Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the Holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.

2 Peter 1:20-21

This Scripture was explored in the last lesson about the inspiration of Scripture, but it also has meaning for this lesson on the interpretation of Scripture. To interpret Scripture is to determine its meaning. For some passages, that is easier to do than with others.

There is a right and wrong way to interpret Scripture. Some believe that the interpretation of Scripture is entirely a personal matter; that Scripture means what you want it to mean. This is not the correct way to read Scripture. If this were the case, then two or more people might interpret the same Scripture passage to mean completely different and contradictory things. Sadly,this approach has led to a lot of division in the Church since the Reformation. As St. Peter wrote, if God is the author of Scripture, then we must consider what He wanted to say, not what we want Him to say. Thankfully, the Catholic Church has given us a lot of direction on how to interpret Scripture correctly.