HOW TO PROPERLY INTERPRET SCRIPTURE
How to properly interpret scripture? I am writing this because I was asked by a Christian “one “God”” Pentecostal pastor to dissect John 1:1-14. The importance of those verses is that Christians believe it is saying that “Jesus is God,” (as they say, and I also once said as a one-god Pentecostal).
How to properly interpret scripture? If one takes those verses (John 1:1-14) in isolation from the rest of the Bible, they appear to be fitting the Christian narrative, that “Jesus is “God”” (that the Messiah is Elohiym).
However, if we use the formula prescribed by the Most High in the book of YeshaYahu (Isaiah), we see it is absolutely not so.
This shows up the Christian approach of actually using isolated verses that become punchlines or “sound bites.” If we keep these verses in isolation, they seem to be truth.
A PRIORI vs A POSTERIORI
The general Christian approach is to have a conclusion and pick out verses that agree with that conclusion. In effect, they follow non-scriptural doctrines (their conclusions) but use isolated verses to justify these doctrines.
A PRIORI
Rarely do I refer to philosophy, but Christian theology is heavily based on Greek philosophy. The Christian approach is called a priori (Latin). This is where a conclusion is drawn prior to experience. Then, evidence is sought in order to justify that conclusion. They are taught “Jesus is “”God,” then verses are picked out to justify that belief. That includes John 1:1-14.
A POSTERIORI
On the other hand, a posteriori knowledge is gained only after experience. In other words, an ending is not assumed, rather evidence is gathered which leads us to the ending.
So we have the a priori approach that Christians follow, where Christian doctrines are taught to be “gospel. Opposing that is the a posteriori approch, which the holy scriptures teach us to follow, which uses scripture to lead us to truth.
But is this (a priori) how we interpret scripture?
Let us see by looking at how to properly interpret scripture (according to the Bible). Let us look at what scripture says is the right way.
See also:
- Understanding the Bible Part 1: Why the Holy Bible does not contradict itself
- Why Our Belief Is False If It Does Not Have an Old Testament Foundation: Understanding the Bible 2
HOW DO WE INTERPRET SCRIPTURE
Isa 28:9 — Isa 28:10
Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
That is how we understand scripture. That is the opposite of what Christians do (a priori). This is the a posteriori approach.
It is not our understanding that proves scripture. It is scripture that proves scripture, which leads to our understanding. We take precepts that match precepts. These matches give us the truth.
WHAT IS A PRECEPT?
The dictionary says a precept is “a general rule intended to regulate behaviour or thought.”
It is from the Hebrew “tsav” which means an injunction (authoritive warning or order), commandment.
So, by using these authoritative warnings, orders and commandments, these general rules perform a regulatory function in bringing out scriptural truth. But why?
WHY PRECEPT UPON PRECEPT?
The Bible is very ambiguous and written so that we have to study to show ourselves approved. Each verse is a piece of a puzzle, and the pieces of the puzzle are scattered all over the book. It cannot be understood serially like a story book or a textbook. In effect therefore, we cannot have religious conclusions and pick out verses to justify these conclusions.
That is why Sha’ul instructed Timothy to:
2 Tim 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto YAHUAH, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
That is why most cannot understand the Bible so easily. They do not study to show themselves approved. So how can they know how to rightly divide the word of truth?
Sadly, they do not know that they have to take precept upon precept, upon precept, line upon line, upon line, here a little. there a little.
Just yesterday, I read about Hillsong’s worship leader revealed he is losing his faith in Christianity because it appears to be just another religion. One of the reasons he gave is that the Bible is “full of contradictions.
That is because Christianity teaches them to pick out verses to justify doctrine (a priori). When they meet upon another verse that contradicts that verse that they hold to be “law,”, they get confused. They do not know how to resolve it and arrive at scriptural truth. Hence over time, the conclusion develops that the religion is full of contradictions.
This is also why sinners reject the Bible as being a book that is foolish or hard to understand. Sadly, there is often little or no difference in understanding between a Christian and a sinner, as both take the same approach of reading the Bible like a textbook.
In reality? We have to find matching pieces of the puzzles in order to find truth (a posteriori). But the lazy reader does not want to match precepts. He just wants to hear a few verses and read the Bible like a novel.
WITH STAMMERING LIPS AND ANOTHER TONGUE
So let us continue in Isaiah 28. Here below, it tells us very plainly why we have to study to show ourselves approved (2 Tim 2:15), and to prove all things (1 Thess 5:21), holding fast to that which is good. This is why we have to match precepts:
Isaiah 28:11
For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
STAMMERING LIPS
Stammering (Hebrew “laeg,” meaning: foreign, mocking) lips means what we read is not clear.
We have to struggle to understand as the puzzle is scattered all over and written in a difficult to understand language.
To solve the puzzle, we have to put precept upon precept, upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.
In other words, we have to first find the pieces of the puzzle, then fit them together. This is a lifelong task.
ANOTHER TONGUE
To make it even more important to do use the aforementioned approach, we are being spoken to in another tongue (language).
The languages we speak cannot adequately translate Hebrew. Here it tells us plainly in the prologue to the book of Sirach:
For what was originally expressed in Hebrew does not have exactly the same sense when translated into another language. Not only this book, but even the Law itself, the Prophecies, and the rest of the books differ not a little when read in the original.
To make it worse, the best we have the new testament written in, is Greek (yet another language different from the Hebrew tongue). Remember, the Father, Messiah and Apostles spoke in Hebrew.
Therefore I believe (as many scholars do believe), that the Greek translation that we have is a translation of original Hebrew writings. The English translation therefore would be a translation of a (Greek) translation.
- Disciples were Hebrews
- The disciples were unlearned. How could they write in perfect Greek?
- The message was not for Greeks, but for the 12 tribes scattered abroad.
- They always take our scripture for their own purposes (See Macabees 1:41-49).
WAS THE NT WRITTEN IN GREEK?
Here is some historical evidence pointing to the book of Matthew having been originally written in Hebrew.
“Matthew also issued a written Gospel among the Hebrews in their own dialect, while Peter and Paul were preaching in Rome and laying the foundation of the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, did also hand down to us in writing what had been preached by Peter. Luke also, the companion of Paul, recorded in a book the Gospel preached by him. Afterwards John, the disciple of the Lord, who also had leaned upon his breast, did himself publish a Gospel during his residence at Ephesus in Asia.”(Irenaeus of Lyons – Against Heresies 3:1:1 – 180 AD)
“Among the four Gospels, which are the only indisputable ones in the Church of God under heaven, I have learned by tradition that the first was written by Matthew, who was once a publican, but afterwards an apostle of Jesus Christ, and it was prepared for the converts from Judaism and published in the Hebrew language”(Origen – Commentaries on Matthew [cited by Eusebius in History of the Church 6:25] – 244AD).
“Matthew had begun by preaching to the Hebrews, and when he made up his mind to go to others too, he committed his own Gospel to writing in his native tongue, so that for those with whom he was no longer present the gap left by his departure was filled by what he wrote” (Eusebius – History of the Church 3:24 – 300-325AD).“Matthew compiled the sayings [of the Lord] in the Hebrew Dialect, and everyone translated them as well as he could”(Papias – quoted by Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. 3:39 – 150-170AD)
“The Hebrew language is the best language of all … If I were younger I would want to learn this language, because no one can really understand the Scriptures without it.For although the New Testament is written in Greek, it is full of Hebraisms and Hebrew expressions. It has therefore been aptly said that the Hebrews drink from the spring, the Greeks from the stream that flows from it, and the Latins from a downstream pool.”(Martin Luther, Table Talk, quoted in Pinchas E. Lapide, Hebrew in the Church, trans. Erroll F. Rhodes – Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984).
HOW TO PROPERLY INTERPRET SCRIPTURE: NEW TESTAMENT INFUSED WITH GREEK THOUGHTS
The following excerpt explains how dangerous another tongue (language) can be for our understanding. It explains why precept must be upon precept, upon precept, line upon line upon line, here a little, there a little.
The ecclesia of Yahshua was split between the Jewish disciples called the Nazarenes and the Gentiles believers who embrace the Greek term christian.
These gentile church leaders/fathers steeped in Greek philosophies were ignorant to the Hebraic understanding of the Hebrew scriptures and their proper interpretation. What they did was to apply Greek philosophical concepts and terminologies in their interpretation of the sacred scriptures.
So they reinterpreted the scriptures using Greek allegorical methodologies and terms like, preexistence, incarnation, hypostasis, ousia in their speculation in understanding the nature of the father and His Messiah (something that ancient Jews don’t do)
It was these speculations that gave birth to the trinity doctrine, the literal preexistence of Yahshua and the doctrine of incarnation – all pagan in their origin. Pastor Robert Walker, First Congregation of Yahweh.
TRANSLATION BARRIER
In either event (Greek being original or not), we are being spoken to in the English language. This is an inferior language that is still developing. In fact, hundreds of new words are being added each year. Take a look at the new words list for March 2019 (Oxford Dictionary).
So we have the barrier of language translations as well. So it gets even more critical to match precept upon precept, line upon line.
So, the Father speaking to us in this way (stammering lips and a foreign language)? The Christian man does not hear.
REPLACING THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS USING SELECTED VERSES
Instead, the Christian recites one verse and uses that one verse as if it is law, effectively replacing the law and the prophets (Tanakh/old testament). That is why many are zealous to throw out the so called old testament. Some accept the old testaments, but reject the law.
The Christian man then wants you to explain ONLY that verse which he chooses, without precepts upon precepts, upon precepts. If we try to use precepts, most Christians don’t want to hear.
In effect, they reject how the Bible actually tells us to come to an understanding (through precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little).
IS STAMMERING LIPS SPEAKING IN TONGUES?
It is unbelievable how Christians have no clue as to what the Bible is saying. Because it says with stammering lips and another tongue, Pentecostals take it to mean speaking in tongues! No wonder when I was in the Pentecostal church they used to talk like they were stammering. Now I see why.
That is not what Isaiah 28:11 is speaking about. It is referring to precepts, so it must be an understanding of, and related to: scripture. It did not speak of other tongues (plural), but another tongue (singular). This means the different translations available to each people.
For example, He will speak to me in the English language, because I was born in an English language speaking country, but to the Israelite in Panama, he will speak to him in Spanish. All these languages cannot adequately bring out the original Hebrew meaning (and neither the Greek meaning as well). Therefore, we have to use precepts upon precepts.
What’s more, if we look at the meaning of stammering, it is from the Hebrew word “laeg,” which means a foreigner. So a stammering tongue means a foreign language, which is a known language, but not the original language in which the Most High spake to the children of Israel.
For more clarity, the word “laeg” (stammering) is used only twice in the Bible. If we look at its only other use (using here a little, there a little), we see that it means an actual foreign language:
Isa 33:19 Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.
That is definitely speaking of a foreign language. So there goes the Pentecostal fallacy of taking stammering lips and a strange tongue to mean speaking in tongues.
Alas, the strange tongue of English language will snare us into false doctrines so we be destroyed. This Pentecostal mis-interpretation is the classic example.
WHAT IF WE DON’T USE PRECEPTS UPON PRECEPTS, LINE UPON LINE, HERE A LITTLE, THERE A LITTLE?
But scripture tells us that it was deliberately set this way so the (lazy) people who do not want to seek the Most High with all their hearts (Jer 29:13) should be destroyed (Hosea 6:4).
Isaiah 28:13
But the word of YAHUAH was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
FALL BACKWARD, BROKEN, SNARED, TAKEN
That is what happens to the Christians. They follow a religion that teaches several pagan lies. They then find verses to back that lie, and refuse to accept other verses that disprove it.
So what is important to them is not that they are following or proving truth, but that they follow a belief given to them through their religion. Christianity is placed before and above truth. The religion takes centre stage, just as the Saducees, Scribes and Pharisees did. That is how the Greco-Roman Christian religion is created from the Hebrew scriptures.
Hence they refuse precept upon precept, upon precept, line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.
As a result, they fall backward, are broken, are snared, and taken. This means they are led to believe a lie, because they refused the instructions of the Father on how to understand his word:
Psa 50:16-17 But unto the wicked Elohiym saith, What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my words behind thee.
Psa 81:11-12 But my people would not hearken to my voice; and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: and they walked in their own counsels.
2Th 2:10-12 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
And for this cause YAHUAH shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
So they are given up to follow a strong delusion: lost in the mystery religion of Babylon called Christianity.
EXAMPLE OF THE USE OF USING PRECEPTS, LINE UPON LINE, HERE A LITTLE TO DISPROVE A CHRISTIAN LIE
Tell the Christian that the Bible is all about one people, Israel. They will tell you that they are Gentiles grafted-in, who are now Israelites. However, this is yet another lie. Strangers/gentiles grafted in remain strangers, even though grafted in.
Here is a question I posted on Facebook and tagged a few Christian pastors. Up to August 28, no one has been able to answer the question. One pastor blocked me after being unable to answer.
Isa 14:1-2 For YAHUAH will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land: and the strangers shall be joined with them, and they shall cleave to the house of Jacob.
And the people shall take them, and bring them to their place: and the house of Israel shall possess them in the land of YAHUAH for servants and handmaids: and they shall take them captives, whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
Therefore, strangers cannot become Israelites. Gentiles will remain strangers/sojourners with Israel. So this Gentile boast that there is no difference between them and Israel as all are equal is proven to be a lie, using precepts upon precept, upon precept, line upon line, upon line, here a little, there a little.
As simple as you take this, this question single-handedly shows up all Christian denominations as being false. That is why no Christian pastor so far has been able to respond to the question I posted above on Facebook. Their only response is to avoid the question and discredit me (ignore the message and attack the messenger).
All Christian denominations are based on the point of them being Gentiles with equal importance in the kingdom. Some even believe they replace Israel!
Unknowing to them, their boast of being Gentiles is only boasting that they will be slaves of Israelites in the kingdom!
So next we move to disprove the Christian notion of John 1:1-14, using the instructions YAHUAH has given us (to use precepts upon precept, upon precept, line upon line, upon line, here a little, there a little).
See also:
- Understanding the Bible Part 1: Why the Holy Bible does not contradict itself
- Why Our Belief Is False If It Does Not Have an Old Testament Foundation: Understanding the Bible 2
Listen…
I am looking for ways to study to show myself approved. I am an awakened daughter of Israel. I have a 7 year old daughter and a Hebrew helpmate here. We are relatively the only people in this town that are seeking Yah as far as we know. Thank you for this page, I am in awe and inspired to keep reading and doing my best as Yah gives me.
Yadah YAHUAH!