Common Mistakes When Interpreting Scripture

No one is beyond making the following errors when interpreting Scripture. However, recognizing these common pitfalls, acknowledging our own propensity to make them, and intentionally striving to avoid them can greatly reduce their occurrence. Before identifying these errors in someone else’s interpretation, we would do well to first examine whether we have made them ourselves. While none of us interprets Scripture perfectly, cultivating sound hermeneutical principles helps us approach God’s Word with greater humility, consistency, and faithfulness. If we all adopted this approach, our theological discussions would likely be far more edifying, gracious, and profitable for everyone involved.

 

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Interpreting Scripture Through Personal Feelings

Allowing personal preferences, emotions, or experiences to determine what a passage means rather than allowing Scripture to speak for itself.

When Your Interpretation Includes: “I just feel it means…“

When engaging in theological, doctrinal, or biblical discussions concerning the interpretation of Scripture, it is not uncommon to hear someone say, “I just feel it means…” Everyone is certainly entitled to their feelings, but the question is whether our feelings should be the authority by which we interpret God’s Word. At some point we must decide whether we will allow Scripture to interpret Scripture or allow our personal feelings and preferences to determine what we believe.

This is no different than an unbeliever saying, “Well, I don’t feel like I’m such a bad person that God would send me to hell.” One may present numerous passages of Scripture that clearly teach otherwise, but if that individual is ultimately committed to interpreting truth through personal feelings rather than the testimony of Scripture, the discussion becomes largely fruitless. Feelings may influence our opinions, but they cannot establish truth. The authority for Christian doctrine is not what we feel the Bible should mean, but what the Bible, interpreted in its proper context, actually teaches.

Taking Verses Out of Context

Ignoring the immediate, literary, historical, or cultural context in which a passage was written.

Ignoring the Overall Context of Scripture

Building doctrine from isolated verses while neglecting the broader teaching of Scripture. Since all Scripture is inspired by God, Scripture should be allowed to interpret Scripture.

Reading Our Theology Into the Text (Eisegesis)

Approaching Scripture with preconceived theological conclusions and reading those conclusions into the text instead of drawing meaning out of the text itself (Exegesis).

Building Doctrine on Unclear Passages

Allowing difficult or obscure passages to determine doctrine rather than interpreting them in light of clearer passages.

Confusing Description with Prescription

Assuming that everything recorded in Scripture is intended to be imitated. The Bible records many events without approving them.

Ignoring the Original Audience

Failing to consider who the original recipients were, why the passage was written, and what it meant to them before applying it today.

Assuming One Word Always Means the Same Thing

Forcing a single definition onto every occurrence of a word without considering context, grammar, or usage.

Overlooking Figures of Speech

Interpreting metaphors, hyperbole, idioms, poetry, symbolism, parables, or apocalyptic language as though they were always intended literally.

Elevating Tradition Above Scripture

Allowing denominational traditions, church history, or respected teachers to carry greater authority than Scripture itself.

Proof-Texting (AKA: Cherry-Picking)

Collecting isolated verses to support a doctrine without considering whether they actually teach that doctrine within their context.

Failing to Distinguish Observation from Interpretation

Observation gathers the evidence; interpretation seeks its meaning. The two are inseparable, yet they must never be confused. Scripture is infallible; our interpretation is not. The wise interpreter continually asks whether he is defending what the text explicitly states or merely what he believes the text implies. The more carefully we distinguish observation from interpretation, the more faithfully we allow Scripture to speak for itself. 

Confusing Inference with Explicit Teaching

One of the easiest errors in theology is to treat reasonable deductions as though they possess the same authority as the clear declarations of Scripture. Ambiguity is not an invitation to abandon reason, but a call to exercise it carefully. Where Scripture speaks clearly, faith stands confidently. Where Scripture speaks sparingly, wisdom walks humbly. The danger is not in drawing reasonable conclusions or making sound inferences, but in forgetting where revelation ends and inference begins. A theological system should never require an inference to carry greater weight than an explicit biblical statement. Rather, the clear teachings of Scripture must govern our understanding of those passages that are less clear, allowing the plain to illuminate the obscure rather than the obscure to redefine the plain.

Over-Systematizing Scripture (Hammering Square Plugs Into Round Holes)

Forcing every biblical passage to fit neatly within a theological system rather than allowing Scripture to shape the system.

Assuming Silence Equals Support

Concluding that because Scripture does not explicitly reject an idea, it therefore supports it.

Neglecting the Progressive Nature of Revelation

Failing to recognize that God revealed His purposes progressively throughout redemptive history, culminating in Jesus Christ.

Allowing Bias to Override Evidence

Giving greater weight to passages that support our existing beliefs while minimizing or reinterpreting passages that challenge them.

Failing to Compare Scripture with Scripture

Neglecting the Berean principle of testing every teaching against the whole counsel of God (Acts 17:11).

Confusing Application with Interpretation

A passage has one intended meaning, but it may have many legitimate applications. Application should never replace interpretation.

Refusing to Re-examine Long-Held Beliefs

Every believer should remain teachable, willing to test even cherished doctrines against the authority of Scripture. Our loyalty must ultimately be to God’s Word rather than to our own conclusions.

Refusing to Listen or Consider Other Perspectives

Assuming our interpretation is necessarily correct without giving thoughtful and fair consideration to alternative viewpoints. Humility requires us to listen carefully, weigh every argument against the whole counsel of Scripture, and remain willing to revise our conclusions if the biblical evidence warrants it. Testing another person’s interpretation is not a sign of unbelief but of faithfulness to God’s Word. Likewise, we should welcome others to test our interpretations by Scripture, for truth has nothing to fear from honest examination.