The Wrong Way To Read Your Bible

Throughout history people have interpreted the Bible in different ways to justify all sorts of things.

Jesus tells a parable to illustrate how we sometimes get it wrong.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan Luke 10:25-37 (NET)

25 Now an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you understand it?” 27 The expert answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” 28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.”

29 But the expert, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him up, and went off, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, but when he saw the injured man he passed by on the other side. 32 So too a Levite, when he came up to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan who was traveling came to where the injured man was, and when he saw him, he felt compassion for him. 34 He went up to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever else you spend, I will repay you when I come back this way.’ 36 Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 The expert in religious law said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” So Jesus said to him, “Go and do the same.”

The Wrong Way To Read The Bible: 

The Bible has rule for that. The Bible teaches that we should avoid dead people, so if I see someone who is dead or close to dead, I'm going to avoid getting involved.  This seems to be why the priest and Levite avoided helping the injured man in this story.  They assumed following these rules was the right thing to do in this situation.

Here are the Bible verses that likely motivated the response of the priest and Levite:

Numbers 19:11-13 (NET)

“Whoever touches the corpse of any person will be ceremonially unclean seven days.  He must purify himself with water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, then he will not be clean.  Anyone who touches the corpse of any dead person and does not purify himself defiles the tabernacle of the Lord. And that person must be cut off from Israel, because the water of purification was not sprinkled on him. He will be unclean; his uncleanness remains on him."

Leviticus 21:1-2 (NET)

The Lord said to Moses: “Say to the priests, the sons of Aaron—say to them, ‘For a dead person no priest is to defile himself among his people, except for his close relative who is near to him: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,

Jesus knows the rules, however

The way Jesus tells the story, it is easy to see that the right thing to do was to respond with love and compassion - like the Samaritan did.

A simple guide to reading the Bible:

If the way you read the Bible makes it harder to love someone, you are likely missing something.
A full understanding of the message of the Bible should always help you grow in your love towards God and others.

Note the context of this story.  Jesus asked the expert of the law to summarize the whole law.  The correct answer was "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as yourself.".

When we add up all we learn from the Bible the result should be love.