========================================================================
  (GUIDELINES) INTERPRETATION I
  by J. Vernon McGee
========================================================================

Summary: J. Vernon McGee emphasizes the importance of proper
interpretation of Scripture and the reliability of the Bible amidst
contemporary challenges.

Duration: 13:26 Topics: "Biblical Authority", "Divine Inspiration"
Scripture References: Genesis 1:1, Psalm 119:105, Matthew 4:4, John 14:6, 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21, Revelation 22:18-19

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------

In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance and significance
of the Bible. He describes it as containing the mind of God, the state
of man, the way of salvation, and the doom of sinners. The preacher
highlights that the Bible is holy in its doctrines, binding in its
precepts, true in its histories, and immutable in its decisions. He
encourages believers to read the Bible to gain wisdom, believe in its
teachings for safety, and practice its principles for holiness. The
preacher also addresses the attacks and criticisms against the Bible,
highlighting the claims of its plenary verbal inspiration and the
guarantee of its revelation through divine inspiration.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, interpretation has to do with the interpretation that you and I
make. That's the human side, and that's the reason there are Methodists
and Baptists and Presbyterians and Vernon McGees, because we all have
our interpretations. And may I say to you, some of us are evidently
wrong.

The Bible doesn't teach everything, or doesn't teach two things. It
teaches just one thing, and that has to do with interpretation. There
are certain rules that we'll follow, and we'll call attention to them as
we go along.

No scripture should be interpreted by itself. I think that is a very
important thing. I do not think any of us have any right just to lift
out one verse and build a doctrine on that verse.

And no doctrine should ever be built on an uncertain text of scripture,
or a group of them. Any solid teaching. And it was Dr. Westcott and Hoyt
who said that actually in our translation, only one word in ninety was
ever involved in any question at all, and none regarded doctrine, none
regarding that which is vital.

You and I can be sure today that the text we have is a reliable text.
But there are many versions, and that's confusing today. And may I say
this to you.

I have all the versions. Every time a new one comes out, I put it in my
library. I'd look at them generally, but I still stick with the
authorized version.

I personally have before me right now the Old Schofield Reference Bible.
I find it very helpful. I have the New Schofield, but I have difficulty
finding my way around in it, it's so new.

But may I say to you that the authorized version is still a good
version. And many of these others are helpful to turn to. Someone asked
me if I thought even Living Letters was a good translation.

I think it's a marvelous interpretation, but not a translation. And
there are some very fine versions today, but most of them are clouded
with the personal viewpoint of the One who gave them to us. Now, this
gives us something of the background of the book that we are going to
look at.

And I think that probably we ought to look at the definition of the
Bible in closing. This book contains the mind of God, the state of man,
the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, the happiness of believers.
Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are
true, and its decisions are immutable.

Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.
It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to
cheer you. It's a traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's
compass, the soldier's sword, the Christian's charter.

Here paradise is restored, heaven opened, the gates of hell disclosed.
Christ is its grand object. Our good is its design and the glory of God
its end.

It should fill the memory, rule the heart, guide the feet. Read it
slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It's a mine of wealth, a paradise of
glory, and a river of pleasure.

It's given you in life. It'll be opened in the judgment, will be
remembered forever. It involves the highest responsibility, will reward
the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred
contents.

Very candidly, we are dealing with a book today that's under attack, as
no book has ever been under attack. Dr. McGiffert years ago made this
statement. He was a great professor, by the way, of history, but he took
this viewpoint.

And I'm quoting him now. And there are probably few Protestant
theologians today who treat the early chapters of Genesis as sober
history. And may I say to you, these statements like that could be
multiplied ad infinitum.

For instance, Dr. C. H. Dodd, he said long ago it became clear that in
claiming for the Bible accuracy and matters of science and history, its
apologists had chosen a hopeless position to defend. The harm has been
done to the general conscience by allowing the outworn morality of parts
of the Old Testament to stand as authoritative declarations. Now may I
say to you, these are very serious attacks and they can be multiplied
today.

And even in some of our so-called conservative seminaries today, some
very strange things are being said. In Vassar College, for instance, and
I was interested in noting this, that Mary McCarthy, writing on the
Vassar Girl, back some time ago in Holiday Magazine, she said that the
curriculum of the college was as it had always been, with just one
exception, and the curriculum went something like this. The English
language, its literature, other modern languages, the ancient classics,
and so on and so on.

And then finally it says, and I'm reading now, "...last and most
important of all, the daily systematic reading and study of the Holy
Scriptures as the only and all-sufficient rule of Christian faith and
practice." And Mary McCarthy said, "...the curriculum, except for the
last proviso, remains the basis of the Vassar education." In other
words, the Bible has been kicked out lock, stock, and barrel. Now, let
me put over against this some very interesting statements because of the
fact that we are living right now in a day when the divisions among so-
called Christians just doesn't happen to be according to denominational
lines. And it was as far back as 1902 that a cabinet minister in Great
Britain made this statement, and I'm quoting him, "...the old
denominational barriers are growing shadowy and unreal.

The real division that is coming is between those who believe that the
Bible is the word of God and those who do not." And that's where we are
today, by the way. And I personally resent the statement that some of
these men make that no intelligent person today believes the Bible and
that no intelligent person could believe the Bible. Let me quote from
Gladstone, probably one of the greatest legal minds Great Britain ever
produced.

And they've had some giants, by the way. Here is what he says, and I'm
quoting him now, "...talk about the questions of the day. There is but
one question, and that's the gospel, that can and will correct
everything.

I'm glad to say that about all the men at the top in Great Britain are
Christians." Now, that was back in 1902. And may I inject something
else? "...that may be back of Great Britain's present problems." Now,
I'm reading again from Gladstone. "...I have been in public position 58
years, all but 11 of them in the cabinet of the British government.

And during those 47 years, I have been associated with 60 of the
masterminds of the century, and all but 5 of the 60 were Christians."
May I say to you that's a tremendous statement. I personally think that
part of the problem we're having in the world today is that we have too
few Christians at the top, and therefore we have too few who know the
most important book in the world, which happens to be still the Word of
God itself. Now, not only is that true of this man Gladstone, but may I
say that other great men down through the history of the world have
taken that position? Michael Faraday.

And I suppose that he was the greatest scientific experimenter the world
has ever seen. And there's a very few men that enter a laboratory today
and pour acid in a test tube or look through a microscope that don't
have to pay tribute to this man here. He was a genius.

And this is what he said, "...but why will people go astray when they
have this blessed book of God to guide them?" And then Sir Isaac Newton,
he was born way back yonder and he was a scientist, and he made this
statement. He says, "...if the Bible is true, the time will come when
men shall travel 50 miles an hour." And Voltaire, the skeptic in that
day, answered like this, Poor Isaac. He was in his dotage when he made
that prophecy.

It only shows what Bible study will do to an otherwise scientific mind.
May I say, we can see today what it did do. It proved that Voltaire was
very much mistaken and proved to be very much a fool in many respects in
his attack upon the Bible, and that Sir Isaac Newton probably knew
something that he did not know.

May I say to you, these are remarkable statements that we have given to
you here, and I could multiply these and bring in today many that
believe the Bible. Now, that leads me to say a word concerning the first
of these four very important subjects that relate to the Bible.
Revelation means God hath spoken, and thus saith the Lord occurs over
2,500 times in the Scripture.

And the Scripture does claim that it is plenary, verbally inspired of
God. Now, that brings me to the second great subject, which is
inspiration. And inspiration guarantees the revelation that we have from
God.

It was not too many years ago that Great Britain bought Codex Sinaiticus
from the Russian government for the British Museum. And that was back,
by the way, in 1933. And they paid at that time 100,000 pounds, that's
half a million dollars, to get that document.

And it's interesting, the Communists have said that religion is the
opiate of the people. And they were pretty good at peddling dope
themselves, weren't they? They got quite a price for that which they
considered nothing in the world but dope and worthless. Well, anyway,
this is what Sir George Kenyon, who was the late director and principal
librarian of the British Museum, and here was the statement he made, and
I'm quoting, "...thanks to these manuscripts, the ordinary reader of the
Bible may feel comfortable about the soundness of the text, apart from a
few unimportant verbal alterations natural in books transcribed by hand,
the New Testament, we now feel assured, has come down intact." May I say
to you, that was one of the most important discoveries that was ever
made.

You can be sure today that we have that which is as close to the
autographs as anything possibly can be. And not only that, inspiration
still guarantees the revelation that we have.

========================================================================
Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/8/SID8459.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/j-vernon-mcgee/guidelines-interpretation-i/
========================================================================