“We speak, not in the words which man's
wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing spiritual
things with spiritual // line upon line, line upon line; here a little,
and there a little.” (1Corinthians 2:12-13, Isaiah 28:10)
Because both of the
verses that I just quoted are telling us how the Holy Spirit teaches,
they explain each other. In short, The Holy Spirit teaches us doctrine
as we compare what the Bible says here, with what it says there, “line
upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little” (compare
1Corinthians 2:12-13 with Isaiah 28:10). Moreover, I have just given
you an example of how that is done.
In the same way,
the Holy Spirit explains the words, “Before destruction the heart of
man is haughty, and before honor is humility,” by comparing that
passage with the story of the Pharisee and the publican (Proverbs 8:12,
Luke 18:9-14). The haughtiness of the Pharisee led to destruction,
while the humility on the part of the publican preceded heaven.
By comparing
Ephesians 2:8 (“by grace are ye saved”) with Titus 3:5 (“according to
his mercy he saved us”) the Holy Spirit reveals that “grace” is a
synonym for “mercy.” In other words, to be saved by God’s grace, is to
be saved by His mercy.
By comparing 2Peter
1:20 (“no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation”),
with Isaiah 8:20 (“If they speak not according to this Word it is
because there is no light in them”) the Holy Spirit teaches us that any
interpretation that contradicts what the Bible says elsewhere is a
“private interpretation.”
Because the word
“regeneration” means “rebirth,” by comparing John 3:5 (“Except a man be
born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God”), with Titus 3:5 (“he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Ghost”) the Holy Spirit tells us that the
water spoken of in John 3:5 has to do with rebirth (regeneration), not
physical birth. [Note: Both passages are speaking of repentance (the
baptism of repentance) coupled with the work of the Holy Spirit in
bringing us to faith in Christ (1Corinthians 12:3). We are born again
through repentance and faith.]
By comparing John
6:40 (“every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have
everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day”), with John
6:54 (“Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life;
and I will raise him up at the last day”) the Holy Spirit lets us know
that when Christ said “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood” He
was talking about believing on Him, not physical eating. [Note: Because
the Jews believed that the Messiah would give them manna from heaven,
Jesus made it clear that He was the heavenly manna, and that they could
only receive life through His death.]
By comparing (John
6:40) (“every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have
everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day”), with John
12:48 (“the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the
last day”) the Holy Spirit tells us that Christ will raise up believers
and judge the world on the last day. [The day that He returns (2Timothy
4:1).]
By comparing Romans
3:28 (“a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law”), with
Galatians 3:6 (“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness”) the Holy Spirit tells us that the faith by which we are
justified, consists of believing God’s promise (just as Abraham did).
LETTING SCRIPTURE INTERPRET ITSELF
By comparing
various statements in the Book of Revelation with what the Bible says
elsewhere, the Holy Spirit unfolds the meaning of John’s vision. For
example: By comparing Revelation 12:1-2 (the woman “travailing in
birth”), with Isaiah 66:8 (Zion in travail) the Holy Spirit lets us
know that the woman is a personification of Jerusalem.
Then, by comparing
Revelation 12:16 (“her seed… have the testimony of Jesus Christ”), with
Galatians 4:26 (“Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother
of us all”) the Holy Spirit tells us that He is speaking of the
heavenly Jerusalem, not the earthly Jerusalem.
In chapter
seventeen (Revelation 17:7-18) an angel explains part of the vision to
John. Thus, by comparing verse one (“the great whore that sitteth upon
many waters”), with verse fifteen (“The waters which thou sawest, where
the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues”) the Holy Spirit teaches us that the waters symbolized peoples
and multitudes, not literal water.
By comparing verse
three (“I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast… having seven
heads and ten horns”), with verse nine (“The seven heads are seven
mountains, on which the woman sitteth”) the Holy Spirit teaches us that
the heads of the beast symbolized mountains.
By comparing verses
three to five (“I saw a woman… And upon her forehead was a name
written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT”), with verse eighteen (“the woman
which thou sawest is [present tense] that great city, which reigneth
[present tense] over the kings of the earth”) the Holy Spirit tells us
that “Mystery, Babylon the Great” is the city that was reigning over
the kings of the earth at the time the angel was speaking, namely Rome.
And, by comparing
those same two verses [Revelation 17:5 and 18] with Revelation 14:8
(“Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city”), the Holy Spirit
teaches us that the anti-Christian system described in Revelation
13:1–14:8, has to do with the city of Rome.
The explanation
provided by the angel makes it clear that John was not seeing actual
historical events, but a vision that used earthly pictures to depict
the spiritual realities behind certain events of history.
By comparing
Revelation 20:6 (“Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection: on such the second death hath no power”) with Colossians
3:1 (“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are
above”) the Holy Spirit tells us that the “first resurrection” is the
transformation from being dead in trespasses and sins to new life in
Christ. [See also Ephesians 2:1, 6, Colossians 2:12.]
By comparing John
18:36 (“My kingdom is not of this world”), with Revelation 20:6 (“they
shall… reign with him a thousand years”) the Holy Spirit tells us that
those who reign with Christ will not be reigning on “this world.”
ABIDING
IN THE WORD OF GOD
As you compare each
passage with what the Bible says elsewhere, it is important to stick to
what is written and resist the temptation to read more into the text
than what is actually there. Those who read their own ideas into the
text, interpret passages in the “light” of their own private
interpretations, and make up explanations that are not in the text are
serving Satan, not God. In fact, false prophets often wax eloquent in
doing just that. Nevertheless, you can recognize them by the fact that
they read unscriptural ideas into the text, change the meaning of the
words, and explain away anything that does not agree with their ideas
(2Peter 1:20).
Because the Holy
Ghost has forbidden private interpretation, if He gave you your own
private explanation of a passage, He would be leading you to go
contrary to His written Word, and that is something that He will never
do (Isaiah 8:20, 2Peter 1:20). Therefore, those who assume that every
idea that pops into their mind (when they are reading the Bible) is
from the Holy Spirit, open themselves up to satanic influence (Ezekiel
13:17). Moreover, because God has included in Scripture everything that
we need to know to be saved, any addition to what is written only
serves to obscure the gospel.
CONCLUSION
We live in an age
of great spiritual wickedness, an age in which false prophets grow rich
by passing the imagination of their own heart off as the Word of God.
Blatant deceivers fleece God’s sheep while imagining that they will
escape His judgment. Nevertheless, they are without excuse, for deep in
their heart they know that what they are saying is their own opinion,
not what the Bible says. In contrast, bind yourself to the words of
Scripture, shun private interpretation, and let Scripture interpret
itself by allowing the clear passages to cast light on those that are
less clear.