2 Peter 1:20

[Little_Mary]

Does this verse mean that no one is to personally interpret scripture for themselves?

OR

Does it mean that scripture has in it no personal interpretation of its authors, only what the Holy Spirit inspired them to write?

Thanks…

 

[Cachonga]

I have always understood this to mean that the Scriptures were inspired by God, not by man’s own understanding or wisdom. It really does need to be read in context, not just the single verse (which I have heard used to “prove” that we should not rely on our own “private” interpretation).

Pax!

 

[thistle]

Does this verse mean that no one is to personally interpret scripture for themselves?

OR

Does it mean that scripture has in it no personal interpretation of its authors, only what the Holy Spirit inspired them to write?

Thanks…

D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 20. No prophecy of the scripture is made by private interpretation; or, as the Protestants translate it from the Greek, is of any private interpretation, i.e. is not to be expounded by any one’s private judgment or private spirit. (Witham) — The Scriptures cannot be properly expounded by private spirit or fancy, but by the same spirit wherewith they were written, which is resident in the Church.

 

[Little_Mary]

Thank you thistle. Succinctly put.

 

[COPLAND_3]

Does this verse mean that no one is to personally interpret scripture for themselves?

OR

Does it mean that scripture has in it no personal interpretation of its authors, only what the Holy Spirit inspired them to write?

Thanks…

Also St. Bede says, “Just as the prophets wrote not their own words but God’s words, so also the reader of them cannot use his own private interrpetation, lest he deviate from the true meaning, but he ought to pay careful attention to how the writer wished his words to be understood.”

 

[TimothyH]

Half the problem is all the different versions out there.

**Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. (NIV)

Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, (NAB)

First of all, you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, (RSV-2CE)

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (KJV)**At least one version says “came about by” while others say “Is a matter of” and yet others say “is of any”. I just shurg my shoulders thank God that we have been given an authoritative Church to figure this all out.

-Tim-

 

[TimothyH]

Phillip and the Etheopian Eunich came to mind…

Then the angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, “Get up and head south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza, the desert route.” So he got up and set out. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury, who had come to Jerusalem to worship, and was returning home. Seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. The Spirit said to Philip, “Go and join up with that chariot.” Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?” He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him. … Then Philip opened his mouth and, beginning with this scripture passage, he proclaimed Jesus to him. (Acts8:26-31,35)

Note that the Etheopian was reading the prophetic work of Isaiah, did not understand it and wished to be instructed. Phillip was sent by God though an angel to instruct the Etheopian. I’m unusre if Philip in this passage was the Apostle or the deacon from Acts 6. What is clear is that he was a member of the clergy, having either walked with Jesus himself and been at the last supper as an Apostle or having been ordained through the prayer of the Apostles and laying on of hands in Acts 6:6.

When viewed in light of 1 Peter 20, it seems to be a pretty clear example of the Church intepretating scripture authoritatively in accord with God’s command. At a minimum, even if the injunction against personal interpretation of scripture applies only to prophetic works in the Bible, the precident for the existence of some interperative authority has at least been set.

-Tim-

 

[TimothyH]

You know, as I think more about Acts 8, I realize that it wasn’t so much that the Ethiopian couldn’t understand the passage, it’s just that he didn’t know whom Isaiah was talking about.

It took Philip to reveal to the Ethiopian that the passage he was reading was about Jesus.

I’m guessing here that 1 Peter 20 may have something to do with revelation (not the book) as well as interpretation. I’m also guessing that there might have been people who claimed that Old Testament prophecy was not about Jesus or that Jesus was not a fulfillment of OT prophecy and the statement was to combat those heresies.

Very interesting to meditate on…

-Tim-

 

[COPLAND_3]

I just shurg my shoulders thank God that we have been given an authoritative Church to figure this all out.

-Tim-

Exactly! The Bible is a product of the Catholic Church that is led by the Holy Spirit. Going to the Church for the answers for the apparent obscurities of the Bible only makes sense. Otherwise if we go anywhere else we rely either on our own flawed perceptions or on others flawed perceptions. Protestants rely on the thoughts that oppose the Church that Christ established, which is relying on the wrong foundation right from the get go, and then those thoughts provide as many interpretations as there are interpreters, which all conflict with eachother.

 

[JRRTFAN]

Half the problem is all the different versions out there.

**Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. (NIV)

Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, (NAB)

First of all, you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, (RSV-2CE)

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. (KJV)**At least one version says “came about by” while others say “Is a matter of” and yet others say “is of any”. I just shurg my shoulders thank God that we have been given an authoritative Church to figure this all out.

-Tim-

The one version that said “came about by” is the Evangelical NIV and the reason it says that is the other versions contradict the Evangelical proposition of the perspicacity of scripture (it is easlily and evidently understood by any and all). They can’t have the other versions because those support the necessity of a magisterium.