A Layperson's Guide to Biblical Interpretation

A Means to Know the Personal God

Bobo

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2016
• eBook ISBN: 9781498208901
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Interpreting an ancient book like the Bible can be an intimidating task. Hopefully, this book will demystify or make less complicated the task of Biblical interpretation for the layperson (or seminarian) by the use of a handy and memorable acronym 'SCAR'--where S means sitting with the text to listen to the Biblical author's words over and over again; where C means the literary and cultural-historical contexts; where A means analysis; and finally, where R means God's Redemptive Remedy. Readers are treated to some accessible theory behind Biblical interpretation in Part 1 and examples in Part 2, where SCAR is applied directly to two Old Testament and two New Testament texts. God has revealed himself on the pages of Scripture. He has revealed himself because he wants to be jealously and desperately known; so, my prayer for you is that this small book along with the True Biblical Interpreter, the Holy Spirit, will greatly and patiently escort you in this endeavor so that you fall more in love with our beautiful and gracious God who knows and loves you intimately. And may your growing and maturing love for him manifest itself in your unwavering obedience to him.

Part 1

Hermeneutical Principles and Introduction to SCAR

1

Hermeneutical Principles

“Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.”

—Jim Rohn

One of my greatest vocational joys was my time spent at the Francis Schaeffer Institute (FSI) at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis from August 1999 to June 2007; there I proudly served as FSI’s Director. The mission then, and still today, is “to train God’s servants to demonstrate compassionately and defend reasonably the claims of Christ upon the whole of life.”

One way we lived out our mission was through a popular event known as “Friday Nights at the Institute” (or FN@I) where Christians were invited to speak on cultural artifacts from a Christian perspective . . . with one caveat—they had to avoid using a lot of Christian language. One such talk was given by a dear brother, Mark Robinson, on the topic of jazz improvisation. The title of his talk was “John Coltrane: Contingency and Constraint.”

It can be summarized this way: “jazz improvisation is both contingency (freedom to create) and constraint (bounded by basic rules).”22 I like how he juxtaposed freedom with boundaries. As we seek to rightly interpret Biblical texts, however, eisegesis is not allowed—or we do not have the freedom to create meaning as we desire—as we are bound by a set of rules or principles.

In this chapter, I provide some basic rules for doing Biblical interpretation. Here are ten (10) practical hermeneutic principles (HP) that anyone can use. In some cases, I have provided a specific discipline to exercise.

HP#1. The Holy Spirit is our chief superintendent when doing biblical interpretation.

Think of the Holy Spirit like the AV-8B Harrier23—a military aircraft that not only vertically lifts off, but, but hovers too. We must invite the Holy Spirit to “hover” over us as we begin on the interpretive journey, because, “the recognition of revelation as revelation must itself be the work of God—more accurately, the work of the Spirit.”24 It is only the Holy Spirit who can truly illuminate the Holy Scriptures and “confirm the truth that [God] has revealed”25 to us.

Discipline: Ask the Holy Spirit to hover over you or help you as you interpret as only He, as God, can rightly discern the thoughts of God (1 Corinthians 2:10–16).

HP#2. Context is Emperor!26

Passages in the Bible must be interpreted in their rich context. Most of the interpretative process occurs here, as we must consider two important contexts:27

• Literary Context—here, you must ask how do the verses around your passage and, the book in which the passage of Scripture (POS) is placed, aid you in understanding your passage;

• Cultural-Historical Context—here, you must ask about rituals, customs, social conventions, dress, architecture, family structure, and climate. You must also ask: what was happening politically, religiously, militarily, environmentally, economically and philosophically, etc. at that time.

If you fail to consider both contexts, you risk misapplying God’s Word; and you effectively risk misquoting and misrepresenting God! Although more will be said about these two important contexts in Chapter 3, let’s consider some brief examples of each context and how each one clarifies the meaning of a passage of Scripture.

Literary Context Clarifies Meaning

Consider the word “mystery” in Colossians 1:26–27. This word is not so mysterious after all because if we consider the literary context—namely, all the verses around it—Colossians 1:24-2:5, we find that “mystery” is God’s unfolding redemptive plan through the finished work and person of Christ. Eugene Peterson’s The Message Bible confirms this meaning of “mystery,”

“This mystery has been kept in the dark for a long time, but now it’s out in the open. God wanted everyone, not just Jews, to know this rich and glorious secret inside and out, regardless of their background, regardless of their religious standing. The mystery in a nutshell is just this: Christ is in you, so therefore you can look forward to sharing in God’s glory. It’s that simple. That is the substance of our Message” (Colossians 1:26–27).

Knowing the literary context prevents us from reading our definition of mystery into this passage of Scripture.

Cultural-Historical Context Clarifies Meaning

Why did Judah regard his daughter-in-law, Tamar, as a prostitute in Genesis 38:12–15? Judah assumed Tamar was a prostitute because of her lone presence by the roadside. So, the cultural-historical context answers our question: Tamar’s lone presence by a roadside conveyed to her clueless father-in-law, Judah, that she was a prostitute (see also Jeremiah 3:2 which ties “by the road” with prostitution).

Consider Luke 10:4 also. On the surface, Jesus’ instruction to His disciples to “greet no one on the road” seems rude and rather, unChrist-like. However, authors Klinck and Kiehl provide this helpful insight, “at times people overdo even friendly greetings and hospitality, and the Oriental custom tends to become long, drawn out, and repetitious.”28 So, instead of wasting time in meeting these customary social obligations, Jesus wanted His disciples to proclaim the gospel. Withou...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Part 1: Hermeneutical Principles and Introduction to SCAR
• Part 2: Pulling It All Together
• Appendix A: Illustration of Scripture Interpreting Scripture
• Appendix B: List of Questions After Reading the Book of Ruth, Chapters 2–4
• Appendix C: Word Studies
• Appendix D: Making an Investment
• Appendix E: Handy “Cheat Sheet”
• Bibliography