Jeremiah Tipton argues that most Christians read the Bible wrong by imposing their own emotions and meanings onto the text instead of extracting God's intended message. He says every word in Scripture is purpose-driven and conveys specific truths, and the correct approach is seeking God's intention, not reinterpreting passages for personal advice.
If you are commanded to rightly divide the word, that means there is a wrong way to divide the word. You know, many Christians approach this book and they say things like, well, you know, I read a couple verses today. Here's what it means to me. Here's what I got out of it. Here's what I think it's trying to say. When it comes to studying the Bible, it's not a matter of you trying to force your meaning or your emotions or your mindset onto the word, reinterpret it, and then give yourself back spiritual advice. But rather, it's a matter of extracting the intended meaning. When the Holy Spirit inspired the Scripture, every word was inspired with intention, meaning God intends to communicate very specific truths, sometimes multiple truths, from these words. So it's not a matter of applying your meaning, but finding God's intention behind the words.
