Interpretation is the meaning a person attributes to environmental stimuli received. Meaning is derived from personal experience and conscious thought. If my neighbor doesn’t wave to me when I wave at them, it is my choice to interpret their actions are malicious or oblivious. Part of the meaning comes from previous experiences with that neighbor regarding the social convention of waving and part of it comes from what I am thinking and feeling at the time. This process of receiving, processing, and attributing meaning to stimuli is interpretation.

            The words “I could kill you” have a very different meaning coming from the mouth of a trusted friend you just took an embarrassing photo of than from the mouth of a stranger who has a gun pointed at your head. Context, experience, and cognitive capabilities all impact what meaning we attribute to the words we read and the things we bear witness to. If I witness two friends exchanging life threats as they laugh over dinner in a restaurant, I probably won’t call the police, someone pulls a weapon and threatens someone else, I definitely will. My interpretation of a situation will affect my response.

            When I read Bible passages, they have already been translated for me. I cannot fluently read any language other than English. Even in English, I have frequently misinterpreted text messages. My life experiences influence which character I focus on in a passage, the way I view a situation, and what meaning I glean from it. There is a reason as old as the Bible is still read today. The way it is written allows for significant breadth of interpretation which keeps it relevant to the world today. Not because it was written to be read today but because of how we can interpret its relevance to today.

            One of my great joys in life is interpreting human behavior. Watching, listening, and processing stimuli from a person allows me to extrapolate information about them that they are not saying. This information such as emotional state and intentionality are however interpretations, sometimes more accurate than other times. I suppose you could say it is listening to the recalcitrant residue.

A good farmer can interpret from nature a weather forecast. A good mechanic can interpret from a car engine what’s wrong with it. Interpretation is all about receiving stimuli, processing it, and arriving at conclusions. Deriving meaning through personal experience and conscious thought.