On Biblical Interpretation and Enthroning the Ignorant Self

Our culture has a real authority problem in that people tend to see themselves as the ultimate authority of any given subject. I think this impression is perpetuated by the vast amount of knowledge offered to the individual by the internet. There is a difference between pseudo-knowledge and real knowledge. One who is given information has a pseudo-knowledge, but one who has taken the time to understand that information has true knowledge.

I may read a book about piloting a plane, but I would be a fool to go out and act like I could actually fly one afterwards. The same goes for people who use the biblical languages, but haven't put in the hours to actually understand them. People think that if they consult a lexicon or interlinear they somehow have the knowledge they need to speak confidently about a biblical text.

These same people think that someone like myself is arrogant for telling them that they should submit their understanding to the church and to others who actually understand those biblical languages because there is a lot more involved than simply looking at a bunch of glosses.

I, however, would argue that these people are the arrogant ones. It is not arrogant for a rocket scientist to tell layman to stop building rockets. They're going to harm themselves and others in doing so. The truly arrogant are the ones who do not know how to build rockets and go ahead and do so anyway.

It is the height of playing God to act like an expert when one is not. If one were to give confident medical advice and prescribe drugs and perform surgery because he can look it all up online, he is merely using others to exalt his self worth, but has no love for those lives with which he plays.

In essence, my seemingly elitist attitude stems from my concern for God's people. I see them led astray by these arrogant men. It is not about lifting up those who know as better. It is about lifting up God through what is true, and those who know are more qualified to say what is true. Only the arrogant would lift themselves up over the welfare of others in order to feel important. When I see a layman speaking confidently about Greek or Hebrew because he read an interlinear or a lexicon he doesn't understand, I see demonic hatred, not a love for God and His people. May God protect His people from such wicked and self-exalting wolves.