The issue of
“private interpretation” of Scripture (also called “private judgment”) comes up
quite often in Catholic / Protestant debates.
This article is mainly directed toward Catholics, but it is not just for Catholics, since there are many
others who also misunderstand the concept.
The only time the term is actually mentioned in the Bible is in 2
Peter 1:20:
“Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.”
Many will
say that this verse “warns us against private interpretation.” No, the Apostle Peter was not warning against
anything in this verse. So, let’s put
this false teaching to rest, once and for all.
This was not a warning of any
kind. On the contrary, if read in context,
one will see that this passage is actually an encouragement about the truthfulness and reliability of
Scripture. Many miss the whole point of this
verse and twist it to say what it doesn’t mean.
Note that:
- It is not telling us that we can’t interpret Scripture
- It is not telling us that interpretation is “dangerous”
- It’s not telling us that only a certain organization or “magisterium” can interpret for us
- It is not telling us that only church leaders can interpret for us
- It mentions nothing of a need for “infallibility” when reading the Bible
Many people just
assume these things are true from the
start. But let’s look at this passage IN
CONTEXT:
2 Peter 1:
v. 18) “And this voice
which came from Heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount.”
v. 19) “We have also a
more sure Word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a
light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the Day Star arise
in your hearts:”
v. 20) “Knowing this
first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation.”
v. 21) “For the
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as
they were moved by the Holy Spirit.”
How can one
“take heed” to prophecy (verse 19) if he can’t interpret that prophecy? Also, why does the apostle compare Scripture
to a light (verse 19) if Scripture interpretation keeps us in the dark (as
many believe)? The comparison of
Scripture to “light” is meaningless if we can’t interpret its contents.
As any
honest Bible reader can see, this passage is speaking of the ORIGIN of the
message that God gave to the apostles and prophets and is NOT speaking of the
READING of the Bible. It is speaking of
the SOURCE of prophetic Scripture, not the STUDY of it. The prophets heard from God and, with God’s
help, infallibly interpreted that message and infallibly related it to their
audience. The meaning of this passage is
simply that Scripture did not originate in the mind of mere men. It came directly from the mind of God, not
from human impulse.
Also, notice
(v.
18) that Peter is referring to the time he had personally seen the Lord
Jesus transfigured. (Matthew 17:1-9) This was
a very real and personal experience for Peter, yet he speaks of Scripture as an even “more sure word”! (v.
19)
Concerning the
definition of “private interpretation,” the Greek words for it simply mean
“one’s own interpretation.” A private
interpretation is one that is fallible.
The prophets were not affected by fallibility when they received God’s
words. But all the rest of us today are
when it comes to reading Scripture. So how
does the one reading the Bible really know that he is being led by the Holy
Spirit? How does he know that he is
arriving at God’s interpretation, as
opposed to his own? Answer: Your interpretation will be correct if it
lines up with the rest of Scripture, with the immediate context and the overall
context taken into account. Yes, and God
allows (even demands) common sense be
used as well, when interpreting His Word.
Furthermore, history, genre, grammar, etc., also help us to understand.
But according
to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a private interpretation is only right when it agrees with (or, at
least doesn’t contradict) the Catholic Church (CCC #119). Interestingly, this would mean that the
Catholic can trust his own fallible interpretation of Scripture as long as that
interpretation does not contradict his own fallible interpretation of the
Church’s dogmatic teachings. And this is supposed to produce the
“infallible certainty” of which they boast?
The Catholic
believes that his church’s magisterium has
the final word. But it is Scripture that is the Ultimate Standard
for Christians, not any church, denomination, or organization. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)
According to
the online New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia (under “Protestantism”) we read:
“Again, it is illogical to base faith
upon the private interpretation of a book [i.e., the Bible]. For faith consists in submitting; private
interpretation consists in judging. In faith by hearing, the last word rests
with the teacher; in private judgment it rests with the reader, who submits the
dead text of Scripture to a kind of post-mortem examination and delivers a
verdict without appeal: he believes in himself rather than in any higher
authority.”
In all
fairness, some Catholics will admit that private interpretation is acceptable
and necessary, but many Catholics will say no and create a false dilemma here. In this case, either:
2) He will have a wrong interpretation.
But these are
not the only two options. Someone can
give a fallible interpretation and
still be right. Catholics will often point out that
Protestants are “limited” to fallible interpretations, and therefore, have
little or no certainty. But this is a
clear double standard, since the Catholic cannot escape this same “dilemma” of
using his fallible mind to interpret
his sources, whether that source is Scripture, the magisterium, the church
fathers, Tradition, or whatever. It is
unavoidable. All forms of communication must be interpreted. And all of us have fallible minds and make
fallible interpretations. The truth is,
the Catholic has no more certainty in interpreting Scripture than anyone else
does.
One way that
the Catholic thinks that he can get around the “problems” of fallible
interpretations and lack of certainty is by first finding the “True Church”
(which, of course, he’ll say is the Catholic Church). But how do we determine that they are the true church? He’ll tell us that we must first find it
through a study of Scripture, church history, Sacred Tradition, and the church
fathers, and this will lead us to an infallible Church who will then be able to
tell us correctly what Scripture means.
At this point, we can then rest and never have to worry about our certainty
in interpretation any more.
But if you
can understand Scripture well enough to “verify” a papal office and its claims
of infallibility, and if you can interpret this never-clearly-defined “Sacred
Tradition”, and if you can interpret the multi-faceted history of the church,
and if you can interpret the teachings of the church fathers (whose language is
often harder to understand than the Bible), and if you can piece all of this
together to find the “One True Church”… then why couldn’t you just simply
interpret the Bible outright?
Ironically, the Catholic Church can’t seem to trust you to interpret the
Bible by itself, yet it expects you to be able to go through the long and
complicated process above. But where is
the certainty that they so desperately desire in all of this process? The fact is, in this case the level of
certainty is lowered!
The Catholic
Church is using very circular reasoning:
They are infallible because that’s what they interpret Scripture to mean.
How do we know that this is the correct interpretation? Because they are infallible! Should faithful Catholics believe the Church’s
interpretations because they make good sense and because they line up with
biblical principles? No, they want them
to believe it because they say so.
CONCLUSION
No matter how you slice it, it is
always ultimately you who will stand
before God… and you (and your interpretations) will be judged accordingly,
whether you followed your own ideas or whether you chose to be subject to an
authority of some type. No one will be
able to fully blame anyone else on Judgment Day. If you, as a responsible adult, don’t test
all things (1 Thessalonians 5:21) by God’s Word, it will be no one’s fault
but your own.
The Bible is inspired by God and it therefore has enough consistency in its texts and in its principles to help us discern what God is telling us. Otherwise, why would He bother to give it to us?
CONCLUSION
Even though
we all need help interpreting now and then, there is no “special authority” required
to interpret the Bible. Every Christian
should be growing in his personal study of God’s Word. However, it’s not an overnight process; and you
don’t have to have a perfect understanding or perfect interpretations of every
Bible verse to be pleasing to God. But
God does expect us to interpret His
Word when He speaks of “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2
Timothy 2:15). We may not have
infallible certainty, but we can have sufficient
certainty. Like it or not, when
reading Scripture, all interpretations
are private interpretations – there may be a lot of people who interpret a
passage the same way that you do, but each one of them must still fallibly interpret
what they read.
The Bible is inspired by God and it therefore has enough consistency in its texts and in its principles to help us discern what God is telling us. Otherwise, why would He bother to give it to us?
We encourage
everyone to read the Scriptures, both Old and New Testament. Read them in context and read them slowly,
carefully, and prayerfully. Read them
with a humble attitude because they are God’s words to us. They are words of life, eternal life.
See also:
