I have been fortunate to have joined this church in 2004 and began leading the men's Sunday School class in 2005. I have experience teaching Bible Studies for over 15 years, having worked as a layperson with the Navigators in the 1980s and 90s. I was blessed to have attended Southern Baptist Theological Seminary for 2 full years.
This is one of my favorite questions to discuss. I believe that the Bible was written within a context, but with universal, eternal principles. By context, it is obvious to me that certain passages are written for a group of people at a certain time to understand it to apply a certain way. So when Moses is directed how to build the tabernacle in Exodus God is clearly telling Moses and the Isrealites, not the rest of us that we should get some linen and gold and set up a tent to worship God in. But God is universally the God of all people. "The earth is the Lord's and all it contains" So his commands are for all people to obey. And Jesus is clear that his Word would remain forever. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." And finally, I think it is important that we seek understanding of the principles. This is because while the texts have specific meanings for specific times and places, they also have meanings for all times and places, and are therefore universal and eternal.
Interpretation and study of the Bible can be challenging! Here are some helpful steps leading up to it that we can take to make sure we do it accurately:
1. Acknowledge the canon, or collection of divinely inspired Scripture
2. Textual Criticism, piecing together the manuscripts and language differences to best ascertain the original wording of the text
3. Historical Criticism, study the author, date written, history surrounding it, and literary unity
4. Exegesis, application of the principles of hermeneutics to come to an accurate understanding of the text
-Biblical Theology - shows the development of theological knowledge as it was progressively revealed in the OT and NT
-Systematic Theology - what does the whole Bible say about a certain topic?
Above From: "Hermeneutics: Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation" by Henry Virkler
That all being said, how do we go about accurately studying the Bible without spending years in Seminary (unless that is our calling) trying to figure it out?
What are some helpful study aids you have found?
Please share how they have specifically helped you grow as a Christian.
I like your last question Jonathan because it seems the most applicable. I have found that I let the Bible interpret itself. By that, I look at similar passages, and try to find ways where they compliment or even clarify each other. As a general rule I find it dangerous to take any singular verse and build a whole theology upon it, because unless you are willing to study all those other things (historical, cultural contexts) as well as the original language, it will be hard to near impossible to be sure you have the right interpretation.
First, can I suggest the better question would be 'accurately' instead of 'properly'? I firmly believe that God has different things for each us from a particular scripture, and even different meanings at different times. That said:
Second: Step one - a good study bible. That goes a long way toward providing at least SOME context, and root word meanings, etc that are the basis for a deeper understanding. Most also provide links to similar verses, a concordance, etc.
Third: If you use a computer a lot, an electronic version can remove a lot of drudge work. Just being able to easily search for names, passage fragments, etc. For those of us without a photographic memory.... A real good free one is here: http://www.e-sword.net/
Fourth: Access to a "Bro. Billy" or such to cover the 'academic' things we still need. I frequently have questions for him or John Rice.
Fifth: Discussion with other believers to round out the personal meanings, e.g. things like study groups and this blog.
jonathan, I like a lot of what you said. I guess it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, understanding must come with prayer and meditation (along with the other stuff) since the HS is the author of all the Holy Scriptures.
7 comments:
This is one of my favorite questions to discuss. I believe that the Bible was written within a context, but with universal, eternal principles. By context, it is obvious to me that certain passages are written for a group of people at a certain time to understand it to apply a certain way. So when Moses is directed how to build the tabernacle in Exodus God is clearly telling Moses and the Isrealites, not the rest of us that we should get some linen and gold and set up a tent to worship God in. But God is universally the God of all people. "The earth is the Lord's and all it contains" So his commands are for all people to obey. And Jesus is clear that his Word would remain forever. "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away." And finally, I think it is important that we seek understanding of the principles. This is because while the texts have specific meanings for specific times and places, they also have meanings for all times and places, and are therefore universal and eternal.
Interpretation and study of the Bible can be challenging! Here are some helpful steps leading up to it that we can take to make sure we do it accurately:
1. Acknowledge the canon, or collection of divinely inspired Scripture
2. Textual Criticism, piecing together the manuscripts and language differences to best ascertain the original wording of the text
3. Historical Criticism, study the author, date written, history surrounding it, and literary unity
4. Exegesis, application of the principles of hermeneutics to come to an accurate understanding of the text
-Biblical Theology - shows the development of theological knowledge as it was progressively revealed in the OT and NT
-Systematic Theology - what does the whole Bible say about a certain topic?
Above From: "Hermeneutics: Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation" by Henry Virkler
Once we get to interpretation, we need to worry about:
-Historical-Cultural Analysis - understand the period from which the author wrote
-Contextual analysis - understand a passage with regard to the whole of the author's writing
-Lexical-Syntactical analysis- understand the definition of words and their relationship to one another
-Theological analysis - understand revelation relative to when in the course of theological history it occured
-Literary analysis - understand the written form or method, i.e. historical narrative, letters, doctrine, poetry, apocolyptic, etc.
- Compare with other interpreters
- Application - translate the meaning into modern day application
Above from Virkler, 76-77
That all being said, how do we go about accurately studying the Bible without spending years in Seminary (unless that is our calling) trying to figure it out?
What are some helpful study aids you have found?
Please share how they have specifically helped you grow as a Christian.
I like your last question Jonathan because it seems the most applicable. I have found that I let the Bible interpret itself. By that, I look at similar passages, and try to find ways where they compliment or even clarify each other. As a general rule I find it dangerous to take any singular verse and build a whole theology upon it, because unless you are willing to study all those other things (historical, cultural contexts) as well as the original language, it will be hard to near impossible to be sure you have the right interpretation.
How do we properly interpret and study the Bible?
First, can I suggest the better question would be 'accurately' instead of 'properly'? I firmly believe that God has different things for each us from a particular scripture, and even different meanings at different times. That said:
Second: Step one - a good study bible. That goes a long way toward providing at least SOME context, and root word meanings, etc that are the basis for a deeper understanding. Most also provide links to similar verses, a concordance, etc.
Third: If you use a computer a lot, an electronic version can remove a lot of drudge work. Just being able to easily search for names, passage fragments, etc. For those of us without a photographic memory....
A real good free one is here:
http://www.e-sword.net/
Fourth: Access to a "Bro. Billy" or such to cover the 'academic' things we still need. I frequently have questions for him or John Rice.
Fifth: Discussion with other believers to round out the personal meanings, e.g. things like study groups and this blog.
jonathan, I like a lot of what you said. I guess it goes without saying, but I will say it anyway, understanding must come with prayer and meditation (along with the other stuff) since the HS is the author of all the Holy Scriptures.
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