Christian Perspective: Can we misinterpret the word of God?

July 22, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Pastor Don Hume

Crossroads Community Church

“Can we misinterpret the word of God?” We are human, so the answer would be, sure we do. Our well-meaning quotes from scripture, or should I say our part or portion of scriptures, we tend to say in conversations each day.

For example, “God will never give you more than you can handle.”

Most times, you are saying this part of scripture when a fellow Christian is going through tough times. The gesture was good, but the message given was only in part. In fact, it has not given them valuable instruction. Instead given them a completely different meaning of the scripture in 1Corinthians 10:13.

This portion of scripture is specifically talking about temptations.

The misconception of 1Corinthians 10:13, is thinking that it is a promise from God that He won’t have us face troubles we can’t handle. He will allow us to go through hard times, and face temptations that we can’t handle on our own! The true promise to hold on to and share in this portion of scripture is that in the midst of those trials HE will always be with us.

Now, let’s look at another misinterpreted quote we often use: Romans 8:28 , “And we know that God causes all things to work together for the good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

Once again, this scripture must be taken in whole not in part. In this life we all are going to face illness; we as believers in God and those that “love God” are not exempt from these things. We all need to remember that this world is not our home. We are only here for a short time, and in this world we will face hardships.

In John 16:33, scripture tells us, “You will have trouble.” This is the truth, we cannot escape trouble. We live in a sinful world and, as believers, we will have trouble. But again, if we read on in this portion of scripture, “ I (Jesus) have overcome the world.” We can never be reminded enough that we as believers are only here for a time, and that our minds should always be focused on spending our eternity with God instead of wanting the next quick fix from all our worldly woes, we can so easy act in the instant fix mentality.

We are always looking for encouragement and can find it in several ways: a note from a friend, devotional, and even in prayer. If we are all honest with ourselves the need to have encouragement in a stressful time, grief, or to just deal with life in general, is daily. The most important thing for us to remember is that reading or

hearing these things is not enough.

We need to claim each verse in its entirety and make it our own, apply it and believe it. For, if not in its entirety could, it lead to misquoting and misinterpreting scripture.

So, let’s look at this another way: say you are having company over and are making chili. You have put in the beans, peppers, meat, tomatoes, onions, and even some mushrooms. Sounds good, right? But wait, these are just the minor ingredients; until we add the chili powder it never becomes chilly.

Truth!

As much like we can do with the word of God, misconstruing a portion of scripture takes the power out of the word of God. You could say that the authority and influence have been left out. When we ignore the context of God’s word, we lose the reason we go to the bible in the first place: to get God’s truth and apply it to our lives.

Be encouraged, read each scripture verse and read it in its full context, and by doing this you should be able to properly interpret the message and the meaning. Remembering to do otherwise takes away from God’s word.

The link below maybe of help to you on interpreting meanings in the Bible:

bible.org/article/misquoting-god-verses-commonly-misunderstood-mischaracterized-or-maligned-part-I

Blessings from Crossroads Community Church.