There are rules to biblical interpretation. The rule above all rules is: Context determines meaning. It is appalling how often preachers and lay people take individual verses out of context. Primarily we're dealing here with literary context (although the historical is not out of the mix). How is the verse to be read within the context of the paragraph, what comes before and after, and overall argument/story line? When you answer those questions then you find what God intends for you to know and learn. Otherwise you're just making it up as you go along.
I've been reading 1 Corinthians lately and two verses come to mind. First is found in 2:9 when Paul quotes Isa 64:4: "What eye has not seen and ear has not heard nor entered into the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him." This verse is primarily quoted to express the wonderment of what God has in store for His children in heaven. But is that what this text is teaching?
When dealing with a quote from the OT, go to that text in its original context. In this case the verse is couched within a cry for help for God to do in the present for His people what He did in the past so that their adversaries might tremble and God might be glorified. The verse in its original context has nothing to do with heaven. Now what about its meaning in 1 Corinthians? Paul is chiding the church as he does often in the letter for being more enamored with human wisdom rather than embracing God's wisdom. Paul did not come to Corinth armed with human wisdom but with the power of God. The mature would understand this wisdom, hidden from ages past, but revealed in the preaching of the Gospel. Paul then quotes Isaiah 64:4, eye has not seen, ears have not heard, what God has prepared for those who love him. Then he writes, "But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit…that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God:" [2:10, 12]. Paul's argument is that what once God had hidden He now has revealed in His Son to all believers. The unbeliever cannot grasp the wisdom of God but believers can. The OT text is used by Paul to show the believer what he/she has that OT saints did not—an understanding of the deep wisdom of God in Christ. The verse has nothing to do with heaven; it has everything to do with the blessings of God for the Christian now. The verse is not about tomorrow; it is about today!
The second verse I want to briefly mention is found in the great love chapter 13. Paul writes, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, I put away childish things" [v. 11]. This verse is used by many to call young people to grow up. It has nothing to do with that. The verse is part of a larger discussion about spiritual gifts. The Corinthians were focusing on the more attractive (at least to them) gift of tongues and many looked down on those without that gift. Paul writes in ch 12 that all gifts were important and ch 13 is all about reminding the church that if gifts aren't used with love they are no good at all. Toward the end of ch 13 Paul reminds his readers that one day all gifts will pass away but love will remain. Then he writes, "For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come then that which is in part will be done away." There's been a lot of discussion about this verse, but I do know why. Paul is obviously saying that in this life our understanding is limited in spite of spiritual gifts, but one day the perfect, the eschaton (the end) will come. One day believers will be ushered into eternity, will receive a new body (discussed in ch 15 of this letter), and then there will be no need for spiritual gifts. As Paul put it in v. 12, "I will know just I also am known." I will know all that God has for me perfectly just as God knows me perfectly (I will never know as much as God—don't forget that!). Our verse is not an admonition to grow up physically, it is a statement of fact that one day every believer will grow up spiritually and will have no need for spiritual gifts (the childish things). It was foolish then for the Corinthians (or us) to argue about spiritual gifts or believer that having a certain gift made one more 'spiritual' than another.
I have been guilty of using the first example to allude to heaven; most preachers I know have too. But it was and is wrong to do so. Why? When I take a verse and place it where God did not, I'm guilty of eisegesis (reading into a text) instead of exegesis (bring out the intended meaning of the text). The text is only authoritative when I interpret it within the context that God placed it. Context determines meaning. Find it. It's a lot harder, but it blesses, strengthens, and teaches a whole lot more.
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