The Bible and Qur'an: Where Does Divine Revelation End and Human Interpretation Begin?

I have been thinking about how we speak of the Bible and the Qur'an. We often talk as though God handed humanity a finished book with no human process involved. Yet every revelation passed through people living in particular languages, cultures and historical periods. A divine message still had to be remembered, spoken, written, preserved, translated and interpreted by human beings. That human layer cannot be completely removed. Different traditions have spent centuries debating the meaning of passages, reconstructing context and translating ancient expressions. So when we say, “The Bible says” or “The Qur'an says,” should we also ask whether we are hearing God's exact intent or a human understanding of it? The messengers, writers and interpreters were shaped by the knowledge and assumptions of their time. If God is perfect but human beings are limited, then interpretation is unavoidable. How do believers distinguish divine truth from the cultural and human framework through which it was received and understood?

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