(This is being submitted to the Deeper Leader Synchro Blog sponsored by Evangelical Seminary. Find out more here.)
WARNING: This post may rock your world. (a.k.a. “BOOM post” )
How should we read and study the Bible?
Debates on this will rage, but one thing we often assume that we can simply read the Bible and understand it. Essentially, the Holy Spirit just pops the correct meanings into our brains. Right?
If that were the simple truth, we’d all be, at least mostly, on the same page in Christianity, and we ARE! Um. bzzzz. No…not. at. all.
The Holy Spirit will convict our conscience of sin, and the Holy Spirit help us understand certain things about God’s nature and his grace. Yet, some huge obstacles lie before us concerning the details of Scriptural text.
These details can, and do turn into doctrine or false teaching that fall outside the intent of the text. In clumsy hands, dogmatic presumptions of the Holy Spirit’s opinion have led to all manner of errors, deceptions, injustice. And this study method, if you will, has even started more than a few whacky cults. Yes, and some involve koolaid.
SO!
If you forget EVERYTHING about this post, please don’t forget this. When interpreting the meaning of the Bible (a.k.a. engaging in hermeneutics) remember: A scripture passage cannot mean something different than its original intent.
Huh? What?
Let that red text sink in. Please…Re-read it.
Seriously. It’s a huge deal once you truly comprehend it, and even bigger when you apply it.
A scripture passage cannot mean something different than its original intent. (That’s a needed re-refresher. Please bear with me.)
Understanding the Bible involves a continual tension between discerning…
Our understanding and the writer’s intent.*
Here are just 5 a mere few of the obstacles that can hinder a proper understanding of scripture:
– Language barriers (Ex. Jesus spoke Aramiac, The New Testament was written in Greek (a dead form of the Greek language now,) and English was taken from the Greek. This book collection HAS TO be divine and God-breathed to still transform individuals, whole communities, and cultures through its message of the Good News!)
– Historical distance barriers (Now is later. Stuff has changed. ‘nuf said.)
– Cultural barriers (We don’t wear the same stuff, and do the same things, at all. period.)
– Circumstantial differences (But one example: Every church has “its stuff” unique to it. Particular concerns and problems.)
– Our lens/perspective, education, and experiences (I hope this is self-explanitory. If not, maybe this blog is too much for you. No worries. Just search this blog for “humor” and forget about this post entirely.)
Quick & Hot Tips for the Good Book
When reading, and attempting to understand a Bible passage,
– include paragraphs and sections, rather than a sentence, a phrase, or a lone sentence. (Nothing can twist scripture more than attempting to find meaning in a small phrase of scripture, instead of taking the complete thought and verbiage into account. You wouldn’t want to be taken out of context, so you know, do the right thing.)
– Read a few translations (Don’t parse words. Just don’t. It’s major mistake! Chances are the translators had to give it their best guess. Plenty of words in ancient Hebrew, and Greek, won’t and can’t translate out of the original language. Translators disagree. A lot. So, don’t assume you have read the perfect word choice. The word may not have been used or known outside of that one, or just a few, times.)
– Consult commentaries (These folks have dedicated their whole life to studying the Bible, the ancient culture, the history, etc. They’ve studied deeper, longer, and harder than you, and probably have some great insights from their research.)
Yes. This post was a “BOOM post”. It may come off sort of… um… strong. I see people all over the place butchering what the Bible says simply because they are naive. They haven’t bothered or known how to read the bible in a way that will get things at least mostly right. They start to sound goofy pretty fast. Next time you hear someone spouting off about a Bible passage, inquire if they’ve done the passage good justice by learning it intelligently in these few ways; then (as nicely as possible) challenge their mode of learning and teaching.
Bible study is a vital spiritual discipline, and like prayer, fasting, giving, and all the rest should be done through being better informed. Learning is a continual process. Keep up with it!
*Some of my information is straight from Stuart and Free’s fantastic book: How to Read the Bible for All its Worth. Many agree that it’s the book par excellence, for understanding and studying the Bible. Give it a whirl.
Did this post help you think of the Bible in a new way?
What has helped you understand what the Bible says?
This is a good post Lisa….
Yep! At the beginning of my exegesis class we go through principles…one of these is that there is only one interpretation of scripture. There may be an endless count of applications – but only one interpretation.
When I study – I like to use at least 3 English translations…and certainly the original text. I use commentaries from time to time – I don’t have any favorites specifically, but I do greatly appreciate http://www.chabad.org. While using commentaries – we still have to remember that although these are written by some very brilliant people – they are still their “opinions”….
The best way to interpret scripture however, IMO, is using scripture. It will NEVER contradict itself and it always reveals and supports itself. If you feel you have come across something that seems to contradict – then you are wrong on one of your views….
The bible reveals God, it doesn’t contain Him. He is free to act outside of what is recorded in scripture….a problem, perhaps a symptom, I notice is that we expect to get the same fruit as the early church when we rely on a book they didn’t have more than the Holy Spirit they did have….
A while back in our family Bible study times we started using what I like to call the H.Y.M.M. hermeneutic. (H.Y.M.M. = H.ave Y.ou M.et M.e?) I noticed that over the years I had developed a tendency to start subconsciously seeing myself as the “good guy” in Bible stories and passages of Scripture. For example, when I would read the account of David and Goliath, I would secretly give myself a little pat on the back and think back to some time when maybe I stood up for Christ against intimidating odds or overcame some “giant” in my life. As an antidote, I started trying to see myself as “the sinner” in Bible stories and passages of Scripture. Sometimes, it was like the Bible was condemning the behavior of someone suspiciously similar to me, and I would have to ask the Lord, “Have you MET me?????” It sounds like a depressing way to study the Bible, but it was actually very helpful. So now when I read about David and Goliath, I realize that I may have been like David’s brothers, who tried to belittle someone else’s extraordinary faith and boldness. Or like Goliath, possibly acting as a bully at times in my life, or even doing things to mock the name of the True God. Those realizations stung my pride, but hopefully the Holy Spirit used them to help make me a little more like Christ.
A fascinating method. Thank you.
Just read this post. Excellent topic……I wish more people had the opportunity to read this. I used to have a prof. who used to often say, “the bible is not self relevatory….but if you put it in its original context scripture will reveal itself to you”
That’s a quote-able quote, Andy. Very good.
well done Lisa. certainly debunks the whole hey lets go verse by verse through the Bible and squeeze the truth right out of this thing. I love that the Bible is still relevant today, but I agree the original intended meaning trumps any new meaning we seem to gleam – because that’s likely meaning we want to find in there.
You should parse words, but only if you know how!
Also, I agree with this post 100%. I got a lot of flack at my church by suggesting that Jeremiah 29:11 is not a promise for ANY of us! We cannot “take” that verse for ourselves without taking the context (70 years of slavery!)
Thanks for the truth!
Thanks for sharing this Lisa. I’m currently reading through the Old Testament and granted certain places get dry my approach is to see how the passages relate to Christ. The principles you listed should not be overlooked especially if you’re preaching or teaching. Having a Christ centering hermeneutic helps with both devotion and doctrine. I have for the longest time viewed the Bible as the written word testifying to the living Word.
Hi Lisa:
First of all, I love Gordon Fee. I have the book you recommend and I recommend it all the time. All students of scripture should apply themselves to discovering the original context and the original intent. It brings revelation and rich reward.
However (could you feel it coming?) the “original intent rule” has some problems. For example, look at the question asked in Acts 8:34 “And the eunuch said to Philip, ‘About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?'” The eunuch’s question challenges modern Biblical scholarship. He understood that Isaiah had an historical context, but sensed there was a deeper meaning–one that perhaps not even Isaiah himself understood. When Dr. Fee suggests original intent as our guideline, he avoids the question of whether the scripture can yield multiple meanings. For example–in Isaiah 9:6-7, was the prophet celebrating the birth of his own son, the king’s son, the Messiah–or all three?
Just a thought. Still, it’s an outstanding book, that I recommend highly.
I appreciate that point. I too am not convinced that we should only be in one of two camps (only original intent or only meaning in our context). Prophecy used in the bible also smacks against some of Fee’s points as well, I think….so, Fee doesn’t sew it all up for me. But, compared to understanding the Bible in the cherry-picking way I was brought up with, this presentation of how to understand the Bible better was a huge help. For the average bible reader and bible study Christian, I think it should be standard reading …used as a tool, not the end all summation of God’s word…
The cultural barrier is what really gets me now. And the circumstances, especially with Paul’s letters. I’ve been recently frustrated by the idea that Paul’s letters to specific churches can be applied carte blanche to ANY church and ANY Christian anywhere all the time. Handling Scripture carelessly can be dangerous, and I’m guilty of it, but I like to keep an open mind when people are teaching and do some digging on my own.