Shepherds College: Biblical Interpretation #1

Introduction to Biblical Interpretation Lecture 1 Shepherds College Scott Jacobsen, Instructor The Crisis of Biblical Authority 1.Rising Biblical Illiteracy 2.Confusion 3.Crisis in authority 4.Crisis in Biblical sufficiency 2 Sources of Crisis 1.Roman Catholicism: tradition and Scripture on equal footing 2.Pseudo-scientific doubt 3.Radical subjectivism 4.Ignorance of Scripture in the church 5.Refusal to submit to an authoritative Word 3 Resolving the Crisis 1.A new submission to Biblical Authority and Sufficiency 2.A renewed commitment to training preachers in the Word of God 3.A growing appreciation for Scripture in the Church 4.A demand to measure all things by Scripture 1.Experiences 2.Doctrines 3.Personal life 4.Church life 4 Introduction •How this course works •What I expect from you •Assumptions and Presuppositions 5 Introduction • Communication: • Where to find course notes • https://mountainviewchristian.ca/shepherds-college/ • scott.j@sympatico.ca • Please send an email today to this address, so we can establish secure communication. • You may add me as a friend on Facebook; however do not use Facebook messaging or chat for course purposes. I will likely miss your message. 6 Downloading Powerpoint • It is important that you download the PowerPoint Presentation before class if available. You aren’t expected to read it or to view it but have it on your computer. • Using PowerPoint on your own computer makes it much easier for all of us. • You may use a tablet or smartphone, but I cannot guarantee the quality of the presentation on those devices. 7 How this course works • Syllabus: https://mountainviewchristian.ca/wp-co ntent/uploads/2024/09/Syllabus-2024-Fa ll-Interpretation.pdf • Textbooks • Q&A from Grasping God’s Word. • Reading plan • Interpretation assignments • Vocabulary • Lectures 8 Syllabus •The syllabus is essential to the course. please read it immediately. •Ask or email any of your questions or concerns. If there is something you don’t understand, now is the time to get an answer. 9 Textbooks •Rational for these texts •Reading plan is in syllabus •Q&A from Grasping God’s Word will be a daily event. Be prepared. 10 Reading Plans Assigned Books and Week ü Read Each Week Read Daily Number of Chapters Contained Galatians--6 Week 1 Read Psalms with the intent of Each day Ephesians--6 Week 2 finishing the entire book by the complete your Philippians--4 Week 3 end of the course. readings to Colossians--4 Week 4 1 Samuel – 2 Samuel – Week 5-6 finish the week’s Keep in mind that this comes assignment. out to about 11.5 Psalms per 55 Isaiah 66 Week 7-8 week, but Psalm 119 is very Each day read Romans 16 Week9 long. one chapter of Matthew 28 Week 10 Psalms 150 Daily Medieval monks read through Proverbs 31 Daily the entire book of Psalms every Proverbs, repeat week. 366 each month. 11 Interpretation Assignments •Rather than a major paper, each student will prepare an interpretation assignment over an assigned text. •Outlines will be provided. •Students will present their findings to the entire class. 12 Lectures • Lectures with PowerPoint will be an integral part of the course. They are not as of yet recorded, so do not depend upon the PowerPoint only. • There may be supplemental videos or slides from other sources. • I will assume that the assigned readings are done prior to class. 13 What I expect from you • I expect you to read the syllabus, and then do the readings in the syllabus • Textbooks • Bible readings • Projects • I expect you to download the PowerPoint presentation the night before class. • I expect you to be present on time and ready to learn 14 What I expect from you • I expect you to pay attention • I expect you to ask questions • I expect you to communicate in clearly and maturely. • I expect you to use a dictionary. 15 What is the Bible? Presuppositions 1 October 2024 16 Assumptions and presuppositions • About God • About the Bible • The Bible is the Word of God • Liberalism: the Bible contains the Word of God • Neo-Orthodoxy: the Bible becomes the Word of God when I read it. 17 Assumptions about Interpreting the Bible • Our assumptions • We can know • Language is not a human invention, but a gift of God • Meta-assumptions: Presuppositions for Biblical Interpretation • God exists • God has spoken • Man can know • Man is responsible for what he knows 18 Pitfalls •Postmodernity •Modernity •Subjectivism •Intellectualism •Shame and embarrassment 19 Pitfalls • Today’s Assumptions • Against certainty • The problem of Epistemology that isn’t a problem • Evidence and doubt and refusal to accept the evidence • Human language 20 What is Interpretation 1 October 2024 21 What is interpretation? • Key ideas • Revelation: God’s self-disclosure as opposed to man’s discovery of God. • Inspiration: God’s means of communicating His Word to man. 22 What is interpretation? • Key ideas “Revelation is the fact of divine communication, inspiration is the means by which that communication is brought to the written record, and interpretation is the understanding of that communication. The total process of inspiration includes both the writer and the writing, although the product of inspiration is the authoritative writing and not the man. It is only the autographs (original writings) that are actually inspired, although accurate copies or translations are doctrinally authoritative, inasmuch as they correctly reproduce the original. Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, Rev. and expanded. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), 47. 23 What is interpretation? • Key ideas “There are no degrees of inspiration; all the Bible is equally inspired, that is, equally authoritative and true. The means or process of inspiration is a mystery of the providence of God, but the result of this process is a verbal (the words), plenary (extending to all parts equally), inerrant (errorless), and authoritative record.” There are no degrees of inspiration; all the Bible is equally inspired, that is, equally authoritative and true. The means or process of inspiration is a mystery of the providence of God, but the result of this process is a verbal (the words), plenary (extending to all parts equally), inerrant (errorless), and authoritative record.” Norman L. Geisler and William E. Nix, A General Introduction to the Bible, Rev. and expanded. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1986), 47. 24 Interpretation • Interpretation “The purpose of biblical interpretation is to make the meaning and message of the biblical writings plain to their readers. Some principles of interpretation are common to the Bible and other literature, especially other ancient literature; other principles of interpretation are bound up with the unique place of the Bible in the revelation of God and in the life of his people.” F. F. Bruce, “Interpretation, Biblical,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 509. 25 Interpretation and Hermeneutics • Interpretation/Hermeneutics (continued) • Hermeneutics: “the study of the locus of meaning and the principles of interpretation.” W. Randolph Tate • “The science of reflecting on how a word or an event in the past time and culture may be understood and become existentially meaningful in our present situation.” Carl Braaten • “The task of finding out the meaning of a statement for the author and for the first hearers or readers, and thereupon to transmit that meaning to modern readers.” A. B. Mickelsen 26 • “Defining the rules one uses when seeking out the meaning of Scripture.” Donald McKim • “The goal of biblical hermeneutics is to bring about an active and meaningful engagement between the interpreter and text, in such a way that the interpreter’s own horizon is re-shaped and enlarged.” (the “Hermeneutical Spiral”) Anthony Thistleton • “The goal of interpretation . . . Is ‘to know the Author’s/author’s intended meaning as it is expressed in the text.’” Elliot E. Johnson • “The central problem of biblical hermeneutics [is] ‘How can the human word of a time long since vanished be understood as God’s word to the present?’” A. Oepke The above quotations are from Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel-Centred Hermeneutics 27 Fee and Stuart “The aim of good interpretation is simple: to get at the ‘plain meaning of the text.’ And the most important ingredient one brings to this task is enlightened common sense. The test of good interpretation is that it makes good sense of the text. Correct interpretation, therefore, brings relief to the mind as well as a prick or prod to the heart.” Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), 18. 28 The Reality of Interpretation Fee and Stuart give two reasons that interpretation is necessary. It is, actually, unavoidable. 1. All readers interpret. 2. The Nature of Scripture 29 All Readers Interpret—an example from Romans 13:14 ESV NIV84 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. 14 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 30 Romans 13:14 NIV84 NIV Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 14 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. 31 Language Changes NIV Geneva Bible 1560 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and take no thoght for the flesh, to fulfil the lustes of it. 14 • Geneva Bible (Geneva: Rovland Hall, 1560), Ro 13:14. 32 Resource Bible Gateway has many translations and resources, in various languages. • https://www.biblegateway.com 33 What is Exegesis? Exegesis is the careful, systematic study of the Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning. Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), 23. 34 Doing Exegesis • The historical context • Resources: • Bible Dictionary • Introduction 35 Doing Exegesis • The literary context • Question: “What’s the point?” • “Staying on the Line” 36 37 Following Wycliffe’s Suggestion 1. What is spoken or written? 2. About whom is it talking about? 3. To whom is it talking? 4. What words are used? 5. What time? 6. Where was it written? Where was it sent? 7. What were the circumstances? 8. What is written immediately before, and immediately following? 1. Example: Mark 8:22-26. How does context matter in understanding this text? 38 Doing Exegesis • Content • Tools • A good translation • A good dictionary • Good commentaries 39 Hermeneutics NOT our working definition—but this is the source of the word: Hermes \ˈhər-(ˌ)mēz\ noun [Latin, from Greek Hermēs] 14th century: a Greek god of commerce, eloquence, invention, travel, and theft who serves as herald and messenger of the other gods—compare mercury • Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Websters Collegiate Dictionary. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003). 40 Hermeneutics “Although the word ‘hermeneutics’ ordinarily covers the whole field of interpretation, including exegesis, it is also used in the narrower sense of seeking the contemporary relevance of ancient texts. In this book we will use it exclusively in this way—to ask the questions about the Bible’s meaning in the ‘here and now’—even though we know this is not the word’s most common meaning.” • Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1993), 29. 41 Goals and Principles of Hermeneutics • To know the original intent of the author. • Hermeutics is controlled by exegesis • The dangers of subjectivism • A text cannot mean what it never meant. 42 What is Genre? Goldsworthy begins his discussion by listing five examples. • Historical • Metaphor • Style of life • Vision • Beginning of a story • Spiritual experience 43 Genre Broadly speaking, by genre we mean a class or group of literary texts that are marked out by certain common features that enable us to distinguish them from other texts. • Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), 137. 44 Pitfalls and Missing the POint 45 The invalid method of proceeding from text (T) to hearer (H) directly or intuitively (A) avoids the structure of revelation. The valid procedure is to trace the biblical path (B) from text to Christ and to link this with the biblical path (C) from Christ to hearer. Graeme Goldsworthy, (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), 117. 46 47 “That the whole Bible testifies to Christ is what we mean when we say that Christ is in all the Scriptures. It is because of this that the preacher must ask the question of every sermon, ‘Did the sermon show how the text testifies to Christ?’” Graeme Goldsworthy, Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2000), 138. 48