The Role of Life Experience in Understanding & Interpreting Scripture

“But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” — Hebrews 5:14

Understanding God’s Word through experience is a profound and transformative journey. It goes beyond just reading the scriptures or knowing biblical facts. It’s about living in obedience and walking with God over time, allowing His truth to be revealed more deeply through life’s experiences.

What Does It Mean to Understand by Experience?

When you first read the Bible, you might grasp certain ideas or teachings at a surface level. But as you consistently apply God’s Word in your daily life through obedience and faith, your understanding begins to grow.

Over the years, as you face various challenges, blessings, and spiritual encounters, God begins to open your eyes to meanings in scripture that you didn’t notice before. Suddenly, a verse you read months or years ago takes on a new significance. God uses your experiences to reshape your perspective, helping you grasp His Word in its true sense and context. Your interpretation evolves, not because the Holy Spirit was wrong before, but because you are now spiritually mature enough to handle the deeper truth. This is what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 3:2 when he said, “I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.” This moment of insight is what I call a flashback revelation, or the post-experience interpretation. God takes you beyond knowing His acts to understanding His ways.

Flashback Revelation

A flashback revelation happens when an event in your life triggers a fresh understanding of a scripture you have already read. Suddenly, the verse makes perfect sense in a new way. You gain fresh insight into its context and purpose.

Post-Experience Revelation: Growth Through Time and Obedience

Beyond flashbacks, there is what I call “Post-Experience Revelation.” This is a deeper, ongoing process where your spiritual maturity allows you to receive new insights every time you read the Bible. After living a life of obedience and faith for years, you are no longer reading the Word as a beginner. Instead, you connect the scriptures to your journey and God’s dealings with you.

This progressive understanding is why Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:2:
“I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it.”

Paul knew there was “solid food”—a deeper truth—but he gave the believers milk (basic teachings) because that was what they could handle at that time. Similarly, your spiritual insight grows step by step; truth unfolds in layers as you mature.

Experience is God’s classroom. Through trials, triumphs, and everyday life, He teaches you His Word in practical ways and its proper context. This enables you to interpret the Scriptures accurately and apply them with wisdom. Your struggles and victories become tools in God’s hands to sharpen your spiritual understanding.

Additionally, the Word of God should dwell richly in you because God teaches you through His Word that is in you. God deeply draws from His Word in you and your experiences—both the struggles and the triumphs. He uses these moments to sharpen your spiritual discernment, shaping you into a master swordsman or a seasoned gladiator in handling the Word, which is the sword of the Spirit.

These acquired understandings, interpretations, or revelations from your experiences, especially at this level of maturity, should produce humility and quiet strength in you. For now, you have gained understanding and can perceive spiritual truths that those who are still young in the faith may not yet grasp.

The Young and the Mature: A Parable

Pastor Paula White once illustrated the difference between young believers and mature ones with an analogy. Let’s adjust and expand it here:

Imagine two men, Heracles and Oedipus, are both heading to Texas. Heracles has never been there before, but he has a map. Oedipus, on the other hand, has been to Texas many times. He doesn’t need a map because he knows the road from experience.

Though both men are heading to the same place, Oedipus will likely arrive first. Why? Because he doesn’t need to stop and check directions at every turn. He knows the terrain. Even if the road is blocked or changed, he knows alternate routes because he has been there before. They’ve walked the road, adjusted to obstacles, and learnt how to navigate spiritual terrain that others haven’t yet encountered.

This is how it is spiritually. Young believers may know scriptures (like Heracles with the map), but they lack practical experience. Mature believers (like Oedipus) have applied the Word so often that it’s become part of who they are. That is why Paul said, “Ye are a letter from Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:3).

In conclusion, I would say the longer you walk with God in obedience and faith, the deeper your understanding of His Word becomes. Experience doesn’t replace scripture; it unlocks it. That’s why maturity in Christ is marked not just by knowledge, but by wisdom gained through the fires of real life.

So keep reading the Word, keep doing, and keep walking. God is shaping you not just to know the truth, but to become a living letter that reflects it.