In every piece of literature you read, you determine the meaning based on what the author said. Whether it is fiction like Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, The Fellowship of the Ring by Tolkien, or The Magician’s Nephew by CS Lewis. Perhaps, you pick up a science, math, or English textbook. Maybe you take dieting, exercising, or cooking books off of the shelf. In all of these books, you go to them with one fundamental question, “What does the author say and what do they mean?” We read books, not looking for hidden meaning or disputing what is said, but to see what the author said.
If you picked up a book on exercise and said, “No, this is really about Aristotle or Plato’s views on human ethics.” you would be looked at like a mad man because that is not what the author meant. When you read a human book, you must submit to the authority of the author and not put your meaning where he put meaning.
The author of his or her book is the authority of that book, therefore, you interpret their book by what they say. Why do we interpret Scripture differently? If we give authority in that way to human authors, why would we not submit to an even greater authority - God. He is the authority of Scripture. Not you. Not me. That means, when we come to a passage of Scripture we must as “what does God say?” and “what does God mean by what He said?”
