Direct application hinders discovery

Well-meaning interpreters will sometimes make a mistake in their application of the Bible. Out of conviction in the Bible’s authority, an interpreter will anchor a contemporary topic on a verse that appears to directly address the topic. By so doing, the interpreter both assures their audience of the Bible’s relevance to the topic and suppliments their own authority with the Biblical author’s. The interpreter also communicates an interpretive assumption that short-circuits the audience’s discovery.

The assumption is this: the Bible addresses the interpreter’s topic, and this verse in particular.

When next the audience reads the verse, many will apply the interpreter’s perspective and ignore further context. Though the interpreter may have traveled a lengthy journey from the author’s intent to their audience’s situation, the audience sees and applies only the outcome of their journey and is no better equipped to journey themselves. How many of us Christians interpret a verse or passage from a sermon heard years ago and are yet unable to learn and apply the same context to new circumstances!

It is a noble cause to illustrate the Bible’s enduring relevance, to equip contemporaries to live as Kingdom members, and to appropriately borrow from the Bible’s authority to give weight to one’s message. However, the approach by which an interpreter achieves these goals makes a deep impression on their audience. To apply a verse out of context to lend credence to a topic produces Christians poorly equipped to discover for themselves. Instead, let us teach others that biblical interpretation is cyclical and train them to do the perpetual work of understanding and applying to our new context for themselves.