Introduction to Interpretation

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Abner Franklin
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1 Introduction to Interpretation Welcome to How to Study and Teach the Bible. This is kind of a hybrid class this is our normal College BFL Class and we re welcoming everyone else from the church to join us. This class is on how to study and teach the Bible. All Christians should be studying the Bible. Learning about God s Word is part of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. But we should all be teachers of the Bible. To be sure, not everyone is called to do the same kind of teaching. Most Christians will probably never preach a sermon. Still, all of us teach about the Bible. Maybe you teach informally as you answer a classmate or neighbor s questions. Maybe you teach your family over the dinner table. Maybe you lead a Bible study at work for people interested in exploring Christianity. Maybe you will have an opportunity to teach publicly at church. All of these are examples of teaching. So, over the coming weeks Andy Winn and I are going to teach about personal Bible study and teaching. This morning we re going to look at Biblical interpretation, next week we ll look at personal Bible reading, in week three we re going to talk about the differences between biblical and systematic theology, in week four we ll talk about literary genres in Scripture and common mistakes, in week five we ll talk about how to talk about the Bible with others, and we ll end with two weeks of workshops were we ll actually take texts of Scripture and apply what we ve learned to come up with lessons. Lots of material, but I think it is going to be interesting and profitable for all of us. I. INTRODUCTION: WHY STUDY THE BIBLE? So why should we study the Bible at all? That may be an easy question, but we should answer that before we say anything else. Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 1. Psalm 1 is the introduction to the book of Psalms, and it really functions as an introduction to all of Scripture. Would someone read Psalm 1 aloud? ESV Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit

2 in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. 4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; 6 for the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. So Psalm 1 gives a warning and a promise. Don t be like the wicked who will be destroyed, but be like the men who meditates on the law referring to all of God s instruction day and night. The kind of studying we re talking about is a part of the meditation in view. We want to learn what the Bible says and dwell deeply on it. What does the Psalm promise to those who meditate on the Law? What will be the result of this discipline? Consistent fruitfulness, life, prosperity in all things. We study God s law because by it we find life and health. By studying, we don t mean something totally separate from actual living. We re not talking here about mere academic study of the Bible although that has its place. We want to study like Ezra studied. Ezra 7:10 tells us, For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. That s our goal to study God s Law so that we can know it, obey it, and share it with others. II. WHY DOES THE BIBLE NEED INTERPRETING? So that s a good reason to study the Bible. But this morning we are talking specifically about interpretation. The theological word for this is hermeneutics, the science and art of interpreting and applying the Scriptures. That word hermeneutics makes it sound like this is something that only a seminary professor can do. It s not. This is actually comes naturally to all of us. We re all already interpreters. When you watch a movie, you interpret. When you read a book, you interpret. Why does the Bible need interpreting? Why do we need to talk about this? Because the Bible isn t always clear and we often misunderstand what it is saying. You remember what Peter said in 2 Peter 3 about Paul s letters: There are some things in them that are hard to understand. I m not sure if you ve ever had the

3 same thought be encouraged, you re in apostolic company. God has given us a Bible that is intelligible, but sometimes we need to work at it. The stakes are enormously high, so it s worth taking some time about this. What are some of the issues that sometime make the Bible difficult to understand? Very different cultural contexts, distant history, our own sin, challenging language. What are some of the mistakes you see people making when they interpret the Bible? Divination. This treats the Bible like a magical book or a Ouija Board. So maybe you re going to open your Bible randomly to a page and whatever you put your finger on, you ll do. The classic example of this is the man who opened his Bible to Matthew 27:5 he departed, and he went and hanged himself. And then put his finger on Luke 10:37 And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise." Total independence. This is the idea that we re not going to learn from anyone else, but only draw upon our own inner resources as we seek to understand the Bible. Augustine, Calvin, Andy Davis these men aren t inspired, but there are things we can learn from them. We should learn from good teachers, good books, and from each other. It s arrogant to think we can do everything on our own. Subjectivism. This is really common in evangelical churches. This is the interpretation that asks, What does this mean for me? before asking, What does this mean? People jump to application without actually trying to figure out what the text means in context. A SIMPLE METHOD FOR INTERPRETATION So I d like to teach you a very simple method for approaching the Bible and understanding what it is saying. It s only a few, easy-to-understand steps and I think it will make sense. We ll have a chance to expand upon this a little bit in future weeks. We ll also apply it in our workshops, but this should get us started.

4 Of course, the first thing you need to figure out is what text you re going to focus on. You can choose as much as a whole book or as little as a single sentence. Generally speaking, I would encourage you to a paragraph at a time or more. That is particularly true if you re teaching. Paragraphs are the units of meaning. In order to understand a whole thought, you need to tackle a paragraph. So take your paragraph or other section of scripture, read it over multiple times silently and aloud, perhaps use a couple of translations, and you re ready to begin with the task of interpretation. Step 1: Exegesis What Does It Mean? The key question of this first step is, What does it mean? You ve probably been in Bible studies where some passage of Scripture was read and everyone began jumping in and saying things like, To me, this means I think probably the biggest mistake Christians make is to rush to application without ever thinking about what God meant to say. If we don t start by looking at the actual meaning of the text, we ll never move beyond our immediate concerns and opinions. The goal of this step is to discover the author s intent. Why is it important to discover the author s intent? Scripture is divine and human at the same time. God speaks through human authors. We want to know what they intended to say. So we ask what Moses or Isaiah or Luke or Paul meant by what they wrote. This is a controversial idea in some circles. Postmodern criticism has denied that it s possible to determine the author s original intent. Stanley Fish was a famous postmodernist and linguist. He actually was head of the Duke English Department for awhile. He was teaching a summer course once in New York. His class filed in and there on the blackboard were the following words: Jacobs-Rosenbaum Levin Thorne Hayes Ohman (?)

5 He told his class that this was a religious poem and they started trying to decipher it s meaning. They decided that Jacobs was a reference to Jacob s latter and Rosenbaum a reference to the Virgin Mary, since in the Medieval era Mary was described as a rose without thornes. And so on. Of course, this wasn t a poem at all. It was the reading list for the previous class. The students were reading in all sorts of meanings which were never intended at the original time of writing. This is how Stanley Fish concluded, Interpretation is not the art of construing but the art of constructing. Interpreters do not decode poems; they make them. That is not what we re trying to do when we read our Bible. Yet Christians do this all the time with the Bible. They draw out all sorts of meanings which were never intended. They think they re hearing God speaking but they re really only hearing the echo of their own voice. We have to strive for the original meaning of the text. How do we find the author s intent when we read the Bible? The key is to pay attention to the grammar and various types of context. Grammar. What do the words we re reading mean? What is the sentence saying? This may sound obvious, but this is where we begin. Sometimes this part is harder than other parts. It is helpful if you know Greek and Hebrew, but it certainly isn t essential. We re blessed with excellent English translations. Oftentimes you can get some insights into the original languages by just comparing different translations and seeing how they say it. When we slow down and pay attention to the words we are reading, we ll often realize that there were elements we had missed altogether. Let me show you what I mean. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. Would someone with the ESV read 2 Cor. 5:14? ESV 2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; Now, this is an example of a verse we re likely to read right over without thinking much about it. But what does Paul mean by the love of Christ? Does he mean Christ s love for us or our love for Christ? It could be either one. Both would

6 be true statements. It isn t like there is some doctrine at stake in our interpretive decision, but if you are reading 2 Corinthians 5 and you want to understand Paul s argument, you need to understand what he is saying. Now, the NIV makes the decision for you they translate that opening phrase For Christ s love compels us. You can decide if that s the right choice. Context. We want to read parts of the Bible in light of the whole Bible. We want to pay attention to the immediate context in a verse. What is happening in that verse or paragraph? That s going to tell us a whole lot. We want to pay attention to what s happening in the book? What s the argument? We want to pay attention to what s happening in the whole Bible? So you can imagine concentric circles. First we look at the immediate context. So turn to Matthew 18. Somebody read Matthew 18:20. This is one of those verses that gets cross-stitched and put in the bathroom. Very sweet. Let s look at the context. In Matthew 18:15-20, Jesus is talking about correcting and discipline a Christian brother who has strayed into sin. He s talking about a congregation who agrees to excommunicate a member for unrepentant sin. And then he says, For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among you. Does paying attention to the context change how we understand this verse? Yes! Jesus is saying that he will be present lending his authority when Christians do what these verses describe. It s certainly true that he is with us when we get together with brothers and sisters over dinner and enjoy fellowship, but that isn t what Jesus is talking about here. Second, we want to get a little broader and look at book context. What is the overall argument of a book and where does it fit in? What is a book saying? Some books of the Bible make a sustained, logical argument. So if you re studying the book of Romans, you want to know where the part you re studying fits in what Paul is saying. One of the key things we want to look at here is the literary genre of the book. We re going to spend a Sunday looking at the different literary genres of the Bible, so I ll just touch on this right now. Would someone read Proverbs 26:4-5? How do you understand that? This sounds like a clear contradiction until you

7 remember that the book of Proverbs belongs to a literary genre called wisdom literature. Proverbs gives us general wise principles to live by. Proverbs does not give us hard and fast rules or iron-clad promises. Knowing that, we realize that sometimes we need to respond to a fool so he won t continue confidently in his folly, but other times we need keep our mouth shut lest we say something stupid ourselves. It takes wisdom to figure out which proverb applies to a specific situation. If we don t understand the literary genre, we ll almost certainly mess up in interpretation. Third, we need to pay attention to the context of the entire Bible. The Bible does not contradict itself. We need to understand the overall message of the Bible and let it govern our interpretation of any particular part. One of the things we always want to do is interpret difficult passages in light of clear passages. Historical Context. In both of these areas, it really helps to have good resources and teachers. Particularly when looking at the historical context, there are historical and cultural details that would be difficult to know ourselves. Think about the units of measurement in the Bible they don t use feet and inches. Someone needs to tell us what a cubit is. Same with cultural practices like covenant making ceremonies. It s helpful to know those details. In Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells the parable of the laborers in the vineyard who work different amounts of time, but are each paid a denarius. It s helpful to know if that a denarius was the

8 standard wage for a day s work in the fields. A good resource like the ESV Study Bible, a good Bible dictionary, or a commentary will give you this information. This is all talking about how we determine meaning. I hope you ve seen that this is something that each of you can do. This isn t reserved only for the elite few. All of you are capable of reading and understanding the Bible. Step 2: Theology What Does it Tell Me About God? The second step is what we re going to call theology. The key question here is, What does this tell me about God? Now, clearly, we could lump this step in with the first one. After all, the Bible is primarily a book about God, so the authorial intent speaks to God s person and character. But I think it is important we break this out so that we remember to give God his due. So look for God s character, look for God s love, look to see God s wisdom as he puts his plans into effect. More than anything, the Bible exists to teach us about God. He is the main character in the whole Bible. Let me give you an example of why this step is so important. The book of Esther never mentions God s name. If you were reading through the book of Esther or teaching it somewhere, it would be really easy to forget to talk about him very much. But as soon as you ask the question, What does this book tell me about God? you realize that the whole point of this book is that God lovingly protects his people and provides for them. Oftentimes, this will be the step that guards against moralism. Moralism is the error that reduces biblical teaching to a list of do s and don ts. So let s say you re sitting down with your 7-year old and talking about the Sermon on the Mount. Let s all turn to Matthew 5. Would someone read Matthew 5:21-22 aloud? Matthew 5: "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.

9 What would be a moralistic reading of this passage? It would just say don t murder and don t be angry with your brother. So if you re little sister takes your toy, don t call her a fool unless you want to go to the hell of fire. Okay. Now, clearly Jesus is teaching about anger here. It would be crazy to say there is no morality here. There most certainly is. There is just more. So what does this passage tell us about God? The Sermon on the Mount tells us that God is righteous and that he judges the earth; it also reminds us of his grace and his willingness to receive us. On the whole, the Sermon really has two purposes: it teaches us how to live as citizens in God s kingdom; second, it shows us the impossibility of satisfying God s law and drives us to the cross. So we want to say, Don t be angry and insult one another. But we also want to say, Recognize your need for grace and throw yourself on God s mercy. Asking questions about God s purposes and character will help us see the main point of biblical passages. We need to do theology. What does this tell me about God? What is God up to in this passage? How does he feel? What are his intentions? What attributes are on display. We need to do theology. Step 3: Application What Does it Tell Me About Myself? Only after exegesis and theology, should we arrive at application. The goal of application is discovering what I must do and then doing it. This really is the point of the whole exercise. We aren t seeking knowledge for its own sake. We want to be changed by what we learn. So Scripture tells us who we are. We are terrible judges of ourselves. Our selfopinion is too high and too low at the same time. In our flesh, we think we re basically pretty good people and God must be pretty pleased with us. But the Bible tells us that All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one (Rom. 3:12). But at the same time, the Bible tells us that human beings are made in the image of God. It even tells us the Christians have been adopted into God s family as his own, beloved children.

10 Scripture must tell us who we are. The remarkable thing about the Bible is that while we re interpreting it, it s interpreting us. Scripture also tells us what we must do. James says we should be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves (2:22). James says that if you are growing in knowledge but not godliness, you are deceiving yourself about the quality of your Christian profession. The Bible is a lot more than instructions for living, but it is not less. God wants us to obey him. He wants us to do the good works he has prepared for us to do. He wants us to put to death sin in our life. And Scripture tells us how we can do the things God requires of us. We ve been talking about interpretation most of this morning. Interpretation can be tricky. But obedience is a lot more difficult that understanding. But the Bible doesn t just give us instructions, it gives us the tools for carrying them out. So Romans 12:2 tells us Romans 12:2 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. We can obey God s word only to the extent that our minds are transformed by it. Last week, we looked with the college students at Jesus words in Matthew 6 about anxiety. So Jesus begins, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life. Easier said than done. He then proceeds to give seven different reasons we shouldn t be anxious it doesn t do any good, God loves us and will provide for us, and so on. By meditating on these truths and letting our minds be transformed by them, we can actually obey the command to not be anxious. The Scriptures give us commands and the means of obeying them. So we should look for both. Any questions or comments about this application step? CONCLUSION So that is a brief introduction to hermeneutics or interpretation. Much more can be said. We ll be able to go into a bit more depth and give some real illustration about this in the coming weeks.

MY BIBLE READING MY PRAYER LIST BE A FRIEND AND BRING A FRIEND

MY BIBLE READING MY PRAYER LIST BE A FRIEND AND BRING A FRIEND Philippians 2:5-7English Standard Version (ESV) Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,