Interpreting the Bible (Pt.1)
What is your gut feeling about this verse from the Bible?
"If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him…Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid." (Deuteronomy 21:18-19,21)
At first glance, this verse is shocking. For many modern readers, it raises serious moral questions. Most Christians today don’t take their rebellious teenagers to be stoned—thankfully. In fact, passages like this are often skipped over in Bible reading plans or quickly brushed off as “just cultural” or “from a different time.”
But in some parts of the world, especially where legal systems are influenced by strict religious codes, verses like this might be taken more literally and seriously. That raises an important question: How should we understand difficult parts of the Bible like this?
Interpreting the Bible
Interpreting the Bible is central to engaging with it. For thousands of years, people have read and re-read Scripture in different ways. Today, there’s a helpful framework known as the "Senses of Scripture" that outlines different ways we can understand the Bible:
Literal: Taking the words at face value, clear and concise.
Figurative: Seeing the words as symbolic or pointing to deeper truths.
Tropological (Moral): Drawing lessons about right and wrong behavior.
Anagogical. (Spiritual): Interpreting the text as revealing something about spiritual realities.
Some people argue that one approach is better than the rest. In many churches today, there's a common idea that taking the Bible literally = taking it seriously. On the flip side, some secular thinkers see the Bible only as allegory, ignoring any literal meaning altogether. But this kind of either/or thinking oversimplifies the Bible’s depth. The truth is, all these lenses are tools—they help us unpack meaning, not limit it.
Of all the approaches, literal interpretation is often the weakest on its own—especially when it lacks context. For example, if you take the verse in Deuteronomy literally, you’re left with huge questions: Why such a harsh punishment? Was this ever actually enforced? What was the cultural or legal system at the time?
This is where historical and cultural context becomes essential. The ancient world was a very different place, and many laws in the Old Testament were about preserving order, community, and survival in a tribal society. Laws like this were likely extreme warnings—more symbolic than regularly practiced.
Context also explains how dangerous literal readings can become without deeper understanding. When Martin Luther translated the Bible into German in 1534, many ordinary people read it for the first time. One result was that groups like the Iconoclasts took verses about “no idols” literally and began destroying religious art in churches. The issue wasn’t the Scripture—it was how it was interpreted.
In Part 2, we will look at how the senses of Scripture work when looking at a difficult passage.
Mackie, T. (2017, June 22). Writing Styles of the Bible & Why They’re Important to Understand. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUXJ8Owes8E&list=PLH0Szn1yYNedn4FbBMMtOlGN-BPLQ54IH&index=4
Wikimedia Foundation. (2025, April 24). Four Senses of Scripture. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_senses_of_Scripture
