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There are five points we must examine about ourselves as interpreters: faith, illumination, qualification, humility, and awareness. Which of these five do you believe has the greatest influence on you as you interpret a Bible passage? How does it help you when you interpret a passage? How does it hinder you?
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I am afraid that I need more humility as I work to interpret scripture. I come with many preconceived ideas about the content of scripture and I need to put those aside so that I can look at what the original author meant.
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With any study and learning, we must be able and willing to replace that which we already know to be correct. Without the humility to revise that which we previously knew to be true, we can never truly learn anything.
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I believe it is humility because we need to humbleoursleves before the Lord and accept that we do not know all the answers. And ask him for understanding.
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I think humility is the largest one I need to keep in mind. I have grown up reading the Bible and being taught things from the Bible all my life in church and christian school. I think this pre-assumption I have that I know the Bible well already, becomes a crutch where I then forget to pause and do needed interpretation steps before seeking to understand it. It can be helpful sometimes because I do come to a passage or book with more insight at times, but also still need to pause and use other steps of interpretation without rushing to a pre-made conclusion.
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Often I think awareness of my own pre-understandings can be the most important. If I’m coming to Scripture leaning into my own understandings and not God’s, surely I will misunderstand or misinterpret. That often means putting God in a box to fit my limited understanding and not allowing Scripture to be living.