2007-09-15 05:28:28 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand, and I hope that you will understand completely, as you have come to understand us partially, that we are your boast as you also are ours, on the day of (our) Lord Jesus. (2 Corinthians 13-14)
Paul's second letter to the Corinthians was written about 57 C.E. All of the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and Revelation were written after Paul's letter and may or may not apply to this statement. Paul also would not have assumed to have this statement apply to the Old Testament writings.
The verse from 2 Corinthians would only be applicable to the documents that Paul and the other Apostles had written up to that time.
The Jews had centuries of Holy Scripture interpretation by the priests and rabbis.
In Acts 8:27-39: Philip asks the Ethiopian reading the prophet Isaiah, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The Ethiopian replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?"
The original readers of the Epistles also knew Greek and all the slang and idioms used in their time. They knew (and lived) the culture, politics, and habits of everyday life of the first century C.E.
If I knew the original languages in which the Bible were written, namely Hebrew, Greek, and a little Aramaic, archeology, and theology then maybe I would not need the Church to help me.
The Catholic Church can also delve into the riches of almost 2,000 years of constant Bible study by the most intelligent and spiritual people of each and every generation. Why would I want to throw this treasure away?
Translations are also an issue. Something is always lost in translation, no matter how good, how new, or how beautiful a translation is.
On a practical note, being able to keep an eye on the big picture has kept the Catholic Church together for almost 2,000 years with currently over 1.1 billion living believers.
Non-Catholic Christian Churches that interpret the Bible any way they wish keep splintering off each other to the point that there are now well over 10,000 non-Catholic Christian denominations.
With love in Christ.
2007-09-15 16:16:34 · answer #1 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Regardless of what is on the printed page, scripture, fiction, "non-fiction", comic books, the reader always interprets the content personally.
And those who "interpret" for others are only working from their own personal interpretation, or the personal interpretation of others before them.
God gave us intelligence, free will and the power of choice. Scripture is also a result of those gifts. I believe reading and interpretation are to be undertaken by using those gifts as well.
2007-09-15 12:41:46 · answer #2 · answered by Palmerpath 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Scripture says its its own best interpretor...the more you read the more you will understand. Its not open to anyones personal ideas of what each passage means...
Lean not on your own understanding but on every word that proceed from the mouth of God.
The Bible isn't as obscure and difficult as alot of people think it is...
Get yourself a Bible handbook and a Lexicon...or you can use these online tools http://www.crosswalk.com and you will be good to go. Stick with King James Version primarily.
Also...use this handy dandy online tool
http://www.biblegateway.com for key word searches and stuff...its awesome.
For instance...A person once told me that when Jesus said...
Matthew 5:17
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
because as soon as He died on the cross we are no longer required to keep His commandments. The fulfillment would come when His blood atonement was provided. I didn't agree and so I did a Bible search for evidence to this...
I searched these words
fulfill
destroy
commandments
law
atonement
prophets
laws of men
traditions of men
I found some information completely different from what I had previously been taught. It strengthened my faith...being in the Word of God will always do that. So pray and study. Love in Christ, ~J~
2007-09-15 12:48:51 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
With all due respect to Ima Catholic 2, groups that have hierarchies that claim to be above question often introduce heresies into the family of God. For example, they have introduced denial of the trinity, the diety of Christ, the reality of hell, and most dangerously they bring forth pronouncements designed specifically to reinforce their own infallibility. While respecting the office of an authority we must never forget that it is indeed a human being that occupies that office. No human is above question, even if that human resides in Rome.
2007-09-16 03:45:37 · answer #4 · answered by Graham 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Has scripture been validated as true, accurate or verifiable? If not, it really doesn't matter how it is interpreted as until then it is only a collection of myths like the greek, celtic or norse gods.
2007-09-15 12:34:15 · answer #5 · answered by Pirate AM™ 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
It was personally interpreted by someone, dear. Do you even know who WROTE the Bible, particulary the old Testament? Rabbis and other "teachers" of the day. Can you honestly say you can read the Book in it's original text? Of course not, someone interpreted for you. There are hundreds of versions of the Bible. The King James seems to be the most popular, but it has left several (contradictory) books out. Why? Because they contradict what Jesus taught. Check them out!
2007-09-15 12:35:41 · answer #6 · answered by red 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It doesn't say one way or the other. We are suppose to make up our own minds, scripture by scripture. That's why it's important to read the Bible for ourselves and not rely on others to tell us what THEY think it means.
2007-09-15 12:33:51 · answer #7 · answered by kj 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, the Bible does not say that. When a sincere person reads God's Word, the Holy Spirit speaks the truth of it to them. That's why God's people love His Word so much, because He speaks to us through His Word.
God bless you!
2007-09-15 12:43:33 · answer #8 · answered by Devoted1 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2Pe 1:20 knowing this first, that every prophecy of Scripture did not come into being of its own interpretation;
2Pe 1:21 for prophecy was not at any time borne by the will of man, but being borne along by the Holy Spirit, holy men of God spoke.
Are these the verses you are referring to? It doesn't mean what you think it does.
"is of any private interpretation: not that this is leveled against the right of private judgment of Scripture; or to be understood as if a private believer had not a right of reading, searching, examining, and judging, and interpreting the Scriptures himself, by virtue of the unction which teacheth all things; and who, as a spiritual man, judgeth all things; otherwise, why are such commended as doing well, by taking heed to prophecy, in the preceding verse, and this given as a reason to encourage them to it? the words may be rendered, "of one's own interpretation"; that is, such as a natural man forms of himself, by the mere force of natural parts and wisdom, without the assistance of the Spirit of God; and which is done without comparing spiritual things with spiritual; and which is not agreeably to the Scripture, to the analogy of faith, and mind of Christ; though rather this phrase should be rendered, "no prophecy of the Scripture is of a man's own impulse", invention, or composition; is not human, but purely divine: and this sense carries in it a reason why the sure word of prophecy, concerning the second coming of Christ, should be taken heed to, and made use of as a light, till he does come; because as no Scripture prophecy, so not that, is a contrivance of man's, his own project and device, and what his own spirit prompts and impels him to, but what is made by the dictates and impulse of the Spirit of God; for whatever may be said of human predictions, or the false prophecies of lying men, who deliver them out how and when they please, nothing of this kind can be said of any Scripture prophecy, nor of this concerning the second coming of Christ; and this sense the following words require."
2007-09-15 12:38:17 · answer #9 · answered by BrotherMichael 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It does not belong to humans to interpret the Bible. "Interpretations belong to God" says Genesis 40:8.
In order for us to understand symbolic passages of the Bible, we have to use the Bible to find its meaning. For example, Revelation 14:1 speaks of 'a Lamb standing on Mount Zion'. We know the Lamb is referring to Jesus since the Bible repeatedly refers to Jesus as a sacrificial lamb (John 1:36; 1 Peter 1:19; Isaiah 53:7)
Likewise, true Christians allow the Bible to interpret itself.
2007-09-15 12:32:29 · answer #10 · answered by johnusmaximus1 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋