I would say the most common mistake that people make when reading and interpreting the Bible is a failure to integrate that into their own lives so they rather than reading the Bible and responding with repentance and faith and obedience they're like the person James describes in Chapter 1 someone looks in a mirror and they go away and immediately forget what they look like and that's what it's like when someone looks at the Word of God and then does not respond with repentance and faith and obedience and Jesus spoke about this in a parable where he
talked about two men who built their house one on the sand and when the storm came it washed away and one on a rock a rocky foundation and when the storm of life hit it stood firm because it was built on his teaching built on Scripture and stuff that's really two ways of life that the scripture holds before us there can be a real danger in our day especially in the United States where there's such a knowledge of Christianity such a superficial knowledge at least for nominalism people affirming Scripture with their mouths but then going
out and living a life that does not reflect what they say they believe there can also be a danger if we just speak very bluntly with videos like this on the internet because a title of a video like this attracts people who are interested in scholarly questions interested in Bible type questions when there are spiritual issues that come up sadly I think many times people can can pile into those with the desire to exalt themselves or correct to someone else not it not in a loving and biblical way but basically almost like an ancient Pharisee
who's got to get in there and show that they're right and and exalt themselves so while the majority of people I'm sure who are who are viewing spiritual content online are doing so with hopefully a desire to learn a desire to grow it is hard be faithful to scripture the Bible commends those who are Berean Christians who are searching the Scriptures to see if these things would be so but from experience I know there are plenty of people who are just looking for an opportunity to either rip someone else down to make themselves look good
or just critique and then go away and there be no change in their life there's no change from the truth they've been confronted with someone who's watching this you have to ask am i seeking to to think about and view spiritual matters because I want to know God and I want to follow him or am i doing that because I want to exalt myself so but let that be a challenge to you and to me that we don't become modern-day religious nit pickers and hypocrites we want to be faithful if there's error we want to
be able to call it what it is in the right context but that we first are followers of Christ people of love and people seeking to know him to obey Him to represent him to be winsome and to be gracious and restrained in interacting with others another error that people often commit when reading the Bible is to fail to ask what did the inspired author of this text want to teach the ancient readers and to teach me like what what is the inspired authors intent in this passage there can be a tendency to just sort
of have stream-of-consciousness reaction to what's written you know well this may be think of this and so rather than rather than the diligent work of saying what what did the author of Genesis why did he give me this detail why did what was Paul trying to teach the Galatians and by extension what what does he what is he teaching me in 2nd Peter 3:16 the Apostle Peter warns against those who who distort Paul's teaching right distort it so that they're teaching something different from what the inspired apostle intended right we're to teach what the inspired
authors of Scripture are intending to teach through through their writings an example of how this can go astray we had a children's Bible when my kids were young and it had the story of Joseph Franco Savannah's Mini coloured coat and the point of application given you know was was to reflect on presence that have been given to you and how that made you feel but then we have to ask why did Moses the author of Genesis include this detail about Joseph's coat that his father gave to him and didn't give something similar to his brothers
was that was that so that we would pause and think about the gifts that have been given to us and the the increased self-esteem and the warmth of feeling that we have because of those gifts I think any honest and transparent approach to the text of Genesis would say that detail is clearly there to show the dysfunction and to show the favoritism that was shown Joseph and help us understand an illustration of why his brothers hated him why they wanted to kill him why they sold him into slavery and when we read that and then
we get to the end of Genesis and Joseph says to his brothers what you meant for evil God meant for good God worked for good what others work for evil God worked for good I mean that's that's some nourishing spiritual food there that though even children can understand this though your we have unfair treatment in life though some some people will show favoritism to others life is not fair though life is not fair God is still in control and he's working all things together for the good of those who love him and we can be
comforted in knowing that he is sovereign and he is good even in the midst of others people's injustice towards us it does not excuse it they're responsible for it they're they'll be held accountable for it to God that we can trust God in the midst of that that's that's encouraging a third probably a common mistake I think that we see people making when they read the Bible is failure to read it as a whole right the the Bible is one big story that finds its resolution its climax its fulfillment in Christ I remember hearing one
scholar once give the example of having all these musical harmonies in the Old Testament you know you have you have the sacrificial system and you have the priests and you have the institutions and you have the temple you have all this and yet there's this longing for God God's coming and his dealing with sin finally and how is that going to happen how are all these different components the kingship the priesthood the institution's the sack how are all these going to find resolution and then when Jesus comes he's like the melodic line in the in
the center of all these harmonies and all the harmonies harmonies makes sense and I think there can be a tendency to read the Bible adda mystically and to fail to see that that trajectory that finds its fulfillment in Christ so for example someone who can have a very high view of Scripture believe the Word of God could be teaching on 2nd 2nd chronicles chapter 7 this is about Solomon's dedication of the temple a beautiful passage how all the sacrifice is made and how fire fell from heaven and just God's confirmation this is the place he's
going to meet with his people this is a place he's provided for the priesthood and sacrifices and and someone could take a passage like that about the building and dedication of the temple and and use it in the idea of we're you know building a church a building campaign the dedication of the new building and all this you say well is that really the trajectory that we find the biblical authors use it seems that the trajectory of the temple theme doesn't find its resolution in church buildings today right but it finds its resolution in Jesus
and his people so Jesus at the beginning of gospel Johnny says he says destroy this temple and I'll raise it again in three days and John tells us the temple he was speaking it was his body because here was the place where God finally meets with his people in all the ways that the Old Testament temple and Tabernacle were anticipating and then the the emphasis in the New Testament is not on physical structures there's nothing wrong with physical structures we need those to meet but the emphasis is on God's people as living stones being built
into a house of praise for him so someone hearing this they're like well how do I get a better understanding of seeing that the Bible is a big picture if I haven't really thought about that or learn learned about that one great way to do that is if you have children to teach them from one of these great new children's Bibles that try to give the big picture a friend of mine colleague Jared Kennedy has written a wonderful children's Bible called beginners gospel story Bible that traces those themes it's my number one pick for a
young children's Bible great young children's Bible to show those themes and as parents read those they begin to see those big pictures - I also think on YouTube the Bible project videos are fantastic there are these videos where there's drawing going on to illustrate what's being said well 5 10 15 minute videos for virtually every book in the old and new Testament with a real emphasis and how it fits within the redemptive story the big the big picture those are free on YouTube so I recommend those as a way for someone to ease into that
and to begin to think about those questions more carefully it's a very good question to ask what are some dangers or pitfalls I can have when I'm interpreting or reading the Bible but it can also be paralyzing because we can think you know I can't I can't I'm so afraid I'm gonna I'm gonna do something wrong and and we need to remember even as we ask this question that we have a loving Heavenly Father who who not a bird falls to the ground apart from his knowledge or will who tells us to ask and it
will be given to us seek and will find knock and the door will be opened and God is eager for us to come to him to ask for the illuminating work of his Holy Spirit he has no delight in our misunderstanding he's not trying to hide anything from us he wants us to come to him to know him better to faithfully interpret his word so we should I hope I hope people will not watch this video and then be afraid to interpret the Bible but it will ignite in them a desire to go afresh to
God and to say God like the psalmist says in psalm 119 Oh God open my open my eyes that I might see wonderful things in your word and also to learn from the teachers that God has given to the church through writings about interpreting the Bible through good study Bibles through these other means we're on a lifetime journey of being more faithful readers of the Bible that we might know true and ultimate author of the Bible himself the triune God thanks for watching honest answers don't forget to subscribe [Music] you
