KEY SCRIPTURE: Joh 12:35 KJV “Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.”

After the Lord Jesus had described how he was going to die, his audience said to him, we learnt from the law that Christ will not die but will live forever. The Lord quickly corrected them and told them to abide in the light that is given to them.

The encounter of Jesus, and these Jews, explains a very important truth about the way most people approach the scriptures, especially in interpreting the scriptures rightly.

These people who were listening to Jesus did not accept what He was saying. They were rather talking about something they had read in the Old Testament while the very person who was the centre of the discussion was referring to something different.

Many people have very wrong interpretations of the scriptures because they do not consider the context of the scriptures or verse in consideration.

In our key scripture, the Lord instructed them to walk while they had the light.

He was the light and was telling them the truth, and they had to accept it and make use of it. If they refuse to make use of the truth, darkness or deception will take over them.

I would like us to consider a particular scripture that many of us make use of, yet most people give the interpretation out of context of the passage. Matthew 20:1-16

This scripture in Matthew 20:16 says, “So the last shall be first and the first last: for many be called but few are chosen.”. What is the interpretation of this scripture? I have heard all kinds of interpretation to this verse, which have nothing to do with the context of the passage

The passage talks about an entrepreneur who employed workers into his enterprise at various times of the day. He agrees with them on how much to give them. At the end of the day, he pays those he hired last first.

The very people who came first got offended and started murmuring, saying why did he have to pay the last people first and at the same amount that he agreed with them. He asked why they should get offended at his benevolence to those who had come late knowing he gave the people who came first the very amount they had agreed to take. Their offence therefore put them in the bad books of the entrepreneur. They were first, but they became last, or better still, they were not chosen. Many are called yet because of such things as offences they fail the standards and are rejected at the final analysis.  The proper interpretation of scripture must always be first considered from the context of the relating passage.

PRAYER:

Father, open our eyes to be sensitive to your ways that we may not fall for offences. Help us by your Spirit to rightly interpret your word always.

FURTHER STUDIES

2Ti 2:15 KJV “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

 Heb 4:11 KJV” Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”