I Don’t Think That Verse Means What You Think It Means By Rev. Jake Sletten
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H I G H E R T H I N G S __ 20
ou might have seen Philippians 4:13 on one of Steph Curry’s basketball shoes. You’ve probably heard 1 Corinthians 10:13 misquoted a multitude of times, but when you went to look for it in your Bible, you couldn’t find it.
This past summer at the Higher Things conference in St. Paul, I was privileged to present on a topic that I am very passionate about: setting the record straight on certain passages of Scripture that are woefully and dangerously misinterpreted. Before attempting to interpret any passage of Scripture, the FIRST thing that we must do is pray. We must pray to the Holy Spirit that we read Scripture through the lens of Jesus and Him crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected. After all, Scripture itself is very clear: that it ALL points to Jesus. John 20:31 says as much: “…but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” The second and third things are linked: we must understand that Scripture always (and only) interprets itself. We cannot simply pluck passages out of their context and think that we will know what they really mean. It is sort of like that scene in Return of the Jedi when Hans Solo gets really bummed because he thinks that Leia loves Luke… romantically. If he had been paying attention, he would have figured out that Leia is actually Luke’s sister…eww. There are also these important verses from 2 Peter
1:19-21: “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Philippians 4:13 “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Athletes have been putting this verse on their shoes and eye black for as long as sports have been around, to motivate them and others, while also earnestly desiring to give a witness to their Christian faith. Let’s begin with what this verse DOESN’T mean. What this verse DOESN’T mean are things like this: “You can do anything you set your mind to!”“Set your goals and you will achieve them!”“Dream it. Believe it. Achieve it!” Or, the even more ludicrous: “There’s no possible way I can die while climbing El Capitan without a rope because, well, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!”
