What does Bible say about how to interpret?

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Writer_for_God

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Hi,
I am wondering if there are any passages in the Bible that say how to interpret the Bible?
Been thinking about how to interpret the Bible and wondered considering some consider the Bible the only source of spiritual authority, where in the Bible does it say how to interpret the Bible?
Are there any prominent Bible passages that deal with interpretation?
Thanks.
God bless all here. Amen.
 
we have Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition
Sacred Tradition now tells us that Exegesis and Hermeneutics are good to use for Biblical Interpretation.
 
Acts 8:30-31

30

Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

31

He replied, “How can I, unless someone instructs me?” So he invited Philip to get in and sit with him.
 
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Holy Mother Church instructs us as to the meaning of Scripture.
 
@Writer_for_God

I’m not sure that there are any verses that speak specifically on how to interpret the Bible. First off, there was no New Testament Scriptures in the form of the Bible as we now know it during the first four centuries of the Church. That being said, St. Peter speaks of reading Paul’s(?) letters carefully because they are hard to understand. Someone above mentioned Acts and St. Paul writes to Timothy that the “Church is the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (I may not have quoted this correctly but you can find it in 1 Timothy 3:15)

Catholics and Orthodox have maintained Apostolic Tradition throughout the centuries. We us this Tradition to guide how we interpret the Scriptures. Inspired of course, however, the Scriptures were never meant to be put into a hotel dresser so that someone would pick it up and have a come to Jesus moment. They were put together for use during the Liturgy. This is were we have a special encounter with God, this coming together of Heaven and earth.

ZP
 
2 Corinthians 3:
4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;
6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
 
The Catechism offers instructions:

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT, INTERPRETER OF SCRIPTURE

109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.75

110 In order to discover the sacred authors’ intention , the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression."76

111 But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written."77

The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it.78

[112] 1. Be especially attentive “to the content and unity of the whole Scripture” . Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God’s plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover.79

The phrase “heart of Christ” can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted.80

[113] 2. Read the Scripture within “the living Tradition of the whole Church” . According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church’s heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God’s Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture (". . . according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church"81).

[114] 3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith .82 By “analogy of faith” we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.

The senses of Scripture

115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.
 
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  1. The allegorical sense . We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian Baptism.84
  2. The moral sense . The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written “for our instruction”.85
  3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge , “leading”). We can view realities and events in
[116] The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."83

[117] The spiritual sense . Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
  1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian Baptism.84
  2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written “for our instruction”.85
  3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, “leading”). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.86
118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:

The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.87

[119] "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgement. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God."88

“But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.89”
 
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A joke, but I think there is some truth in it.

A Jewish atheist went to the rabbi and said, if you can recite all the scripture whilst standing on one leg, then I will come back to the synagogue.

The rabbi lifted one leg and said, hear o Israel the Lord your God is One. You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind soul and strength and love your neighbour as yourself. All the rest is commentary.

All the law and the prophets of God hang and depend on the greatest commandments.
 
Hi, Writer,

If you’re interested, there are some very good Catholic Bible guides available from Amazon at reasonable prices.
 
the history of scripture is not the same as interpretation of spirtual knowledge, what specifically do you refer your question.
 
I apologize for the fact that my question was kind of ironic. If the Bible is the only authority on spiritual matters, then only Scripture can be used to know how to interpret Scripture. But then how would you know how to interpret those Scriptures which talk about how to interpret Scripture.
My question was kind of ironic in intent. But I am interested in Bible passages that discuss how Scripture is interpreted. I am interested in any documents that are sound in terms of how to interpret Scripture.
 
writer for God, are you forgetting sacred tradition. We are Catholic, not protestant.

I suggested you look into Exegesis and Hermeneutics,. thats how the church interprets scripture
 
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