Excerpts from RC Sproul video “That’s just your interpretation”
There are many different interpretations of the Bible out there. Which one is right? In this message, Dr. R.C. Sproul encourages us to bow to Scripture’s authority when seeking to interpret the Word of God.
What many people mean when they say “that’s your interpretation” is you have yours, and I have mine, they may contradict but that’s okay. The world claims that truth is relative / subjective truth.
Subjectivism definition: The doctrine that all knowledge is restricted to the conscious self and its sensory states. (the world – ‘your truth’)
Principle and the right of private interpretation: Came out of the protestant reformation. The Clarity of the Bible. One of the most precious legacies that we have from the protestant reformation.
If you are sitting at home, reading the Bible in your own language, you may assume that that’s a freedom and a privilege that is easily achieved. But the blood of the martyrs has flown through the streets of Europe to make that possible.
RC Wrote: Rome predicted that if we put the Bible in the hands of the unskilled layman without the magisterium of the church without the teaching office of the church to govern and guide and protect people from erroneous understanding of the scripture. They predicted it would open up a floodgate of inequity and would lead to all kinds of splits.
To keep the peace many today embrace relativism, and compromise the truth. Peace may be achieved temporarily but truth is slain in the streets.
Principle #1 – There is only one correct meaning of any Biblical text. But there may be a multitude of applications.
The Bible is a treasury of truth. Truth is not contradictory. The Word of God is consistent. If your interpretation contradicts mine, then we know one thing is certain. That one of us, is wrong. If they are contradictory they both cannot be right cause the TRUTH is not contradictory.
We’re living in culture that believes truth CAN be contradictory.
There was a theologian that made the claim that contradiction is the hallmark of truth.
This is erroneous. In scripture:
God said you will die, Satan said you will not die. This is a contradiction.
Quotes from the world:
Allan Bloome in his book “The Closing of the American Mind”, affirms the state of things as he writes, ‘Every professor on a university campus today can be absolutely sure of one thing: that almost every student coming in for an education is confident that truth is not absolute but relative”
Oprah Winfrey
“What I know for sure is that speaking your truth is the most powerful tool we all have.”
Yes, we want peace, & harmony among brothers, and disagreements they are uncomfortable but one of us is wrong. God doesn’t speak with a forked tongue.
The right private interpretation carries with it the responsibility of correct interpretation.
#1 Exegesis – The exposition or interpretation of any literary production or passage; more particularly, the exposition or interpretation of Scripture. See exegetical theology, under exegetical.
#2 Eisegesis – A subjective method of interpretation by introducing one’s own opinions into the original: opposed to exegesis.
The God that I’m talking about that I’m affirming, is a God that exists whether you believe in Him or not, or whether I believe in Him or not. And if there is no such God, then all my praying, all my singing, all my preaching, it’s not going to conjure Him up, and if there is such a God, your disbelief cannot destroy Him. We’re talking about objective truth, not subjective preferences, not what you want to be true, or what works for you, or what makes you feel good. But you see that’s the kind of culture we’re living in today that tells us whatever feels good for me is true. Or what works for me is true without a regard to reality.