Interpretation

We spend our lives interpreting. We take a look at our surroundings and we interpret. In other words we give our meaning to what we see, hear and feel. Interpretation is integral to our lives as we make daily assessments and it is such a powerful tool.

As a follower of Jesus I want to know what he wants for me each day, for my life. This means interpreting the Bible, his living word and what he is telling me through this. The difficulty with interpretation is that it is all to easy to make something say what you want it to say, to meet your own ends rather than a genuine search for the truth. I have recently been studying what the Bible says about women in church leadership. I am passionate about women's equality in all arenas and so of course I want to find passages to back me up. However, I am passionate about equality because this is what Jesus taught and has put on my heart and so I am searching to see the meaning in his words that fit with the character of God that I know and have fallen in love with. Is this still a search for the truth? To what point am I just backing up my own arguments and to what extent am I arguing God's point and fighting against mis-interpration of his word?

I have just been reading about how the idea of studying and interpreting the Bible alone is a modern concept. That when the church began they would share scriptures together. That communities would hear the scripture together and they would discuss it. I love this idea of engaging and wrestling with the Bible together which is why Christian fellowship is so important. I have tried to go it alone and of course God can speak to us through his word when we are on our own but how marvellous to do this as a community! Just think how God can work when we work it out together.

This can be taken further than interpretation of the Bible. If we interpret everything together then we'd get much more insight into a situation. Think about that snide comment someone made to you the other day or that text message - was it sarcastic? What about that photo you saw on Facebook - who is that girl he's with? Is there something going on there? I bet if others were involved in the discussion you'd get a more balanced view of what was happening. If you just argue with yourself in your own head you are more likely to end up with a twisted or more paranoid conclusion.

So in short interpretation is an act that is always done better in groups. Or is it? Lets discuss it...