Principle 7

HERMENEUTICS

PRINCIPLE 7

Avoid Confusion Between Truth and the Inspired Record

This principle is very similar to our previous sub-principle, The Narrative Is Subject to the Didactic.  When we interpret the Bible it’s important to distinguish between biblical doctrine (what the Bible teaches) and the biblical record (what the Bible recorded). In some passages, the Holy Spirit inspired authors to write down the accounts of people who were acting or speaking sinfully. Biblical characters didn’t always make the best decisions or give truthful statements! Let’s look at a few examples of this principle:

Acts 12:11-16

“Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!” When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”
“You’re out of your mind!” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.” Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed.”

In this passage, Peter had been in prison. The Christians were gathered together to pray for his release. While they were praying, an angel released Peter from prison. When Peter went to the home where the Christians were praying, they didn’t believe it was really Peter! Instead, they said, “It must be his angel,” probably thinking it was his guardian angel.

Question: Can we use Acts 12:15 as a proof-text for teaching about guardian angels?

Answer: No, because we want to avoid confusion between “truth” and the “inspired record.”

This passage is the inspired account of what these people thought about guardian angels. These early Christians may or may not have been doctrinally correct in what they thought about guardian angels. For doctrine about guardian angels we would need to go instead to teaching passages, such as Hebrews 1:14 or Psalm 91:11, where the inspired writers make truthful statements about angels.

Distinguishing between biblical doctrine and biblical accounts of events is especially important when we’re dealing with lies in the Bible. No, the Bible does not lie, but it does record the account of people telling lies.

1 Samuel 31:1-6; 2 Samuel 1:5-10

In 1 Samuel 31 we have the record of the death of King Saul. It appears that King Saul committed suicide when he was fatally injured in battle. However, in 2 Samuel 1 an Amalekite claimed that he had killed Saul. Is this a contradiction in the Bible? No, we must let Scripture interpret Scripture. The best way to harmonize these passages is simply to acknowledge that the Amalekite was lying, presumably to gain favor with King David. The Bible is not lying; it is recording an account in which a man lied.

We often practice this principle instinctively. For example, when we read things that were spoken by the Pharisees in Scripture, we’re aware that they often lied. Even the disciples said things that we know are not true—not because they were lying, but because they did not yet understand (see John 9:1-3).

Job

Our last example is from the book of Job. Most of this book is the inspired record or account of conversations between Job and his three friends. Job’s friends reasoned that all suffering is the result of sin, therefore Job is suffering because he had sinned. But their logic was wrong! At the end of the book, God corrected them and vindicated Job (Job 42:7-8).

Therefore, we must be careful when we quote Job’s friends. In their concert of suffering, some of the things they said were true, but some other things they said were definitely incorrect. Although this book contains the record of their logic and their statements, we must not use it as doctrinal truth.

We must avoid confusion between doctrinal truth and the inspired record.