A Recipe for Interpretation

Imagine you’re learning how to cook from a professional chef. One day, the chef gives you a clear recipe for making bread with specific instructions: Mix flour, water, yeast, and salt, knead the dough, let it rise, then bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. This is prescriptive—it tells you exactly how to do it.

Later, you watch a documentary about a famous baker. In the documentary, the baker is shown making bread but casually mentions, “I threw together some flour and yeast, and after a while, we had fresh bread.” This is descriptive—it tells the story of what happened but leaves out the full details.

Now, imagine someone sees the documentary and insists, “The only way to make bread is to ‘throw together some flour and yeast.’ If you measure ingredients or follow specific steps, you’re doing it wrong!” They’ve mistaken a descriptive account for a prescriptive one.

People often make this same mistake when reading the Bible. They take a passage that describes an event—something that happened in history—and treat it as a direct command for all people in all times. Understanding the difference between descriptive and prescriptive passages is essential for properly interpreting Scripture and faithfully applying it to our lives.

• Prescriptive passages give direct commands or instructions about what to believe or how to live.
• Descriptive passages tell a story or narrate an event in redemptive history without necessarily commanding or endorsing the actions described.

Recognizing these categories helps us interpret Scripture accurately, preventing us from misapplying biblical narratives as commands or missing the wisdom found in historical accounts.

1. Polygamy in the Old Testament

The Bible records that several of the patriarchs—Abraham, Jacob, David, and Solomon—practiced polygamy. Nowhere in these stories does God explicitly rebuke them for it. Some might conclude that because polygamy appears in Scripture, God must approve of it.

However, these stories are descriptive, meaning they simply recount what happened. In contrast, God’s design for marriage is clearly laid out in Genesis 2:24:

“That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

This is prescriptive—it establishes God’s intended pattern for marriage, later affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 19. The descriptive accounts of polygamy do not override this clear prescriptive teaching.

2. Baptism “In Jesus’ Name” vs. “In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus commands His disciples:

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

This is prescriptive—it tells us exactly how baptism should be performed.

However, in the book of Acts, baptisms are often described as being done “in Jesus’ name” (Acts 2:38, Acts 10:48). Some groups take these descriptive passages and insist that only “in Jesus’ name” should be used in baptism, even rejecting the doctrine of the Trinity based on this argument.

But when understood correctly, Acts is simply describing baptism as being done in allegiance to Jesus, not prescribing an alternative baptismal formula. The prescriptive command given by Jesus in Matthew 28 remains the proper instruction for baptism.

3. Speaking in Tongues and the Holy Spirit

On the day of Pentecost, believers were filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues (Acts 2). This event is descriptive—it tells us what happened in a unique moment in redemptive history.

Some Christian groups, however, treat this as prescriptive, insisting that speaking in tongues is the required evidence of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Yet, when Paul gives actual prescriptive teaching on being filled with the Spirit in Ephesians 5:18-20, tongues are not mentioned:

“Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

While tongues were part of the experience at Pentecost, the prescriptive teaching on being filled with the Spirit centers on worship, gratitude, and godly living.

A final thought: Even though some passages are descriptive and others prescriptive, all Scripture is profitable for teaching, rebuke, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). Descriptive passages still reveal God’s character, human sin, and the unfolding story of redemption. But when it comes to forming doctrine and Christian practice, we need to discern whether a passage is commanding us to act or simply recounting something God has done.

By learning to recognize the difference, we can better understand and apply the Bible in a faithful and meaningful way.