Monday, May 11, 2009

"You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:4).

"What will they do who are baptized for the dead if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?" (1 Corinthians 15:29).

IDEA: Misinterpreted or misapplied passages of Scripture have different degrees of consequences.

PURPOSE: To help listeners appreciate the dangers of reading a meaning into a passage rather than getting the meaning out of a passage.

When someone says, "You can prove anything from the Bible!" is that person right?

Why may different readers interpret the biblical text in different ways and come up with different meanings?

We often misinterpret a biblical text because we speak to it rather than letting it speak to us.

I. Some people "read into" a passage what they think it should mean or what they want it to mean.

Galatians 5:4 states that ". . . you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace."

An evangelist wanted to warn his hearers about sinning after they had been saved and he declared that it is perfectly possible to lose your salvation and this verse clearly teaches that.

What do you think the passage meant?

Could this misinterpretation have serious consequences in people's lives?

II. An Irish Elder in a Brethren assembly quoted a poem to a young man going out to preach: "Wonderful things in the Bible I see / most of them put there by you and me."