Interpreting Scripture: Our Greek-ness is Showing

By David Ryser

Anamorphosis (noun): A distorted image that only takes its proper form when viewed from exactly the right angle or in an “unconventional” way.

The mother shooed her two young boys outside on a beautiful spring morning.  These active tots had been cooped up in the house for several days, and they were about to drive mom crazy.  She thought that some time outdoors would be good for them…and for her.  As the boys played outside, she busied herself inside the house…enjoying the peace and quiet.  After what seemed like only a few minutes had passed, she could hear the boys yelling at one another.  She went outside and began to scold the boys for fighting.  The older boy looked up at her, confused.

“But we weren’t fighting, mommy,” he said.  “We were playing Church.”

There are more than 30,000 Protestant denominations.  All are agreed that salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  And all agree that the Scripture is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice.  So why are there so many denominations?

Because they can’t agree on what the Scripture says.

And their disagreement over what the Bible says is not caused by a lack of biblical scholarship.  The Bible has been translated into virtually every language on earth.  In an effort to make the meaning of the scriptures clearer, several modern-language versions of the Bible have been marketed within the last 50 years.  Bible Colleges and Seminaries number in the hundreds of thousands.  Some of the most brilliant minds in the world have dedicated their lives to biblical archaeology and language study.  There are strict rules for biblical study to assist the believer in the search for a deeper understanding of spiritual truth.

We have all of the tools.  We are not stupid.  So why can’t we agree on what the Bible says?

One problem in western Christianity…and in those cultures unfortunate enough to have been influenced by western Christianity…is that we are Greeks.  And by this, I mean that our way of processing information has been greatly influenced by ancient Greek thought. All of us who have been raised and/or educated in a western culture…regardless of our ethnicity or heritage…think like Greeks.  And this can cause us some problems when we attempt to interpret the Bible.

Because God is not a Greek.

And when scriptures that are inspired by a non-Greek God…and written by non-Greek people, I might add…come in contact with the Greek mind, there will probably be some difficulty as a result.  Among other things, we Greeks believe that there is only one correct way to interpret any particular scripture and apply it to our lives.  We claim to be believers in objective truth (defined as that which is absolutely and universally true regardless of our encounter with it), but then interpret biblical truth through our own personal religious, cultural, societal, and experiential lenses.

Then we argue over which of these subjective interpretations is objectively correct.  That’s how we get more than 30,000 versions of the same truth.  Frankly, I’m surprised that there are so few.

When a verse or passage in the Bible lends itself to more than one interpretation, we Greeks seem unable to consider the possibility that both interpretations might be equally valid.  (If your head spun while reading that last sentence, then you just might be a Greek.)  Let us consider the following example:

In Matthew 13:44-46, Jesus speaks two short parables (or, more accurately, two similes) concerning the Kingdom of Heaven.  He tells about a pearl merchant who finds a pearl of great price and a man who finds a treasure in a field.  Both men sell all they have…the former to buy the pearl, and the latter to purchase the field...in order to obtain the treasure.

And now the argument begins.

Are we the man who finds the pearl/treasure (Jesus) and values Him so much that we give all we have to obtain Him?  Or is Jesus the man who finds the pearl/treasure (us) and values us so much that He pays the ultimate price to purchase us?  I have heard both versions preached as truth.

But they can’t both be true…can they?

Actually, they could both be equally true and valid.  I’ve had the Holy Spirit quicken both of these interpretations in my spirit at different times of my life.  I have been awestruck by the preciousness of Jesus and determined to obtain an intimate relationship with Him regardless of the cost because He is the only One who is worth what I will pay for Him.  And I have been brought to tears to know that He loves, cherishes, and values me so much that He would pay the ultimate price to invite me into the relationship that He and the Father & the Spirit have enjoyed from eternity past.

Both of these are true.  Both are consistent with the full teaching of Scripture.  Both have been a comfort and a blessing to me at different times in my life.  Jesus does not offer the definitive interpretation of these little parables/similes.

So which interpretation did Jesus have in mind?

I’m not convinced Jesus had any interpretation in mind when He spoke these words.  He always did what He saw the Father doing, and He always spoke what He heard the Father speaking.  I don’t know that Jesus needed much explanation or clarification before revealing the works and words of the Father.  If the Father was doing and/or saying something, that was good enough for Jesus.  Do you really think Jesus knew everything that was going to happen…and be taught…as the result of the Holy Spirit leading Him one day to look for figs on a tree when it was not the season for figs…and then to curse the tree when (duh!) there weren’t any figs on it?

Oh, please!

So now we are left to deal with differing interpretations of Matthew 13:44-46…and I assure you there are many more examples of this sort of thing in the Bible…and to decide which is the objective truth.  Or we can put aside our Greek-ness and give up on the idea of objective truth defined as a body of information and correct interpretation.  How about we simply adopt the Bible’s definition of objective truth?  According to the Bible, ultimate truth is a Person…Jesus Christ.  Then how about we let the Author of the scriptures quicken them to our hearts so that we see them in whatever light He wishes for us to see them at that particular moment?

This kind of subjectivity drives Greeks crazy.

But relationships are subjective by their very nature.  Some time ago, I was teaching a class attended by two sisters.  When the topic of subjectivity in relationships…including our relationship with God…came up, they shared their experience of their father.  One sister was the eldest child and was dutiful, respectful, and somewhat detached from her father.  The other sister was the baby of the family and had a much more familiar relationship with her father.  She called him by his first name and would often jump up into his lap and crawl all over him.  The elder sister would never dream of doing either of these things.  Both sisters felt loved and accepted by their father.  Both remember him fondly.  But listening to them talk about him, a person would think that they were speaking of two different men.

So which one was the real man?  Which was the real father?

Only a Greek would ask such questions.

Responses to this article are welcomed.  You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com