Do you love the truth or do
you love your interpretation of what you believe to be the truth? Do you love
God’s word or do you love your translation of it? These are big challenges and
questions few believers dare to ask, much less even think to ask. Nonetheless, many
saints have embraced a dangerous assumption presuming that they’ll automatically have an
accurate understanding of the Bible just by reading it. This toxic mindset has fueled
a faulty and catastrophic usage of the Bible so that the Church has ‘used” Scripture
to justify countless atrocities such as persecution of and killing of the Jews, the
justification of holy wars, burning women suspected of witchcraft, burning doctrinal
heretics and anyone that thought differently then that generation of the Church
did, torture, enslavement and the oppression of women. Consequently, the Bible “says so” has armed countless people with repressive weapons
and enslavement eventually subverting the life-giving good news through Jesus. The letter of the “Law” has triumphed over the accomplishments of
the New Birth and the Cross. Basic
doctrines believed by the early Church have been forgotten in favor of a more
liberal philosophical interpretations of Jesus, the Word and God. Scripture is
supposed to empower the Church to a life of the gospel in that Jesus came to
redeem all people through the cross. Yet, throughout history, a contradictory attitude
has increased and the filters that affect interpretation and application of
biblical truth have warped the very principles that influence how “truth” is
determined. Philosophers like Aristotle, Plato, Avicenna,
Thomas
Aquinas, Immanuel Kant, Georg Hegel,
John Dewey,
Martin
Heidegger, Augustine of Hippo and others, most of whom are unknown
to the majority of the modern Church, radically shaped a wide variety of
theories of truth and definitively affected, both negatively, and some positively, our current
understanding of biblical truth. Obviously, not every believer in every nation
of the world will have the same filters and would have access to the influences
I've just mentioned. But if we as believers are to pursue “truth”, and for us to acquire “biblically accurate and consistent”, spiritual truth, we must diligently
endeavor to expose the corrupting filters that currently affect many believers
all around the world. Maybe this is important to you, and maybe it is not. I'm
always dumbfounded when Christians tell me that they don’t concern themselves
with this. They say “ Well God will teach me what I need to know”. Sadly, they don’t even realize how much they've already forfeited and how weak this
statement is. I believe with all my heart that we need an educated Church to
arise in both the power of the Spirit and the actuality of His Word. The world
desperately needs to see a people who demonstrate the reality of the God of the
Bible, and the life-changing, empowered existence because of the amazing
transformation accomplished through the New Birth and the indwelling Holy
Spirit. If your study of the Bible, and
your understanding of truth, minimizes the reality of Almighty God, then your
faith is no different than the rest of the dead-end religions of the world. We
need the genuine work of God’s Truth in our lives without the warped vision
that has crippled it by our ungodly spectacles. So what are some of these
filters?
In
my previous blog, EXPOSING
UNGODLY SPIRITUAL SPECTACLES? What Filters Are You Viewing Truth Through?,
I posted a chart identifying the five categories of filters that I’ve come to discover affect how we interpret biblical truth. This inventory is not
comprehensive and I don’t believe a complete list could ever actually be assembled
due to the uniqueness of the human persona, experiences and influences.
Therefore, in attempting to address this vast puzzle I will only address some
of the most significant factors that become filters in an individual’s life. Obviously,
the quest to nail down and prevent all potential filters would be impossible.
However, if one goes back to the combined definition for what truth is, as derived
from the merging of the multiple Hebrew and Greek words translated as truth in
the Scriptures, I think it will bring you hope.
Truth is the principle, or often invisible fact, that
establishes the base or foundation of anything to make something or someone
STABLE, firm, reliable, certain, trustworthy or FAITHFUL as originating out of
God’s character, His Word or His Spirit and producing the result of balanced
righteousness, justice, merciful communication and loving interaction in
relationship. It is the opposite of anything fictitious, false, unstable or
pretend. In the end, it should produce stability in your life. Therefore,
wherever you experience instability, you are in need a some aspect of God’s
Truth.
So
now, let’s identify some of the key problematic filters that affect how you
determine what you believe to be biblical truth.
#1.
The filter of Culture
An
individual’s culture radically impacts how he or she interprets the Bible. For
example, one culture might be emotionally animated and physically demonstrative
so that when studying some of the more expressive elements of faith and praise
they might not have difficulty in accepting this for the purpose of application.
On the other hand, a culture uncomfortable with such vigorous expressions will
find it difficult to accept what the Scriptures state in this section. Culture
impacts how you interpret godly truth.
Culture spans a massive factor in society. There are also spiritual
sub-cultures. For example, denominations and spiritual movements often develop
their own cultures affecting how they dress, the expectations of what a
minister should or shouldn’t do, financial practices and what they believe the Bible says is truth. The
culture you embrace and that has influenced you will often affect how you read
the Bible and pray because of hidden standards you've come to accept as
absolute. Removing these securities is sometime alarming and temporarily destabilizing.
This means that your security may be in the wrong things and exposing it could
cause huge inward and outward upheaval. Nonetheless, if you love truth you must
bring your culture to the cross and then bury it! Does this mean you deny
your cultural identity? NO! The only aspects of culture that needs to be
removed is the factors that corrupt your interpretation of truth.
#2.
The filter of Tradition-
Positive traditions
2 Thessalonians
2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have
been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. KJV
2 Thessalonians 3:6 Now
we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye
withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after
the tradition which he received of us. KJV
Tradition
is a huge factor affecting how we interpret biblical truth. It is also two-sided having both positives and negatives that can either influence Bible
study in a manner that appropriately interprets scripture, or warp what the
verses say. Paul the apostle had to constantly confront traditional thinking
and interpretations of the Scriptures. He also was careful to construct a belief
system founded in solid traditional truths for the Gentile believers he parented,
wisely avoiding the intermixing of Jewish tradition and Hellenistic thought in
his messages. The Jews of the days of Jesus were largely Hellenized. Having
been scattered through the Greek world, and in order to succeed in that era,
the Jews adopted Hellenistic ideologies into their belief systems. Therefore, when Jesus came on the scene, He communicated to these Jews, who were more
Greek, than Jewish in their thinking, and endeavored to restore them to an
unadulterated faith of their fathers. Paul was faced with the same dilemma,
especially when ministering to his Greek converts.
Negative traditions based on the legalistic Jewish traditions
Matthew
15:2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash
not their hands when they eat bread. 3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment
of God by your tradition? KJV
Matthew
15:6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye
made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. KJV
Mark 7:3 For the
Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding
the tradition of the elders. KJV
Mark 7:5 Then the
Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the
tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?KJV
Mark 7:8 For laying
aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of
pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. 9 And he said unto them,
Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own
tradition. KJV
Mark 7:13 Making the
word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and
many such like things do ye. KJV
Galatians 1:14 And
profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being
more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. KJV
1 Peter 1:18 Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; KJV
Negative
traditions of men- referring to Gnosticism and Greek philosophies
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you
through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the
rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. KJV
#3.
The Filter of Doctrinal Understanding
Your
pre-determined doctrinal beliefs will influence how you understand and
interpret biblical truth. These beliefs may have been influenced by other
filters so they will be complicated to sort out. Some pre-determined belief
systems that will affect how you interpret truth and could become an unhealthy
filter will be according to how you understand the Character, Nature and Attributes
of God, Redemption, The New Birth, Eschatology, Grace, Forgiveness, Salvation,
Faith, Gender roles, Greek & Hebrew Belief systems, and many more. Always
keep a teachable heart and test everything against the 4 standards of Accurate
Bible Study. These will soon be described in another posting.
#4.
The Filter of Silent, but the long-standing external influences of Hellenism
Zech.
9:12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I
declare that I will render double unto thee; 13 When I have bent Judah for me,
filled the bow with Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons,
O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man. 14 And the LORD shall be
seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning: and the Lord GOD
shall blow the trumpet, and shall go with whirlwinds of the south.
The
often silent but very real presence and influence of the early Greek
Philosophers still holds a powerful grip on how Christians interpret biblical
truth, know God and believe how they should live. It’s influence goes deeper
than many believers have ever conceived, and if questioned, stirs up volatile
reactions in a variety of theological circles. I believe confronting and
correcting it will be one of the great battles of the time before Christ’s
return. Therefore, the Christian who sincerely pursues biblical truth needs a biblical methodology that opens up the truth of
God’s Word from the Hebraic perspective while exposing the corrupting influence
of Hellenistic, Greek philosophy, affecting modern theology. For many centuries,
Bible scholars have speculated about what these verses in Zechariah 9:12-13
imply. Few interpretations entirely agree but most theologians recommend that
the context refers to an End Times clash when Hebraic thought will war with
Hellenistic thought affecting the people influenced by it, as it originated
with the philosophies of ancient Greece.
Mindful of this we need a type of biblical methodology that disengages
the manmade filters harmful to spiritually minded students.
#5. The Filters of Personality type, Personal opinion, Secret agendas, and Offenses
It’s not hard to see how different personality types could
interpret biblical and spiritual truth according to what fits their
personality. There are even spiritual movements throughout history that
developed out of different personality expressions. Some preferred passivism.
Others honored exuberant zeal and attracted like personalities to their sides.
Personal opinion has similarly become a major factor in being a filter in
contemporary times. The right to speak one’s opinion is sometimes now more valued
than an intelligent and knowledgeable voice. The more that lawlessness and
disrespect for accuracy infects humanity the more fluent personal opinion and
private interpretation will bear down hard against truth. People with secret
agendas will mold what the want the Bible to say to accommodate their personal
plans. Worst of all, people who are offended become fertile ground for
self-willed interpretation of the Bible so to gain the upper hand on those they’re
offended by. I don’t know how many times I've gotten stuck in the middle of
two offended parties who both told me how God spoke a scripture to them that
supported their feelings of needed vengeance. In every case they'd received
identical passages and they had interpreted those verses from the perspective
of their offense. Their offense twisted the truth.
#6. The Filter of Language
and Translations
Without
a doubt the filters of language translation and the different Bible
translations can pose huge problems for interpreting what the Bible says and discovering what the truth really is. I don’t know how many times I've agonized over Bible translations in other languages and it just didn’t do justice
to what the ancient Hebrew and Greek actually said. Furthermore, the
accumulating Bible translations in English pose problems that is either
unique to their translation or influenced by the translators who decided to
become interpreters of the text. Sadly, translators can innocently become
interpreters of what they make the verses to say. It may be a shock to you, but
there are innumerable Hebrew and Greek nuances in the translations of the words
that are often difficult to translate into our own languages. Therefore,
sometimes translators, in order to try to make sense of certain words, may
change the grammatical structure and create an interpretive problem. There are
numerous instances of this throughout history. Let me share about one example.
I'd been teaching at various church groups in France and was privileged to
visit a museum in the Cevanne region dedicated to the time of the Huguenot
conflicts. It was a fascinating place displaying a wide range of artifacts from
that era. However, one of the most astounding exhibits I encountered was
several large glassed-in wooden cases exhibiting an assortment of French Bibles
translated during the years of the revolution. To my astonishment, when I read
portions of the texts, for example from Psalms 23, I was stunned to see how the Huguenot scribes had interpreted the Bible in a "French manner of speaking" quite different to what I was accustomed to in English translations. Throughout
the verses the translators depicted the shepherd as a warrior rather than the
usual gentle portrayal we’re familiar with. The tense climate of that
troublesome time affected how the Bible had been transcribed into the French. I
was sternly reminded that God’s word is settled in heaven, not on earth, when I
saw these Bibles with my own eyes.
For
these reasons, we must remember that no one specific translation is exclusively
correct. There are literally dozens of angles how words can be translated. We
must search, to the best of our ability, using as many resources as we can, and seek for what best honors what Jesus
did on the cross and entirety of God’s word. For some Christians this is too
much of a challenge because regrettably they‘ve built their belief systems on
translations and interpretations instead of what the Bible actually says in the
Hebrew or the Greek. Others will not have good resource materials available to them but they can still pray and ask God to show them His heart about these things. I realize the inner tug of war this creates and have
wrestled through this myself. But I want to know the truth, and if that means I
have to discard human interpretations for accurate translation, I'm willing to
engage in this wrestling match.
There
are dozens of additional filters we could talk about. But for now, ask
yourself: Have I allowed ungodly, unbiblical filters to prevent my growth in
the truth that honors God? I hope you’ll
be honest with yourself and remove them if you find them!
