101: How to Interpret the Bible (Sunday, July 10th, 2022)

OT Lesson: Isaiah 40:6-8 (NLT)

A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?”

“Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field.

The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the Lord. And so it is with people.

The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.”

NT Lesson: 2 Peter 3:14-16 (CEB)

Therefore, dear friends, while you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found by him in peace—pure and faultless. Consider the patience of our Lord to be salvation, just as our dear friend and brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, speaking of these things in all his letters. Some of his remarks are hard to understand, and people who are ignorant and whose faith is weak twist them to their own destruction, just as they do the other scriptures.

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning. As you may know, from last Sunday, we began to have fellowship before and after the worship service. Last Sunday and today, I made coffee, and I will make coffee on Sundays. At my previous churches, I did not allow any church ladies to make coffee because that is against the Bible. The Bible clearly says “He-Brews.” So making coffee is strictly guy’s job biblically. Anyway a cup of coffee will help you stay awake during my boring sermon. I know it because it helps me to stay away during my own sermon. A good news for me is that I finally got my car back last Friday after five weeks in the service centre. Now I don’t have to walk to the hospital any more. I thought my car became a history.

Well, speaking of history, I’d like to share an interesting piece in the history of this amazing country whose Independence anniversary was last Monday. During the American Revolution, a Tory loyal said to the king George III, “I fix all the blame of the Revolution upon the Presbyterians. They have been the chief and principal instrument of all these flaming measures. They always do and ever will act against governments from the restless and turbulent spirit which has always distinguished them everywhere.” Isn’t it interesting? In the early stage of American Revolution, the Crown government called it, not American Revolution but Presbyterian Rebellion. We will dig deeper at some point but for now, in a nutshell, the Presbyterians are the reason of this country’s independence because those Presbyterians fought against the English oppressions and injustices. Among the 56 people who signed the Declaration of Independence, there was no Lutheran pastor, no Catholic priest, no Baptist pastor, but only one Presbyterian pastor. And his name is John Witherspoon who is the only clergy person among the fifty-six signers. For that reason, PCUSA HQ is proudly located on Witherspoon street in Louisville, KY. As we can see in history, among all the Protestants in this country back then, the Presbyterians really protested against the injustice. And we, the Presbyterians, shall walk the same road, protesting against the injustice and bringing God’s kingdom on this beautiful land. To do that, we need to be able to interpret the Bible in the correct way—the way which God intended. So let us think and ponder together how to interpret the Bible in the right way.

Fine for Parking

I used to live in Winnipeg which is the capital city of Manitoba, Canada. But before that, I landed in Toronto first and stayed there for a few months. Some Koreans in Toronto got job interviews in Winnipeg and they asked me to come together as a translator since they all were barely speaking English. Six of us drove to Winnipeg from Toronto in a van, which took two full days because we took turns and drove 24 hours, and mostly over-speeding. Usually it takes five or six days. Ontario and Manitoba are neighbouring provinces but the scale is different in Canada. When I was in the seminary, I had a classmate from Texas, and she was always bragging about the size of Texas. ‘You know, Texas is so big. Illinois is a teeny tiny state. Texas is so big.’ She said that every time she had chance like hundred times. I’ve got annoyed a bit and wished her to stop but she never stopped. So one day I explained her about the size of Texas in comparison to the Canadian provinces. ‘Texas is about half of Ontario. And Ontario is number four in size among ten provinces. So it is mid-size province, and Texas is only half of it. Do you still think Texas is big?’ Since then, she had never ever said to me that Texas is big. 

Any way, while I was going to Winnipeg with the Korean guys, we went into a very small town in rural Ontario for coffee and bathroom break. There was a Tim Horton’s. Tim Horton’s is a coffee, doughnut, and lunch place which is everywhere in Canada. It is of course founded by an Ice Hockey player. Everything is somehow related to ice hockey in Canada. Though it was a small town, it was a down-townish area where there is no parking lot. We had park on the street, like we do in front of the church. I was on the passenger seat and the Korean driver stopped and parked under a sign saying “Fine for Parking Here.” I asked the guy, “What are you doing?” The guy pointed the sign and told me in Korean, “Do you see that? The sign says it is fine, it is good to park here. Small towns are so kind—they put a sign where to park.” I had to explain them, “That fine is not that fine!”

The thing was that the Korean driver interpreted the sign other than what the mayor or the city planner intended. My friend tried his best within his knowledge. It may be the same when we read the Bible. Sometimes or many times, God meant something and we interpret it the other way.

Violent Christianity

In May 2017, Dave Daubenmire, a religious right activist said that America needs a more violent Christianity. I hate to say someone is wrong. You will rarely see me saying that you are wrong. But for this statement, I have to say that Dave Daubenmire is wrong. I believe that he had read the Bible at least once. Then he is completely misunderstanding the Bible and interpreting the Bible entirely the opposite way from which was intended.

When we drive, we see the signal lights. When we see a signal light, we perceive the colour, and then based on the colour, we interpret the signal light. Sometimes we have two different colours together like red arrow and green ball, or green arrow and red ball. In that case, do you say to yourself like, ‘What the heck is that? Red and green together? Do I stop? Do I go? What should I do?’ In that case, we need to identify which lane we are driving on. If we are on the left turn lane, we follow the colour of the arrow. If we are on the straight lane, we follow the colour of the ball. We need to do the same when we read the Bible. We have to first identify our location and interpret the Bible accordingly. In other words, we need to see the context. The Bible cannot be mechanically interpreted but flexibly according to the locations and contexts.

Exodus 23:19

Let us think about some passages of the Bible together. I was in Israel for a few months in 2014. There were many interesting things like the elevators were not working at all on Saturdays because the Bible says ‘Thou shalt not work on Sabbath.’ So even elevators are not allowed to work on Sabbath. Other funny thing is from the Kibutz camps. I stayed in two different Kibutzes in Israel for several weeks. At every breakfast, they gave us yogurt, milk, cheese, butter, and/or other dairy products but there was no meat at all. At every supper, they gave us some meat like beef or chicken. But there were no dairy products of any kind at all. They never give you meat and dairy product together. At lunch, they give you neither meat nor dairy product unless those two could be mixed in your stomach. When you go to a McDonald’s in Germany, you can buy beer which they call Mac-Beer. On the other hand, at the McDonald’s in Israel, you don’t get beef patty and cheese together. It is because Exodus 23:19 says, “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” We can find the same phrase in Leviticus and Deuteronomy as well. So if you are a good Christian believing and following the Bible literally as is, then you shall not eat meat and diary product together. That is no cheese burger! Are you already doing that? But that is not all. The Bible tells us to kill those who eat it. So what you need to do is to go to McDonald’s, Burger King, Hardee’s, Wendy’s, Milky Way, or any burger place. Wait there, and when you see anyone orders and eats a cheese burger, you got to kill them. But make sure you don’t shoot them. The Bible does not tell us to shoot with guns or rifles. We have to stone them. So, shall we go to McDonald’s together after the service with stones in our hands? I mean, that is what the Bible literally says.

If you read the entire chapter of Exodus 23, you will find a lot of commandments of dos and don’ts. But all those commandments are summed up in one sentence, that is, Isaiah 1:17, “Learn to do good and seek justice.” In the middle of all those commandments, suddenly the Bible tells us not to cook a calf in its mother’s milk. So what does it mean not to cook beef with milk? Is God really against the cheese burger? Am I going to burn in hell because I love cheese burger and I ate so many of them already? I think it means not to be cruel. In connection with the previous verses in the same chapter, I can interpret it like this: “You have to do this, this, and this, but not this, this, and this. Too many, right? I know. I understand that you are human and not perfect. I also understand that you may not be able to keep all these commandments, but at least you shall not be cruel.” This is the minimum standard set by God, not to cook calf in mother’s milk, that is, don’t be cruel.

Sometimes or many times, we are cruel to other people. I personally know several rape victims from Korea, Canada, and America. And they were all blamed at. Some people were pointing fingers at them and said something like, ‘You dressed like a whore. You caused it. It’s your fault.’ That is cruel. That is killing them twice. They are victims. Their body, mind, life and everything are already torn apart and crushed. We don’t have to rub salts in their wounds. We may not be able to help the victims, but at least, we shall not be cruel at them.

Deuteronomy 22:9

Let us jump to another Bible passage—Deuteronomy 22:9 says “Do not plant your field with two types of seed.” Do you have a garden at home with flowers? Do you have only one same kind of flowers, or couple different kinds? In my garden, I usually have only one kind—dandelion. I don’t plant them. They just come up year after year. If you have two or more kinds of flowers in your garden, I am sorry but you broke a commandment of God. Because you broke a commandment of God which is clearly written in the Bible, I have to visit you today with stones in my hands. But what does it really mean to have only one kind of flowers in your garden? If we ask God, will then God tell us like, “Oh, I wrote that? Nay, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s alright.”? It is in the Bible, so it should mean something.

First of all, we need to understand that the Bible was not only religious text in the ancient Israel. It was a religious book, medical book, science book, book of law and constitution, book of social structure, and also a book of farmer’s manual as well. Farmers these days in America do not use the Bible, especially Deuteronomy for their farming. But the American farmers somehow still do not mix the seeds. When I drive by, I see the corn fields only with corns. I see the soybean fields only with soybeans. Because I am not a farmer, I don’t know exactly why. I need to ask the actual farmers why they do not mix the seeds like mix all the wheat, corn, soybean and spread them together in one field.

But let us think about the spiritual meaning of not sowing two different kinds of seeds in one field. In the parable of Jesus concerning a farmer sowing seeds on good ground, thorny ground and so on, Jesus made it clear that the field represents our hearts. In the light of that, we can interpret this passage of not having two different kinds of plants in one field as not to be double-minded. Jesus says that we cannot serve God and money together. If we do, we are double-minded. We have to serve God only with our single-minded whole heart. The OT also commands us to love our God with all our hearts—singled-minded. We shall love our God with our pure and whole heart and mind, not double-mind.

Exodus 21:24

Let us take a look at one more passage from Exodus 21:24: ‘An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot.’ Almost everybody thinks it is encouraging revenge. Mahatma Gandhi also said, ‘an eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.’ But is it really?  If so, I’d say that this is quite unlike Bible passage. God says in Deuteronomy 32:35, “Vengeance is mine. I will repay.” And apostle Paul also writes in Romans 12:19, “My friends, never revenge.” So does same God say in one place to revenge, and not to revenge in another place? Weird, right?

I grew up in a poor neighbourhood in Korea. It was somewhat like ghetto in America. The children in those neighbourhoods are kind of wild and tough. Weird enough, I was not really involved in fighting. But the fighting was part of everyday life there. Unlike in America, we did not have guns in Korea. So we fought with sticks and baseball bats in middle schools, and with mostly knives in high schools. But in the elementary schools we were pure and naive that we did not use any tools or weapons, only fists. When you get punched hard enough on your cheek, a tooth may come off. Then you lose the fight. It is the game over. But you have to fight and pay it back next time as soon as possible. If not, you are a chicken and you will be shunned from all the children in the entire neighbourhood forever. But how can you pay it back? It is simple. You just need to get two or more teeth from the other boy. Girls do fight, but they do hair fight, not fist fight. After the fight, the girls count how many hair strains I got, how many you got. I win. Back to the boys’ revenge fight, you cannot just get one tooth which is the number you lost. You must get more than you were taken. That is the rule. If you don’t, again you are a chicken. If you succeed and get two, then the other boy has to fight you back within a week to get three or more teeth from you. There were so many boys missing a few teeth. You don’t have to worry about it too much. I have all my teeth now, not pretty but still all of them. That is because we all had milk teeth back then, not permanent ones.

But my point is that revenge and violence always tend to escalate and increase. If this story is the case in South Korea a few decades ago, how do you think it was like five thousand years ago in the Middle East? The society was barbaric and savage. Lamech from Genesis 4 proudly sings about himself that he killed other people because they hurt him. ‘You hurt me? I kill you.’ We can see that the revenge escalates, violence increases. Lamech continues to say that he will revenge anyone seventy-seven times.

God is actually calling for justice and fair punishment by saying a tooth for a tooth. When I lose one tooth, I really want to take two or three from the other guy. People desire escalated revenge. But God says, ‘No. no escalated revenge. You lose one, you take one. No more than that. Always make the fair punishments.’ That is what God meant when He said an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot. This commandment was given from God by Moses almost five thousand years ago, and God is still calling us to the fair punishment and justice today.

Let us briefly think about the Justice System in this country or any other country in the world. Is it really and truly fair to everybody? For the same crime, poor people get harsher punishments while rich people get out of it. Money plays a huge role there. Racism also plays a big part there. And there can be couple more factors making justice system crooked. We need to listen to God’s words, “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot” which is calling us to the fair punishment and the true justice for all people.

St. Augustine

We examined today three Bible passages which could be easily misinterpreted. St. Augustine suggested us ten rules of interpreting the Bible. All ten rules are very good, still making points and valid. But I do not have time to introduce all those ten rules. But let me tell you just one, which I think is the most important. It is called ‘the rule of love.’ He says, “The fulfilment and end of the law and all the divine Scriptures is to love.”

So, for example, after reading the Bible, if we think we need to be more violent, or we should hate our neighbours, then I have to say that we read it wrong and our interpretation is opposite from what God originally intended. So please remember this rule of love which is the most important rule whenever you read and interpret the Bible.

Conclusion

Friends, last Sunday we learned that the Bible is indeed true. Today, we learned how to safely interpret the Bible, which is the rule of love. The Bible is the true Word of the true God. Let us diligently read the Bible, safely interpret the Bible, love the Bible, love our God, love our family, love our friends, love our neighbours in Jesus Christ our loving Saviour. Amen.