I hear this, and see that a lot. People believe that what is written in the Bible is up for debate, or that it's meaning can change over time, or that it can mean different things to different people. Is any of this true?
I remember back in high school and college when every semester we were given a bunch of short stories, poetry, novels, or whatever, written by classic writers. A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Moby Dick by Herman Melville, The Judgment by Franz Kafka, and so on and so forth. The students would read these and other stories and then discuss them in class. Each student would give what they thought the story meant, or at least the ones who read the story and weren't afraid of giving a wrong answer, would speak up. After a discussion, the teacher, who knew the answer from a combination of experience and a teacher's edition textbook, would give the correct answer.
Well, who determines originally what the correct answer is? Well, the answer has already been given in this post. You see, the original author of the work has the correct answer, as it was when he or she wrote the piece. As it is with the Bible, the meaning was determined by the author, at or before the time it was written.
This leads to the biggest question of all. Who wrote the Bible? Ahh, good question, even if I do say so myself. The answer lies in 2 Timothy 3:16. It says "all scripture is God-breathed," meaning that God gave the words, but man wrote it down. Kinda like when a company CEO gives a memo, but the administrative assistant types it, and signs the CEO's name to it. In this way, God is in fact, the author of the Bible.
The common atheist/agnostic/non-Christian/and sometimes Christian argument would be "anybody wanting to fake a religious text would somewhere in the text claim that the book was written by God." Which is true, if I wanted to fake a religious text, I would have in there somewhere that God wrote it. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 basically says that if you believe something other than the Gospel that has been preached (in the Bible), you have believed in vain. Essentially, if any part of the Bible is false, then the rest of the Bible is baseless, and it is useless to believe any of it.
Back to the original point: Is the Bible up for interpretation? The answer is no. Just like when Kafka wrote his works, he knew what the meaning was going to be about. Just like the words of Shakespeare have no different meaning now than they did when he wrote them. Just like Melville's words do not mean anything different now just because society has changed. The Bible, like God, is constant. The meaning is constant. It does not sway with times, it does not change with the ages. As I think about this when I am typing, it kind of makes me feel good, sort of at peace, that in a world with constant change, it is good to know that something as good as God and His Word, remain the same.
As usual, rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Well, who determines originally what the correct answer is? Well, the answer has already been given in this post. You see, the original author of the work has the correct answer, as it was when he or she wrote the piece. As it is with the Bible, the meaning was determined by the author, at or before the time it was written.
This leads to the biggest question of all. Who wrote the Bible? Ahh, good question, even if I do say so myself. The answer lies in 2 Timothy 3:16. It says "all scripture is God-breathed," meaning that God gave the words, but man wrote it down. Kinda like when a company CEO gives a memo, but the administrative assistant types it, and signs the CEO's name to it. In this way, God is in fact, the author of the Bible.
The common atheist/agnostic/non-Christian/and sometimes Christian argument would be "anybody wanting to fake a religious text would somewhere in the text claim that the book was written by God." Which is true, if I wanted to fake a religious text, I would have in there somewhere that God wrote it. 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 basically says that if you believe something other than the Gospel that has been preached (in the Bible), you have believed in vain. Essentially, if any part of the Bible is false, then the rest of the Bible is baseless, and it is useless to believe any of it.
Back to the original point: Is the Bible up for interpretation? The answer is no. Just like when Kafka wrote his works, he knew what the meaning was going to be about. Just like the words of Shakespeare have no different meaning now than they did when he wrote them. Just like Melville's words do not mean anything different now just because society has changed. The Bible, like God, is constant. The meaning is constant. It does not sway with times, it does not change with the ages. As I think about this when I am typing, it kind of makes me feel good, sort of at peace, that in a world with constant change, it is good to know that something as good as God and His Word, remain the same.
As usual, rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. Amen.
