"That's just your interpretation," is what I hear or read when someone doesn't agree with what another person says about the meaning of a biblical passage. Of course it is their interpretation! All thoughts about what any biblical text means involves interpretation. And the different meaning that "someone" gives is "just their interpretation." Interpretations are all that we've got.
There is no biblical passage that simply "means what it says," because every reader of that passage must interpret in order to know what it says. Even what appear to be the most straightforward passages require interpretation and thus "mean" a variety of different things to different people. Some interpretations may seem more reasonable than others, but even that evaluation of interpretations is an interpretation.
Take, "Love your neighbour as yourself." That seems straightforward enough, right? Yet, it isn't straightforward at all, if by straightforward we mean that the meaning is so clear that interpretation is not required. The reality is that every word/phrase in this briefly stated command requires interpretation. What is "love"? Who is "your neighbour"? What does it mean to "love [another person] as yourself"?
"Well, if we just go back to the original language, the meaning is plain, right?" Actually, no! Reading biblical passages in Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek, still requires interpretation and often demonstrates greater ambiguity than reading the translation. What did that word/phrase mean in this ancient language and in this ancient culture? Translators must make those decisions when choosing the appropriate which word/phrase in the modern language best represents the ancient word/phrase. In the translation, we have several layers of interpretation.
The most concerning thing about this to me is that we often take the translation we are reading and we assume it best represents what the original language and what the actual author meant. And it seems the more emotional a topic is the more we're are sure that our own translation and our own interpretation (or that of our denomination or favourite modern author) is the only right (or even the best) understanding of what the meaning that was intending by the ancient author of the text!
Not only do we then reject other interpretations as not the best, we often label and vilify other interpretations as intentionally false and even impugn the motives of those whose interpretation we disagree.
We all interpret. We are all, even experts, interpret. We have no other option. But what I think we must do is that we must come to and hold to our interpretations with a large dose of humility. In other words, "This is what I think Paul was talking about in (say) Romans 1:18–32, [a passage I am currently digging into] but I realize that is my interpretation, and therefore, I am open to considering other interpretations." Now, considering other interpretations does not mean that I have to throw away my own. On the one hand, hearing other interpretations may have the effect of strengthening my own without invalidating theirs. On the other hand, having an open mind may help me see where my interpretation was less than the best.
How I wish I could sit down with the apostle Paul and ask him to explain what he was trying to say when he wrote each and every passage in each and every one of his letters––especially, right now, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6––but that isn't possible. So, all I've got in the end is my interpretation. And all you've got is your interpretation.
And when our interpretations disagree with others' interpretations we can either choose to assert that our own interpretations are the correct ones and theirs are wrong. Wow! That's pretty arrogant, isn't it, that only we know (or I know) what Paul actually meant?
So, disagree with my interpretations if you choose. But realize, please, that's just your interpretation!
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