Why It’s Important to Discern Fact from Assumption in Scripture
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Sometimes I cringe when I read some of the content I wrote a decade and a half ago, when I first embraced my call as a Christ-following communicator. Put simply, many of my views on certain passages have drastically changed through years of study.
Initially, I didn’t understand the importance of understanding the historical and literary context surrounding a verse or passage, nor my tendency to read the Bible through a twenty-first century lens. Because of this, I presumed much onto the text, much of which I now deem inaccurate.
This wasn’t intentional. I wasn’t trying to misread the text. The problem was, I hadn’t learned how to separate fact from assumption or even to consider how pre-conceived notions impact perception and understanding, or lack thereof.
I’ve discovered we all tend to do this, particularly if we haven’t learned how to separate fact (what Scripture explicitly states) versus assumption (the conclusions we draw). Bible scholars refer to the latter as eisegesis, which is a largely subjective reading due to personal intuition, information bias, learned attitudes and ideas, and experience.
Exegesis, on the other hand, is a study method that seeks to first understand what the text meant to its original audience before landing on a present-day application. This necessitates considering the historical, cultural, and literary context surrounding the text and its divinely led human author prior to determining the basic truth principle and a present-day application.
Here are two examples of how we might unintentionally bring assumptions into our Bible reading.
1. Tattoos
Some time ago, I attended an event for Christian communicators from a variety of denominations and backgrounds. During one meal, I sat next to a woman with a slightly more conservative background. During our conversation, she shared her perspective on tattoos, largely connected with choices made by one of her adult children. Listening, I got the impression that she deemed all body ink morally problematic.
I’d heard this perspective previously. While some people formed their views passively, meaning, were taught that tattoos are bad without an explanation as to why, others typically reach their conclusions based on one of four ideas.
Many Christ-followers who view tattoos as sin point to Leviticus 19:28, which states:
“Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.”
Taken on its own, this appears indisputable. One’s interpretation becomes much more complex, however, when we recognize the assumptions we bring to the text and challenge them by investigating the literary and cultural context of the divinely guided author and his original audience.
The first and most difficult to detect is our tendency to assume we automatically correctly understand what we read. I suggest, however, this approach makes faulty interpretations more likely. We also tend to view biblical stories and people through our cultural norms and experiences. If left uncorrected, this distorts our view of Scripture.
Put simply, there is a vast difference between twenty-first century Christianity and the pagan and superstitious environment from which God liberated the ancient Hebrews. In Egypt, they spent their developing years surrounded by people who worshipped demons disguised as gods.
The Hebrew’s behavior throughout their wilderness journey suggests they’d adopted their oppressors’ worldview. In Exodus 33, they demanded Aaron, Moses’s brother and leadership assistant, create an idol for them to worship. I’m convinced God used their experiences in the forty years that followed, in part, to remove their deeply entrenched roots of idolatry.
Consider these additional historical and cultural influences in ancient Egypt and Canaan. Both people groups used tattoos in cultish ritual and worship. For example, scholars discovered that women in ancient Egypt wore tattoos in reverence for Hathor, the sky god who was associated with, among other things, fertility and motherhood. Women also received tattoos around their midsection to seek protection for their babies from Bes, the so-called “protector-god.”
The Canaanites held similar practices, along with cutting themselves for a blood offering to their chief god Baal. This occurred in the biblical account of Elijah’s challenge to the priests of Baal.
In an effort to get their god to respond to their request, the prophets of Baal “… cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them” (1 Kings 18:28, emphasis added).
Expanding on this, the late nineteenth century theologian Albert Barnes wrote, “The practice of inflicting gashes on their limbs, in their religious exercises, was common among the Carians, the Syrians, and the Phrygians. We may regard it as a modification of the idea of human sacrifice. The gods were supposed to be pleased with the shedding of human blood.”
It seems likely, then, that God’s command against tattoos stemmed from the pagan practices from which He wanted to free His people.
Others feel permanent body art fails to honor our bodies as God’s Temple. Similarly, some believe any such modifications dishonor His original design. And lastly, there are those who worry tattoos might hinder their witness.
Why This Matters
The facts suggest that God’s concern lies with one’s reason behind getting a tattoo and any nonbiblical religious associations the art or practice makes. In this, we have freedom to adhere to our convictions — but not to force those conclusions on others.
When it comes to secondary (not salvation related) issues, God guides us each differently based on our circumstances, experiences, encounters, calling, and environment. We best imitate Christ, then, when we follow how we sense Him leading us while extending grace to those who feel differently.
2. The Samaritan Woman
I used to teach the most common interpretation of this biblical account. It goes like this: Jesus encountered a woman with a scandalous past, exposed her shame to reveal His grace and lead her to salvation.
The narrative begins with Jesus traveling through Samaria, growing tired, and resting at a well at “about the sixth hour” (John 4:6). Immediately following, He encounters a woman, initiates conversation, and offers her “living water” that springs to eternal life (John 4:10). He then told her to get her husband.
In the verses that follow, we read:
“’I have no husband,’ she replied. Jesus said to her, ‘You are right when you say you have no husband. The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.’ ‘Sir,’ the woman said, ‘I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.’ ‘Woman,’ Jesus replied, ‘believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.’ The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’ Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you — I am he”’ (John 4:17-26).
Many read this story through a series of assumptions. First, translations that state “the sixth hour” occurred around 1:00 p.m. do so according to Jewish time keeping. They also believe first century women always drew water in the morning to avoid the afternoon heat in the summer and by established custom in the winter. They attribute her relationship experiences to sexual immorality and that her shame related to that drove her to the well at midday. Based on these conclusions, they view Jesus’ statement regarding her marital status as a rebuke and her statement regarding the place of worship as her attempt to deflect.
Those assumptions read into the text and fail to consider the cultural and historical context in which the event occurred.
Did Jesus in fact arrive at the well at 1:00 p.m.? Perhaps. However, some scholars question “the sixth hour” could place his arrival at 6:00 a.m. or p.m. A passage that follows seems to add credence to that perspective. After spending two days in Samaria, Jesus returned to Cana, in Galilee. A royal official in Capernaum with a terminally ill child learns of this and travels 25 miles to reach Him.
In verses 49-52, we read:
"The royal official said to Him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son is alive.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went home. And as he was now going down, his slaves met him, saying that his son was alive. So he inquired of them the hour when he began to get better. Then they said to him, ‘Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.’ So the father knew that it was at that hour in which Jesus said to him, ‘Your son is alive’; and he himself believed, and his entire household. This is again a second sign that Jesus performed when He had come from Judea into Galilee.”
Walking could have taken the official a good eight hours or more to reach Jesus, making it more likely that he arrived at 7 p.m., the Roman’s definition of the sixth hour (which signified a.m. or p.m., depending on context). Further, this article from Emmanual Baptist Church evaluated the chronology of the crucifixion to suggest that, in his writing, John may have relied on the Roman clock.
Now let’s look at the assumption regarding when biblical women typically drew water. In Genesis 24, Abraham’s servant traveled to Padan Aram to find a wife for Isaac. Upon arrival:
“He had the camels kneel down near the well outside the town; it was toward evening, the time the women go out to draw water” (Genesis 24:11).
Also consider that some women may have spilled or unexpectedly run out of water, necessitating a later trip to the community well. If the Samaritan woman wanted to avoid encountering other women, was it due to shame, some other relational conflict, or a desire to be alone? Could the Holy Spirit have drawn her to the well at that particular time to encounter Jesus? Scripture provides numerous examples of the Lord directing people to various places, at times, in and outside of their awareness.
To accurately understand her past and present marital status, we must consider the patriarchal culture in which she lived. While divorce wasn’t uncommon, it was often initiated by men, who could legally do so due to infertility. Women had little say. Plus, adultery was a capital offense. While people rarely inflicted the death penalty, I find it unlikely that anyone in this male-dominated, shame-versus-honor society would marry a woman accused once, let alone five times, of sexual sin.
We must also account for the typical age difference between husbands and wives. Whereas women tended to marry in their early to mid-teens (as soon as they began menstruating), men often waited until they reached a certain level of financial stability. Because of the much smaller lifespans, widowhood was relatively common. Further, Old Testament law commanded siblings to marry the wife of their deceased brother to carry on his name and keep the land in the family.
A hypothetical scenario posed by religious leaders regarding a woman widowed multiple times who married seven brothers consecutively suggests the Samaritan woman’s past five husbands may have died. What’s more, Scripture doesn’t provide any information regarding the man with whom she lived. Could this have been a brother or uncle?
I find it intriguing that Jesus never rebuked her for sin, as He was known to do in other circumstances. Notice, also, her response to His statement regarding her relationships. The details he revealed caused her to view Him as a prophet, and therefore a man of God.
She then transitioned to a highly heated topic between Samaritans and Jews — the correct place of worship. According to Scripture, only priests in Jerusalem could perform sacrifices to atone for sin. Old Testament law also required Jews to travel to the Holy City three times annually to celebrate certain festivals. Therefore, they considered all worship outside the Jerusalem Temple — deemed the location where God uniquely dwelled — as sin.
The Samaritans, however, worshiped on the mountain mentioned in John 4. This resulted in a highly charged disagreement, and the Samaritan woman sought clarity. Jesus’ response validated her concern. He told her, in essence, that where she worshiped was less important than how. He then revealed His identity as the Messiah, a fact that He often, at this stage in His ministry, concealed.
Why This Matters
One reading of this story focuses on the woman’s shame and Christ’s grace for her sinful past. The other view centers on who and how God wants us to worship. Both realities — God’s grace for our sin and our proper reverence for Jesus — are crucial aspects of our faith revealed throughout Scripture. While I can respect those who interpret the account differently, I find the latter most likely.
I doubt any of us will reach a place where we don’t unknowingly read our assumptions into the biblical text. Recognizing this increases our grace for those who read more ambiguous passages differently than we do.
It also helps us increase our interpretative accuracy when we consider the differences between our culture and first century people groups, research their history and customs, and learn to separate fact from assumption. These necessary steps help us grasp God’s intended message. Hopefully the examples provided in this article provide guidance on applying proper Bible study application methods.
Bible Study Application Resources:
How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth by Gordon D Fee and Douglas Stuart
Grasping God’s Word by Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hayes
Living by the Book by Howard G. Hendricks and William D. Hendricks
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Jacob Wackerhausen
Jennifer Slattery is a writer and speaker who co-hosts the Faith Over Fear podcast and, along with a team of 6, the Your Daily Bible Verse podcast. She’s addressed women’s groups, Bible studies, and taught at writers conferences across the nation. She’s the author of Building a Family and numerous other titles and maintains a devotional blog at JenniferSlatteryLivesOutLou
She’s passionate about helping people experience Christ’s freedom in all areas of their lives. Visit her online to learn more about her speaking or to book her for your next women’s event, and sign up for her free quarterly newsletter HERE and make sure to connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and GodTube.