Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter wrote:
“[Paul] writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16)
Who is Peter’s audience in this case? We find this in the opening verse of the book:
“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:” (2 Peter 1:1)
Peter was writing to believers who had received a faith that was of equal standing to his own. He tells his readers that there are some things in Paul’s letters and other scriptures that are difficult to understand. He also points out exactly who is having trouble understanding them. Notice that he didn’t name non-believers, or the evildoers, or the ungodly or those who don’t pray to the Holy Spirit for wisdom and enlightenment. He said “ignorant and unstable” people.
This is a much bigger group of people that we realize at first. After all, how many of us are not ignorant of scripture in some ways? How many of us can read the original Hebrew or Greek or understand the Aramaic idioms that were used by the Jewish people in the first century? How many of us have degrees in scripture study, and even if we did, would that alone bring us to any better understanding of what the Bible is trying to tell us? Not likely – even those with advanced degrees, who have studied scripture for most of their lives, do not agree on what certain passages mean. How then can the ordinary person understand what the Bible really says about the truth?
Still, we tend to give ourselves the benefit of the doubt, don’t we? Surely, Peter could not have been referring to us? Well, consider this: do you think any of the people Peter was referring to ever said to themselves, “Hey, I’m ignorant and unstable. I think I’ll twist the scriptures to my own destruction”? No! These people were ignorant of the true meaning of scripture, but they didn’t realize it. They were ignorant of the fact that they were ignorant!
However, they were not ignorant of the words of scripture – what it says – they were just ignorant of what it really means. The truth is they thought they had the most accurate interpretation of scripture – that’s why they were distorting and twisting it to their own destruction. They didn’t need anyone to tell them what Paul’s letters or other scriptures really meant – they were sure they already knew because they thought they could interpret scripture for themselves!
This ought to cause some serious reflection among some people in our own day and age. But some will ask, “Is this really true? Are we not able to come to some personal understanding of the Bible when we read it?” Well, what more does the Word of God have to say about personal interpretation of scripture? In the same letter, Peter, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, had this to say:
“Know this first of all that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:20)
From all of these passages, we see that the idea that everyone can read and interpret scripture for themselves – that everyone can decide for themselves what is and is not truth or what are and are not correct doctrines – is not scriptural. Nowhere in scripture does it say that we can simply pick it up and read it on our own and be guaranteed that we will understand what we read correctly. Nowhere does the Bible tell us that the Holy Spirit will guide every individual into an infallible understanding of each and every verse.
Of course, Protestants don’t *really *believe that all you need to do is read scripture and pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit, either. Otherwise, why would they send so many of their pastors to study at seminary? Can a seminary teach them anything that the Holy Spirit can’t? No. They recognize, however, that personal interpretation of the Bible can lead to misunderstanding of the Word of God – even to destruction. Therefore, guidance is necessary. So, where do we find a guide that can teach us the accurate interpretation of scripture regarding truth?
The Bible is very clear: we need truth to be saved, but the Bible is also very clear that we cannot get this truth from reading the Bible alone. We need someone to instruct us or to guide us to understand what the Bible says about the truth.
