VI. InterpretationAfter all of the first five steps have been completed – (1) God speaks (revelation), (2) original recipients write it down (Scripture), (3) its gets passed on (original language transmission), (4) collected with other inspired writings (canon), and (5) translation into other languages, there is still one final (and very important) step required to get God’s Word into the lives of individual people – “interpretation.” Once we have a Bible in our hands that is written in our own language, the last problem surfaces - understanding what we read! This is the “hermeneutical” (understanding) problem and every reader must wrestle with this problem – getting the meaning from the text that the author intended. It won’t do to say that “we don’t interpret the Bible, we just believe it!” because every reader is an interpreter – to interpret means to “give the sense” of what is written. The choice is not whether or not to interpret, but whether one does it well or poorly. Most people who disagree about Biblical teaching think that they “believe and understand” it. However, confusion and disagreement about “what the Bible says” abound and Scripture itself declares that God is NOT the cause of the confusion that exists amongst believers (1Corinthians 14:33). Philip and the Ethiopian demonstrated the need that people often have for help from others in understanding Scripture (Acts 8:30,31), which is why it is so important for Christian servants to be prepared and anxious to teach, “handle Scripture accurately” (2Timothy 2:15) and avoid “distorting” the message (2Peter 3:16). Just be careful who you ask for help – “fruit-checking” (Matthew 7:15-20) is still a necessity! Much of the division and confusion that exists amongst believers is due to the many ways that human teachers and leaders have misunderstood the Word and then taught their mistakes to their followers (cf. Acts 20:29,30; Rom. 16:17,18; 2Peter 2:1-3). All of us should take a note of warning from this sobering thought! Simple Foundations – We will touch on a number of items in this last segment, but there are some very basic issues that apply to everyone who reads literature of any kind. First of all, seek to be a good “reader.” Every reader needs to be careful, accurate, insightful, and ready to be taught rather than biased and eager to prove/protect their own preconceived beliefs and inherited traditions. Second, readers must recognize and understand the various genres (types of literature) used (such as law, history, proverbs, riddles, figures of speech, Apocalyptic, etc.), the historical and cultural backgrounds, and the meaning of key words and phrases. Thus, to read well, you must be able to handle basic grammar issues – be able to recognize “who” is speaking, to whom, what action is involved, what is the “reality” of the action discussed (a wish, a command, a statement of current or past reality, a conditional statement dependent on some variable matter, etc.), when did/does this action take place (past, present, future), is the action an event or an ongoing activity, etc. What is the meaning of key words according to the author’s time and usage? The beautiful thing about language is that it contains grammatical information to explain these issues, but readers must be sufficiently knowledgeable to “pick up” the signals. Without a good grasp of basic grammar and word meanings at the time of writing, later readers (employing their own current cultural background as their frame of reference) can badly distort the meaning of what they read. I have listened to people read Scripture and read a wrong word into it because they were not familiar with the word in the text, so they mentally replaced it with one they did know. How often have people read “immortality” with their eyes, but said “immorality” with their mouth? – those two words differ in just one letter, but the meanings are miles apart. If you read a verse and leave out “not” or replace “not” with “now,” you can really change the meaning of what you are reading. One printing of the King James Bible even came out with “not” missing from Exodus 20:14 – Words are important, read carefully! Kinds of literature – The Bible is a library containing a number of different kinds of literature and understanding each of these “genres” can go a long way towards clearing up the message and meaning of the Bible.[1] The Bible begins with Genesis, largely a brief historical summary of major people and events stretching over 16+ centuries. Then comes Exodus – Deuteronomy, a mixture of law and historical narratives about God’s revelation and covenant institution with Moses and Israel at Mt. Sinai. Joshua – Esther provides historical narratives covering Israel’s conquest of the land, period of turmoil (Judges-Ruth), the rise of Saul, David, Solomon, the Divided Kingdom, Judah’s exile and restoration (1Samuel – Esther). However, other types of literature (genealogies, proverbs, riddles, etc.) show up mixed in with the history. In what is called the “wisdom/poetry” section of the Old Testament writings, Job is a discussion about the mystery of suffering, the Psalms are lyric poetry (much of it used in Israel’s temple worship), Proverbs are observations about life (what to do/avoid, what is good/bad, etc.), Ecclesiastes examines life and its experiences to sift out basic lessons and truths. The Song of Solomon may be an allegory about the relationship of God and His people as they are tempted by the world and its delights. The Hebrew Prophets called their own generations back to the Sinaitic Covenant, warned Israel and surrounding nations about approaching judgment, and foretold details about the coming Messiah. Prediction of future events is an element in the Prophets, but most of what they wrote was aimed at their own generations – to comfort those afflicted and afflict those who were comfortable. Genres/Types of LiteratureThe Gospels are history and biography (the life and ministry of Jesus) blended for an evangelistic purpose (John 20:30,31). Of the many things to keep in mind when reading the Gospels, be sure to distinguish divine teaching (God’s message) from historical precedents (events that occurred once and were recorded). Jesus healed blindness in several different ways, but none of them were a standard for how it must happen every time (imagine the argument that could have arisen between the guy healed with mud versus the one healed with just spit on the “correct” way to heal blindness). Also, remember that historic precedents are not promises that such things will ever happen again – they are just records of what did occur in that time and place! Acts is a history of the movement of the Gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, focusing on the work of Peter and then Paul. It shows us more about the work of the Holy Spirit as He confirmed the Apostles’ ministries, as well as showing us the Apostles carrying out the Great Commission. Similar to the Gospels, events occur (such as miracles or specific works of the Holy Spirit) that may never be repeated, but did occur once for a particular purpose and were recorded to demonstrate God’s support of the Apostles’ ministries (Mark 16:20; Acts 14:3; Hebrews 2:3,4). The NT letters provide us with doctrinal explanations, exhortations, and encouragements written to various congregations and individuals around the first century A. D. Mediterranean world. As long as we remember that we are reading someone else’s mail, there are still a great number of lessons and helpful explanations of New Covenant theology contained in the letters/epistles for believers throughout the Church Age. The book of Revelation is a fitting capstone to the whole Bible, showing the worldly struggle, God’s final victory, and the restoration of what He intended in the new heaven and earth. It contains elements of apocalyptic literature (1:1), prophetic material (1:3), and letters/epistles (2-3). Outside Study ResourcesPrimary Resource Tools (tools for studying the Bible directly) – For those who want to get all the way into the original language texts (Hebrew, LXX & Greek NT), you can purchase these texts, along with lexicons (dictionaries), concordances, grammars, and parsing aids. With a little work, you can learn to do some pretty good word studies and find out where Hebrew or Greek words are used just by means of exhaustive concordances for the English Bible – just be sure that the concordance you purchase is based on the same translation as you are using (KJV/ RSV/ NAS/ NIV, etc.). Topical Bibles collect verses that relate to the various topics. Many churches would benefit if ministers would/could take the time to teach interested people to use these tools. Secondary Resources (materials written about the Bible) can help students to understand the crucial background issues that will explain a text - Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias can provide historical and cultural information as to what was happening or being done in human society at the time. Commentaries contain scholarly explanations of the backgrounds for individual books of the Bible, as well as verse-by-verse explanations of what is being said. While commentaries can be of great help in explaining difficult passages, I offer one word of caution here. Because commentaries are written by educated, but uninspired men that may or may not have their own individual (or denominational) theological axes to grind, examine a number of commentaries on any particular passage to be sure you are getting the general consensus of scholarship and not one person’s questionable and imaginative version from “left field.” Also, by examining a number of commentaries, you can sometimes find a high quality piece of information that only one writer mentions or a really good way of expressing the meaning. ContextAlways read “in context!” “Context” refers to the larger setting in which any portion of written material is found. To understand what is being said, you need to read it in its larger literary context. The meaning of a word is clarified by the sentence in which it is found. The meaning of a sentence is clarified by the paragraph of which it is a part. Paragraphs are clarified by the rest of the chapter or book in which they are found. Individual books are clarified by the rest of the writings with which they are associated, especially when we consider the Bible and what covenant is in effect. Sometimes the writers of Bible books anticipated that later generations would need some help and made comments to aid their readers in this - Moses was explaining earlier Egyptian culture (Genesis 43:32), Matthew provided some background on the theology of the Sadducees (Matthew 22:23), and Mark was helping his readers in Rome to understand Palestinian Jewish culture (Mark 7:3,4,19). American readers in the 21st century A.D. will also need some background help to bridge the cultural and historical distance to Biblical material. What is the big deal about “mandrakes” in Genesis 30:1-16? Why should a woman have a covering on her head “because of the angels” (1Corinthians 11:10) and why were some in Corinth being “baptized for the dead” (1Corinthians 15:29)? Such issues can sometimes be explained with some background information, but in a few cases nobody today knows exactly what was going on. However, once most of these cultural and historical questions are answered with background material, it becomes obvious that people are remarkably similar from century to century (Ecclesiastes 1:9-11). ParallelsAnother tremendous aid in understanding Scripture is to compare parallel sections, where the same teaching is being given in slightly different language, by different writers, and/or to different audiences. This is especially pertinent in studying the Gospels. When Matthew recorded Jesus’ response to those wanting continuing great “signs,” he noted their inability to recognize “the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:3), whereas Luke used the phrase “this present time” (Luke 12:57 NAS) – i.e. the time when Jesus was speaking. Although many yank this phrase out of its context and try to associate it with the 2nd Coming, these parallels are both referring to the inability of first century Jews to recognize the “signs” (credentials/evidences) that were already pointing to Jesus as the Messiah at His first coming. From this, I conclude that the “signs of the times” have nothing to do with the 2nd coming! For his Jewish readers (familiar with the Old Testament prophets), Matthew put Jesus’ comments on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:1-21) about the approaching desolation of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. in terms of Daniel’s “70 Sevens” prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27), whereas Luke clarified it for his Gentile readers by simply saying “when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies” (Luke 21:10-24) – get out of town! Roman Catholicism gradually adopted the follow-up (vv. 18,19) to Peter’s confession of Jesus as the promised Messiah (Matthew 16:15-19) as justification for Peter’s supremacy amongst the Apostles and the foundation of the Papacy. However, it is more than interesting that the comments associated with this questionable doctrine can only be found in the Gospel addressed to a Jewish audience (Matthew). For, when Mark (Peter’s Gospel material written for the Roman Church) and Luke (written for Gentiles & Greeks) related this incident and conversation, they totally omitted this material (cf. Mark 8:27-33; Luke 9:18-22). Obviously, they did not think the part of the discussion in Matthew that allegedly validates the Papacy was even worth mentioning to their audiences! When all four gospel writers do record something, that suggests that they all thought the item was important. The similarity and differences between parallels should make us think. The Value of a ConcordanceI believe the single best Bible study tool is an exhaustive concordance. A good exhaustive concordance can aid your study in a number of ways. But be sure to purchase a concordance that is based on the same Bible translation as you are using. First of all, many people can think of a verse, but they don’t know where it is. Since every Bible Word is arranged alphabetically in the concordance, you can simply pick a word that you know exists in that verse (in your version), go to that word in the concordance and run your finger down the listing until you see the segment of the verse which matches what you were looking for – the book, chapter, and verse will be listed. Of course, you can speed this process a great deal by searching for the least common word used in the verse. Second, I believe that topical studies are one of the most basic methods of developing a systematic theology. “Topical Bibles” depend on the uninspired human who collected the verses, but an exhaustive concordance will help you to locate every place that a particular word appears and that is a good place to start your study. Let’s say that you want to get to the bottom of the “antichrist” issue, but aren’t sure of what to make of all of the popular “end-time” notions. Open your concordance and look up “antichrist” – you may be surprised to find that the word does not occur even one time in the book of Revelation! But John did discuss the matter in his first and second letters (1John 2:18,22; 4:1-3; 2John 7) and what he says in those verses is very different from the popular notions – there were already many “antichrists” present in John’s time, they were apostates from the Christian community (1John 2:19), the spirit of antichrist was already at work in the world through false prophets, and “antichrist” is anyone and everyone who denies that Jesus is the Christ, come in the flesh! Wow – nothing there about popular expectations in our time of a single guy who ravages the world at the end of the Church age, desecrates a rebuilt Jewish temple, starts WWIII, etc. Third, another value of a concordance search is that you can find out what things are not in the Bible. Evangelicalism has really gone overboard on the notion of salvation by “faith alone.” but just try and find any Bible writers teaching that – salvation by “faith” yes, but “faith alone/only” never. In fact, the only place in the whole Bible where the phrase “faith alone/faith only” can be found is in James 2:24 and James said that we are NOT justified by “faith alone.” No wonder Paul advocated sticking with Biblical words and phrases to discuss Biblical concepts (2Timothy 1:13) – if you don’t, you can gradually develop a completely different theological lingo for your beliefs that may even contradict Biblical teaching (now where did that begin? – Genesis 2:16,17 vs. 3:2-4). Fourth, for those wishing to discover what Hebrew or Greek words are used, an exhaustive concordance will have either a separate and numbered Hebrew/Greek keyed dictionaries in the back or will organize their listing of English terms according to the different Hebrew/Greek words involved. If a numbering system is used to link to dictionaries in the back, the concordance will explain how to read each entry and make the connections on a separate page, usually in the front of the concordance. Collect and CompareIf you are interested in the meaning of a word or phrase, check out how the same author uses it and find everything he says about it. For instance, if you want to understand being “born again,” collect all of the appearances of the phrase and see what you can learn from all of these occurrences (cf. John 1:12,13; 3:3-7; 1Peter 1:3,22-2:3; 1John 2:29). Note how different writers handle similar ideas – John and Peter wrote about being “born again,” while Paul discussed the same idea in terms of being spiritually dead in sin and then being “made alive” with Christ (Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 2:13). When New Testament writers quote Old Testament passages, locate the OT passage and go back and read it along with material before and after – sometimes the New Testament writer was citing a verse to remind their readers of a much larger section of which that verse was a central part. As examples, consider Matthew 3:3 as pointing to the larger Messianic section (Isaiah 40:1-11). If you want to understand what the Bible says about a topic like baptism, use a concordance to collect all of the accounts/discussions of baptism and all of the times it is mentioned/ discussed, then read all of them and note what you find in each passage. Finally, draw conclusions from what you learned from all of the discussions and you will gain a pretty good understanding of what it truly means and involves. Paul, especially, discussed many of the same ideas in a number of his letters, but he used slightly different language in each account and, by comparing these, you can get a much clearer idea of what he meant (Ephesians and Colossians have numerous parallels). Look for similar topics discussed in different letters and summarize everything you find. Understand the “Synechdoche”When it comes to a topic like salvation, one of the major problems facing us today is the wide variety of beliefs and favorite proof-texts used to “summarize” the doctrine. Some people believe that salvation is based on “faith/belief” alone and they cite John 3:16 or Acts 16:30,31. Or, you could make a case for “repentance” alone as the alternative to perishing (Luke 13:1-5; 24:46,47; Acts 3:19; 2Peter. 3:9). Or why not Baptism alone (Acts 22:16; 1Peter 3:21), since this is the only item mentioned in those verses? Then you run into different combinations of two items as necessary to salvation - “confession and belief” (Romans 10:9,10), “belief and baptism” (Mark 16:15,16), or “repentance and baptism” (Acts 2:37,38). Were the New Testament writers confused and contradictory on the matter of salvation? Simply, No! The early church was not confused on what was involved, because they understood the “synechdoche” – a figure of speech in which any crucial item or combination of items can be mentioned and the listener or reader is supposed to think of that in context with all of the other elements stated elsewhere - the larger “understood whole” on that topic. New Testament readers were expected to learn from all that the Apostles taught and mentally understand the larger picture, rather than try to make any one verse “say it all” and argue “this-only”! Salvation involves everything that Jesus’ authorized spokesmen associated with it and, in fact, you will find over twenty different elements involved in our salvation as you search the New Testament writings. Pay attention to words and grammar Individual words and grammar are important! The meaning of a word or a grammar issue may be the key to the meaning of a passage - really. Sometimes, translators of Bible versions can get into a traditional way of handling something that makes it harder to catch the probable meaning. I have long believed that this has occurred with Acts 16:29,30. It has become common to translate the Greek word kurioi as “sirs” in verse 29 and kurion as “Lord” in verse 30, but this masks what I think is the heart of the conversation. When we consider the ease with which many Greek minds associated miracles with a visit by the gods (cf. Acts 14:8-15), the events (Acts 16:23-27) and how they affected the jailor in Philippi may have been very similar to what happened in Lystra. While “sirs” is a permissible translation, I think the jailor was calling them “lords (gods?)” and they corrected this in the same way they did in Lystra – “we are not Lords, but believe in the Lord Jesus and you can be saved.” I don’t think “faith only” was the message at all, but “believe in Jesus as Lord, not us!” Then, they go on to teach the jailor and his family about this Jesus (Acts 16:32-34) and how to “believe in God.” When the topic of “end times” comes up, many are “all agog about Gog and Magog” (Russell Boatman’s phrase), but they await things that I don’t think are ever going to happen in the sense they have come to believe. Popular notions about the “tribulation” view it as a seven-year period at the end of the Church age just prior to the 2nd Coming. However, the Greek word thlipsis (pressure) appears in places where it sounds like a larger and more general reality throughout the church age (cf. John 16:33; Acts 14:22). The NIV uses several English words to translate this one Greek word, thus making it a little harder to trace down other NT comments about it. The clincher that most people miss is in Revelation 1:9, where John plainly said (at least in Greek) that he and his readers were “fellow-partakers” in “the tribulation and kingdom” – and there is a definite article there. Whatever “the tribulation” is, John said it was a present reality in the later first century A.D. and that he and his readers were already participating in it. Let Prophets Interpret Their Own Prophecies – What a wild romp some modern prophecy buffs can have as they claim to find predictions of jet planes, automobiles in Jerusalem, the Watergate Scandal, etc. in the ancient Hebrew Prophets. However, in most cases, they have manhandled the Scriptures pretty badly to attract an ignorant modern audience. I am not going to claim that I have a clear understanding of exactly how to understand everything that Daniel or Zechariah predicted, but I do have some solid boundaries that should keep you from going too far off-track. (1) Always allow OT prophets to interpret their own prophecies as far as they will, before you engage your imagination (and newspaper). Consider Daniel 8, a prediction of the interaction between the Persian Empire and the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great. Persia invaded Greece twice (490 & 480 B.C.) and Alexander the Great, in his conquest (336-323 B.C.), saw himself as bringing revenge on the Persians. While I have seen attempts to apply the predictions of Antiochus IV’s assault on Judaism (170-142 B.C.) to some (end-of-the-Church-Age) future “antichrist,” Daniel clearly identified the events he was predicting as coming during the Persian-Greek portion of the Intertestamental Era (Daniel 8:20-21). (2) Always give priority to the explanations of the meaning of Old Testament Prophecy given by Jesus and His Apostles, for their explanations are the only “inspired” interpretation you will get. Psalm 2 speaks of a conspiracy against God and His Messiah, God placing His Messiah on the throne anyway, then a warning for the world to honor the Son before judgment. This was interpreted for us as a prediction concerning the Jewish/Roman opposition to Jesus that led to His crucifixion (Acts 4:24-31). (3) Always allow NT Prophets to interpret their own prophecies, where they will. When you read the book of Revelation, be sure to listen when John explains his own symbolism, such as Revelation 1:16,20; 11:3-6,8; 12:9; 17:9-13,18,10; 19:10. Then, consider parallel terms and phraseology in other parts of the Bible as an aid to understanding the symbols and pictures – what city was most often called a “harlot” by the Old Testament Prophets and what city is consistently identified as the one that is known for killing saints and prophets in the rest of the New Testament Writings (Revelation 17-18)? What did Paul say about “the mystery” in his writings that may help us to understand Revelation 10:7? What items did John associate with the sounding of the seventh angel’s trumpet that might help us to identify the time/events he is thinking of (Revelation 10-12)? (4) Finally, Keep in mind how the NT writers summarized the general thrust and focus of OT Prophecy (Luke 18:31-34; 24:25-26,45-47; Acts 3:18-26; 1Peter 1:10-12) Pondering the Proverbs – The Biblical proverbs offer one line joined with another to form a poetic couplet, with the result of increasing the force of the moral. One of the first things that the reader will notice about the Proverbs is that much of the action is in how the two lines relate to each other. The key to understanding a proverb is in realizing the relationship between the two “parallel” lines. The first type of relationship between lines is synonymous, where both lines are saying the same thing (ex. 12:28; 16:28; 20:18). When the two lines sound very similar, don’t try to discern some difference between them – the whole point of wording variation may be to make sure that you catch the one intended point. The alternative wording is used somewhat like we use illustrations – to explain the point in a different way. On the other hand, in the antithetical proverb couplet the two lines are illustrating an intended contrast to each other (ex. 10:1,5; 14:31; 15:1). Emblematic proverbs use an emblem, illustration, type, or example where one line illustrates the other line (10:26; 11:22; 25:18,19; 27:15). Some proverbs present a “lesser to greater” lesson (15:11), while others offer a “better this than that” message (16:16; 21:9,19; 17:1). Occasionally, you will encounter what appears to be a contradiction, such as in 26:4,5 (the message - some fools you answer, some you don't)! Keep your eyes open. From time to time, new information becomes available that really changes how we should look at something. The King James translation first came out in 1611, but for all of its poetic beauty, it was produced without the aid of the earliest and best manuscript evidence.[2] Thus, the KJV has actually gone through a number of changes from the 1611 original and still reads awkwardly as we move further and further away from English as it was spoken at that time. If you compare the earliest versions of the NIV with later ones, you find that a change was made in how Acts 2:38 was rendered. Originally, the NIV translated Acts 2:38 as “repent and be baptized so that your sins may be forgiven,” but this changed in later editions to the traditional “for the forgiveness of your sins” (probably because it created too many problems for those theologies which don’t include baptism amongst the essentials associated with salvation).[3] The original rendering was very accurate to what was being said, but denominational theology and practice has often influenced translation. This is why the Greek word baptidzo has traditionally been transliterated into the English word “baptize” rather than translated as “immerse/dip.” Thus, Reformation theologies that had inherited the Roman Catholic move to validate sprinkling and pouring as “baptism” (1311 A.D.) could keep their practices as they were and define the term as a “watery initiation ceremony” instead of the specific verbal action that the Greek word indicated. Finally, keep your eyes open and get into the Hebrew and Greek texts as much as you are able. However, a good translation will communicate God’s message – if you just read it carefully and think clearly!
A Ministry of Severn Christian Church (Severn, Maryland) Unless otherwise noted, all material produced by Charles E. McCoy All Scripture citations/quotations from the New American Standard Bible To send a question to Chuck: chuck@severnchristian.org
|
Along with literary context, there is also a
historical and cultural “context” in which literature is better
understood. To understand any portion of Scripture, it is very helpful to know
about the surrounding culture and general flow of historical events at the time
the literature was written. Thus, there are a number of levels and types
of "context" in which a piece of literature needs to be understood (see graphic,
right).
