Far too often, people will presume their beliefs are true, and that they are taught in the Bible, instead of letting God’s word dictate what their beliefs should be.

For example, you’ve probably heard about the three wise men who came to visit at Jesus’s birth. This idea of three wise men is readily accepted by so many people. We see it displayed in nativity scenes, Christmas cards, Christmas specials, and even in Christmas carols (“We Three Kings of Orient Are…”).

But the idea of “three” wise men is nowhere in the Bible. Yes, the wise men brought three gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, but the Bible never specifies how many wise men there were. We imagine that the Bible says there were three wise men, but our imagination about the text is based on what we presume the Bible teaches.

Using one’s imagination as a means of interpreting the Bible is not a good method of Bible study. It lacks the necessary limitations to prevent flawed interpretations. To illustrate further, consider this passage:

And he [King Jotham] did what was right in the eyes of the LORD according to all that his father Uzziah had done, except he did not enter the temple of the LORD.

2 Chronicles 27:2

Let’s suppose we want to teach a lesson on why church attendance is important. We stumble across this verse, and we think “King Jotham was a good king, except for one thing. He didn’t go to the temple!” This passage seems to support our idea, and so we use it in our lesson. Just because King Uzziah was a good king who went to the temple every week, that doesn’t mean his son would continue the practice. Tragically, our young people make this same mistake when they don’t go to church like their parents did. Good lesson, right?

Certainly there is nothing wrong with encouraging people to assemble with the church each week, but the interpretation of the above verse is totally wrong. Why? Because it is based on a presumed truth.

If we had taken a step back from our presumption about the meaning of the text, and studied the surrounding context (2 Chron. 26:16-23), we would learn that King Uzziah was a good king, except that he entered the temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. This is something only the priest was allowed to do. As a result of his disobedient worship, King Uzziah was struck with leprosy until the day he died.

When the passage says that King Jotham “did not enter the temple of the Lord”, it means that he did not repeat the mistake of his father by entering the temple to worship in a way that was contrary to God’s will. Because we assumed we knew what the text meant, we missed a very important lesson about the importance of worshiping God only in those ways which he has commanded.

Some mistakes, such as assuming there were three wise men, may be of very little consequence. But this habit of assuming we know what the Bible is trying to say can end up leading to some dangerous and divisive teachings.

When we base our interpretation of the Bible on presumed truths, we risk distorting the meaning of Scripture to fit our own personal cleverness. We run the risk of minimizing or ignoring passages that don’t fit what we think the Bible teaches. We struggle to understand those verses that don’t fit our preconceived beliefs. When our belief isn’t clearly communicated in a particular passage, it’s easier to just give up, and let trusted commentators or preachers explain those “difficult” passages to us in a way that affirms our beliefs.

We must remember that every passage in the Bible is there for a reason. If it seems confusing because it doesn’t sound like it teaches what we think it should teach, we first need to examine our own assumptions. If we really want to do better Bible study, we need to let God’s word be what it is, study it in context, and discover it’s true and intended meaning. We must submit our beliefs to the word of God rather than making the word of God submit to our beliefs.