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Module M 011A1 Franklin Iriarte A. Master Of Theology
Most of the attacks to Christian faith come from a wrong interpretation. And in
Bible issues, bad interpretations can lead to a very dangerous understanding. In the case of the
Bible, the hermeneutical rules are supported with additional rules derived from the Bible and
theology. This makes even more difficult the interpretation of the Bible and leads to more errors of
interpretation. In this chapter we´ll see common causes that give rise to errors of interpretation.
Errors related to prejudices and biases. The human knowledge is very limited. So any
person should interpret something in areas where does not have enough background.
When this lack of background is mixed with the prejudice and biases the result is errors.
The reason is that these bad interpreters are not born again. So the mistakes they make
everything cause the lack of the Work of the Holy Spirit within them. They don’t have
the holiness of God in them, but the influence of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
People tend to distort the things that go against their prejudices and tastes. Also, the
human tendency to disbelieve. It means that the basic disbelief in the heart of people
forces them to ignore the message of God. There is also the human tendency of
rebellion. The man without God is a rebel in nature. So the commands of the Lord are
not very pleasant for those who interpret the Bible and don’t live according to the
guidance of the Holy Ghost. A good number of people lack theological or biblical
background. In order to perceive the message of the Bible a minimum background is
needed. The message of God cannot be understood with a godless mind. Also, a good
number of people lack of maturity. In daily life human mind needs some level of
maturity to understand the activities. In the Bible there is a whole range of doctrines
cannot be understood without a certain basic minimum of maturity. When this happens
lot of errors can be found. The influence of philosophies is a much imprinted way
happen, the distortion begin and the error comes. Another is the imbalance between
cause/commitment. In this part, the believer should apply the proper commitment
according to the cause. It is expected from the believer to do so. Four things can occur:
Low cause, low commitment; Hugh cause, high commitment; Low cause, High
commitment; High cause, low commitment.
Errors related to meaning and perception. Two parts compounds the meaning of a
statement: The Absolute meaning, determined with the help of vocabulary and grammar;
sociological, and cultural, and the textual context. Without it, the precise message of the
Bible is very hard to understand. When this is not taken in count, it can lead to many
errors. The Ignorance about the nature of the passage is very important role in
interpreting and applying its meaning. It cannot be generalized any passage to other
passage which background is completely different. The other common error is the
“Right and wrong keys”, because there are many keys to understand some passages of
Another one is “Human limitations”. We have to remember that the Word of God is a
book transmitted from a perfect God to an imperfect man. So the man may have
misinterpretations. These limitations can come in forms of kind of trainings, logical
perceptions, linguistic, comprehension, and also doctrinal limitations. Trying to interpret
divine things with a limited mind there might be several errors. Another is “Multiple
Meanings”. Words have multiple meanings and the only way to describe their meaning
is through their context. The problem is that people tend to force the interpretation of
words with multiple meanings and this can give rise to errors. “The inability to perceive
divine actions”, is another source that raises errors, because it is impossible for human
doctrines”, because many Bible doctrines are totally different from everyday human
thinking. Remember that only a believer filled with the Spirit, can understand these
subjects. Finally the “Linguistic limitations”, because the human languages are very
powerful and flexible, so they are not able to describe or express the ideas had from God.
Errors related to collection and integration. The Bible is a big book, full of subjects. But
these ideas are spread all over the Bible, through different context, cultures, and
languages. So the information must be systemized in a proper order. When this is not
done some errors related to collection and interpretation of information are. Ignoring
some and emphasizing other portions is a common error, because of the biases. This
affects the way of interpretation. Especially when the person priories those verse that
are more accord to their biases. These errors come when the Bible is interpreted in the
light of certain extrabiblical philosophies. Another error comes from the Progressive
nature of Revelation. We have to remember that the Revelation of God was from dark to
light, from the Old Testament to the New Testament. The full completion comes with
the incarnation of Jesus and the arrival of the Church Age. So many of the doctrines had
their fulfillment in the New Testament. When the interpretation is not done taking in
count the progressive nature of the revelation errors are bound to arise. Another is the
Progressive Nature of Human Perception. As the same way that the revelation of God
was progressive from the Old Testament to its completion in the person of Jesus Christ,
the same way is with the human perception. The acknowledge of doctrines from our
side continuous to be progressive. So the error raises when an interpretation is done
when is ignored the study of the understanding that has been gained during all these
revelation of God is sufficient for doctrine, reproof, correction and instruction. But it is
not total. There are so many subjects seen in the Bible raises many suppositions and
speculation. But the information received is sufficient for us. Finally, the
“Emotionalism and Denomination Loyalties”. Which raises errors when people let
tradition goes first than true revelation: Bible.