Articles
“How Not to Read the Bible”
Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
Matthew 4:5-7
In the verses above, Matthew records the second temptation of Jesus. There are many things to learn but notice how the devil misuses Scripture. He brings Jesus to the highest point in the temple complex, possibly the eastern peak of the Royal Stoa overlooking the Kidron Valley 300 feet below, and tells him to jump. If he really is God’s Son, then God would surely save him because of what Scripture says in Psalm 91:11-12: “He will command his angels concerning you,” and “On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.”
If you turn back to that Psalm you will notice that Satan quotes the passage accurately. That is, in fact, what God’s word says… but it is not what God’s word means. Going back to the Psalm and reading it in its entirely reveals the bigger picture. Psalm 91 extols God’s faithfulness. He protects all those who flee to him for refuge. It would be a mistake, however, to take the Psalmist’s words as a guarantee that saints will never experience pain, injury or loss (see Psalm 73 or any of the prophets). Psalms are poetry and often speak in general, sometimes proverbial, terms. This doesn’t make the words any less true or comforting to us. Though we experience hardship, God does protect and deliver his people.
Satan misuses the text in an effort to manipulate Jesus. The Lord responds by quoting another Scripture, this one from Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Satan’s application of Psalm 91 (prove your faith by jumping off the building) violated a clear principle outlined in Deuteronomy 6 (don’t test God like Israel did in the wilderness, see Ex. 17:1-7). Satan’s example warns us against certain dangerous approaches to Scripture.
The danger of oversimplification — Sometimes we say about a passage “It says what it means and it means what it says,” as if that should end any debate about its interpretation. To be sure, some verses are very straightforward and are easily grasped—and we often make the opposite error of overcomplicating what is simple. But others, like Psalm 91:11-12, require more than a surface reading. It says God will “command his angels concerning you” and promises “their hands will bear you up.” So, saints never fall down or experience pain in life because God protects them with his angels, right? That’s what it says! Psalm 91 just isn’t that simple. Oversimplifying the text will result in all sorts of twisted applications.
The danger of ignoring context — The context in which something is said is part of what it means. What comes before and after a text always matters. We wouldn’t like it if someone took our words out of context. How much more careful ought we to be with God’s? Who is speaking and who they are speaking to also matters. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit’s direct guidance to the apostles (Jn. 14:26). This was not a universal promise of infallible memory and direct revelation for all Christians, but a specific promise for the apostles to help them with their task of teaching the Gospel. Even the style in which something is written matters. For example, we read Hebrew poetry like Psalms differently than we do historical narrative like 1 Samuel. Then there’s the context of the Bible as a whole. God’s word will not contradict itself; in light of Deuteronomy 6:16, Satan’s application of Psalm 91 was a dead giveaway. If we lift verses out of their original context we are much more likely to draw the wrong the conclusions.
The danger of proof-texting — A “proof text” is a passage of Scripture chosen as a proof for certain beliefs or practices. While it is absolutely vital that we ground our convictions in God’s word, there’s a major difference between basing our beliefs in the text and finding the text to support our beliefs. If we begin with an idea and try to find justification for it in the Bible, chances are we’ll find what we’re looking for whether it’s there or not. Reading Scripture with this confirmation bias will cause us to interpret verses in a way that supports our previously held views, often ignoring or downplaying other ideas that challenge them. This outcome-based approach to Bible study is especially common for emotionally charged issues and deeply entrenched beliefs. Such an approach is a far cry from the noble Bereans’ who “received the word with all eagerness” (Acts 17:11).
The danger of shortcuts — Studying the Bible is always rewarding but it can sometimes be frustrating because, while the Bible tells us everything we need to know (2 Tim. 3:16-17), it doesn’t always answer every question we have with the specificity and precision we would prefer. We want flowcharts, formulas and organized recipes, but that’s just not the way God chose to communicate to us. Instead he gives us poems, histories, parables and narratives that contain commands, warnings, encouragements as well as negative and positive examples. God expects us to patiently and prayerfully read and reason through these texts, draw appropriate conclusions and build our convictions on what we find. If we approach Scripture less like mathematicians looking for a neat formula and more like lawyers building a cumulative case for our beliefs, we might not have all the answers but we will have a strong faith beyond any reasonable doubt.
God’s word is a gift to be received, not a gimmick to be exploited. We honor God by reading it carefully, thinking it through critically and applying it faithfully—never twisting the truth for convenience, but seeking the truth for transformation.
