The Doctrine Of Bible Interpretation 4 by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Theology does not box God. He is more than scripture — revealed through it, but exceeding it. One of the dangers of doctrinal knowledge is that it can produce pride. 1 Corinthians 8:1 says knowledge puffs up. It can make a person feel superior to others who do not share the same level of understanding. But someone who has spent years practicing what the Bible teaches — giving sacrificially, loving practically — is more knowledgeable in the sight of God than someone who knows the Greek word for it but has not lived it. What one has is letter. What the other is practicing is spirit. And the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.

Wrong interpretation of scripture does not make someone a false teacher. It can simply mean they are wrong. Every teacher can be wrong — the key is the willingness to correct it publicly and honestly. We know in parts, and there are things understood today that will be polished or even changed in the next few years.

One of the signs of a false teacher is to isolate members from the body of Christ. A church moves from church to cult the moment members believe only their doctrine is correct and everyone else is wrong. If only one group is correct about everything, that is a cult.

Your eternal destination is connected to your theology. This is deeper than school.

The Laws of Hermeneutics — How to Interpret the Bible

Hermeneutics simply means the laws of Bible interpretation.

Law One: The Law of Contextual Interpretation

Every text — every verse of scripture — must be interpreted within its immediate and broader context, including:

• Surrounding verses
• Surrounding chapters
• The full book it belongs to

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• And the entire Bible

Bible translations are actually Bible interpretations. The way translators and publishers divide chapters, insert headings, and separate verses shapes how readers understand the text — and sometimes misleads them.

An example: Philippians 2:1 begins with "therefore." That word "therefore" is a bridge — it means what follows depends on what came before. To understand chapter 2, you need chapter 1. Similarly, chapter 3 begins with "finally" even though it is not the final thing. Chapter 4 begins with "therefore" again. Each chapter is context for the next.

Another example: John 8:10-12. Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery: "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more." Verse 11 is the instruction. But how does one go and sin no more? The answer is in verse 12, which immediately follows: "I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." Following Jesus is how one goes and sins no more. But most Bible publishers insert a heading between verses 11 and 12 that separates the instruction from the method — and in doing so, they mislead the reader.

If the word lexicon has never been encountered after ten years in church, something has gone wrong. Change your church. There is no nice way to say it.

The Greek and Hebrew are not for sounding deep — they are for explaining.

Practical Examples of Miscontextualization

• "Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world" — 1 John 4:4

  This verse is commonly taken to mean general spiritual dominance — that believers are superior to their challenges or to colleagues because God is inside them. But read verse 1: "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out." The "them" in verse 4 is false prophets and the spirit of the antichrist. The overcoming is specifically about the spirit of doctrinal error — not a blanket promise of victory over every circumstance.

  The spirit of the antichrist is not primarily a political figure. The antichrist in scripture is a false teacher who performs lying signs and wonders and exalts himself in the house of God. If miracles are present but Jesus coming in the flesh is denied — meaning his humanity is denied — then his life as a human being filled with the Spirit becomes irrelevant, and he becomes impossible to imitate. That teaching says: we can pray for the sick, but we cannot be patient. We can do miracles, but we cannot have good character. Any minister who claims to hear from God but whom God cannot correct on character — that person is not hearing. You cannot deny the flesh of Christ and call it the spirit of God.

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Pastor Dolapo Lawal
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• "Present your case, bring forth your strong reasons" — Isaiah 41:21

  This is commonly used to encourage praying with scripture as legal arguments before God. But look at verse 22: "Let them bring forth and show us what will happen... that we may know that you are gods." God is challenging foreign gods — the idols of the nations — to a prophetic showdown. He is saying: if you are gods, tell us the future. If you know who made the former things, declare it.

  This is not an invitation for believers to prepare legal cases before God. You are a son, not a lawyer. A son does not present six reasons why his father should pay his school fees. That is a slave mindset — and it reveals a distorted image of God. If someone grew up with a strict or absent father and imports that image onto God, their entire relationship with him will be impaired. God is better than the best earthly father. Powerful prayer in the New Testament is heartfelt prayer. The more informal, the more powerful. Embellishments in prayer — rehearsing tithes paid and service rendered — are what Jesus called the way of the Pharisee.

• "Is there no balm in Gilead?" — Jeremiah 8:22

  The famous hymn "There Is a Balm in Gilead" turns this verse into a gospel promise of healing. But the context of the passage is Jeremiah lamenting in anguish over Judah's sin and judgment. Gilead was literally a region in the ancient Near East known for medicinal balm and healers. The rhetorical question — "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no recovery for the daughter of my people?" — is actually a cry of despair. The answer implied is: yes, there is balm in Gilead and physicians there, so why are you not healing? Because this is judgment, not sickness. Any medicine you use, any healer you consult, will not cure this — because it is the consequence of sin.

  The word "balm" in scripture appears as a commercial trade item. In Genesis 37:25, the merchants transporting Joseph to Egypt were carrying spices and balm. In Genesis 43:11, Jacob sends balm as a gift among luxury goods. In Ezekiel 27:17, it appears again as a trade commodity. And in Jeremiah 46:11, God says: "In vain you will use many medicines. You shall not be cured." That verse makes the meaning unmistakable — the balm of Gilead is being offered as an alternative to God, not as a name for God. Jeremiah 8:22 is actually saying: no earthly remedy will fix what judgment has brought.

  The hymn legitimately develops the theological idea of God as healer — and that idea does exist in scripture. But that is not the meaning of this specific text. The idea is true. The text does not mean it.

• "Let the weak say I am strong" — Joel 3:10

  This verse is widely used as a confession of faith — declaring strength over weakness. But the Message translation of Joel 3:9-11 reveals the actual context: "Announce this to the godless nations: Prepare for battle, soldiers at attention, present arms, advance. Let the weak one throw out his chest and say 'I'm tough.' Hurry up, pagans, wherever you are — get your act together. Prepare to be shattered by God."

  God is speaking to the pagan nations — inviting them to war so he can destroy them. The "weak" confessing strength are the nations about to be defeated. They are trash-talking into their own destruction.

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  The idea that believers should declare strength over weakness does exist in scripture — "be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might." But that is not the meaning of this text. Pulling a verse from its context and fitting it to a truth found elsewhere is misappropriation of truth. The idea is right. The verse does not carry it.

On Perpetual Spiritual Warfare and Misapplied Context

When believers live on a diet of miscontextualized scripture, the result is often a life of endless spiritual warfare — fighting generational altars, ancestral curses, demonic alliances, spiritual fathers, destiny thieves, village people. They fight every day and find no peace. The Bible says the peace of God surpasses understanding — but a person locked in constant spiritual combat may never know it.

When you cast out a demon and seven more wicked ones come — as some teach from scripture — what is the point of casting them out?

Holy Ghost fire in the New Testament is purifying fire, not a weapon to throw at enemies. Malachi 3 says he will sit as a refiner of silver, purifying. Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire — fire directed at the believer, not at the devil. Sending fire to the enemy's camp is sending what belongs to you. That is why some people are cold — they gave everything away.

Context resolves all of this. And God is only committed to what his word actually says — not to what has been interpreted it to mean.

Law Two: The Law of Scripture Interpreting Scripture

Scripture interprets scripture. When a verse seems to contradict another, the resolution is found within the Bible itself — not in external theological systems.

Example: James 2:24 says a man is justified by works and not by faith only. Galatians 2:16 says a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Christ. These seem to contradict — but they do not, because they are talking about two different kinds of works.

James is talking about works of faith — actions that flow from genuine belief. The example he gives is Abraham. Abraham did not have the law — the law came in Exodus 24, but the promise came to Abraham in Genesis 15. When Abraham offered Isaac, it was not to earn acceptance. He was acting from acceptance — acting on what God had already promised him and what he already believed. That is works of faith.

Paul in Galatians is talking about works of the law — actions done to earn justification, to become acceptable to God through performance.

Ephesians 2:8-10 holds both truths in one passage:

• Verse 8-9: "For by grace you have been saved through faith — and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God — not of works, lest any man should boast."
• Verse 10: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works."

We are not saved by good works. We are saved for good works.

This is the full picture. A person does not do good to earn God's acceptance — they do good because they are already accepted. They do not become a nice person so God will like them — God already likes them, and that is why they become nice. They are walking from who they are in Christ, not toward a status they have not yet reached. God is not scoring anyone. There is no performance test to pass.

Faith without works is dead because genuine faith produces action. The difference between a believer and a demon is not belief — demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God and tremble. The difference is that believers act what they believe.

If the belief is real, the life will show it.

If someone believes their body is the temple of God, that belief will govern what they do with their body. If the behavior contradicts the belief, the belief is not genuine — it is only claimed.

And for those dealing with the reality of a believer's transition through death: because of this truth — that death has been defeated, that the believer transitions into glory, that what awaits is a glorified body in the presence of God — mourning like those with no hope is not consistent with the gospel. Nothing better can happen to a believer than to transit into glory. Death, which was meant to be the end, becomes the beginning.

Works of faith: it is not just to live for him. It is to understand how to die for him.