2 Peter 1:20 “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.”

“That’s your interpretation.” “That’s your interpretation.” “That’s your interpretation.”

There are many people who are so unreasonable, argumentative, oppositional and intellectually dishonest that they say “that’s your interpretation” to basically anything and everything the Bible says.

They’ll even say “that’s your interpretation” to a verse as clear as this! Exodus 20:14 “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

But as the initial quote says, none of the Bible is meant to be privately interpreted by anybody. I’d be disobeying God’s word if I was making my own interpretations, as would you… because the Bible interprets itself.

The Bible instructs the reader how it is to be understood, by “comparing spiritual things with spiritual” “here a little, and there a little” “rightly dividing the word of truth”. What that means is, read around, get context, compare verses with verses… is that reasonable enough?

Yes, Christians do play a vital role in bringing understanding to others, because it’s a spiritual book requiring the Holy Spirit to be understood, but it’s no excuse to not check it out yourself. Because all you need to understand the Bible is a Bible and a humble heart willing to learn.

The Bible says that “In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.” This is a great principle for understanding the Bible, seeing as the Bible is a book of witnesses.

In a court case, witnesses are brought in and their testimonies heard, cross examined and corroborated to establish the truth of the issue. Just like with the Bible, you can call to the witness stand this verse, then that verse, then the other verse to testify and for you to hear and establish what the Bible is teaching.

Even in the Old Testament Jewish sacrificial system, read Leviticus 1, the priests were meant to lay the pieces of the sacrifices “in order” upon the altar for the sacrifice to be accepted by God. If you didn’t get the pieces “in order”, then you were “out of order”.

Yes, the Bible comes with plenty of “pieces”. There’s the pieces of grace, truth, mercy, love, judgment, heaven, hell, righteousness for instance… how do we line up all the pieces in the right order? Answer: by using God’s rules for getting the order right, like the priests back then had to.

Problem is, many people violate this principle and make their own order, get pieces back the front, or leave pieces out… and that’s what creates messed up versions of Christianity with an “out of order” concept of Jesus Christ that is not taught by the Bible, acceptable to God, or useful to anyone.

Like the priests “rightly divided” the sacrifices, so today we are meant to “rightly divide” the Bible so we surely can know the truth, walk in the truth, and live a life well pleasing to God and useful to others that matters for eternity.

See, I just used the Bible to interpret the Bible. If a dummy like me can do it, so can you.

But at the end of the day, “that’s your interpretation” usually just boils down to same old excuses used by people only interested in washing off plain old truths that they are not interested in hearing.

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