Found on a professing Christian’s blog:

“Scripture is written word. It doesn’t become truth until it is read and interpreted. That interpretation is a personal opinion. To think that there is some sort of “universal” interpretation that does not rely on individual interpretation is naive. We only get close to that when the interpretations of many individuals all agree; then we can be fairly certain that we’ve hit upon a real truth. So, when I ask for your position, I’m asking for your interpretation of the Bible in order to see if it matches up with my interpretation. If we can agree on our interpretations, we’re closer to discovering the truth.”

When I first read that, I thought that perhaps by ‘truth’ the author was referring to our application of the truth already in scripture rather than ‘truth’ itself, as the words express. After explaining to the author that truth is already contained in scripture and interpretation is mostly about discovering the inherent truth, I received a distinct affirmation of the ridiculous assertion that God’s truth is indeed about our consensus of what we think it means, and that scripture is not truth until we decide what that truth is, and the larger the consensus the better.

This is not to say that every passage of scripture is perfectly clear to our human minds. We do need to study a bit – the context, other passages that speak about a topic/subject, and even consult outside research tools that aid in obtaining a more complete understanding of what we read. Indeed, as the author of the above quotation rightly asserts, we do need to be involved in reading and interpreting scripture.  Even when we are so involved, we need the Holy Spirit (our embedded instructor) to illuminate the inherent truth of scripture to our minds and hearts.

The matter at hand, is not whether scripture interpretation is needed, but whether or not the written word, the words in the Book, contain truth. 

I give you the words of Jesus shortly before his crucifixion:

“For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me.  .  .  .  I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. .  .  .  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” – John 17:8, 14, 17

Who among us believers would deny that Jesus spoke the very word of God to His followers? (I hope that’s a rhetorical question.) Assuming a resounding YES, the only question left is whether or not God’s word (truth) made it into written form. Paul told young Timothy:

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17

Did God ensure, by divine inspiration, that what was written would actually contain truth? Paul certainly thought so. It takes a very low opinion of God to believe that He was unable to make that happen!

Perhaps my young friend will discuss the matter further here, but I doubt it. I am confident he will be reading this (he knows where I live in Blogland), but since I’ve been asked to just ‘go away’ for being a trouble maker, I somehow doubt it. Maybe what he said at his place about wanting to discover truth was well, just ‘words’.