Craig Brian Larson - Interpretation and Application

Interpretation and Application (eBook edition)

Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC
P. O. Box 3473
Peabody, Massachusetts 01961-3473

eBook ISBN 978-1-61970-085-7

Copyright 2012 by Christianity Today International

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First eBook edition December 2012

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. (Italics in quoted scriptures are authors emphases.)

Scripture quotations marked (ESV) are from the The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture designated (NASB) taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://bible.org. All rights reserved. Quoted by permission.

Scripture designated (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

How to pass the preachers test.

I used to cheat in Algebra. Math has always been difficult for me. So when I was assigned to the honors algebra class, which was way over my head, I adjusted this discrepancy by borrowing some answers from the best mathematician in the school, a fellow starter on the varsity basketball team.

Though I wasnt a Christian at the time, I had a strong conscience, one that initially burned within me each time I broke the schools law, Gods law, and my own moral law. But after a while, as the teacher himself turned a blind eye to what was going on, and my heart hardened toward this sin, this fire of conscience cooled. The guilt subsided. The teacher didnt care. My friend didnt care. I didnt care. I passed the class.

When I became a Christian a year after graduating high school, everything changed on the inside, and eventually on the outside. So when I transferred to Wheaton College to major in Bible/theology, I vowed never again to cheat on anything.

This vow, however, was quickly tested. In my second semester of New Testament Greek (which, Im convinced, uses the same mental muscle as math), I missed the midterm exam due to the flu. My professor graciously allowed me to take the test on my own time. He told me he would leave a copy of it in his mailbox outside of his office. I could pick it up and take it whenever I felt better.

A few days later, in good health, I stood before his mailbox. I saw the test and grabbed it. Yet, as I looked down in the mailbox again, I noticed another exam, one completed by the best student in the class. I looked around. The hallway was empty. I cautiously lifted the other exam. It felt as heavy as a thousand fat devils dancing on it. Yet as heavy as it felt, it was as if a calm, reasonable voice whispered from it, Take and copy. Take and copy. I heeded that advice. I placed both exams in my backpack and hurried across the street to the library. I zipped open the backpack, placed the blank test on the right, and then I lifted slowly the other exam.

Then... I stopped. I didnt place it down on the left. Instead, convicted by the Spiritthat God sees all, that cheating is a sin, that such a sin would be offensive to God, my teacher, and my classmateI placed the completed exam in my backpack again. I walked back across the street, and I placed it back in the professors mailbox. I returned to the library and took the test on my own. I passed the test! What a victory for me, one among many. For by Gods grace I never cheated in college, graduate school, or seminary.

Now as a pastor, however, every week Im tempted to cheat in other waysnot on a Greek test but on Gods Greek text. More plainly, Im tempted to disregard either the Bible (the Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic text, thankfully translated into my own tongue) or principles of rightly interpreting Gods Word. Or both! Im tempted, as all pastors are, to bypass the Bible and biblical exegesis in an effort to wow the congregation with anything and everything but the Bible.