Letting Scripture Interpret Scripture
When a passage puzzles you, the rest of the Bible is the best commentary you own.
Every honest reader of the Bible eventually reaches a passage that is hard to understand. Sometimes the difficulty is cultural, a custom or phrase that made perfect sense three thousand years ago and puzzles us now. Sometimes it seems to be a contradiction, where one verse appears to say the opposite of another. And sometimes the passage is simply deep, and we feel we are standing at the edge of something too large to take in.
The apostle Peter felt this about Paul's letters. He wrote that in them "are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16). If an apostle found some passages difficult, we should not be discouraged when we do.
Christians through the centuries have relied on one principle above all others for handling hard texts. Scripture is its own best interpreter. The clearer passages help us understand the less clear ones.
Why This Principle Works
The Bible was written by around forty human authors over many centuries, in different languages and settings. Yet it claims a single divine Author. Paul writes, "All scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16). The phrase means that Scripture is "God-breathed."
If one Author stands behind all of it, then the Bible will not finally contradict itself. That does not mean every tension is easily resolved. It means that when two passages seem to pull against each other, we hold them together and keep studying, instead of picking the one we like and discarding the other.
It also means that God has often explained Himself. Many Old Testament passages are explained in the New, and many hard sayings in one book are clarified by plain statements in another.
Faith and Works: A Classic Example
Paul writes, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law" (Romans 3:28). James writes, "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only" (James 2:24). On the surface these look like direct opposites.
Read each in its setting and with the rest of Scripture, and the picture comes into focus. Paul is answering people who thought they could earn God's acceptance by keeping the law. He insists that we are declared righteous by trusting Christ, and never by our record. James is answering people who claimed to have faith while showing no change in their lives. He insists that real faith always shows itself in action. "Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone" (James 2:17).
Paul agrees. Right after saying we are saved "by grace... through faith... not of works" (Ephesians 2:8–9), he adds, "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Ephesians 2:10). Paul and James are fighting different errors with the same truth. We are saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone.
Start With What Is Clear
When you meet a difficult passage, begin with what the Bible says plainly and repeatedly. Some things Scripture teaches so often and so clearly that no obscure verse can overturn them. God is holy. Salvation is by grace. Jesus is Lord. Love for God and neighbor sums up the law.
A reader who builds a large doctrine on one unusual verse, while ignoring dozens of clear ones, is building on sand. Jesus Himself models the better way. When Satan tempted Him by quoting a psalm out of context, Jesus answered, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God" (Matthew 4:7). Satan had quoted Scripture. Jesus answered with more Scripture, allowing one passage to keep another from being misused.
Tools That Help
A few simple practices make this principle part of ordinary Bible reading.
Use cross-references. Most Bibles list related passages in the margin or center column. When a verse puzzles you, follow those references and see where else the same idea appears.
Trace key words. A concordance or Bible app lets you find every place a word such as "grace," "covenant" or "redeem" is used. Seeing a word across many settings helps you understand its full meaning.
Read whole books. Hard passages often become clearer when you read the entire book in one or two sittings. The flow of the argument explains what an isolated verse cannot.
Read with the church. God has given teachers to His people (Ephesians 4:11–12). Faithful pastors, sound commentaries and the long witness of believers who studied before us are gifts. They do not replace Scripture, but they help us read it well.
Humility Before the Text
There will still be passages you cannot fully explain. That is no reason for alarm. Moses told Israel, "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law" (Deuteronomy 29:29).
God has not told us everything, but He has told us enough. When we cannot resolve a question, we can hold it with patience, keep reading and trust that the God who spoke is wiser than our understanding. Meanwhile, we obey what is clear.
A hard passage is often an invitation. It slows us down, sends us back into the rest of Scripture and teaches us to depend on God for understanding. The reader who lets the Bible explain itself will find, over time, that its many voices sing one song, and that the song is about Christ.
