I believe it was DA Carlson who called it the Appeal to Unknown or Unlikely Meanings Fallacy.
The definition given is “appealing to a word meaning in order to suit a theological perspective for which there is little or no lexical/semantic substance to support the meaning.”
I am not so good with words. So I just call it the Cherry-Pick the Meaning You Like From the Dictionary Fallacy.
Let’s take the word “bat”.
According to the dictionary, it can mean a blind flying mammal or a wooden club used in baseball. To determine which meaning is being used, we need to look at the context.
If I say, “I hit the robber with a bat“, it is highly unlikely you would think I swinged a flying mammal at the person who tried to take my money.
And if I tell you, “I saw a bat flying around my neighbourhood“, you most probably would not be picturing in your mind a wooden club floating in the air.
I believe this should be obvious to most people who understand English. But when it comes to interpreting the Bible, this simple logic often gets thrown out of the window.
Many preachers will say things like, “Do you know this word Y in Hebrew/Greek also means X? So we can say that this word means X in this verse.”
Even though the word is translated as Y in most Bible translations.
To give you an example, let’s take a look at Psalm 27:14.
Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
– Psalm 27:14 ESV
“Wait for” is the Hebrew word qavah.
Strong Concordance says it means “to wait for”. Brown-Driver-Briggs says “wait for”, “wait eagerly”, “lie in wait”. And the other major translations I have checked– NIV, NKJV, NASB, AMP— also translate the word as “wait for” or “wait on”.
There is very little doubt that qavah basically means “wait” in this context.
But The Passion Translation or TPT (IMO, a very questionable “translation”) has a different take.
Here’s what I’ve learned through it all: Don’t give up; don’t be impatient; be entwined as one with the Lord. Be brave and courageous, and never lose hope. Yes, keep on waiting—for he will never disappoint you!
– Psalm 27:14 TPT
Even though it is the same word qavah, TPT translates the first one as as “entwined” but the second one as “waiting” without any good reason.
But “entwined” is not “waiting” at all.
So why did Brian Simmons, the author of TPT, interpret qavah this way?
I cannot prove it but I believe it is because he saw that the root word of qavah has the meaning “bind” or “twist together” and he prefers this more… passionate meaning.
It is just like someone who decides that I actually hit a robber with a flying mammal because it sounds more interesting to him. (Yes, it is more interesting but that is not the point.)
*Anyway, imposing the meaning of the root word on the word is another exegetical fallacy called the “Root Fallacy”.
We cannot do that because the root word (usually) do not have the same meaning as the word anymore. Once again, we need to remember it is not the root but the context that determines the meaning.
In My Words... 