What Did the Author Intend?
Every book of the Bible was written by a real person to real people for a reason. Moses wrote to Israel. Paul wrote letters to churches. John tells us that he wrote his Gospel so that we might believe Jesus is the Christ (John 20:30-31). Before asking what a passage means to us today, we should first ask what the author intended to communicate to those who first received it.
One of the most common mistakes in Bible study is asking our questions before asking the author's. We naturally want to know what a passage means for our lives, but we must first understand what it meant when it was written. We should first seek to understand what the inspired author intended to communicate to his original readers. Only then should we consider how later biblical revelation develops or fulfills that message.
This does not make the Bible less relevant. It makes it more reliable. There is a difference between meaning and application. The meaning of a passage is fixed by what the author intended to communicate. The application of that truth may vary from person to person and generation to generation, but it must always grow out of the original meaning.
As you study Scripture, ask simple questions. Why was this written? Who was being addressed? What problem was the writer discussing? How would the original readers have understood these words? Those questions often answer difficulties before they become disagreements.
Only after we understand the author's message should we ask how it applies to us today. That order protects us from reading our own ideas into Scripture and helps us hear God's Word as He intended it to be heard.
Every time you open your Bible, remember that you are listening first to the inspired author. Listen carefully. Understand what he meant. Then apply that truth to your own life.
GOING DEEPER
The Author Was Trying to Say Something
When we read a letter from a friend, we assume the writer meant something by the words he chose. We don't normally believe those words can mean whatever we want them to mean.
We should give biblical writers the same courtesy.
Paul did not write Romans as a collection of sentences for later generations to pull apart and rearrange. He was making an argument. Matthew was telling a story for a purpose. Jeremiah spoke to people facing particular circumstances. John selected particular events from the life of Jesus because he wanted his readers to reach a conclusion.
The first question, therefore, is not:
“What can I make this verse say?”
It is:
“What was this writer trying to tell his readers?”
Sometimes the Author Tells Us His Purpose
John makes our job unusually easy.
Near the end of his Gospel he writes:
“Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God...”
— John 20:30-31
John tells us why he selected the material in his Gospel.
That means when we read about Jesus turning water into wine, healing the sick, feeding the multitude, giving sight to the blind, and raising Lazarus, we should remember John's stated purpose.
He calls these events signs.
A sign points beyond itself.
John is not merely telling us that something remarkable happened. He is presenting evidence intended to lead us toward his conclusion:
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
Knowing John's purpose changes the way we read the entire book.
Don't Make the Author Answer a Question He Wasn't Asking
Consider 1 Corinthians 1:17:
“For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel...”
Someone could isolate that statement and conclude:
“Paul says baptism isn't part of the gospel.”
But was Paul discussing whether baptism belongs in the gospel response?
Read the opening chapter.
The Corinthian church was divided. Some were saying:
“I am of Paul.”
“I am of Apollos.”
“I am of Cephas.”
Paul then asks:
“Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”
He even expresses relief that he personally baptized only a few of them.
Why?
Paul tells us:
“Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.”
Now verse 17 becomes much clearer.
Paul's concern is who performed their baptism, because the Corinthians were dividing themselves around prominent teachers.
If we use verse 17 to answer a question Paul wasn't discussing, we can make a perfectly true sentence teach something Paul never intended it to teach.
Meaning and Application Are Not the Same Thing
Consider Philippians 4:13 again:
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
The meaning comes from Paul's situation and argument. He had experienced abundance and need, fullness and hunger. Christ enabled him to endure every circumstance faithfully.
That meaning does not change from one century to another.
But its application can.
A Christian who loses his job may draw strength from Paul's words.
A widow facing loneliness may draw strength from them.
A missionary working under difficult circumstances may draw strength from them.
Different situations. Different applications.
Same meaning.
Application asks:
“How does this truth affect me?”
Interpretation asks:
“What truth did the author communicate?”
We should answer the second question before answering the first.
Sometimes We Know the Words but Miss the Point
Consider Jesus' parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.
It is easy to begin immediately with:
“What does the Good Samaritan teach me about helping people?”
That is certainly a legitimate application.
But Luke tells us what prompted the parable.
A lawyer asked Jesus:
“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
The discussion eventually produced another question:
“And who is my neighbor?”
Luke adds an important detail. The man asked this because he was “desiring to justify himself.”
Jesus then told the story.
That setting matters.
The parable isn't simply a general lesson encouraging charitable behavior. Jesus is answering a man who is trying to define the limits of his responsibility.
At the end Jesus turns the man's question around.
The lawyer had asked:
“Who is my neighbor?”
Jesus effectively asks:
“Which man acted as a neighbor?”
Understanding why Jesus told the story makes the lesson sharper, not weaker.
What About Prophecy?
Authorial intent becomes especially important when studying prophecy.
Suppose we read a prophet such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, or Daniel and immediately begin asking:
“What modern nation is this?”
“What present-day political leader does this describe?”
“Could this be something happening in the news?”
We have started with our world rather than the prophet's.
Before making any modern connection, ask:
Who was the prophet addressing?
What crisis were those people facing?
What had God already revealed to them?
What would the prophet's words have communicated to those original hearers?
Only after doing that work should we ask whether Scripture itself gives the prophecy a later fulfillment or broader significance.
This becomes particularly important when a New Testament writer quotes an Old Testament prophecy.
But Authorial Intent Does Not Mean Ignoring Later Revelation
Here we need an important qualification.
Begin with what Isaiah intended to communicate to Isaiah's audience.
But if Matthew later quotes Isaiah and says something has been fulfilled in Jesus, Matthew's inspired explanation becomes part of our evidence.
We don't have the right to tell Matthew:
“Isaiah couldn't have meant that.”
Nor do we have the right to invent connections Matthew never made.
Both principles matter.
Begin with the original author.
Then allow later inspired writers to show us how God's revelation develops, fulfills, or applies what was written earlier.
This keeps us from making two opposite mistakes: ignoring the original setting or inventing later meanings on our own.
Can a Passage Mean Something the Author Never Intended?
This is where the principle becomes challenging.
Suppose someone says:
“This verse means one thing to you, but it means something completely different to me.”
That may be true about application.
But can contradictory interpretations both be the meaning intended by the author?
If Paul intended to affirm something, he did not simultaneously intend to deny it.
If Matthew identifies Jesus as fulfilling a prophecy, we cannot simply decide Matthew's interpretation doesn't count.
And if a passage is discussing one subject, we cannot make it settle an entirely different subject merely because its wording sounds useful.
There may be places where we genuinely have difficulty determining what an author meant. Careful students can disagree.
But our uncertainty about the meaning does not mean the author had no meaning.
Read the Bible Like a Letter Before Reading It Like a Dictionary
One common Bible-study method is to look up a word, find every verse containing that word, and begin connecting them.
That can be useful.
But it can also become dangerous.
Imagine taking every sentence from several letters containing the word “house,” removing those sentences from their letters, and putting them together on one page.
You would have collected every occurrence of the word.
But you might have destroyed the meaning of every sentence.
Bible words live inside sentences.
Sentences live inside paragraphs.
Paragraphs live inside books.
And books were written by authors who were communicating something.
Word studies can help us understand Scripture.
They cannot replace reading what the author actually wrote.
Try This When You Study
When you come to an important passage, don't begin by asking what somebody else says it means.
Read it yourself.
Then ask:
Who wrote this?
Who received it?
Why was it written?
What subject is being discussed?
What problem, question, or situation prompted these words?
How does this paragraph contribute to the author's argument?
Has another inspired writer given us additional information about it?
And finally:
“If I set aside what I have always been told this verse means, what does the author's own argument indicate that he meant?”
That last question can be uncomfortable.
It can also be enormously valuable.
Because the goal of Bible study is not to make the biblical writer agree with us.
The goal is to understand him well enough that we can decide whether we need to agree with him.
Continue Your Study
How Does the Bible Interpret Itself?
How does one part of Scripture help explain another? And why is the Bible often its own best commentary?
Related Bible Studies
What Is Context?
Can One Verse Build an Entire Doctrine?
What Happens When We Take Verses Out of Context?
Companion Video
What Did the Author Intend?
Read First. Conclude Later.