Often Christians divide because they are looking at the same text of Scripture and seeing it through different preconceived ideas. In cases like this, they might feel like the other person is being deliberately stubborn in refusing to see the plain truth in the Bible.

1 John 2:1-2

[1] My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. [2] He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

One person might read this and think that Jesus took the punishment for sins for every person. Another might read it and think that “world” actually means “not just Jews”, with the main idea being that both Jews and gentiles are saved through Jesus in a non-individualistic sense, i.e. Jesus took the punishment for sin for men of every nation.

In another situation, looking at Acts chapter 2 and the Day of Pentecost, one believes the miraculous speaking in tongues seen is an example for today to be copied. Another sees this as a special time in the history of the church that is a-typical and never to be repeated.

So how do we plot a path forward when different Christians will find different ways to read the same text? Well, this is not a fool proof solution as we are still fallen and sinful people trying to understand sometimes complex parts of God’s Word. However, we can try to understand our own preconceived ideas that we bring to the text as a start.

More importantly, we listen patiently to others and question carefully why they believe a text should be interpreted the way they are interpreting it.

Even more important is to see how Scripture interprets Scripture. Are there examples of Jesus and the writers of the New Testament interpreting Old Testament passages? If so, are we interpreting in the same way? Does the same author shed light on his own word usage somewhere else? Maybe John uses the word “world” in a particular way (and maybe not).

The science and art of interpreting Scripture is both simple enough that a child can learn the Good News of Jesus, and deep enough that scholars of many years experience can still find competing theories. However, if we can recognise the differences in preconceptions we bring to the text of Scripture, we may move a little closer to displaying the love and unity we should have between fellow servants of Christ.