READING UNBIBLICAL IDEAS INTO THE TEXT
THE PROBLEM OF AN OVERACTIVE IMAGINATION

 

When it comes to understanding Scripture, one of the biggest problems people encounter is an overactive imagination. When some people read a text they imagine interpretations that contradict what the Bible says. Then, when they find out that their ideas contradict the Bible, instead of humbly rejecting their own ideas they reject what the Bible says, devising explanations aimed at getting around what it says. In contrast, the Bible calls on us to cast “down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God,” bringing every thought into captivity (2Corinthians 10:5). In other words, if things that we imagine contradict the Bible, true submission requires us to reject those ideas that contradict the Bible, not to reinterpret the Bible in order to make it agree with those ideas (Isaiah 8:20).

          One very common example of this is found in Genesis 6:1-2 which says, “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, That the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they took them wives of all whom they chose.” The problem comes when people imagine that the “sons of God” mentioned here were not humans, but angels. That imagined interpretation is a problem, because it contradicts the Bible which tells us that angels “neither marry, nor are given in marriage, (Matthew 22:30). Since the Bible tells us that angels do not marry, that should settle the matter. But, human pride being what it is, instead of admitting that they are wrong people would rather make up elaborate arguments aimed at getting around what the Bible says. They then go on to read their ideas into one passage after another, thus distorting what those passages say.