We are often reminded about the importance of reading scripture in context. The flip side of this is also true. Don’t impose foreign contexts into scripture.

The early church fathers did not write the bible. The catholic church did not write the bible. Martin Luther did not write the bible. John Calvin did not write the bible. John Wesley did not write the bible. Alexander Campbell did not write the bible. Of course there have been lots of brilliant students of scripture through the ages, and we can certainly learn from what these people said about scripture. But biblical interpretations that arose from post-biblical times need to take a back seat to scripture itself.

Far too often, modern bible students, teachers, and preachers allow their denominational creeds and traditions to drive their theology. If we want to understand scripture, we need to ask what the original inspired authors of scripture were trying to communicate. We need to ask how scripture would have been understood by the original audience. In other words, the proper context for interpreting scripture is the context that produced it. Every other context is foreign to scripture. If we forget this point, we may end up assigning meanings to scripture that the inspired authors never intended to communicate.

Remember, the Bible itself is inspired; later interpreters of the Bible are not. Don’t impose foreign contexts into scripture.