Pastor Talk: The Interpretive Leap

Today’s topic is the interpretation of Scripture itself.

I spend much of my time studying and speaking publicly on the matters of what the Bible teaches. If you are a Christian, you should be doing the same. To be a follower of Christ is to know the Bible, share it, and allow it to speak into your life and the lives of others — even if you’re not standing on a platform to say it.

However, there is a crucial step between reading and applying that matters a little more than most believers think. I call it, The Interpretive Leap.

What is an Interpretive Leap?

The interpretive leap works like this: You read the words on the page and you say, “Ah, that means [insert idea that isn’t explicitly stated in the text].”

I don’t quite remember where or when I heard or perhaps came up with this term, but I’ve been aware of it since before I started pastoring. I remember wondering, “how do we know which parts of Revelation will be literal and which ones will be symbolic?” I was nine years old. At the core there was a simple question about how we explain what the Bible does and doesn’t mean.

Theologians came up with a complex term for this simple quandary: hermeneutics. It’s even its own field of study! I had a class in my masters program titled: hermeneutics. Or well. It wasn’t titled that but it had an even more boring name. How do we determine what the Bible is trying to say to us in the 21st century living in Grand Junction, CO? seems like a dumb question, right? “duh, just take it as it reads!” Not so fast, my mild mannered neurotypical reader.

Imagine I’m reading Romans 12:1, which says, 

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Romans 12:1 KJV

The text explicitly says "present your bodies" and "living sacrifice." The question then arises: Does this mean you must take care of your physical health? At a literal level, the answer is no. The word "health" does not appear in the text. It refers to a body and it mentions sacrifice, but it doesn’t mention physical wellness. However, you might “take it to mean” that it “stands to reason” that if we “take into consideration” the OT sacrificial system and how the animals presented could not be lame or with blemish, then “what it’s saying is that” we should treat our bodies with physical care as they did for temple sacrifices. Recognize any of those phrases?

That’s an interpretive leap.

When we take literal words and assign them a specific application for our lives, we are making a little jump to a conclusion that is not explicitly in the text. This little jump, as little or small as it may be, is significant because it requires moving from what Bible authors wrote to what Bible authors could have meant.

Some leaps are bigger than others, and therefore some leaps are safer than others. How do we interpret responsibly? That is the question.

The Weight of Evidence

How big of a leap is it to say this verse implies we should maintain our health? Perhaps not a very big leap. But compare that to a different interpretation: what if I claimed this verse meant I should whip my back and climb a mountain on my knees to "sacrifice" myself daily?

Which of those is the bigger jump? Please keep in mind a bigger leap doesn’t automatically mean the interpretation is wrong. However, the larger the leap, the more scriptural evidence I’m going to want to corroborate it. If we lack a "cloud of witnesses"—other supporting verses or biblical examples—then I’m going to suggest the jump is too big to be responsible.

This is particularly relevant today. Many "TikTok preachers" or "Instagram evangelists" or even in-person preachers and sometimes friends build their platforms or theology on making massive or frequent interpretive leaps with very little supporting evidence. You should be very wary of any online or in person preacher who makes a habit of pulling colorful and novel interpretations out of seemingly simple Bible verses. Test the spirits! do they appeal to what the scriptures do say, or what they can say? Do they show you where it does say it, or do they spin what it should say?

It matters. Your spiritual health depends on making solid, Biblically-based choices. Even when the interpretation seems good and Biblical, assumptions about what the Bible might mean are never as sure as basing your life on what the Bible does mean.

The Three Degrees of Interpretation

To keep myself sane, and because you won’t get very far in your Bible without having to make interpretations, I categorize interpretive leaps into three basic levels:

1. A Small Leap: This is a leap so small it is almost non-existent. When the Bible says, "Thou shalt not murder," I take it as it reads. There is no gap to bridge.

2. A Medium Leap: The exact words may not be present, but the context and surrounding verses make the meaning clear. For example, Jesus never explicitly says the phrase, "I am God, worship me." However, we see Him receive worship, claim the title "Son of God," and perform acts attributed only to Yahweh. Because the rest of Scripture supports this, the leap is safer than saying, "Jesus called god "father" therefor the Bible says Jesus is not God."

3. A Large Leap: This occurs when we apply a verse in a way the text doesn't explicitly state. In Exodus 4, God asks Moses, "What is that in thine hand?" referring to a literal rod. In a sermon, I might ask, "What is in your hand? What is your talent or passion?" This is a powerful application, but it is a large interpretive leap. There is no textual evidence that God was speaking metaphorically to Moses nor to us in this way.

Why it Matters

The Danger of the Leap

A powerful interpretation is not automatically a Biblical one. Many interesting and logical readings of the Bible surface with enough tweaking of the way we interpret scripture. I submit to you that most of these conclusions are not just untrue, they create an unhealthy habit in over-spiritualizing the meanings of scriptures. More than that, some interpretations won't just lead us to error, they'll cause us to walk against the will of God. The most dangerous leap is one that contradicts the rest of Scripture. For instance, interpreting a specific narrative as an endorsement of something the Bible elsewhere forbids is not just a leap—it’s falling into sin.

The safest leaps are those that require the least amount of "jumping." I not it's not convenient, but not everything in the Bible can be read with literal-ism—I mean it can, but it's not true to the intent of the Bible. Jesus Himself said parables required the Spirit to understand them, and a literal application is not possible without making an interpretative leap. I don't hope to discourage you from making small leaps, but I do aim to caution you to avoid large leaps.

In Conclusion!

Just as the Spirit was present in the creation of the world, the Spirit is present in the creation of a new heart and a renewed mind. God gave us minds for a reason. Let us read the Bible responsibly. May we seek the instruction of the Holy Spirit, and ensure your interpretations of scripture are supported by the scripture itself.