Studying and Interpreting the Bible

Studying and Interpreting the Bible

November 19th, 2003

2 Timothy 3

14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. [1]

2535 θεόπνευστος (theopneustos), ον (on): adj.; ≡ Str 2315; TDNT 6.453—LN 33.261 inspired of God, inspired (neb, reb), God-breathed (niv), (2Ti 3:16+)

[2]

2315. θεόπνευστος theopneustos; from 2316 and 4154; God-breathed, i.e. inspired by God:— inspired by God(1).

[3]

-You can see several root words in this word- theos-God pneustos-breathed from pneuma-breath

(Pneumonia and pneumatic tools)

-The original autographs are inspired by God.

2 Peter 1

16 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” a 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. 21 For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

/[4]/

Doctrinal statement from Church on the Move

“The Holy Bible is the inspired Word of God, the product of holy men of old who spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. The New Covenant, as recorded in the New Testament, is what we accept as our infallible guide in matters pertaining to conduct and doctrine..”

-There are three primary types of Bible translations;

· Word for word translations (King James, New King James, and NASB)

· Free approach (paraphrases like Living Bible and Good News)

· Dynamic equivalence like NIV (When you say in your language the way you would say it if you had written it originally in English.)

-There are pros and cons of each but they key is to compare translations.

-The major translations use the same Greek text 98% of the time on the other 2% no basic doctrine hinges.

-An example of twisted Bible translation….Proverbs 10: 7 The memory of the righteous will be a blessing,

but the name of the wicked will rot.[5]

-People have said that this means you have a good memory. I believe God wants us to have good memories. But this Scripture isn’t talking about your memory or brain at all. It is talking about the memories we leave behind. It is contrasting the memory of the righteous with the memory of the wicked.

-I have the same conclusions as most of the teachers you know….I just think it is very important to handle the text with integrity and honesty.

Bible Translation Principles

1. Start with Scripture…not a doctrine or conclusion

-Scripture are the test of doctrines; doctrine isn’t the test of scripture.

-EXEGESIS is reading out of the text.

-EISEGESIS is reading into the text.

2. Context rules (that which goes with the text).

-We often hear of news interviews where the interview is made and then phrases are lifted out of their setting to say what we want them to say.

-We need to consider:

· The surrounding verses

· The book in which it is found

· The entire Word of God

3. Seek the full counsel of the Word of God

-Don’t develop a doctrine in a vacuum.

1 Corinthians 2

13/ These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the 4Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.[6]/

-Compare Scripture with Scripture and develop a full doctrine based on the whole Bible.

4. Don’t base your convictions on one obscure passage of Scripture

-A good example is handling snakes.

-If you put Scripture together you see that serpents and scorpions are types of demons and satanic forces.

-In every case where someone had a snake in Scripture….they didn’t want it!!

-The same is true for me!

5. What is the fruit of your interpretation?

-In the O.T. if someone prophesied and it came to pass it still had to be judged as to whether it brought people to God or away from them.

-If you have a unique interpretation of something, (by the way there is no private interpretation of Scripture), what is the result in your life and others’ lives?

6. Interpret Scripture literally always allowing for the literary style being used.

-If you were to ask me if I liked to handle snakes and I said “YEAH RIGHT!” … a literal rendering would mean yes, give me a snake. A truthful interpretation would be don’t even think about getting me near a snake!

-I used sarcasm/irony to make my point.

-You have to see how Scripture was written.

-There are different types:

· Historical-Acts

· Prophetic-Revelation

· Biographical-Luke

· Teaching-Romans

· Poetic-Psalms

· Letters (epistles) - 2 Timothy

· Proverbial – Proverbs

-Here are some examples of Jesus’ teaching methods:

· Overstatement

· Hyperbole-exaggeration

· Simile

· Metaphor proverb

· Riddle

· Irony

· Use of questions

· Personification (Do the trees really clap their hands?)

-Jesus’ culture was very much a story-telling culture. The Greek method and modern way is more-lists and scientific language.

-It isn’t better or worse, just different and has to be taken into account.

· The Bible is God’s Word in human language.

· The bible is progressive revelation-the gradual unfolding of truth.

· The Bible is both a Divine and human book.

· You have to distinguish the eternally transcendent truth from the culturally time bound context. (For instance, we don’t need to ride donkeys into Jerusalem or go to Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit.)

· We should not lock God into history just because Jesus came in the mid-east 2000 years ago.

· What does the there and then of the Bible mean in the here and now.

· The Bible is the Word of God clothed in human words within the historical process. (The events really happened.)

· God takes the people where they are and leads us step by step until at last we will be where He is.

-You need to look no further than Jim Jones, the guy in Waco or others to see that the cause was an ignorance on their and their followers parts to rightly divide the Word of God. (There was probably more to it than that simple of an approach.)

1. OBSERVATION

-What does the passage say?

-What did it mean to the original hearers?

-What was its significance in its first hearing and original context?

-This is the simple observation and asking of;

· Who?

· What?

· When?

· Where?

· Why?

· How?

-This is where you have no mind of your own.

-You are simply observing with an open mind and heart what is said.

2. INTERPRETATION

-What does it mean?

-This is a great place to ask interpretive questions.

-Mediate on the verses until you get a timeless truth and principle.

-What was the point?

-This is a good place to run cross references.

-You can refer back to out snake handling example.

-What do other passages of Scripture say about this subject?

-What truth transcends the current situation in Scripture mentioned?

-What did it mean? / Is that what it still means?

-God used human language to communicate with us.

-He also uses literary principles.

3. APPLICATION

-How it works.

-What does it mean to me?

2 Timothy 2

16 /All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. [7]/

· Teaching (this is doctrine and instruction, getting you information)

· Rebuking (exposing areas of your thinking and behavior that is out of line with God’s Word and will)

· Correcting (repenting, changing, this is submitting to the rebuke)

· Training in righteousness (life transformation and eternal changes in your life)

-Observation, interpretation and application should lead to transformation.

James 1

21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

/[8]/

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[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids

adj. adjective, or adjectival

Str Strong’s Lexicon

TDNT Kittel, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament

LN Louw-Nida Greek-English Lexicon

neb New English Bible

reb Revised English Bible

niv New International Version

+ More references in GNT4

[2]Swanson, J. 1997. Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.) . Logos Research Systems, Inc.: Oak Harbor

i.e. id est, that is

[3]Thomas, R. L. 1998, 1981. New American Standard Hebrew-Aramaic and Greek dictionaries : Updated edition . Foundation Publications, Inc.: Anaheim

a Matt. 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35

[4]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids

[5]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids

4 NU omits Holy

[6]The New King James Version. 1996, c1982 . Thomas Nelson: Nashville

[7]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids

[8]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids