The Interpretation of Scripture

Dr. Tony Evans: Every Christian has the capability to hear from God for themselves.
Guest (Male): Dr. Tony Evans says the better you know the author, the clearer his message becomes.
Dr. Tony Evans: The closer you are to the Holy Spirit, the more you pick up on what he wants to communicate to you.
Guest (Male): This is The Alternative broadcast, featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Even the most beautiful sentence means absolutely nothing if it's written in a language you don't understand. Today, Dr. Evans shows how interpreting scripture correctly is key to experiencing its power. Let's join him to discover how God has provided us the tools we need to help grasp His message accurately.
Dr. Tony Evans: Communication involves three things. It involves an encoder. An encoder is a person sending forth the message. It involves a decoder. That's the person on the other end receiving the message. And it involves the message, the information being sent. The goal of communication is to make sure what the decoder receives is what the encoder intended. It was the job of the Holy Spirit to make sure that the message of God didn't get distorted. So from 1400 BC to 90 AD, the Holy Spirit's job was to make sure the message that started back here didn't get messed up down here. Without that, communication over that big a gap would not have been possible to stay accurate. Today, I want to say a word about interpretation, because understanding is key to making the Bible meaningful in your experience. Many people avoid the Bible because they say, "I don't understand it. It doesn't make sense to me." So the issue is interpretation or ascertaining the meaning of scripture. Turn first of all to Acts chapter 8. We have the story of the Ethiopian eunuch, who is now a bigwig in the administration of Candace, and he's returning and sitting in his chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah. So he's reading his Bible. And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." There's a whole lot in there that we don't have time to mind out, but the Spirit of God led Philip to a man who was reading his Bible. And when Philip had run up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, "Do you understand what you are reading? You're reading it, but does it make any sense to you?" And he said, "Well," the eunuch says, "Well, how could I unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. And then it goes into the passage he was reading, which was about Jesus Christ being led to the sacrifice. And verse 35, Philip opened his mouth and began from this scripture, he preached Jesus to him. Here we have a man reading but not understanding. How many times have you read your Bible, got finished reading, and didn't know what in the world you had just gone through? There was not the interpretation. The reason why interpretation is critical is because it's possible to read and not understand. He needed to be guided in an understanding of what he was reading. It's not enough to read if you don't also understand because without understanding, you don't know what to apply. So it's reading, interpreting, and then applying what you now understand needs to be applied. You say, "Doc, my stomach hurts, my head hurts." He tries to diagnose the problem through tests to come up with the right cause that he might apply the right solution. If he interprets wrong, he applies wrong. He's going to give you the wrong medication. As a boy, I suffered horrifically with asthma. Every week, I had to go to the hospital to get shots. On top of that, I wanted to try to do everything—all the sports and everything—so I was constantly carrying on this battle with asthma. Every week, I would go and get these shots to deal with the allergies that would bring about the asthmatic attacks. On one occasion, I went to the doctor and they prescribed the wrong medicine. And on that night, I almost died. I'll never forget the sight of my father standing over the bed with tears in his eyes, watching me gasp for breath and go into convulsions because the doctor gave me the wrong application. So interpretation or understanding is key. Some parts of the Bible, they jump out at you, you know what they mean just by reading it. Other parts, like Peter says in Second Peter 3:15 and 16, some of the things Paul wrote are hard to understand. When you get the proper understanding along with the right application, there is no issue that the scripture talks about that cannot be addressed victoriously. So understanding and application joined together to make transformation. That leads me to the next point. What are the qualifications if you're going to interpret rightly? Now, let me say this: every Christian is a believer priest. By believer priest, we mean every Christian has the capability to hear from God for themselves. So that while preachers and pastors can help guide, they do not replace your own capacity for the scripture to speak to you. The first principle is that to clearly and fully understand the scripture, you must be saved. First Corinthians chapter 2, verse 14 says the natural man does not welcome the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. He does not mean you can't repeat the Bible; he means you can't experience it. The unsaved man does not have the capability or the capacity to interpret divine truth. It's like me going to a foreign land without any training, any knowledge, trying to get the language, and I don't have the capacity to do that on my own. So first of all, and I know this may not seem to need to be said, but I want to emphasize, your ability to appropriate the reality of scripture is tied to you having conversion, regeneration, or salvation. But secondly, the closer you are to the Holy Spirit, the more clearly you will understand His word. Let me say that again. Anointing is your capacity to receive divine truth. You have the capacity now to hear from God. Philip guided the eunuch in the understanding of what he read. Now look at John chapter 16, verse 13. A few pages back, John chapter 16, verse 13. This is what it says: "But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will disclose to you what is to come." The Ethiopian eunuch had Philip to guide him. Every believer has the Holy Spirit to guide him. It is the Holy Spirit's job to clarify truth, to tell you what it means and then, of course, how to apply it. It is His job to make the truth of scripture become real to your mind and to your heart so that it can become your experience. The closer you are to the Holy Spirit, the clearer you will be about the meaning of scripture. The further you are from the Holy Spirit, the more fuzzy scripture will be to you. So as you can see, the guide—the Holy Spirit—His job is to clarify or turn the light on. Have you ever been confused about something and the Holy Spirit cleared it up and just like turned a switch on? It may have been through a human teacher, it may have been just through your own reading, it may have been through a book, and I'll talk about those things in a moment. But what He did was He turned the light on and you said, "Oh!" He opens your eyes. He lets you see.
Guest (Male): When Dr. Evans returns in a moment, he'll explain how tuning in to the Holy Spirit's voice makes all the difference. Stay with us. Sunlit beaches, calm blue waters, and a week set aside just to breathe again. That's what's waiting for you on an unforgettable Caribbean cruise with Dr. Tony Evans. From February 28th through March 7th, you'll set sail on a seven-day Caribbean journey, visiting Nassau, Grand Turk, Amber Cove, and relax away Half Moon Cay, a private island known for its peaceful beauty and white sandy shores. This time of year, the Caribbean offers the perfect escape: warm weather, gentle breezes, and a setting that invites you to slow down and truly relax. And while the destinations are incredible, what makes this cruise truly special is what happens on board. You'll experience powerful Bible teaching, meaningful worship, authentic connection with friends and family of The Alternative, and the company of special guests Priscilla Shirer and Anthony Evans. Come be refreshed, encouraged, and renewed. Find out more today at tonyevans.org. We're only one day away from wrapping up Tony's powerful sermon series on the Glory of God's Word. This 10-part collection highlights the uniqueness, power, and divine origin of scripture and how embracing its truth can reshape every area of your life. The series includes content we haven't had time to present on the air, so we're making the full-length versions of all the messages available to you as our gift when you support the ministry of The Alternative with a generous donation. As an added bonus, we're also including Tony's book, *The Power of Knowing God*. It's a practical, encouraging guide to moving beyond simply knowing about God to pursuing a deeper, life-changing relationship with Him. Request both resources today at tonyevans.org or call 1-800-800-3222 to get the details for this special offer. That's tonyevans.org or speak with someone from our resource team when you call 1-800-800-3222 anytime of the day or night. I'll repeat that contact information for you after the second part of today's lesson. Here's Dr. Evans now with more on the interpretation of scripture.
Dr. Tony Evans: The Holy Spirit's job is to communicate. The closer you are to the Holy Spirit, the more you pick up on His signals. The more you pick up on what He wants to communicate to you. Another characteristic of understanding the Bible has to do with living. First Peter 2: "Therefore putting aside all malice, all guile, or hypocrisy, or envy, and all slander." Verse 2 says: "Like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to your salvation." He says get rid of things that will put static on the line and stop you from understanding God's truth. Another way that you prepare yourself to properly understand the word of God: being willing to respond even before you get the understanding. As opposed to, "Let me understand and then I'll let you know whether I'll respond." Saint John 7:17: "If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching." Did you get the order? He says you must be willing to do it, then you will understand or know the teaching about it. So God is not going to give great understanding—remember the verse: "to him that hath, more will be given. But to him that does not have, that which he has will be taken away." So you can actually come to church and learn less because nothing gets done with what is said, and so God reduces rather than increases understanding. So the process for interpretation, okay, you want to understand so that you can apply. Okay. Second Timothy chapter 2, verse 15: "Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth." The word of God, the Bible. Interpretation involves presenting yourself approved. So your mindset is, "I want to be pleasing to God because I want to understand what God is saying through His word to me." So I want to be pleasing to God as a workman. He says learning the Bible involves some work. Now, everybody's not a pastor, everybody's not a full-time preacher. That's not the work we're talking about, although that would apply to somebody who does it full-time. But it does involve your participation. First of all, you have to be willing to read the Bible. You can't have the Bible sitting on your shelf talking about, "I have a Bible in my house." The Bible is not to fill book space. You must be willing to read your Bible. That takes some time. Then you must be willing to ask some questions about what you're reading. You want to ask some questions. There's some simple questions, but they will give you the basic understanding assuming you're approved of God and you're yielded to the Holy Spirit, which I'll mention in a moment. Some basic questions. Question number one: what did it say? I read it, so just say back to yourself, "What did it say?" Paraphrase it back to yourself. Second question: to whom was it said? Is there any indication to whom he was speaking? Because that will affect meaning. If you're talking to non-Christians, it's going to mean one thing. If you're talking to Christians, it's going to mean another thing. Another question is: why was it said? Is there anything indicating why this thing is being discussed in the first place? Because that will affect meaning. Why did he bring this up? And of course, that's going to vary from person to person, and there are usually keys in the passage. You ask the Holy Spirit to open up your eyes. Why is he saying this? And then the final question that you need to ask is: what is to be done with what has been said? Or, "What am I to do with what I just read?" You will find yourself as you answer these questions by becoming a workman, willing to put in a little bit of time, the passages of the Bible becoming clearer and clearer to you. How do you know when the Bible is making sense? Here's the key. The key to the scripture is this: how do I connect what I read and learn to Jesus Christ? So Jesus is the key that unlocks the door to the understanding of the whole Bible. The whole Bible wraps around Jesus Christ because remember, Jesus is the living word. This is the written word, and those two words always agree. It is okay to ask God to give you a word today. You're in a crisis situation, you need him to speak to you, and God will do that. But a lot of people do that because they don't want to be workmen; they want to be luckmen. They don't want to spend any time with God, and you can't rush learning heavenly language. What happens in closing, what happens when you begin to interpret rightly the truth of God's word? What happens? Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24, two disciples are on their way back from the Emmaus road. They're on their way back to home. They're going back home and they are depressed. And Jesus comes and says, "What's wrong?" Verse 19. They said, "Didn't you hear about Jesus of Nazareth, the man mighty in word and deed, and how the chief priest delivered him up and he was died, was crucified?" Here's why everybody gets depressed, verse 21: "Because we were hoping." You know why you get depressed? Your hopes get dashed. Your dreams get shattered. Your expectations get lost. They said, "We were hoping. We had dreams. Our dreams have fallen through that He was going to redeem Israel. And we're just going home and we are discouraged. And then we can't find him. They've stole his body." Okay, hold on your horses. Verse 25: "O foolish men." Jesus is too cold. He calls the guys fools. "You foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in the scriptures. So He went all the way back to the Old Testament and said, "You know what that? That was talking about me. You know what that? That was talking about me. You know what not that? That was talking about me." He went to the scriptures to deal with their hopelessness. Now where do you run when you lose hope? You run to the movies? You run to your friends? Or do you run to the scriptures? Do you know God let David go through a lot of hopelessness so you and I would have someplace to run to in the book of Psalms? He says they approach the village. He's been giving them a Bible study while they walking. See, you don't have to be in church. They walking down the road doing a Bible study. They get to the village. He's getting ready to go further. He's going to say, "Okay, well, y'all home now, Bible study's over." And they urged him saying, "Stay with us, for it's getting toward evening and the day is now nearly over." And he went in to stay with them. He wasn't going to go in unless invited. God will only go deeper with you if you want him there. He won't go deeper if you don't want him. And it came about when they reclined at the table, he took the bread and blessed it and broke it, he began giving it to them. Their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he vanished from their sight. Oh, this is sweet stuff. Verse 32: "And they said to one another, 'Were not our hearts burning? Anybody ever had a heart burn?'" Talking about a sho-nuff heartburn. Heart been on fire. "'Did not our hearts burn within us?'" he says. "As he was speaking to us on the road and as he was explaining the scriptures to us." What led to the heartburn? He said, "Our hearts started burning when he started walking and started talking and opened up the Bible." Have you ever had a word like that? That set your heart on fire, removed your depression, gave you hope, and you could see Jesus in the middle of your mess?