Biblical Interpretation

• Art and Science of interpreting the Bible
• From Hermes translating the gods language to the people

Drawing Meaning out of Biblical text

communicating meaning and relevance to present hearers

art and science of communicating meaning and relevance in a preaching situation

art and science of communicating meaning and relavence in a teaching situation

Clarity, we can understand

Time, Geographic, Cultural, Language, Literary

preconceived notions that we bring to the text(good or bad)

we must be both subjective and objective

• 1. drawn from scriptures overall teaching
• 2. dont change often or at all
• 3. pre-understandings are what we bring to the text
• 4. pre-understandings can change

• God exists, Bible is his word
• This is our starting point to prove things not other way around

Something we take for granted to be true

Everything else not the other way around eg: Science and reason

God is reason, logical and orderly

reader is servant to the text, others may have understood better

• reader as lord over the text
• Eg. salvation by faith or works James 2:24-25
• we must understand whole doctrine of salvation to understand what James says about works

• 1. Inerrant
• 2. Authoritive
• 3. Unified- does not contradict-progessive
• 4. Bible has mystery- on some levels incomprehensible, miracles, creation, trinity

• 1. Written language
• 2. Specific audiences
• 3. affected by human enviroment of human writer
• 4. understood in light of its context
• 5. Took on nature of literary form (Genre)
• 6. Understood by inital readers IAW basic principles of logic and communication

• 1. Interpreters do not posses inerrancy
• 2. Some dont get a secret meaning
• 3. A Christian living in sin is susceptible to inaccurate interpretation
• 4. HS doesnt give sudden intuative flashes of insight
• 5. HS guides interpreter
• 6. Bible was given to be understood by all believers

• 1. Observation
• 2. Interpretation
• 3. Application

• 1. grasp text in their town - what did it mean originally
• 2. measure width of river to cross - differences in audience (time)
• 3. build the hermenuetical bridge
• 4. grasp the text in the new town

Putting our meaning into the text

Clarity

Historical study of words meaning

reading a meaning of a word out of its historical meaning

Takes place when a writer shifts topics in epistles a break from doctrine to practical issues

When a narrative shifts direction, often signaled by an unusually significant episode

two stories going on at the same time

• 1st line parallels last
• most important element in middle

exageration

response of reader to the meaning of the inspired text, only one application

reading parallel passages between all gospels

interpreting within the themes of a single gospel first before horizontally

everyday story told to teach a specific spiritual truth usually with 2 levels of meaning where one thing represents another

Written by another hand (scribe)

letter sent with someone else

• There will be no literal 1000 year rule of Christ on Earth
• millenial period now in our hearts

interprets the Bible based on a few covenants

• 1. Church and Israel are seperate
• 2. God works in seperate plans

Interpreting Bible literaly

look at the spirit of text beyond the letter

Seeing future as a single event instead of two IRT Christs second coming

metaphysical position saying certain things are mind dependant

meaning prior to and independant of process of interpretation, truth existed first

• 1. Reality is a human construct
• 2. Signs only point to other signs not reality, no meaning in text

what the text says (God)

What a text does (Jesus)

What the text accomplishes (HS)

• 1. Interpreter is not inerrant
• 2. Interpreter is not given secret meaning
• 3. HS guides the interpreter
• 4. Sin affects our interpretation
• 5. Bible given to be understood by ALL believers
• 6. Normally no sudden intuative flashes of understanding

• 1. Observation
• 2. Interpretation
• 3. Application

Bridging principle

• 1. Principle reflected in text
• 2. Timeless priniciple not to specific situation
• 3. shouldnt be bound to one culture
• 4. Should correspond to rest of cultures
• 5. Relevant to past and today

• 1. The principle should be reflected in the text.
• 2. The principle should be timeless and not tied to a specific situation.
• 3. The principle should not be culturally bound.
• 4. The principle should correspond to the teaching of the rest of Scripture. 5. The principle should be relevant to both us today and them.

• II.English-Only Fallacy
• III.Root Fallacy
• IV.Overload Fallacy
• V.Word-Count Fallacy
• VI.Selective-Evidence Fallacy

• I.The Biblical Writer
• A.The Author Himself
• B.The Author’s Relationship to the Audience
• II.The Biblical Audience
• III. Other Elements

• Geography/Topography
• B. Social Customs
• C. Economic Issues
• D. Political Issues
• E. Worldview
• F. Behavior Patterns
• G. Religious Practices

• A. Ouiji Board approach
• B.Proof-Texting Approach
• C.Playing the Holy Spirit “Card”

• B.Proof-Texting Approach
• C.Playing the Holy Spirit “Card”

• 1. Saved
• 2. Spiritually mature
• 3. Diligent study
• 4. Common sense and logic
• 5. Humble dependance on HS for discernment

one correct interpretation and many applications

Christ centered Biography

• 1. Fulfillment of prophecy
• 2. Concealing of truth
• 3. Revealing of truth

• 1. Good storytelling
• 2. Sharp address = specific audience
• 3. Requires a response = illicits a change

• come on stupid, use common sense
• Context is King

• 1. Prophetic
• 2. Epistle
• 3. Apocoplypic
• Emphasis on prophecy

• 1. Implied author
• 2. Point of view ideology
• 3. narrative adn story time - how events are related to each other
• 4. Plot
• 5. Characterization and dialouge
• 6. Setting - geographical, temporal, social, and/or historical
• 7. Implicit commentary - techniques whereby the author tells his story.
• 8. Implied reader - every book has a group of readers in mind. These original readers are no longer available to the “real reader

• 1. Decalouge = 10 commandments
• 2. Tabernacle laws = ark, tabernacle, priestly duties
• 3. Levitical laws = living as a holy people
• 4. dueteronical laws = speeches by Moses, new application for nation of Israel

• - distinctive “if...then” grammatical structure
• - “if” describes the case, “then” describes the legal penalty
• Apodictic Law –
• - unconditional, categorical directives; i.e., commands and prohibitions
• Legal Series –
• - legal collections; e.g., the Decalogue
• Legal Instruction –
• - Two forms: priestly instruction and ritual instruction

• Synonymous Parallelism- repeating first line
• Step/Synthetic Parallelism- second line develops or adds to first
• Climactic Parallelism - builds to a climax
• Antithetical Parallelism - second line contrasts first(Opposing)
• Introverted Parallelism - external pairs are contrasted with the internal pairs (AB BA).
• Compensative Parallelism - dont need to know
• Incomplete Parallelism - one element is ommited in second line
• Acrostics - Each line begins with a different Hebrew letter
• Paronomasia - the use of a word in different senses or the use of words similar in sound to achieve a specific effect, as humor or a dual meaning; punning

• I. War Songs
• II. Love Songs
• III. Lament
• IV. Hymns or praise songs
• V. Thanksgiving hymns
• VI. Songs of celebration and affirmation
• VII. Wisdom and didactic psalms
• VIII. Imprecatory psalms

• Major = more space
• Minor = less space

• 1. Covenant broke (repent)
• 2. No repentance = judgment
• 3. Hope for future restoration from judgment

1.Pre understanding = preconcieved notions we bring to the text, comes from experiences

2. Presupposition = things we assume to be true (God exist) dont change easily, comes from scripture overall

• 3. presuppositional critique = they would be using a circular argument (God exists, Scripture is true)
• 4. Response to critique = eventually all arguments are circular (using science to prove science)Cast my lot with God

• 1. Learn it
• 2. teaach it
• 3. memorize it
• 4. meditate on it

1. Divine = If not Inerrant could contain errors, loses authority right and wrong doesnt apply to us

2. Human = couldnt use normal rule of grammar to find meaning,context unknowable,

Divine = Inerrant = all true, Authoritive = for our lives, Unity = doesnt contradict, mystery= some levels incomprehensible

• Human =
• 1. accepted or understood in light of its context
• 2. understood by original readers IAW basic principles of logic and communication
• 3. written by author to a specific audience

• Pros
• 1. Narratives are interesting,
• 2. Narratives are easy to remember
• 3. Narratives can portray the ambiguities and complexities of life.
• Cons
• 1. The reader may read too much theology into the narrative.
• 2. The reader may assume that since the literature is narrative, it deals only with history and not theology.
• 3. The meaning of the narrative can be subtle or ambiguous

Blends literal and historical criticism to see author as pe presents himself omniscient and omnipresent

• 1. A preoccupation with obscure theories.
• 2. A denial of intended or referential meaning.
• 3. Ignoring the understanding of the early church.

• 1. Moral laws
• 2. Civil laws
• 3. Ceremonial laws
• * Christians now usually accept only moral laws

• * Interpret the Law through the grid of NT teaching
• 1. Covenant is associated with Israel and conquest of land
• 2. Blessings are conditional
• 3. No longer a functional covenant
• 4. No longer directly applicable to Christians as LAW
• Cant go directly from Ancient law to modern practice first Concept of God and people of that time then abstracting principle from context

No, it shows us the character of God

• 1. Premodernism - Based on God
• 2. Moderinism - Bacon/Nietzche God is dead, science and reason rule
• 3. Postmodernism - Derrida, reader brings meaning not author

• 1. Offshoot of Derrida's theory
• 2. the taking apart of something in this context literary works

Speech act = The Author speaks something in a certain way with a certain effect( speaking does something) Promise

• 1.The text has a determinate meaning.
• 2.Because the Bible’s meaning is revelatory, it’s meaning is never dated.
• 3.The significance of the text is relative (i.e., the same meaning can be brought to bear on different situations in different ways).
• 4. Humans have the dignity of communicative agency, though not its perfection.

• 1. defiently engage with christian thought
• 2.post modern is only extension of modernism
• 3. Pilgrims digress = wandering away from truth
• 4. Christians learn criticism of ISM's
• 5. Modernism inflates self, post deflates self, Trinitarian seeks wisdom in God
• 6. Demonstrate Christian wisdom against other wisdoms
• 7. Christian thought is faith seeking understanding (Trinitiarian and Biblical)