N. T. Wright Quotes

The principle rule of interpreting Scripture is that Scripture interprets Scripture.

Give me any two pages of the Bible and I'll give you a picture.

It is unlawful to add anything to the words of Holy Scripture regarding the sense.

A man who would interpret the scriptures must have the spiritual discipline.

He who is anxious to attain a true understanding of holy Scripture, will discover the spiritual truths which are spoken by it to those who are called "spiritual," by comparing the meaning of what is addressed to those of weaker mind with what is announced to such as are of acuter understanding, both meanings being frequently found in the same passage by him who is capable of comprehending it.

The lives of the saints are the hermeneutical key to Scripture.

It's the generally accepted privilege of theologians to stretch the heavens, that is the Scriptures, like tanners with a hide.

Pastors need to know what's going on in the world and what has been going on for 4,000 years. We need a way to read Scripture which is imaginative, interpretive.

If you want to understand Jesus, you have to study the whole Bible. Christian duty is not defined solely by the words in red.

The Bible for me is holy writ. It's a very straightforward thing, although I am not a literalist.

The Bible is a history book.

There have been no sects in the Christian world, however absurd, which have not endeavoured to support their opinions by arguments drawn from Scripture.

The Bible is not a history book.

Islam is against slavery, but no sura explicitly forbids it. This shows that it is necessary to come up with a new historical and sociological reading of the scriptures.

I try to see their moral relevance [in the Bible] and, of course, to admire the literary beauty of the text. Prophetic poetry: No one has written the way Isaiah does.

Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought.

Though we claim to believe the whole of Scripture, in practice we frequently deny much of it by ignoring it.

About the injunction of the Apostle Paul that women should keep silent in church? Don't go by one text only.

I am looking for the word which is there and shouldn't be there. I wonder, why is it there? Or I look for problems: the Akedah [the Binding of Isaac - Genesis 22]. It still baffles me. Each time I read it - and I read it at least twice a year - each time I discover new layers in it. Always. So this is of more concern to me than the minimalists.

Whoever seems to himself to have understood the Scriptures in such a way that he does not build up that double love of God and neighbor has not yet understood.

As we search the Scriptures, we must allow them to search us, to sit in judgment upon our character and conduct.

Dear friends, whenever you want to understand a text of Scripture, try to read the original

It's a great tragedy when the Bible is interpreted by those who are not in love.

We ought not to criticize, explain, or judge the Scriptures by our mere reason, but diligently, with prayer, meditate thereon, and seek their meaning.

Refusing to teach a passage of Scripture is just as wrong as abusing it