What Are the Main Reasons for Misunderstanding the Bible?

In the previous issue, we spoke about the right approach to the Bible and the ways of understanding its true meaning. In this issue, we will speak about misunderstanding, misinterpreting, and—whether consciously or unconsciously—distorting the meaning of God’s Written Word.

In our view, the first and most serious reason for misinterpreting Holy Scripture is our excessive self-confidence and even arrogant attitude. In our time, there are many individuals who decide for themselves what the Bible teaches in this or that passage. They not only “understand” Scripture, but they also regard their own “understanding” as divinely given and infallible. Moreover, there are even “specialist-professors of the Bible” who, by their own claim, understand Scripture better than the holy fathers of the Church and even the Lord’s apostles. Today, unfortunately, the multi-volume commentaries of such persons are taught in almost all theological institutions in the United States.

Such individuals lack or are deficient in two essential qualities:

A. A humble and modest approach necessary to rightly understand the Scriptures

B. A rejection of the importance of the Orthodox mind of the Church

We are deeply convinced that these two qualities are of vital importance, and the absence of either one, as a rule, leads to the misunderstanding of God’s Word.

To compare this modern attitude with the approach of the learned fathers of the Universal Church, we wish to quote the following conviction:

“If a man’s {span of} life were as many days as all the days of the world, from Adam until the end of the world, and he were to study the Scriptures, he would still not be able to grasp the full depth of the words.” (Aphrahat, 4th century)

Did Our Lord Jesus Christ Ever Speak About the Danger of Misunderstanding the Bible?

Yes. In one of His words directed toward the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus said:

“Is this not the reason you are mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?” (Mark 12:24)

In this passage, our Lord addressed not the uneducated or those ignorant of Scripture (though there were, and still are, such people who are unfamiliar with the Bible yet form opinions about it), but those who were considered experts in Scripture. Such persons, both then and now, think of themselves as knowledgeable about the Bible, yet in reality they are “mistaken” because they do not truly understand it.

These people ignore the centuries—and even millennia—of biblical teachings refined in the life of the Universal and Apostolic Church, dismissing them as unimportant. They often examine Scripture inappropriately, seeking its true meaning on their own and thus fall into error.

It is to such people that St. Gregory of Tatev, drawing on Proverbs 30:33, warns:

“Do not press God’s word too much {as one would press an animal for milk}, because if you continue to do so, {instead of milk} blood will come forth.” (Book of Sermons, Winter Volume, Sermon 21)

The prominent teacher continues his thought by explaining that there are parts of Scripture that are easily understood, parts that are difficult to access, and parts that must be respected in silence because they are beyond the comprehension of the human mind. This last idea is in its own way a reflection of the words of the Apostle Peter:

“First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” (2 Peter 1:20)

Thus, both the apostles and the holy teacher seek to warn us not to engage in arbitrary and self-made interpretation of the Divine Scriptures.

Hayk Madoyan

To be continued