(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Hello everybody it's me Mr. Tall23 back with another video. I know it's been a while it's been a couple months since I've made one but I've been busy with a lot of things and I was sick for a while I was in the hospital and everything but that's a story for another day so anyway I have some time to kill today so I decided I'm gonna make this video I already had all my notes ready from like two months ago or whatever I was going to continue making videos but I like I said I've been busy with other things so uh so yeah I'm not done with this channel I'm still going to upload from time to time just be patient I guess so anyway today I want to talk about the subject of interpretation and interpreting the Bible and things like that because this is something that a lot of people have confusion about and a lot of people you might hear will say well that's just your interpretation when you show them what the Bible clearly says they'll say well you're interpreting it that like that you know that's just your interpretation sort of thing but I'm going to explain in this video that believing what the Bible clearly says and teaching you know clear statements in the Bible has nothing to do with interpretation you know if I show somebody that the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and I say well the Bible says that salvation is only by belief if they say well that's your interpretation that's just them basically denying what the Bible says and it's just an excuse you know it's something that they use to hide behind the fact that they don't believe it although just say well I'm just interpreting it differently no you just don't understand it or you don't believe it here's what the word interpret means it just means basically to take something that's not clear and to make it clear and we see examples of this in the Bible when the Bible uses the word interpretation it's usually talking about interpreting a parable or interpreting a dream or interpreting a foreign language okay that would be making something that's not understood understood that's what interpretation means let me give you a few examples of this Genesis chapter 40 verse 5 and they dreamed a dream both of them each man is dream in one night each man according to the interpretation of his dream the butler and the Baker of the king of Egypt which were bound in the prison so in this example this is you know Joseph he's going to interpret these dreams that the the Baker and the Butler have when he's in prison it says in Genesis 42 verse 23 as well and they knew not that Joseph understood them for he spake unto them by an interpreter so this is a different example where Joseph is the leader of Egypt at or the second in command to Pharaoh at this time and his brothers come to him and they don't understand that Joseph can understand what they're saying you know speaking Hebrew or whatever language because they think you know he's an Egyptian they don't know it's Joseph and it says he spake unto them by an interpreter in other words a translator somebody who is interpreting what Joseph is saying so Proverbs chapter 1 verse 6 here's an example of interpreting a proverb interpreting a statement of wisdom it says to understand a proverb and the interpretation the words of the wise and their dark sayings you'll see this this couplet here where first it says the proverb and the interpretation then it says the words of the wise and their dark sayings so it shows that again interpretation has to do with making something that's dark or unclear clear just like a dream that you know dreams are very complicated sometimes making a dream understood you know there's a lot of symbolism in these dreams that the butler and the baker had in the prison in Egypt and then also a foreign language you know of Joseph speaking Egyptian or whatever language it was and then that language being interpreted to the the brothers of Joseph or also making a proverb that's a dark saying and making it understood Matthew 1 23 another example behold the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and they shall call his name Immanuel which being interpreted is God with us so again we have an example of interpretation being a translation Immanuel is a Hebrew word and it's saying which being interpreted is God with us so it's explaining what that word means 1st Corinthians 14 verse 27 to 28 this chapter is about people speaking with other tongues meaning speaking in other languages it says if any man speak in an unknown tongue let it be by two or at the most by three and that by course and let one interpret but if there be no interpreter let him keep silence in the church and let him speak to himself and to God so again we see in this example somebody speaking in an unknown tongue so that means the congregation does not know this language it is foreign to them it's a foreign language they can't understand it so it says well basically you need an interpreter in order to actually be able to preach in that language because if there's no interpreter they don't understand what you're saying so the word interpret has nothing to do with you know just well that's my opinion of what that means it's taking something that's not clear that's not understood and making it understood so if we're talking about interpreting the Bible that would be things that are more complex like Bible prophecy for example things which have a lot of symbolism which use a lot of parables which use a lot of Proverbs not clear statements where the Bible just you know gives a command or just a statement about doctrine you know if you have trouble understanding what the Bible is saying there's some reasons why that might be either because you're just not believing what it's saying or maybe you're not even saved because you don't have the Holy Spirit because the thing is the Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit dwells within the hearts of all believers and the Bible tells us that it is the Holy Spirit that teaches us what the Bible means in John 14 26 Jesus says but the comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you says in John 16 verse 13 how be it when he the Spirit of truth has come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will show you things to come so he's saying that the Holy Spirit the comforter which will dwell within your hearts will show you of these things and will teach you of all things the Bible says in 1st John 2 27 but the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same anointing teaches you of all things and is truth and is no lie and even as it hath taught you you shall abide in him so the Bible tells us that because we have the Holy Spirit we don't even need any man to teach us see we don't need somebody to tell us what the Bible says because we can open up the Bible read it ourselves and the Holy Spirit will guide us to help us to understand what the Bible means the Bible says the natural man received with not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned we discern the things of the Bible through the Spirit so if somebody just doesn't understand what the Bible says it's just a complete mystery it doesn't matter how much they read it and how much they believe it if they just don't understand it that could be a sign that they're not saved possibly now there's also other reasons you know maybe you're just holding on to traditions and you just you know don't want to believe it because you've been taught something your whole life and sometimes that takes time sometimes it just you need to compare scripture with scripture but the thing is if there's a clear verse where the Bible just says something just flat out and it's just well I just don't understand that or I don't believe that I don't see how that could be true then there's a problem there because the Bible tells us the Holy Spirit will teach us of all things but the point I'm trying to make is that all believers because they have the Spirit can understand the Bible and that's why Christians who believe that salvation is by grace through faith and that you can never lose it those who are actually trusting Christ as their Savior and have put all their faith in Jesus every Christian who does that typically comes to the same doctrines in terms of at least that the the main doctrines of the faith of the Trinity and baptism in the local church and all the you know the fact that hell is eternal you know all the basic things that the Bible flat-out says now there might be some disagreements about again things that are a little bit more unclear like Bible prophecy because the Bible does not give an exact you know very clear thing in some regards to Bible prophecy there's a lot of symbols there's a lot of symbolism in the book of Revelation the book of Daniel etc so you can see why people might have disagreements about like the end times about how the timeline works out things like that but that's why that requires interpretation okay but when it comes to you know believing about beliefs about hell or beliefs about heaven beliefs about salvation beliefs about the Trinity about baptism about all the foundations of the faith you know the Bible talks about in Hebrews chapter 1 I'm sorry Hebrews chapter 6 verses 1 & 2 the foundations of the faith it talks about repentance toward God or repentance from dead works and faith toward God it talks about everlasting judgment it talks about baptism it talks about the laying on of hands it talks about the resurrection of the dead you know these things are the foundational doctrines of the faith if that's something that you just don't believe or it's having trouble understanding then it's not your interpretation it's like well I'd interpret this differently it's just that you're just not believing what the Bible says or you just don't understand it because you don't have the Holy Spirit because the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit will teach us of all things so interpretation is not for easy to be understood scriptures at all because in Matthew chapter 13 verses 10 to 13 Jesus or the Bible says and the disciples came and said unto him why speakest thou unto them in parables he answered and said unto them because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it is not given for whosoever hath the him shall be given and he shall have more abundance but whosoever hath not from him shall be taken away even that he hath therefore speak I to them in parables because they sing see not and hearing they hear not neither do they understand so he's talking about these unsaved people and how he's speaking in parables and they don't understand it and he says because you know they sing see not and hear not they don't understand but the disciples you know they to them are given the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven Jesus says they can understand it they can interpret it accurately but unsaved people cannot interpret the harder things of the Bible you know that's why these things are a mystery to them now Jesus explains parables in the Bible so that's another thing I want to talk about is that sometimes the Bible will actually give something that's a little bit unclear like you know symbolism or something or a parable or something of that sort but then it would explain what it means and so the thing is you know sometimes the Bible actually gives us the interpretation of a parable or interpretation of symbolism sometimes it's not up to us to interpret sometimes it's not left to our own study sometimes the Bible just flat-out says what some of these dark sayings and some of these dark things actually mean for example in Matthew chapter 13 verses 19 to 23 just as an example this is the parable of the sower Jesus explains what the parable of the sower is and what all the symbols in the parable of the sower mean he says when anyone here at the word of the kingdom and understand if it not then come with the wicked one and catch it the way that which was sown in his heart this is he which received seed by the wayside so he's explaining you know the person who received the seed by the wayside that is you know representative of the person who hears the gospel but then Satan catches the the word out of their heart basically and he says in verse 20 but he that received the seed in his stony places the same as he that here at the word and anon with joy receiveth it yet hath he not ruin in himself but dureth for a while for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word by and by he's offended he also that receives seed among the thorns as he that here at the word and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he become with unfruitful but he that receives seed into the good ground as he that here at the word and understandeth it which also bareth fruit and bringeth forth some a hundredfold some sixty some thirty so Jesus you know he gives a parable before this in Matthew chapter 13 but then after that he explains what it means you know he says this represents this this represents this he explains what it means in clear statements so this does not require any of our personal interpretation if I say the parable the sower is about somebody preaching the Word of God preaching the gospel and this person rep or this person represents this and this represents this if I say that somebody can't say well that's your interpretation because Jesus already explained what the interpretation is he already explained what the parable was about so the point of this is just to explain that you know taking clear statements in the Bible and just believing it just preaching it is not interpretation because the Holy Spirit helps us to understand what it means and even some harder things in the Bible even things like parables which might be unclear at first even those things sometimes are explained so when it comes to you know the things that I preach on this channel and the things that you know my church preaches and some other churches preach you know there are gonna be some things that are left up to interpretation but there's a lot of things where the Bible just clearly says what it says and if you don't believe it you're just not believing the Bible you're just denying what the Word of God says and you try to hide behind well I'm just interpreting it differently no if you just take what the Bible clearly says and you don't believe it that's not an interpretation that's just you not believing it that's just you denying the Word of God let me give you an example of some verses that do not need any interpretation because they're just clear what they say and there's no way around it like for let me give you a really easy example John 1135 Jesus wept okay there's only two words there it's not hard to figure out if you speak the English language you know what that means but if somebody comes along and they say well I don't think Jesus you know ever wept I don't think he ever cried I don't think that ever happened they're not just interpreting it differently they're just denying what it says or verses about salvation you know you'll show people at the door if you go out soul winning and preach the gospel and show people well the Bible says you know it's only by faith the Bible says not of works the Bible says not by works of righteous which we have done the Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved the Bible says he that believeth on me hath everlasting life the Bible says whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have a everlasting life the Bible says he that believeth on the Sun hath everlasting life over and over again believe on the Sun you have everlasting life very clear and then they're like well that's just your interpretation because I see it differently no you're not interpreting it differently you're just not believing what I'm saying okay because it says believe on Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved that's a guarantee there's not well you maybe might be saved but you know it's not unclear it's clear what it says not only that but the Bible says it 90 times in the book of John and dozens of other times in the books of Paul and other books in the Bible where it just says over and over again it's just by faith in Jesus it even makes it very clear it's not of works in many other places to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly his faith is counted for righteousness for by grace you saved through faith and then not of yourselves it is the gift of God not of works lest any man shabose so if the Bible says it's by faith it's by believing it's not of works it's to him that worketh not and then you say well I think you still have to do works you're not interpreting the Bible differently you just don't believe the Bible just admit it so when we do interpret harder things in the Bible and things that are just you know not clear there are some principles to take into account of how to interpret things accurately because that's another thing we have to consider we have the Holy Spirit we know how to read the Bible there are things which the Bible just clearly says that don't need an interpretation but when it comes to things that do need interpretation like parables and things that are not as clear Bible prophecy etc there's other ways to determine what it's saying like looking at the context for example that's very important because sometimes you can take a verse out of context and like for example you know you take a verse and you quote something but maybe that quote is from somebody who is you know not good in the Bible maybe you're quoting Satan or maybe you know the book of Job there's a lot of chapters where it's Job's three friends but at the end of the book of Job in chapter 42 God says that they did not say that which was right concerning my servant Job so all the chapters about you know from Eliphaz and all his all Job's friends all what they said in those chapters God says in chapter 42 was wrong okay so you can't just quote you know from Eliphaz the Temanite or whatever and say well you know speak that with authority it's the Word of God in the sense that Eliphaz actually said that you know that's God is quoting him that's still true that actually happened that's what he said but the words themselves of what him and his other friends are saying are not true according to the Bible so you have to look at the context you have to look at the context of the book what the books about or even just you know the immediate verses around it the Bible also tells us that we compare spiritual with spiritual in 1st Corinthians chapter 2 verse 13 you know that's another thing you need to compare the Bible with itself the Bible often defines itself like you know the example I gave earlier you can't just you know ignore the the the clear explanation of Jesus of the parable of the sower or other parables where he explained well this is what this means you have to compare scripture with scripture and even you can go to other books which are parallel books like Matthew Mark Luke and John you know there's some things in those books that line up with each other where maybe it gives a different detail or maybe uses a little bit different wording so you can compare these things to each other to understand them better and then also another good principle of interpretation is using the actual definition of words this is something that kind of irks me because I see a lot of people doing this today where they just think that the Bible is just like some book that just has a bunch of words that don't mean what they actually say so they will just like what does that mean you know there's this word believe you know what does believe me just believe I think believe means to to do works well no believe does not mean to do work believe means to believe okay faith means faith works means works grace means grace gift means gift it's not like we'll just all the Sun because it's the Bible all these words have different meanings now hell means hell fire means fire everlasting means everlasting okay they don't have different meanings just because it's in the Bible okay the Bible was written in Hebrew in Aramaic and Greek and then it was translated in English the reason why the words on the page say what they say is because that's what the words mean in the English language okay so using the actual definition of words especially you know when the Bible defines what the definition is because sometimes words have different definitions but if the Bible defines what the definition is then you know it's pretty clear what that means like I'll give you an example there was one person recently who was asking me what does it mean to honor your father and your mother and I said well it means to show them respect because that's what the word honor means if you look up it up in the dictionary but then even the Bible uses the word honor in that context as well but then he's like well you know is that really what it means you know is it could mean this or could mean that it's like well that's what the word honor means it's like you can't just be like well this is the Bible I don't understand what it means just because there's just some you know this word and I don't like it I don't like I think it might mean something different because I don't want to do this particular thing it's what the Bible says if the Bible says honor your father and your mother means to honor your father and mother if you don't know what honor means get a dictionary and look it up it's not that hard but yeah people just when they interpret things or again that's not interpretation either because like I said that's pretty clear of what it means but that's just that's just a random example but yeah the point is you just have to just take it for face value if something clearly says something that's what it means and if something's a little bit harder to understand look at the context you know compare spiritual is spiritual you know compare the Bible with itself then you can understand it better and also pray about it as well because the Holy Spirit will guide us and teach us of all things as the Bible promises now let me give you an example of like a faulty interpretation or or something where somebody will say that they interpret it differently right like I've been giving a few examples already but just as another example Leviticus 20 verse 13 you know verse that a lot of people don't like and again it's a verse where it's clearly what the Bible says but people just don't believe it and then they say well that's just your interpretation you know it says in Leviticus 20 verse 13 if a man also lie with mankind as he lies with a woman both of them have committed an abomination they shall surely be put to death their blood shall be upon them now I think that's a pretty clear statement this verse does not need any interpretation but a lot of people will interpret it differently by twisting and saying things like well this is not talking about every sodomite this is only talking about pedophiles or being put to death that's just talking about God killing them I had somebody tell me that one time that well God's gonna judge them God's gonna kill them but we shouldn't put people to death but that's again not what it says if that's what you believe and you say well I'm interpreting it that way you're not interpreting it you're just not believing what it says because what does it say it says if a man also lie with mankind okay doesn't say if a man lies with a child okay now obviously that would apply as well but the point is that this is particularly talking about sodomites as he lies with a woman okay so in the same way that he would lie with a woman that's again pretty clear I don't think anybody misunderstands what that means both of them so that's the man and the man he's with have committed abomination they not he shall surely meaning for sure absolutely be put to death their blood shall be upon them so just in case it wasn't clear what he what God wants them or wants to happen to these two sodomites he says their blood shall be upon them okay that means they need to die they need to be killed okay so if you think well sodomites should not be killed so I might not be executed then you just don't believe what the Bible says because that's what God commanded okay if you think well I think you know they should be given a chance I think you know sodomy isn't a sin I think you know that they can still be saved or whatever again you're just not believing what the Bible says this is not a matter of interpretation it's a matter of whether you believe it or not okay Jesus said he that is of God hearth God's words ye therefore hear them not because you're not of God I hope this video helps people out there who are just you know stuck in this stage of just denying the Bible and just hiding behind this whole thing of interpreting it differently the point of this is hopefully to help some people realize maybe you're just not saved because you don't believe the Bible now here's the thing we have to believe on Jesus Christ to be saved but the Bible says that the word was made flesh and dwelt among us Jesus Christ is the Word of God and Jesus said if you don't hear what God's words say it's because you're not of God so you do not belong to God you have been not been born again you are not a child of God if you deny what the Bible says if I show you the Bible says you know Jesus wept and you say well I don't think Jesus ever wept I think Jesus never cried I think Jesus was you know you know this this false idea of this world that men always have to just never be emotional if you think that's who Jesus was for example just as an example you're just don't believe the Bible I don't believe you're saved because you're rejecting the Word of God okay so and also you know if you can't understand a clear statement where it's just well this is what the words on the page say then maybe you don't have the Holy Spirit again maybe you're not saved so consider these things and also if you are saved if you know for sure if you do believe it and you're just maybe struggling because you have a background well you know my background is I believe this this is the church I grew up in but maybe you have trusted Jesus Christ alone as your Savior maybe you are saved maybe you are going to heaven when you die but you need to start interpreting the Bible well first of all you know not interpreting things that of what the Bible clearly says if it says what it says just believe it but then other things that are a little bit harder to understand when you interpret it use it according to biblical principles like like again comparing spiritual with spiritual looking at the context don't just you know just believe whatever you hear you know you have to study it you have to actually read it and interpret it wisely pray unto God pray that the Holy Spirit will reveal those things unto you so hopefully this video helps hopefully this this makes sense everything I was saying today again I don't really have much preparation for this video it's kind of impromptu like I said it's been a while since I made one just had some time to kill today so I was like okay might as well do this so yeah hopefully I can make some more videos in the future sometime in the next few weeks or whatever I do have some plans for things last time I made a video I'd moved into a new house and now I'm in a different house actually I'm watching my friend who's out of the country and house-sitting his house in the moment so yeah so I've got this all to myself so I got plenty of time or not playing time but plenty of opportunities I don't have you know no distractions or anything or I can make videos like this so thank you ready for watching God bless you and have a nice day