Can I Just Read
and Let the Spirit Lead?
“I
BY JOHN BRUNT
just take the Bible as it reads! Plain reading; no interpretation.” Although such a statement sounds pious, no one really does this. We all decide what is
relevant to us, and we make all kinds of decisions in life without explicit reference to what the Bible says. For example, some time ago my daughter went on vacation with us. When she returned to her apartment in rainy Seattle, there was mildew on the walls. If you read Leviticus, you will find elaborate instructions for what to do in such a case. It involves things like calling the priest, killing a bird, sprinkling blood, and the use of cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn. (See Leviticus 14.) We did none of this. We went to a home improvement store, asked what we should use to get mildew off the walls, sprayed in on, and watched the
The Spirit doesn’t interpret for us; ISTOCK.COM/~USERC0373230_9
rather, it helps us in three important ways when we read the Bible.
mildew disappear. Ah, but you say, “That is the Old Testament. We know many of those laws don’t apply today. But we do follow everything in the New Testament.” Do we really? In 1 Corinthians 11 Paul is quite clear that women should be veiled when they pray in church, but I have yet to see a church that follows that practice. Whenever we read, we engage in a process of interpretation. Most of the time we don’t think about it because we are so familiar with the material we don’t have to. When we read the news of the morning, we just read, and, for the most part, understand.
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PA C I F I C U N I O N R E CO R D E R
