Does It Fit?
In today’s message, I will give you an introduction to parables. This message precedes a series of five messages on the parables of Mark chapter 4. Some parables are simple enough on the surface, but only because we are already familiar with them from other studies. However, some are quite difficult, and their meaning is the subject of much debate. I suppose the worst abuse of parables is interpretive abuse. This often happens in eschatological debate, especially among those who try to prove millennial positions with them. Too often they read meaning into the parable that is more than the original intent.
I want to focus in this article on interpreting the Holy Scriptures and the abuse of them. Whether parables or any other literary form in the Bible, we are not free to attach any meaning we like. Indeed, this is the claim of many who reject the truths of the Bible. They say, “Well, that’s your interpretation, and here is what I think.” What either of us thinks is not the question. We want to know what the Bible says. What ways can we avoid this claim, that is, the claim of those who have self-serving interpretations? How do we avoid mistaken interpretations of scripture used to support false doctrines? We ought not to believe it is not a problem, hence the reason we still have the name Baptist on our sign. The name should distinguish our doctrinal interpretations from those with differing viewpoints of scripture.
The best approach is to let the Bible speak for itself. Read the text and look for the obvious. Often, reading more than one verse helps because a verse taken out of context can fit with self-serving doctrines. We more often find the explanation in the surrounding text; thus, we cannot overemphasize reading within the context. The Bible is a marvelously complicated book only understood by those with Holy Spirit enlightenment. It is certainly smaller than an encyclopedia of religion. It is a volume with more intricacies and essential connections than any book or books written by the most prolific authors. It is small wonder that theologians have written many commentaries with multiple multiplicities to explain it and yet I assure you tomorrow will bring another one.
For you, it seems a daunting task. We need not believe we can approach the Holy Writ casually with little effort and come away with its truths. Even the fundamentals are the subject of vast controversies. For now, as we look at this literary form, parables, in scripture, be aware of forced overbearing interpretations. We run into trouble when the only support for our pet doctrine is a scrambled parable with a forced unintended meaning. If you have the right interpretation, it will not force other scriptures to fit with it. God is too great to make the mistakes we make with His word. Johnny Cochran, by no means a theologian, said, “If the glove doesn’t fit…” You know where to take the analogy from there.
Pastor V. Mark Smith