what scriptures do Christians most often misinterpret and why?

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Blik

Senior Member
Dec 6, 2016
7,312
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#21
I would say you need to really work hard NOT to read Paul as quite literally saying that ....

Romans 7

1.Do you not know, brothers--for I am speaking to men who know the law--that the law has authority over a man only as long as he lives? ...

4 So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God...

6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.
My point was that verses about the law are often misunderstood.

A study of what the law means to us, I don't think, can be summed up in a few verses. All of these verses are truth from the 119th psalm to Paul's statements about the law. An understanding of law only comes, it seems to me, from seeing how all these scripture are true.
 

oyster67

Senior Member
May 24, 2014
11,887
8,705
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#23
DEUTERONOMY 22:8

“When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house if any man fall from thence.
Are you implying that you cannot see the moral or lesson in this verse? When we make our plans, we ought to do be mindful of our brothers well being. Is that any less important now than it was then?
 
E

eternally-gratefull

Guest
#24
Acts 2: 38 claiming water baptism saved

james 2. Stating we can lose salvation if we do not produce works
 
E

eternally-gratefull

Guest
#25
John 6 - turning the words of God which saves if one eats it which endures to eternal life, into a wafer and cup one takes weekly or more in Which can eat it and still die
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,182
1,574
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Brighton, MI
#27
Are you implying that you cannot see the moral or lesson in this verse? When we make our plans, we ought to do be mindful of our brothers well being. Is that any less important now than it was then?
So, do you have a fence on your roof?
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
59,886
29,274
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#28
So, do you have a fence on your roof?
A parapet is not a fence, but a barrier that is an extension of the
wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure.
 

oyster67

Senior Member
May 24, 2014
11,887
8,705
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#29
So, do you have a fence on your roof?
My roof is not a flat where I throw parties and people get drunk and fall off. Many rich Jewish people still have this kind of dwelling and lifestyle.
 
Mar 4, 2020
8,614
3,691
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#30
what scriptures do Christians most often misinterpret and why?
I see James 2:17-18 often quoted that if there are no works then that individual's faith is dead. Not so. Read carefully, the purpose of works is to prove to other men you have faith. We cannot trick God into thinking we have real faith by doing works. God already knows who has real faith.

Notice the usage of pronouns in the passage below. They are talking about men, not God.

James 2:17-18
17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.
18Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.
 

ewq1938

Well-known member
Oct 18, 2018
5,001
1,264
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#31
what scriptures do Christians most often misinterpret and why?
2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.


This is the most misused scripture in the bible because people think it's saying a scripture cannot be privately interpreted by someone but that is not what it actually is saying. It's saying the prophets did not personally invent the prophecies they wrote. It actually has nothing at all to do with someone interpreting scripture in a way that is private to them in difference to how others interpret it.


2Pe 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
2Pe 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2Pe 1:21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The old English used doesn't bring forth very well what the Greek actually says:


2Pe 1:19 And in the written word of prophecy we have something more permanent; to which you do well to pay attention--as to a lamp shining in a dimly-lighted place--until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
2Pe 1:20 But, above all, remember that no prophecy in Scripture will be found to have come from the prophet's own prompting;
2Pe 1:21 for never did any prophecy come by human will, but men sent by God spoke as they were impelled by the Holy Spirit.

Clarke:


2 Peter 1:20

Knowing this first - Considering this as a first principle, that no prophecy of the Scripture, whether that referred to above, or any other, is of any private interpretation - proceeds from the prophet’s own knowledge or invention, or was the offspring of calculation or conjecture. The word ep???s?? signifies also impetus, impulse; and probably this is the best sense here; not by the mere private impulse of his own mind.


Gill:


is of any private interpretation: not that this is levelled against the right of private judgment of Scripture; or to be understood as if a private believer had not a right of reading, searching, examining, and judging, and interpreting the Scriptures himself, by virtue of the unction which teacheth all things; and who, as a spiritual man, judgeth all things; otherwise, why are such commended as doing well, by taking heed to prophecy, in the preceding verse, and this given as a reason to encourage them to it? the words may be rendered, "of one's own interpretation"; that is, such as a natural man forms of himself, by the mere force of natural parts and wisdom, without the assistance of the Spirit of God; and which is done without comparing spiritual things with spiritual; and which is not agreeably to the Scripture, to the analogy of faith, and mind of Christ; though rather this phrase should be rendered, "no prophecy of the Scripture is of a man's own impulse", invention, or composition; is not human, but purely divine:


"no prophecy in Scripture will be found to have come from the prophet's own prompting" which obviously means true prophecy is not invented by the prophet but comes from God. This has nothing to do with how people interpret what scripture or scriptural prophecy means to them. This scripture is one of the most misused scriptures in the entire bible.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,182
1,574
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Brighton, MI
#32
My roof is not a flat where I throw parties and people get drunk and fall off. Many rich Jewish people still have this kind of dwelling and lifestyle.
A roof does not have to be flat to have a fence, look at really old churches.
 

BrokenSparrow

Senior Member
Sep 12, 2016
437
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#34
Amen. It is God who produces the good works when we yield body and soul to Him.
Yes, we cannot produce any genuine good works on our own. The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all of your heart, mind, and soul. If we focus on this, then all the rest will follow. God will produce his good works through us.