If you’ve ever honestly engaged Scripture trying to understand its message, you will undoubtedly come across passages and teachings that seem difficult to understand, or may even seem to contradict each other. Scripture itself states that some of its teachings can be difficult to understand, and warns that we must carefully approach such passages (2 Peter 3:16). In this post I hope to present you with some wisdom of great Christian minds as to how to properly approach these passages and interpreting them correctly. While I firmly believe Scripture is without error in everything it says, this does not mean that our* understanding or interpretation of it is always correct. Here are some tips on how to correct our understanding and interpretation of Scripture.
Augustine of Hippo (fourth to fifth century CE) – “If we are perplexed by an apparent contradiction in Scripture, it is not allowable to say, The author of this book is mistaken; but either the manuscript is faulty, or the translation is wrong, or you have not understood.” [1]
Here’s Augustine’s wisdom on difficult parts of (or apparent contradictions in) Scripture: assume it isn’t wrong or contradictory. Check to see if there is a manuscript problem. (Was it copied or edited incorrectly, therefore not retaining the original meaning?) Check the translation to see if the Greek or Hebrew add clarity or correction to whatever language you are reading in (or find someone who can help you if you are not trained in this area). Or be open to the fact that you have not understood it correctly. We are limited humans, after all!
Irenaeus of Lyons (early second century) also teaches that we should approach Scripture making sure to know the context of what we are reading (helping to know what the original author intended) and framing our understanding of parts of passages through what we know of the basic teachings of the Christian faith (a.k.a. the “rule of faith” or “rule of truth”). [2]
In other words, we are to understand the parts in light of the whole. Use the truth of the Gospel to guide your reading: humanity has fallen from the triune God through sin, cannot come back to Him on their own, so through the working of the Trinity, the death and resurrection of the Son, and the coming of the Spirit, we are redeemed. This is the basic lens.
Vincent of Lérins in Commonitorium (434 CE) correctly helps us to check our understanding of Scripture by making sure that we are not coming up with novel doctrines, but measuring our understanding based on what has been believed and affirmed universally, by all Christians, from antiquity. [3]
In other words, if you come up with something strange that no other Christians believe or have ever believed, you’ve stumbled into error. Scripture itself testifies that our faith was “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3, ESV). The core doesn’t shift or change, and we should recognize that we were all given the same Gospel message, the same Scriptures. We are meant to understand Scripture as a community. Will we still have disagreements? Absolutely. But the core doctrines should never shift.
Are these the only rules and tips to keep in mind when trying to properly handle Scripture? No! But in this post I am not seeking to give you an exhaustive understanding of hermeneutical (interpretation) methods. These are key ideas handed down to us by great minds of the Christian faith that will serve us well when wrestling, carefully, with difficult passages of Scripture.
[1] Augustine, Contra Faustum, Book XI. Translation by Richard Stothert in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 4. Edited by Philip Schaff. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1887).
[2] Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 1.9.4.
[3]Vincent of Lérins, Commonitorium, 2.6
Robert A. Scarbro 