2、圣经的解释 基督徒能明白神的话Interpretation - Christianscan understand the Word of God
《简明神学》Concise Theology: A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs，巴刻（J. I. Packer）著/張麟至译，更新传道会，2007年。
圣经的解释
基督徒能明白神的话
求你赐我悟性，我便遵守你的律法，且要一心遵守。（诗119:34）
所有的基督徒都有权利与责任从教会的信仰传统里，有所学习，同时也有权利与责任为自己诠释圣经。罗马天主教会则怀疑这点，他们宣称个人容易误解圣经，这是真的，但是若能谨守遵行下面的原则，必会帮助我们防备那种错误的产生。
圣J里的每一卷书都是人写成的；虽然我们当永远尊之为神的话，可是解释它时，仍须从它人为的因素着手。因此之故，寓意式的解经，而忽视了作者其人所要表达的意思，绝非合宜。
没有一卷经书是用密码写成的，而都是用所要寄语的读者所能明白的方法写成，即便是基本上使用象征文字书写的书卷亦然：如但以理书、撒迦利亚书和启示录。纵使其细节或许迷雾不清，这些书卷的主题总是清楚的。所以当我们明瞭了圣经所使用的字体、历史背景和作者与读者的文化传统时，要想掌握住它所传达的思想，我们大概已可上道了。不过，属灵的领悟——即认出神的真实性、他与人类交涉的法则、他现今的旨意以及人今时与将来和他的关系等——并不会立即由经文临到我们，除非等到帕子由我们心里挪去，在我们体会到作者自己对神的认识、讨神喜悦之心，及尊崇神的热切（林后3:16；林前2:14）后，方能领悟。我们需要祷告，求神的灵能在我们里面产生这种热情，并在经文里面向我们显示神（见诗119:18-19，26-27，33-34，73，125，144，169；弗1:17-19；3:16-19）。
每一卷书在神恩典启示的进程里，都占有一席之位。这进程起于伊甸园，而在耶稣基督、五旬节和使徒们的新约启示上，达到高潮。读经时，当将该席位牢记在心。举例来说吧，诗篇虽是每一个时代敬虔心灵的模范，但也很实际地藉着祷告与赞美表达了世间典型的实体（如地上的君王、国度、健康、财富、战争、长寿等），这些实体勾绘出在基督纪元以前的蒙恩生活清形。
每一卷书都是从同一位神的思想里出来的，所以，圣经六十六卷书的教训可以彼此互补，而且观念一致。假如我们看不见这一点，错在我们，而不在圣经。经文的确不会互相矛盾；不但如此，一段经文往往可用来解释另一段经文。这种以经解经的健全法则，有时候叫做经文的类比，或称为信仰的类比。
每一卷书都展现出有关神、有关人性、敬虔与不敬虔的不变真理；这些都可应用到某些特定的情境中，也因这些情境的说明，使得真理益发鲜明；个人或团体都可在其中看到自己的影子。释经的最后一个阶段是将这些真理，再应用到我们自己的生活处境上；这正是察验出神在圣经里此刻对我们说些什么的方法。这类可应用的例子有：约西亚领会了神对犹大国没有遵守他的律法而发的忿怒（王下22:8-13）；耶稣针对创世纪二章24节（太19:4-6）所作的诠释；以及保罗使用创世纪十五章6节和诗篇三十二篇1至2节以显明因信称义的实在（罗4:1-8）。
凡是不能有把握地由经文里读出来的意思——也就是说，凡是不能很显明且一点也不含糊地证明这是一位、甚或多位圣经作者所要表明之意思的看法——就不能读入或硬加在经文之上。
信徒理当谨慎地以祷告的心遵守这些规则，这是每一个[按着正意分解真理的道]之基督徒的标志（提后2:15）。
INTERPRETATION
CHRISTIANS
CAN UNDERSTAND THE WORD OF GOD
Give
me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. PSALM
119:34
All
Christians have a right and duty not only to learn from the church’s heritage
of faith but also to interpret Scripture for themselves. The church of Rome
doubts this, alleging that individuals easily misinterpret the Scriptures. This
is true; but the following rules, faithfully observed, will help prevent that
from happening.
Every
book of Scripture is a human composition, and though it should always be
revered as the Word of God, interpretation of it must start from its human
character. Allegorizing, therefore, which disregards the human writer’s
expressed meaning is never appropriate.
Each
book was written not in code but in a way that could be understood by the
readership to which it was addressed. This is true even of the books that
primarily use symbolism: Daniel, Zechariah, and Revelation. The main thrust is
always clear, even if details are clouded. So when we understand the words
used, the historical background, and the cultural conventions of the writer and
his readers, we are well on the way to grasping the thoughts that are being
conveyed. Spiritual understanding—that is, the discernment of the reality of
God, his ways with humankind, his present will, and one’s own relationship to
him now and for the future—will not however reach us from the text until the
veil is removed from our hearts and we are able to share the writer’s own
passion to know and please and honor God (2 Cor. 3:16; 1 Cor. 2:14). Prayer
that God’s Spirit may generate this passion in us and show us God in the text
is needed here. (See Ps. 119:18-19, 26-27, 33-34, 73, 125, 144, 169; Eph.
1:17-19; 3:16-19.)
Each
book had its place in the progress of God’s revelation of grace, which began in
Eden and reached its climax in Jesus Christ, Pentecost, and the apostolic New
Testament. That place must be borne in mind when studying the text. The Psalms,
for instance, model the godly heart in every age, but express its prayers and
praises in terms of the typical realities (earthly kings, kingdoms, health,
wealth, war, long life) that circumscribed the life of grace in the
pre-Christian era.
Each
book proceeded from the same divine mind, so the teaching of the Bible’s
sixty-six books will be complementary and self-consistent. If we cannot yet see
this, the fault is in us, not in Scripture. It is certain that Scripture
nowhere contradicts Scripture; rather, one passage explains another. This sound
principle of interpreting Scripture by Scripture is sometimes called the
analogy of Scripture or the analogy of faith.
Each
book exhibits unchanging truth about God, humanity, godliness, and ungodliness,
applied to and illustrated by particular situations in which individuals and
groups found themselves. The final stage in biblical interpretation is to
reapply these truths to our own life-situations; this is the way to discern
what God in Scripture is saying to us at this moment. Examples of such
reapplication are Josiah’s realization of God’s wrath at Judah’s failure to
observe his law (2 Kings 22:8-13), Jesus’ reasoning from Genesis 2:24 (Matt.
19:4-6), and Paul’s use of Genesis 15:6 and Psalm 32:1-2 to show the reality of
present righteousness by faith (Rom. 4:1-8).
No
meaning may be read into or imposed on Scripture that cannot with certainty be
read out of Scripture—shown, that is, to be unambiguously expressed by one or
more of the human writers.
Careful
and prayerful observance of these rules is a mark of every Christian who
“correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).