Wrest
What Does 'Wrest' Mean in the Bible?
The English word 'wrest' in biblical translations carries the sense of twisting, distorting, or forcibly turning something away from its proper course or meaning. This concept appears in both Old and New Testaments, primarily describing two grave offenses: the perversion of justice within human courts and the distortion of God's written Word. Unlike simple misunderstanding, 'wresting' implies a deliberate or negligent act that subverts truth for personal gain, prejudice, or convenience.
Wresting Justice in the Law of Moses
The earliest biblical references to wresting concern the administration of justice. In the Mosaic law, God commands Israel to maintain impartial courts. Exodus 23:2 warns, "Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong... do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd." Similarly, Exodus 23:6 commands, "Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits." The issue is further emphasized in Deuteronomy 16:19: "Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous." Here, 'wrest' (translated as 'twists' in many modern versions) describes how corruption literally bends and distorts the words of a just testimony. Deuteronomy 24:17 reinforces this by forbidding the wresting of justice due to the vulnerable: "Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice." In these contexts, to wrest justice is to actively subvert God's standard of fairness, especially by exploiting power imbalances against the poor, the immigrant, or the marginalized.
Wresting the Words of God
The concept takes on a deeper, spiritual dimension when applied to God's communication. The psalmist laments in Psalm 56:5, "All day long they twist my words; all their schemes are for my ruin." This reflects the experience of God's servant whose divinely inspired message is deliberately misrepresented by enemies. The New Testament provides the most pointed warning about this practice. The apostle Peter, discussing the sometimes challenging writings of Paul, states that "ignorant and unstable people distort [wrest], as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction" (2 Peter 3:16). Peter uses the Greek verb strebloō, which means to twist or torture on a rack. This vivid metaphor suggests that misinterpreting Scripture isn't a passive error but an active, violent mishandling of sacred text. The consequence is severe: self-destruction. This frames the interpretation of Scripture as a matter of spiritual life and death, requiring reverence, diligence, and stability.
The Heart of the Problem: Motive and Consequence
Biblical references to wresting consistently point to flawed motives. In justice, it is driven by bribery (Deuteronomy 16:19), crowd pressure (Exodus 23:2), or prejudice against the powerless. In handling Scripture, it stems from ignorance, spiritual instability, and a willingness to force the text to support one's own desires or errors (2 Peter 3:16). The consistent consequence is corruption: corruption of a community's moral fabric when justice fails, and corruption of personal faith when God's Word is misapplied. The Bible presents this not merely as a mistake but as a fundamental failure to fear God and respect His authority as expressed in both His commandments and His revelations.
A Timeless Warning for Readers and Interpreters
The biblical concept of wresting serves as a timeless warning for all who engage with God's standards and God's Word. It calls for self-examination: Are we interpreting Scripture to conform to our pre-existing beliefs, or are we conforming our beliefs to Scripture? Are our social and judicial actions guided by God's impartial standard of justice, or by convenience, bias, or personal gain? The prohibition against wresting upholds the integrity of God's communication and commands, emphasizing that how we handle truth—whether in the public square or in private study—is a direct reflection of our heart toward God.
Biblical Context
The term appears in key legal portions of the Pentateuch (Exodus 23:2, 6; Deuteronomy 16:19; 24:17) where it describes the perversion of judicial proceedings, often against the vulnerable. It also appears in the lament of Psalm 56:5, where the psalmist's words are twisted by enemies. The most theologically significant usage is in 2 Peter 3:16, where it describes the dangerous distortion of the apostolic writings (Paul's letters) and, by extension, all Scripture. It plays the role of identifying a specific sin against truth and integrity in both societal ethics and spiritual understanding.
Theological Significance
The concept of 'wresting' teaches profound truths about God's character and human responsibility. It reveals God as a God of perfect justice who demands that human systems reflect His impartiality (Deuteronomy 10:17-18). It also reveals God as a communicating God whose words are authoritative and must be handled with reverence and care, not manipulated. Theologically, it highlights the seriousness of hermeneutics (interpretation), framing it as an ethical and spiritual discipline. The self-destruction that follows wresting Scripture (2 Peter 3:16) underscores that truth is not malleable; distorting divine revelation severs the hearer from its life-giving power. It affirms that both social justice and biblical interpretation are areas where humans are accountable to God's objective standards.
Historical Background
The commands against wresting justice in Exodus and Deuteronomy directly addressed the context of ancient Near Eastern tribal and city governance, where the poor, orphans, widows, and foreign residents had little legal protection and were easy targets for corrupt judges. Bribery was a widespread problem. Extra-biblical law codes, like the Code of Hammurabi, also mention judicial corruption, showing it was a recognized societal ill. Peter's warning in 2 Peter 3:16 reflects the early church's context, where Paul's complex letters were circulating and being interpreted by diverse groups, some of whom (like early gnostics or libertines) were prone to twisting his teachings about grace and freedom to justify antinomian behavior. The warning assumes the early recognition of Paul's writings as authoritative 'Scripture' alongside the Old Testament.