Interpretation
In II Pet. 1:20,21 we read, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit". There is no plainer condemnation to be found of the idea that a passage of scripture may have whatever meaning an individual or group of individuals may think or explain it to have. This would apply to all from the pope of Rome all the way down (or up) to the obscure, casual reader of the Bible. Peter says that NO prophecy of scripture is of private interpretation. The term, "prophecy" is used in the New Testament with reference to that which was revealed by inspiration. Since the entire Bible was written by inspiration, the term would apply to everything in the Bible.
There is no passage in the Bible which is of private interpretation. Any given passage of the Bible always reads the same way and says the same thing regardless of the language in which it may be written, if it is translated (the only other way the term, interpretation is used is with reference to translation) from the original correctly. The teaching of a passage is definite and cannot carry different or conflicting meanings. A passage cannot mean one thing to one person and something entirely different to another. The only way this can be done is by PRIVATE INTERPRTATION. But private interpretation of the scriptures is condemned in the passage we have under consideration. Herein lies the standpoint from which the study of the scriptures must be approached to begin with. Peter said, "knowing this first". Unless a person understands this feature of the scriptures, there is little possibility of his ever coming to a knowledge of the truth. That is why multitudes, who read the Bible, never learn the truth. They read it with a private interpretation of their own or that of someone else.
Every man-made creed represents private interpretations of the scriptures. We know of no creed which does not claim the Bible as its basis. You will notice, if you will but examine one of these creeds, manuals, disciplines or confessions of faith, that when an article of faith is set forth, some passage or passages of scripture are given to show that it is true. But in most cases, in order for the scriptures cited to teach the article of faith set forth in the creed, there must be a private intrpretation of the passage used. It has been said that "one can prove anything by the Bible". This can be done only by private interpretation of the Bible. But a private interpretation of the Bible really PROVES NOTHING!
Actually, we find nothing in the word of God that even suggests that the scriptures need to be interpreted. We find that the scriptures are to be studied and applied. (II Tim. 2:15.) The scriptures are to be understood. (Eph. 5:17.) The scriptures are not to be perverted nor changed. (Gal. 1:7,8.) The scriptures are not to be added to nor subtracted from. (Rev. 22:18,19.) The scriptures are divinely interpreted. They carry their own interpretation Let us illustrate the interpretation of the scriptures by the scriptures as opposed to private interpretation. Though the Catholics do not recognize the scriptures as authority, they do seek to appeal to them to try to infbence those who do recognize them as authoritative. Their use of Mt. 16:18,19 is a case in point. They PRIVATELY INTERPRET this passage to mean that the church was built upon Peter. They reason from this to papal authority. Of course this can be disproven by going into the meaning of Greek terms. But this is unnecessary when there are other passages which interpret this one. One such passage is found in I Cor. 3:11. "For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." In Mt. 16, Peter had confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. This fact which was confessed by Peter was the foundation upon which the church was to be built, as shown by I Cor. 8:11.
There are multitudes of people in the religious. world in general and many in the body of Christ in particular, who will interpret the scriptures privately, in order to believe what they want to believe and practice what they want to practice. All need to study the word of the Lord more, with the realization that it is not to be privately interpreted, then perhaps they would not be taken in by the many theories based upon private interpretations.