The Guardrails of Biblical Interpretation · Handout
Seven principles that protect how we read God's Word, keeping us on the road between two cliffs: adding to what God said and taking away from it.
Lesson Big Idea
Reading the Bible well is like driving a mountain road at night. There is a cliff on each side: adding to what God said, or taking away from it. Seven guardrails keep us on the road, and each one comes with a question to ask of any passage.
Core Thesis
Seven principles that protect how we read God's Word, keeping us on the road between two cliffs: adding to what God said and taking away from it.
The Three Action Pairs
- Meditate and Obey
- Study and Apply
- Hear and Do
Key Scriptures
- Deuteronomy 4:1–2
- Psalm 19:14
- Psalm 23
- Matthew 6:22–23
- 1 Timothy 6:6–10
- Luke 10:36–37
- Mark 7:18–19
- Romans 3:28 and James 2:24
- Deuteronomy 5:32–33
The Seven Questions
| Guardrail | The question to ask | Deeper |
|---|---|---|
| Literal | What genre is this, and what does it actually say in that genre? | Lesson 5 |
| Contextual | What surrounds it, what did the first readers know, and where does it sit in the whole story? | Lesson 6 |
| Linguistic | Is there a word where the Hebrew or Greek adds nuance? | Lesson 7 |
| Exegetical | What is the Author saying in this passage to the original audience? | Lesson 8 |
| One-Meaning | What is the one thing this meant when it was first given, before later revelation illuminated it further? | Lesson 9 |
| Progressive | Where does this sit in the unfolding story? What had God revealed by then, and what did He reveal later? | Lesson 10 |
| Harmony | Do clear passages elsewhere agree with my reading? | Lesson 11 |
Abide puts the guardrails in the order a reader uses them: observe carefully first, then interpret. The textbook lists them in a different order, the way a teacher introduces them.
What This Lesson Teaches
1. One road, two cliffs.
As Israel camped east of the Jordan, Moses said: "You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you" (Deuteronomy 4:2, BSB).
| Cliff | What it looks like |
|---|---|
| Adding | Reading into a verse what its author never put there, until it says whatever we wanted it to say. |
| Subtracting | Skipping what we don't understand or don't like, or explaining away what the text clearly says. |
Hermeneutics (her-muh-NOO-tiks) is "the science and art of Bible interpretation" (Fuhr and Köstenberger). Abide calls its principles guardrails.
2. You already read this way.
With a box of letters from someone you love, you read a birthday card differently from a serious letter, remember when each was written, check the original language, let her say what she said, take one sentence to mean one thing, let a later letter explain an earlier one, and read an odd letter in light of the whole box. The Bible's difference: behind every human writer stands one divine Author.
3. Literal: read it the way it was written.
Reading the Bible literally means reading each passage according to the kind of literature it is. "To interpret the Bible literally is to interpret it as literature" (R. C. Sproul). "O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer" (Psalm 19:14, BSB) is poetry: God is solid and safe, a refuge, not made of stone. A proverb tells how life usually works; it isn't a contract.
- Wooden reading: every word pressed flat, whatever the genre.
- Hidden-meaning reading: ordinary words treated as a code.
4. Contextual: read it where it lives.
Psalm 23, read in three layers:
| Layer | The question | In Psalm 23 |
|---|---|---|
| Historical-cultural | What did the first readers know? | David had been a shepherd boy, "tending the sheep" (1 Samuel 16:11, BSB). |
| Literary | What surrounds it? | At the darkest point David turns to God: "for You are with me" (Psalm 23:4, BSB). |
| Theological-canonical | Where does it sit in the whole story? | Ezekiel 34's promised Shepherd, and Jesus: "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11, BSB). |
David meant the LORD, the God of Israel; later light shows how far that meaning reaches. Read them together: Ezekiel 34:11–24 and John 10:1–21 alongside Psalm 23.
The shepherd trail through the whole Bible:
| Where | Read |
|---|---|
| Genesis and the Psalms | Genesis 48:15; 49:24; Psalm 23; 28:9; 78:70–72; 80:1; 95:7; 100:3 |
| The Prophets | Isaiah 40:11; Jeremiah 23:1–6; 31:10; Ezekiel 34; 37:24; Micah 5:2–4; 7:14; Zechariah 11:4–17; 13:7 |
| The Gospels | Matthew 2:6; 9:36; 26:31 (Mark 14:27); Luke 15:3–7; John 10:1–30; 21:15–17 |
| The Letters and Revelation | Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 2:25; 5:4; Revelation 7:17 |
5. Linguistic: hear it in its first language.
"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light" (Matthew 6:22, BSB).
| Context first | Then the language |
|---|---|
| Before: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth" (Matthew 6:19, BSB). After: "You cannot serve both God and money" (Matthew 6:24, BSB). | In Proverbs 22:9 the Hebrew for a generous man is word for word "good of eye." So a generous eye fills life with light; a stingy one with darkness. The generosity reading has strong support, though not every reader takes it this way. |
Compare translations. Matthew 20:15 asks, word for word, "Is your eye evil because I am good?" The BSB translates the meaning: "Or are you envious because I am generous?" (Matthew 20:15, BSB). The LSB keeps the eye: "Or is your eye envious because I am generous?" (Matthew 20:15, LSB). Where translations differ, dig.
6. Exegetical: draw it out, don't read it in.
Paul wrote to Timothy in Ephesus, where false teachers "regard godliness as a means of gain" (1 Timothy 6:5, BSB). The popular saying leaves out three words: "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10, BSB). The trap is for "those who want to be rich" (1 Timothy 6:9, BSB).
| What we bring | How to hold it |
|---|---|
| Preunderstanding: sayings we've heard, what our culture assumes, what we hope a verse says | Loosely. Let the text correct it. |
| Presuppositions: the Bible is God's Word, true in everything it says; it never leads us astray; it has the final word over what we believe and how we live | Firmly. |
7. One-Meaning: one meaning, many applications.
"Though a text may have a multitude of applications, it has only one correct meaning" (R. C. Sproul). Jesus gives the Good Samaritan's meaning Himself: "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37, BSB).
| Adding cliff | Origen's allegory: the man was Adam, the inn the church, the two coins the Father and the Son. |
| Subtracting cliff | Skipping "Greet one another with a holy kiss" (1 Corinthians 16:20, BSB) because our setting differs. Its meaning stands: warm, pure family affection. |
| Two exceptions | Some prophecy carries a "fuller sense." A metaphor can carry several related ideas (God is a rock: strong, sure, lasting). |
8. Progressive: know where you are in the story.
Later revelation may complete, clarify, or replace an earlier instruction, but it never contradicts it.
| The food thread | |
|---|---|
| Creation | Every seed-bearing plant for food (Genesis 1:29). |
| After the flood | "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you" (Genesis 9:3, BSB). |
| At Sinai | Food laws for Israel: "be holy, because I am holy" (Leviticus 11:45, BSB). |
| Jesus | "Thus all foods are clean" (Mark 7:19, BSB). |
| The early church | "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean" (Acts 10:15, BSB). |
The menu changed; the call to holiness carried forward: "Be holy, because I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16, BSB).
9. Harmony: let Scripture explain Scripture.
"Any given portion of the Bible can have only that meaning which harmonizes with the doctrine of the Bible as a whole" (Fuhr and Köstenberger).
| Paul | James |
|---|---|
| "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law" (Romans 3:28, BSB). | "As you can see, a man is justified by his deeds and not by faith alone" (James 2:24, BSB). |
| Against works as the way to earn God's favor. Points to the moment Abraham believed. | Against a faith that never changes anything. Points to Abraham offering Isaac. |
Both quote the same verse about Abraham (see Genesis 15:6), and Paul holds both together in Ephesians 2:8–10. If a reading clashes with clear passages, go back around.
10. Seven rails, one road.
"So be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or to the left" (Deuteronomy 5:32, BSB). The goal is walking with God, "so that you may live" (Deuteronomy 5:33, BSB). We read carefully so we can obey faithfully.
Main Takeaways
- Every reader faces two cliffs: adding to what God said, or taking away from it.
- You already use the guardrails with letters from people you love.
- Each guardrail has a question; ask all seven of any passage.
- Behind every human writer stands one divine Author, so the guardrails work together.
- The goal of reading carefully is obeying faithfully.
Reflection Questions
- Which cliff am I more likely to drift toward, adding or subtracting?
- Which of the seven questions do I tend to skip?
- What saying or assumption do I bring to the Bible that I need to hold more loosely?
- Where is God inviting me to "Go and do likewise" (Luke 10:37, BSB) this week?
This Week's Response
How is God inviting you to live out this abiding principle this week?
- Read the full lesson page on your own; it covers more than the class had time for.
- Read Ezekiel 34:11–24 and John 10:1–21 alongside Psalm 23.
- Ask the seven questions of one short passage (Psalm 1 or Philippians 4:4–9).
- Write one step of obedience you will take this week: ______________________________________
Memory Line
Meditate and Obey. Study and Apply. Hear and Do.
This is how we abide in Christ. This is how we demonstrate our love for God.
Scripture quotations marked LSB are taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.