Interpeting Scripture

[James_2_24]

I recently went to a Protestant seminar where the Pastor there was putting his own interpretation on many, many Bible verses.

When I objected to this at the end of the seminar my friend said that there are only a handful of verses in the Bible that the Catholic Church says MUST be interpreted a certain way – so in essence he said that even Catholics privately intrepret 98-99% of the Bible.

Any thoughts?

 

[pnewton]

I recently went to a Protestant seminar where the Pastor there was putting his own interpretation on many, many Bible verses.

When I objected to this at the end of the seminar my friend said that there are only a handful of verses in the Bible that the Catholic Church says MUST be interpreted a certain way – so in essence he said that even Catholics privately intrepret 98-99% of the Bible.

Any thoughts?

You are correct. However to say that Catholics can interpret the Bible privately does not open the flood gates to anything. First, interpreting the Bible must be in line with revealed truth. For all Christians, this means that the Bible can not be self-contradictory. For Catholics, it also means that one can not interpret the Bible contrary to revealed dogma. For example, one can not use the appearance of “the brothers of the Lord” as evidence that Mary had other children.

Finally, and this is something many Protestant preachers miss, one must not be intellectually dishonest to make a point. It is imprortant to read out of scripture, not into it. I have a Bible in my possession called the “Open Bible”. In it is a huge section of cross-references and indexing by topic. The only problem is that often the verse that is referenced is not intended to address the topic. Only one with a preconceived notion would see the meaning intended.

All Cathloics should read their Bible. It is important, though, to realize we have had centuries of scholarship developing Catholic doctrine. For an individual reader to find a verse that he thinks goes against Church teaching and the myriad of theologians that have come before is an arrogance of the highest order.

The critical role of scripture reading is spiritual edification and applying what we read to our daily lives.