A Biblical Consistency Checklist for Testing Interpretation

Before You Begin — Interpreter Self-Check

1.I have prayed for God to open my ears, eyes, mind, and heart to His Word.

YES NO

2.I have prayed for discernment and guidance in His Word so that He is glorified.

YES NO

3.Am I willing for my interpretation to be wrong?

YES NO

4.I am not reading into the text what is not there.

YES NO

5.I am not selectively using evidence that favors my interpretation.

YES NO

6.I am not defending what I was taught rather than what Scripture teaches.

YES NO

7.Have I fairly considered opposing interpretations?

YES NO

8.Am I seeking truth rather than trying to prove a position?

YES NO

Scripture and Context

9.Does the interpretation contextually fit the meaning of the original Hebrew or Greek words and grammar as they are used in the passage, without adding ideas that the text itself does not support?

YES NO

10.Does the interpretation fit the verses immediately before and after the passage?

YES NO

11.Does the interpretation remain contextually consistent with the argument the author is developing throughout the chapter and the book?

YES NO

12.Where the passage provides the subject (who or what), does the interpretation adequately identify, in context, who or what the subject is?

YES NO

13.Where the passage provides a reason or purpose (why), does the interpretation adequately identify, in context, why it is being said?

YES NO

14.Where the passage provides a time or place (when or where), does the interpretation adequately identify, in context, when or where it applies or occurs?

YES NO

15.Where the passage provides the manner or means (how), does the interpretation adequately identify, in context, how it applies or occurs?

YES NO

16.Does the interpretation adequately account for the author's perspective and purpose?

YES NO

17.Does the interpretation adequately account for how the original audience would have understood what was communicated?

YES NO

18.Does the interpretation adequately account for relevant historical or cultural circumstances?

YES NO

19.Does the interpretation properly recognize literal, figurative, symbolic, or hyperbolic language?

YES NO

20.Does the interpretation properly account for the literary genre of the passage?

YES NO

21.Does the interpretation account for words that establish conditions, contrasts, causes, conclusions, or qualifications?

YES NO

22.Does the interpretation properly distinguish description from prescription?

YES NO

23.Does the interpretation fit the main point of the passage?

YES NO

Scripture Interpreting Scripture

24.Has the interpreter intentionally looked for passages that may contradict the interpretation?

YES NO

25.Does the interpretation adequately account for passages that appear to contradict or challenge it?

YES NO

26.Does the interpretation harmonize the Old and New Testaments while allowing for progressive revelation?

YES NO

27.Where an interpretation relies upon progressive revelation, can it be adequately traced and explained through the progression of revelation in Scripture?

YES NO

28.Can the interpretation withstand honest questioning and testing?

YES NO

29.Does the interpretation distinguish between Scripture and external sources used to illuminate it?

YES NO

Difficult Passages and Reasonable Inference

30.Can the interpretation be adequately supported without relying upon obscure or difficult passages?

YES NO

31.Where an inference is required, is it a reasonable inference supported by the context and consistent with all Scripture without exception or contradiction?

YES NO

32.If that reasonable inference were removed, would the passage itself still support the main conclusion of the interpretation?

YES NO

God's Natural Attributes

33.Is the interpretation consistent with God's perfect and complete knowledge?

YES NO

34.Is the interpretation consistent with God's unlimited power?

YES NO

35.Is the interpretation consistent with God's unchanging nature?

YES NO

36.Is the interpretation consistent with God's eternal and self-sufficient existence?

YES NO

37.Does the interpretation preserve all of God's natural attributes without pitting one against, diminishing, or contradicting another?

YES NO

Sovereignty, Power, and Providence

38.Does the interpretation preserve God's rightful and supreme authority to rule over everything He has created?

YES NO

39.Does the interpretation preserve God's unlimited power to accomplish everything He determines to accomplish?

YES NO

40.Where the interpretation makes claims about how God governs His creation, can those claims about His providence be supported from Scripture?

YES NO

God's Perfect Character

41.Is the interpretation consistent with God's holiness?

YES NO

42.Is it consistent with God's righteousness?

YES NO

43.Is it consistent with God's justice?

YES NO

44.Is it consistent with God's goodness?

YES NO

45.Is it consistent with God's love?

YES NO

46.Is it consistent with God's mercy and compassion?

YES NO

47.Is it consistent with God's truthfulness?

YES NO

48.Is it consistent with God's faithfulness?

YES NO

49.Does the interpretation preserve God's perfect character without pitting one aspect of His character against another?

YES NO

50.Is the interpretation consistent with the character of God revealed in Jesus Christ?

YES NO

51.Does the interpretation fit the cross, where God's holiness, justice, love, mercy, and grace are displayed together?

YES NO

God's Commands, Invitations, and Warnings

52.Does the interpretation allow God's commands to mean genuinely what they say?

YES NO

53.Does it allow God's invitations and offers to be sincere and genuine?

YES NO

54.Does it allow God's warnings to describe real consequences?

YES NO

55.Does it preserve the meaningfulness of God's calls to repent, believe, obey, seek, return, and follow?

YES NO

56.Does it preserve the sincerity of God's expressed desire that people turn from evil rather than perish?

YES NO

57.Does it allow Scripture's descriptions of God being grieved, pleased, angry, compassionate, or patient to retain their intended meaning?

YES NO

Human Responsibility, Sin, and Judgment

58.Does the interpretation preserve genuine human responsibility for sin?

YES NO

59.Does the interpretation maintain that God's judgment is just?

YES NO

60.Does it preserve the biblical connection between a person's own sin and God's judgment of that person?

YES NO

61.Does it preserve the meaning of guilt, accountability, and condemnation?

YES NO

62.Does it allow God's judgment to remain impartial?

YES NO

Grace, Gospel, and Salvation

63.Does the interpretation preserve salvation as originating entirely in God's grace and provision?

YES NO

64.Does it keep Christ—not human effort—as the foundation and accomplishment of salvation?

YES NO

65.Does it preserve the Gospel as God's appointed means of making Christ and His saving work known?

YES NO

66.Does it allow the Gospel to remain “the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes”?

YES NO

67.Does it preserve the biblical connection between proclamation, hearing, faith, and salvation?

YES NO

68.preserves salvation through faith in Christ + nothing.

YES NO

69.Does it allow faith to remain faith rather than calling it a meritorious work simply because a person genuinely responds?

YES NO

70.Does it preserve God's initiative without making the human response described in Scripture meaningless?

YES NO

Mystery and Explainability

71.Can the interpretation be traced through Scripture from its starting point to its conclusion?

YES NO

72.Can the interpretation be defended when its logical consequences are examined?

YES NO

73.Does the interpretation distinguish between something beyond our full understanding and two statements that cannot both be true in the same sense?

YES NO

74.Does the interpretation rely on “mystery” to defend a contradiction or conclusion it cannot establish from Scripture?

YES NO

The Final Consistency Test

75.Can the interpretation be stated plainly without contradicting another clear statement of Scripture?

YES NO

76.Can both supporting and challenging passages be brought into one coherent biblical explanation?

YES NO

77.If every theological label and system name were removed, could the interpretation still be demonstrated from Scripture itself?

YES NO

78.Does the interpretation fit contextually and progressively intact throughout all Scripture without exception or contradiction?

YES NO

A Biblical Consistency Checklist for Testing Interpretation

Before You Begin — Interpreter Self-Check

Scripture and Context

Scripture Interpreting Scripture

Difficult Passages and Reasonable Inference

God's Natural Attributes

Sovereignty, Power, and Providence

God's Perfect Character

God's Commands, Invitations, and Warnings

Human Responsibility, Sin, and Judgment

Grace, Gospel, and Salvation

Mystery and Explainability

The Final Consistency Test

Final Result

Question explanation