11 Common Bible Interpretation Errors

With so many more people reading the Bible today, understanding of Scripture has greatly increased all over the world. But people are fallible, so errors in Bible interpretation have also increased. Here are 11 of the most common interpretation errors people make while reading the Bible today.

Interpretation error 1) Ignoring context

Context is by far the most important part of understanding any biblical passage. And ignoring context ranks first among all Bible interpretation errors. For many readers it’s natural to focus first on details and specific words. Studying the context takes a little time, but it’s the key to understanding the author’s intent.

Taking a single verse out of its context and using it to “prove” a point or a doctrine is called proof texting. Whole theologies have been constructed from a string of unrelated verses used as proof texts.

Context is especially important with obscure or difficult passages such as:

 “Jacob I loved but Esau I hated.” (Romans 9:13)

Without any context, this verse suggests that in biblical history God loved Jacob and hated Esau before they were born. Many readers today interpret this passage to mean God preselects certain individuals to be saved while rejecting all others.

But in Romans 9 Paul is discussing nations and not individuals. In Romans 9:6, his question is: “Did God’s promise to Abraham fail?” In other words, now that the Jews had rejected their Messiah, how would God fulfill his promise regarding his chosen nation, Israel? So, in verse 9:13 Paul is quoting Malachi 1, in which the prophet speaks of God’s love for Israel (represented by Jacob) and his rejection of Edom (represented by Esau, father of the Edomites). In context, God still loved Israel as his chosen nation, and in spite of their rebellious nature would still bring blessing to the world through them. And he hates any nation that fights against him and persecutes his people like Edom did historically. But God doesn’t “hate” all Edomites or the individuals of any nation for that matter.

Error 2) Assuming all Bible passages apply personally

The trend for most Bible readers today is to find an application to their personal lives. This is a noble goal, and usually worth pursuing. But the assumption that every verse always has a specific personal application is false. While most of Jesus’ teachings have principles we can glean from and apply to our lives, many have no personal application to the individual Christian.

The passage in Revelation 3 is one of the most misapplied in the Bible:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16)

Many readers (and even preachers) assume Jesus was addressing individual believers. But he gave this rebuke not to individuals but to the church at Laodicea. Groups of people are frequently addressed in Scripture. Jesus’ command was for the church to repent of being lukewarm. If they didn’t, Jesus would reject (disband) them. If Jesus was addressing us personally, we would have to conclude that believers can lose their salvation for being lukewarm. But other New Testament passages soundly refute this.

Another commonly misapplied verse is when Jesus told his disciples:

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit… (John 15:16)

Many people believe this refers to God choosing them personally as his beloved child. But on this occasion, Jesus was clearly choosing his 12 disciples for service, not choosing them or any other individuals for salvation (see also John 6:70).

Error 3) Interpreting biblical history as normative

The whole book of Acts and much of the gospels record history and not doctrine. These stories are intended to be read and interpreted as history, and not as teachings or commands for the Christian church.  But some believers see these historical events as normative for the Christian experience and seek to replicate them in their spiritual lives or in the church.

After Peter had preached to the Gentiles at Cornelius’ house, those who believed spoke in tongues (Acts 10:44-46). Some believers today interpret this as normative, that all believers will (or should) speak in tongues at their conversion. But Paul in 1 Corinthians 12 explicitly denies that all believers have this gift. Believers have also used the story in Acts 19:11-12 to support the use of “prayer cloths” as a tool for healing, but the Bible gives no such command.

The apostle Paul’s conversion to the faith and calling to apostleship were miraculous and impressive. Jesus confronted Paul on the road to Damascus and inducted him into his service (Acts 9: 1-18). But some believe Christ’s choice of Paul for his service provides an example of how God “chooses us to be his people.” However, God chose Paul in this way to set him apart for apostleship for the purpose of bringing the gospel to the Gentiles, not as a template for how people come to faith.

Just because God did something at one time doesn’t mean he does so for every believer in every case.

Error 4) Extrapolating beyond the text

One of the more common interpretation errors is to extrapolate from a biblical truth or verse and develop a doctrine based on human reasoning. This is chain-link theology, starting with a valid truth from Scripture, then building upon it with additional links using logic. Each link diverts further from the original biblical truth, making connections and associations that are not in Scripture. The end result is a misguided or highly debatable doctrine.

The Bible records that God occasionally brought “calamity” to the Israelites because of their rebellion:

Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.” (Nehemiah 13:18)

Some theologians wrongly conclude that since God brought calamity in those stories (link 1), and since he is sovereign (link 2), then he also orchestrates all human tragedies (link 3), all of which serve a specific purpose in our lives (link 4). Under this concept of God’s sovereignty, all earthly events are decreed and planned in advance by God, both good and bad. But that God judged a people using a natural disaster doesn’t prove that all natural disasters are judgments from God or even sent by God for some purpose.

Does God direct or create evil?

Other passages record how God “hardened the heart” of a king or ruler to fulfill a certain plan (Deuteronomy 2:30, Exodus 10:1). Some wrongly conclude from this that he also intentionally hardens people’s hearts so that they won’t turn to God.

Also, God sent the cruel and evil Babylonian army to punish Israel for their disobedience (Jeremiah 52). But that doesn’t mean all invasions of foreign armies are sent by God or that God “controls” all human actions and events.

We know that God can direct human affairs to accomplish specific plans. But it’s a great error to conclude that since he sometimes uses evil people, that he then “sovereignly” guides the actions of all people, including criminals, murderers, rapists, and thieves. This deterministic theology is unbiblical because it makes God complicit in evil. Humans sin but God doesn’t guide them to do so. God hates sin (Psalm 45:7, Isaiah 61:8) and doesn’t inspire or tempt anyone with evil (Isaiah 30:1, James 1:13-14).

Error 5) Embellishing Scripture

We embellish Scripture when we insert superlatives such as “always,” “never,” “all,” or “so” into a biblical text or concept when interpreting, teaching, or preaching. Many preachers do this to highlight a truth when expounding on a verse. This can sometimes be acceptable such as making “God is good” into “God is so good.” Both statements are true.

But embellishing can introduce error or entirely change the meaning. We would call this adding to Scripture, which is forbidden. For example, take the following verse:

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases…. (Psalm 103:2-3)

When teaching or preaching, it’s tempting to insert words so that the passage reads “and always heals all your diseases…” However, this would imply that God promises healing of every illness to every believer. This is clearly not true, since believers obviously get sick and eventually die.

Other examples of embellishing Scripture:

• Turning “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35) into:  “A true Christian will always love their brother.” Obviously false.
• Turning “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15) into: “A true believer will never love or be attracted to anything in the world.” Not true.

Error 6) Assuming all details of a parable have spiritual meanings

Jesus’ parables are hypothetical stories that illustrate a spiritual principle or lesson. Many of the details of these stories are not spiritually significant, as they only provide the setting for each story. Their purpose is not to introduce complex, mysterious meanings that have to be unraveled, as some believe.

Some early church leaders (and leaders today) have interpreted Jesus’ parables so that every element or character has a spiritual meaning. Augustine interpreted the parable of the Good Samaritan thusly: Adam was the man travelling down the road, the robbers were the devil, the priest was the law, the Levite was the prophets, and the Samaritan was Jesus. The inn was the church, the money paid was the promise of eternal life, and the innkeeper was the apostle Paul. Clearly Jesus never intended these highly speculative meanings. A plain reading of this parable teaches us that those who have compassion on the misfortunate are obeying God’s command to love their neighbor, regardless of their religious background.

The parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32) includes many details such as the pigs that the prodigal son had to feed, or the pods that the pigs were eating. These details are not spiritually significant but were added to paint a picture of the prodigal’s intense suffering.

In the parable of the shrewd manager (Luke 16:1-9), the 800 gallons of olive oil and 1000 bushels of wheat are not spiritually significant. And the numbers 800 and 1000 are not “biblical numbers” with special meaning. They are simply part of the story.

Many of Jesus’ parables taught principles that could be applied broadly, and to all people, not just believers (Mark 13:35-37).

Error 7) Negative inference fallacy

A negative inference fallacy is when a positive statement falsely infers a negative, or a statement that includes is falsely used to exclude. For example, the Israelites understood that God loved them as his chosen nation:

The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.  (Deuteronomy 7:6)

But many Jews erroneously concluded that since God loved them, he therefore didn’t love the Gentiles. This fueled discrimination and hatred of the Gentiles for centuries. But God’s positive affirmation of one group of people is not necessarily a negative judgment on another.

Another example is with the parable of the Good Shepherd:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep.” (John 10:11).

Some theologians mistakenly conclude that because Jesus died for his sheep (his people), then he didn’t die for anyone else. This has led to the doctrine of “limited atonement,” that Jesus didn’t sacrifice himself for all of humanity but only for those who believe in him. But 1 John 2:3 dispels any such notion.

Error 8) Assuming a passage uses a theological definition of a word

Christian words such as grace, justify, and salvation have great meaning in the Bible. But “theological” definitions of these words have developed over the years, based on church teachings or systematic theologies. A theological definition of a word assumes a theology, and most theologies have weaknesses. Some popular theological definitions are misleading or just wrong.

Sometimes it’s better to strip away the theological definition of a word and consider it in its simplest form. This can give us a much better understanding of the passages in which it’s used.

For example, grace in its simplest form means kindness and generosity. So, God’s grace is his kindness shown to all people. This is who he is, he is a kind and generous God. Related to salvation, God’s grace is his generous gift of eternal life offered to all through his Son Jesus Christ. But there are other passages where the word grace does not directly relate to salvation, for example:

We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. (Romans 12:6)

Grace in this sense means a generous spiritual gift.

Salvation

The words “save” and “salvation” are important words in the Bible. But save in its simplest form means to deliver or protect from harm. Theologically, salvation means deliverance from sin and from God’s anger against sin. The “saved” are forgiven by God and will not be punished along with the unrepentant. But not all passages use this theological definition. For example, take the following passage:

You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.  (Matthew 10:22)

In this context, Jesus warned his disciples they were sure to suffer persecution while preaching the gospel (Matthew 10:16-21), but God will protect and deliver them if they endure. This is clearly not about personal forgiveness or eternal salvation. If it were, then believers could lose their salvation by “not standing firm” while serving God.

Error 9) Assuming a Greek or Hebrew word always has the same definition or usage

Many Greek and Hebrew words in the Bible have multiple meanings, the intended meaning being determined by the context. Assuming words always have the same meaning can lead to interpretation errors. Sometimes the different meanings overlap but occasionally they are distinctly different. A Hebrew language example is the word yom which can mean a 24-hour day, a period of time, or daytime. Unfortunately, Bible teachers have been known to “pick and choose” meanings that best fit their theology.

The Greek word apollumi can mean to be ruined, to perish, to be lost, or be destroyed. In the context of materials or food, it means “ruined,” as in the parable of the wineskins:

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined [apollumi]. (Mark 2:22)

In the parable of the lost sheep, apollumi means lost (Luke 15:3-7). But in the context of people, it means to die (Matthew 8:25) or to perish (John 3:16). And in the context of God’s judgment, it means death by destruction:

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy [apollumi] both soul and body in hell.  (Matthew 10:28)

If the meaning “ruined” is assumed in passages dealing with hell and eternal judgment, then judged souls would simply be ruined or damaged. But many New Testament passages affirm the final judgment of the wicked will be severe, complete, and irreversible, not just inflict damage.

Error 10) Assuming a translated word always has the same usage 

Assuming that a word in a Bible translation always has the same usage is common among interpretation errors. For example, the English word chosen is used frequently in English New Testament versions. The following verse clearly refers to Jesus choosing his closest disciples:

Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (John 6:70)

But in 1 Peter, chosen is used in an entirely different way:

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.  (1 Peter 2:9)

Here chosen uses the Old Testament language of “God’s chosen nation” to refer to the Church as a whole. Peter is saying that God chose a people out of the world for the purpose of spreading his light and message to the world. Note that neither of these passages has anything to do with individual or personal salvation.

In most English Bibles, three Greek words are translated as hell: Hades, Tartarus, and Gehenna. They each have different meanings and origins, so do your own research to discover what they mean.

Error 11) Assuming the worst

It’s an unfortunate fact that some people think of God in mostly negative terms: distant, angry, austere, impatient, and demanding. Unsurprisingly, this leads them to assume the worst about God when reading the Bible. Take the passage where Jesus answers his disciples:

His disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, “‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.'” (Luke 8:9-10)

Assuming the worst would be thinking that the words “so that” mean Jesus doesn’t want these others to understand the gospel and be saved. But a parallel passage in Matthew clarifies this, where Jesus quotes Isaiah:

‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’  (Matthew 13:14-15)

It’s not that Jesus doesn’t want them to understand and believe, since God desires to save all people (2 Peter 3:9). It’s that the meaning of his parables will be hidden from those who deliberately harden their hearts against God’s Word. This obscures their spiritual vision, and as a result, God will give them less and less understanding with time.

Take also the following passage:

 No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.  (Matthew 11:27)

Assuming the worst would be thinking God unilaterally and mysteriously chooses who gets to know him and then intentionally excludes everyone else. But the previous verse 11:25 provides context, where Jesus says that the Father reveals his truth to “little children.” In other words, those to whom God reveals himself are those who are humble, teachable, and trusting like young children trust their parents.

Final thoughts

Let’s not just be readers of the Bible. And let’s not just accept popular beliefs or long-held church doctrines. Let’s diligently apply ourselves to studying God’s Word using sound interpretation methods. Especially with difficult or uncertain passages, let’s avoid making assumptions that lead to Bible interpretation errors.

Sound theology honors context, rejects unproven assumptions, and affirms God’s goodness. As we observe these principles, our diligent study will deepen our understanding of Scripture and bear eternal fruit.

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