Remember: the Holy Spirit supernaturally illuminates the redeemed to be able to understand the Bible (1 Corinthians 2:14), but we remain responsible to interpret it accurately (2 Timothy 2:15). Here are the next two of eight principles of biblical interpretation.
5. Recognize what kind of literature you are reading. Poetry in the Bible needs to read like poetry. The Bible contains sarcasm, hyperbole (exaggeration), and symbolism. To read it as though it were an encyclopedia of religion is to misunderstand it.
For example: If I were reading a poem about a man’s love for his wife and it said, “Your teeth are like the stars shining in the night sky,” I would know that the woman’s teeth were not stars. I would realize that the author was speaking figuratively, not literally. Likewise, when I read in the Psalms that God “covers us with His feathers,” I realize that God is not a heavenly chicken. I understand that the psalmist is speaking figuratively, not literally.
If I hear a person say he was so mad he “could have killed his boss” (as inappropriate as those words are!), I know he isn’t really homicidal—he was just really angry. In the same manner, when Jesus instructs us to cut off our hands and gouge out our eyes if they cause us to sin, I must understand that He doesn’t want us to physically maim ourselves, but to be serious about avoiding sin.
6. Learn to diagram sentences. Much of the Bible, especially the writings of Paul, contains long and complicated sentences with, at times, several digressions. We must be able to grasp the subject and predicate,[1] or else the many digressions are likely to confuse our understanding of the basic meaning of the text.
For example: In 2 Peter 3, Peter talks about the fact that Jesus will return, just as He promised He would. The fact that Jesus hasn’t returned yet is not because He is “slack concerning His promise,” but rather because He is giving time for more people to come to saving faith.
Look at 2 Peter 3:14-16. This is one sentence. There are ten commas, a semicolon, and an en dash. This sentence is long enough with enough digressions, that one could easily miss the point: that we must be diligent to be found by Christ in peace when He returns. Ironically, Peter digresses from that point and ends up speaking about how hard it is to understand Paul’s writings!
Note:
[1] The subject is the primary noun (person, place, or thing) of the sentence. The predicate is the primary verb (action word or statement of being) of the sentence.