Thought of the Day 06.02.08

I’m recently reminded of the great importance of a simple principle of Bible interpretation: consider the entire passage. We are tempted to not do this for two reasons: single verses are easier to memorize than entire passages and it’s convenient to find single verses that reinforce our own biases. Here is a well-known example.

In Matthew 7:1, Jesus teaches us, “Do not judge lest you be judged yourselves.” Okay, simple. Never ever judge anyone for anything, right? Well, remember the rule. Read a little more. In verse 6, Jesus also teaches, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw y our pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” This clearly obligates us to judge whether others are swine or dogs in order to obey this command. So how does one resolve this tension?

It’s not my purpose here to answer that. But we clearly cannot interpret verse 1 as meaning never to judge people, and we clearly cannot interpret verse 6 as meaning to go around recklessly judging everyone. Scripture constrains its own interpretation, which is why we were given a complete library of books in it, never just a single verse.