How Do We Interpret Scripture?

2 Timothy

2 Timothy 2:15 NKJV

15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Last week we began a study on How to Study the Bible. We have a responsibility to take ancient scripture and apply it to our lives. We have to each our families the truth of God’s word.

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Why is studying the Bible hard?

What are some obstacles in studying scripture?

Many people never read the Bible. They have preconceived ideas about what it might say, but they cannot verify it because they have not personally studied what it says.

The fact is, we are blessed when we study the word of God. We are enriched because of its wisdom. We are enlightened because of its knowledge. And we empowered because of its truth.

Psalm 1:1–3 NKJV

1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

As we discussed last Sunday, when we study scripture, we bring our preunderstanding, our familiarity, our culture, and we should bring a willingness to understand what God wants to speak to us.

The problem arises when we do not how to interpret the ancient text. We often become uncertain how to understand the more difficult passages of the Bible. The following are a few examples that could be confusing.

Leviticus 19:19 NKJV

19 ‘You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.

Leviticus

Judges 6:37 NKJV

37 look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.”

Judges

Psalm 56:8 NKJV

8 You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; Are they not in Your book?

Matthew 5:29 NKJV

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Are we to take each of the scriptures literally? Yes and no. The difficulty in interpreting scripture is we are separated by culture, customs, language, situations, time, and space. Therefore as students of the word, we follow do what we can to understand the truth of God’s word as it applied in history and in the present.

We have to be patient and diligent, so we can correctly explain the word of truth.

Read page 23-24 in Journey into God’s Word

In their book, Grasping God’s Word, Scott Duvall and Daniel Hay provide what they call the Interpretive Journey. The goal is to move the Bible reader from what scripture meant to the original audience to what it means for us.

Many Christian use the intuitive or feels-right approach.

In their book, Grasping God’s Word, Scott Duvall and Daniel Hay provide what they call the Interpretive Journey. The goal is to move the Bible reader from what

There are five steps to this approach of scripture interpretation.

Step One: Grasp the Text in their Town

We ask, what did the passage mean to the Biblical audience?

We use past tense verbs as they refer to the original reader. For instance: God commanded, Paul exhorted, or Jesus encouraged.

We think, what was it like when Moses, Jesus, or Paul spoke to the original crowd. What did they face and what was going on in their minds? We should be specific and direct in our reading.

Step Two: Measure the Width of the River

We ask, what are the differences between the biblical audience and us?

Because our lives as Christians today is vastly different from the Biblical audience, we need look at their culture, language, situation, time, or covenant.

The width of the river varies from passage to passage. We have more in common with those in the New Testament than those in Genesis. So we must take a good hard look to determine how wide the river is from our time to their time.

Step Three: Crossing the Bridge

We ask, what is the theological principle in this text?

The theological principle, or what God is trying to speak to us, is the most important part of the process, but it is also the most challenging.

First we must not try to create the truth God wants to reveal, we discover the meaning of what God had to say on the subject by looking at the context.

Second, we look for similarities between their time and our time. When we do this, we will find the principle of what God wants us to know. The principle is unchanged by time and culture.

At this point, we look at what God is saying in present tense. He never changes and the truth He revealed in the past will apply to our lives today.

Step Four: Consult the Biblical Map

We ask, how does the theological principle fit with the rest of the Bible?

We have to determine how the principle to the story or situation can be applied to the Christian and the church today. We remember that the cross and the resurrection changed everything.

Knowing the salvation we have in Christ how does what we have discovered in scripture apply to our lives as followers of Christ.

Each of us will grasp the same principle in a unique way, depending on our current life situation and where we are in our relationship with the Lord. But we ensure that we have discovered aligns with the totality of what God has revealed in scripture.

Step Five: Grasp the Text in Our Town

We ask, how should individual Christians today live out the theological principles?

Now that we understand what it meant in the past, how does it apply to our real-life situations today? How can we take what we have learned and become better followers of Christ?

Practice

When we rush through scripture we miss the truth of what God wants us to know. Many Christian use the intuitive or feels-right approach. Others will try to spiritualize the text and claim it cannot be taken literally.

Many Christian use the intuitive or feels-right approach.

Intuitive- interpret based on feeling

Spiritualize- Jonah and the Fish (Bill O’Reilly)

Joshua 1:1–9 NKJV

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory. 5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Step One: What did the text mean to the Biblical audience?

Step Two: What are the differences between us and them?

Step Three: What is the theological principle of the text?

Step Four: How does our theological principle fit with the rest of the Bible?

Step Five: How should individual Christians live out the principle?