Are you interpreting scripture only physically or also spiritually? Let’s talk bout this great question.
Many people in the audience of Jesus only heard the physical interpretation of the teaching, and some took offense to it, ex: Lord’s Supper. Many church leaders take a physical interpretation of some scripture and use it as a requirement for us today, ex: Lord’s Supper, baptism, method of worship. I think many of the Christian denominations exist because of taking physical interpretations. A lot of tough scripture that Christians debate and don’t understand is because it is interpreted physically.
I think the physical message helped relate the story to the original audience at the time it was written to enhance understanding. We should seek to understand the physical meaning of scripture to the original audience by knowing the history of the audience. This will help us to understand the scripture more accurately. We shouldn’t interpret scripture directly to our current day biased worldview without first understanding the history, because we could be changing the meaning from what it meant to the original audience.
Some people get stuck on interpreting the Bible in humanly physical terms and selfishly. But those who are seeking truth humbly will dig deeper for the spiritual truth. We today should understand and appreciate the original physical message, translate the concepts to our current day, and then shift it to a spiritual message. God is a spirit, but He made us as visual people, so He speaks to us in terms we understand. The greater wisdom of God will be learned by Christians spiritually with the help of the Holy Spirit.
