Interpretation Matters Series, Part 11

You’re at a Christmas party. In the bathroom mirror, you notice a glob of green frosting on your cheek, probably from the six Christmas-tree-shaped cookies you ate. So, you dry your hands and return to the party without a second thought about your face ornament. How odd! Some might even call you foolish.

Now it’s the New Year. You’ve finally saved enough to buy a house! You find one you love, but the inspector says the foundation is faulty. Ignoring the warnings, you buy the house, but before you can move in, a rampaging winter storm makes your house collapse “with a great crash” (Matthew 7:27). That was certainly foolish.

That’s how James and Jesus describe people who hear God’s Word but don’t act on it (Matthew 7:24-27; James 1:22-24). In contrast, someone who practices God’s Word will be blessed and have a stable foundation for life. Putting the Bible into practice is called application, and it’s the final necessary step for Bible study. You must move beyond interpretation and respond to the Bible the way the Bible says to respond. While I could write another whole series on application, I’ll wrap up this interpretation series with four principles to keep in mind for applying the Bible.

Multiple Arrows for One Target

Though I haven’t had much experience with it, I’ve always thought archery was cool. When shooting a bow, you need to consider what type of arrow to use. Arrows can be made from wood, carbon, fiberglass, or aluminum. There are any number of arrowhead types, too—bullet point, blunt point, broadhead, field point, fish point, barbed, and so on.

Similarly, application comes in many varieties. When we think of application, we often think of practical action, but that’s only one type of biblical response. Sometimes the Bible urges you to believe something, as in trusting in Jesus for salvation. Other times, the Bible wants you to think or feel a certain way. Many times, the Bible simply wants you to stand in awe of the God it reveals.

God has multiple kinds of arrows in the quiver of his Word, but he aims at one target: your heart. You know the control panel that the emotions use to control Riley in Inside Out? That’s a pretty good depiction of your heart. It’s not just your emotions; it’s the core of who you are that controls all you do (Proverbs 4:24). God is far more concerned with transforming your inner character, will, and desires—which inevitably results in external change—than having you perform a bunch of actions as part of a routine, checklist, or rule-keeping.

Did You Get the Point?

Switching to a more modern weapon, Bible application often scatters like sprinkled buckshot, when it should drive home like a deer slug. Every passage has a primary application that you should emphasize before you consider other applications. You find this by figuring out the author’s original intent. What did the author intend his original audience to understand in their context when they read the passage? Take that primary application and apply it to yourself in your context.

For example, did Moses write Genesis 1-2 to debate evolution? He wrote around 1450 BC, long before Darwin created his evolutionary theory. Moses’ original audience was a newborn nation that God had just redeemed from Egypt. God commanded these untrained former slaves to conquer other nations, claim the land he’d promised to their ancestors, and live by his covenant law.

Were they doing the right thing? Yes, because they served the one, true, living God who created all things, not lifeless idols. Could they do the right thing? Yes! Because the Almighty Creator was with them. Should they obey God’s law? Absolutely, because God is the sovereign King of Creation.

So, does Genesis 1-2 teach correct cosmology? One hundred percent. But debates about evolution, though legitimate, are a secondary application. Primarily, the creation account was written to foster missional boldness and obedient faithfulness, and it should do that for you as you seek to make disciples and obey Christ (Matthew 28:18-20).

A Person before Principles

As you might have noticed, part of the application from Genesis 1-2 comes from God’s character. Because God made you in his image to reflect his moral character, you can draw principles from God’s character and apply them to yourself (Genesis 1:26-27; Colossians 3:9-11). If we revisit the creation narrative, that doesn’t mean we should try to create worlds, as only God can. But it does mean we should be creative and orderly and good, as God is.

Ultimately, God didn’t give us the Bible as a rulebook. He revealed himself in the Bible so we could have a relationship with him through faith in Jesus. That’s why the entire Bible centers around God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity who came to earth as Jesus Christ, died for our sins, and rose again. This is key to letting the Bible target your heart. As you seek to know God through his Word, it fosters relational obedience fueled by love, rather than heartless rule-keeping or obedience that tries to earn God’s love.

Keep Your Conscience to Yourself

The Bible clearly teaches certain principles and commands, but other issues are matters of personal preference, opinion, or conviction (Romans 14-15; 1 Corinthians 8-10). The latter are debatable matters of conscience. As you seek to apply God’s Word to yourself, do not press your personal conscience convictions on others.

Should you urge others to follow the clear teachings of the Bible? Absolutely. Should you urge others to follow your personal convictions? Absolutely not. Keep your conscience to yourself, and don’t judge others who have different opinions about matters that are not clearly taught in Scripture. For an excellent resource on this, see Conscience: What It Is, How to Train It, and Loving Those Who Differ by Andrew Naselli and J. D. Crowley.

When you study the Bible, you must apply it. Now you have some guidance on how to begin. How will you respond?