to be able
to bring that same experience to others. The world needs much more of that. "For the
creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed."
Romans 8:19. NIV
