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We, however, who live live almost 2000 years later, a span of time equal to the span from Abraham to Christ, we must be cautious that we do not employ the words as if we have the authority to interpret them but in fact do not.

Christians have not only the authority but the duty to try and understand what God is saying to them:

Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

It is our most important food. We cannot live without it. We cannot "ingest" it without thinking about what it means. That is a psychological impossibility. You cannot have chosen your own faith tradition without first engaging in your own interpretation of their teaching. Contrary to popular misconception, there is no Scripture prohibiting the attempt of the individual to understand God's word. Quite the opposite:

Psalms 119:101-106 I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. (102) I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me. (103) How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! (104) Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. (105) NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (106) I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.

And earlier in the same Psalm:.

Psalms 119:10-11 With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. (11) Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.

So we see that the one who claims to have faith in God is duty-bound to keep God's word, to not depart from His judgments. In the keeping of that duty you will find His words sweeter than honey, that they give understanding, that they teach us to hate every false way. God's word lights our way. How can we find our way without it? We can't!

That's why verse 11 above is so important. We meditate, think on, ingest, hide in our heart, the word of God, because that is how we will know to live as God wants us to live, to think and be the godly person God wants us to be. None of that can happen without the mental process of hearing the word and trying to understand what it means. That's interpretation. We are all interpreters because we think. Thinking is continuous interpretation. Information hits our sensors, we sort through it all and come up with meaning. That's how we are designed by God Himself. God made us all interpreters. So I truly do not understand this objection to interpretation. We have to do it. We have no choice.

Now that does not mean we have authority to invent any meaning we like by deliberately twisting a clear textual meaning. Thankfully, we have the inspired apostolic testimony, which is so clear in the principal truths that no one enlightened by the Holy Spirit could possibly miss those essentials. As Paul said:

2 Timothy 3:14-15 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; (15) And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

So we see that the Scriptures have the inherent power to make one wise to salvation in Jesus Christ. Of course in a rebellious heart where no such light is admitted, the understanding will be dark, no matter how clear and bright the light. God must open and assist our understanding:

Acts 16:14 And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

And when the Lord so opens our heart, we do give heed to the apostolic testimony, just as Lydia did. In fact, if we are His sheep, strangers may come along and profess to be some mighty authority, claiming they have been granted the sole power of interpretation, like, as you say, Joe Smith and his magic glasses, or Rome, and you know what? God will protect us from that error:

John 10:2-5 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. (3) To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. (4) And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. (5) And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

This of course only applies to those who are actually the sheep. Those among the flock who do not know or care for the voice of the true Shepherd will follow any old pretender into mischief, and so you will have much mischief in the world. So much so that the wheats and the tares (yes, I'm mixing the metaphors) cannot be separated until the end of the age, and then only under divine supervision. Simply inspecting the membership lists of one or another denomination would give a false answer to who the sheep are. They are those who hear the voice of the Shepherd, and will not follow another.

Which is why we should be very intolerant of error (such as transubstantiation), but very gentle toward our fellow travelers in this life. If God won't force a sorting out until the very end, who am I to take that on? Way above my pay grade. But that is no excuse to evade my Christian duty to feed on God's word, to try to understand it, and to share it with others, giving all due respect to the gifted teachers God has given us, but with first authority going to those words of God Himself, which by design are for our nourishment and enlightenment, if we take them in and ponder their meaning, and make them part of how we think and who we are.

Peace,

SR