There’s one use of the phrase “just your interpretation” that implies that no interpretation is better than any other. This is often used by people who have no idea how a particular text should be interpreted, but nonetheless feel like rejecting your interpretation in particular. Either they think all interpretations are equal–a common idea these days–or they are just tool lazy or uninterested to bother to check. (I wrote about this some time ago on my Threads blog.
But today I’m writing about the opposite use — the idea that you can get past opinions and interpretations to something that is just “what God’s word says.” For example, this morning a reader named Bryon commented on a post on tithing, and began thus:
In regards to tithing, the question is not what is someone’s opinion or interpretation of Malachi 3:10
. The question is what does the Word of God say about Malachi 3:10
(I’ll provide him a link in my reply to his comment, so he can respond here..)
Now it happens that I agree with most of the interpretations and opinions contained in his post, but they are his opinions of how to interpret those passages and apply them. My agreement is my opinion as well. There’s nothing wrong with interpreting or with having opinions.
Some people think that claiming something is just God’s word is a matter of humility. If you attribute it to God then you’re not claiming authority for your own opinion. I happen to disagree. It is my opinion that not taking credit for your own interpretations and opinions is really rather arrogant. They are still your opinions; now you’re just letting people think that somehow God is speaking directly through your words.
For example, Malachi 3:10 does not tell us whether tithing applies to Christians or not. Clearly it is addressed to the Jewish people after the exile, but there are other commands that are addressed to specific groups of people that many, many Christians believe apply to everyone everywhere. Determining the person(s) to whom a command applies is a matter of interpretation.
Now my opinion is that Bryon is right and this command applied to Israel at the time and stewardship is different for Christians. But that remains my opinion of how the text should be interpreted.