In the Bible, the Lord speaks to men, so knowing how to interpret it properly is very important. In this way, we will be able to understand what God wanted to manifest to us through these scriptures.
In order to properly interpret the Bible, hermeneutics is required, a science aimed at biblical study and interpretation.
In this you can find methods, tools and more that help to interpret the texts in an appropriate way so as not to depart from what God really wanted to communicate.
Then you will be able to know some of the principles of hermeneutics, which will allow you to interpret the Bible correctly and very easily. Among these it is worth highlighting:
Read the Bible looking at Jesus
The Bible focuses primarily on Jesus and his gospel. The entire text refers to Jesus and how God creates the world and humanity.
Jesus is the greatest key to biblical understanding, no part of the texts, not even the Old Testament can be properly understood without connecting it to the work of Christ.
Therefore, the Bible should be read looking at Jesus. It is common for us to get lost in the details of the Bible and its various stories.
If this happens, you can always ask yourself: How does the life, death and resurrection of Jesus influence this text? How is this text related to Jesus?
Try to understand what the authors originally wanted to say
For this, the meaning of a specific text must be sought about what its words manifest in the historical context in which they were written.
To understand a text properly, it is recommended to have some information on hand that allows the reader to get closer to the context.
For example, who was the author, what personal experiences he had, to whom he wanted to direct the writing, under what circumstances he did it, for what purpose, among others.
By applying these principles to the Bible, interpreting the text is much easier.
Try to interpret the writing before looking for applications for it
A mistake that occurs with relative frequency is to read the Bible and immediately look for what God tries to say or find promises for those who read. Doing so is a mistake if you do not interpret what the author really wanted to communicate to the readers.
Ignoring its original purpose involves distorting the text, since its interpretation can be far from the original intention of the writer.
It can even go so far as to contradict it. So, before looking for an application to a biblical text, ask yourself what the writer meant by it.
Interpretation is based on discovering and understanding what is the original meaning that the author tried to give to a specific writing. On the other hand, the application of it are the teachings that we can use in our lives from it.
Therefore, in order to apply a biblical text to our lives, we must first interpret it correctly.
If our interpretation is not correct, we will end up confusing the meaning of the Bible.
As you read, you can put into practice the steps outlined above, always asking yourself what the writers wanted to manifest, analyzing the teachings before applying them, and always focusing on Christ.