Application

Step 1: Grasp the text in their town by summarizing the original situation (historical-cultural context) and the meaning of the text for the biblical audience.

Step 2: Measure the width of the river to cross. What are the differences between the biblical situation and our situation?

Step 3: Cross the principlizing bridge. List the theological principles communicated by the passage.

Step 4: Grasp the text in our town. How should individual Christians today apply the theological principles in their lives? This step consists of several substeps.

a. Observe how the principles in the text address the original situation.
b. Discover a parallel situation in a contemporary context.
c. Make your applications specific.

The Role of the Holy Spirit

When it comes to biblical interpretation, having the Holy Spirit does not mean that the Spirit is all we need, since he will not make biblical interpretation automatic. He expects us to use our minds, valid interpretive methods, and good study helps. The Spirit does not create a new meaning or provide new information, but does enable us to accept the Bible as God's Word and grasp its meaning. The Spirit will not change the Bible to suit our purposes or match our circumstances, but he will work in our lives as interpreters. He restores us to our senses and helps us grow up spiritually so we can hear his voice in the Scriptures more clearly. As you study the Bible, remember to pray that the Spirit will work in your heart so that you will have ears to hear what he is saying.

Levels of Meaning

Does the Bible have different levels of meaning? There is one level of meaning-the one tied to the historical-cultural and literary contexts. This meaning includes its meaning for the biblical audience and the theological principles behind that meaning. There can be different aspects of a text's meaning and even a number of principles behind those aspects. But there are not deep, "spiritual" meanings in the text that are unrelated to the historical and literary context.

Who Controls the Meaning?

Our approach to interpreting the Bible focuses on authorial intent rather than reader response. God has communicated with us through the Scriptures. He has worked through human authors to convey his meaning to us through the text. As readers we do not create the meaning; rather, we seek to find the meaning that has already been replaced into the text by the author (both divine and human). This is why careful reading, context, historical background, word studies, translations, and genre are so important. these are the items we must grapple with if we are to grasp the intended meaning of the author.

Bible Translations

Choosing a Translation

1. Choose a translation that uses modern English. The whole point of making a translation is to move the message of the original text to a language you can understand. History teaches us that languages change over time, and English is no exception. The English of John Wycliffe’s day of 1611 is simply not the same as the English of the twenty-first century. There is little to be gained by translating a Greek or Hebrew text into a kind of English that you no longer use and can no longer comprehend. For that reason, it is recommended that you choose among the many good translations that have appeared within the last fifty years.


2. Choose a translation that is based on the standard Hebrew and Greek text. The standard text for the Old Testament is the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (BHS). For the New Testament the standard text is reflected in the latest edition of the United Bible Societies’ Greek New Testament (GNT) or Nestle-Aland’s Novum Testamentum Graece. The majority of scholars prefer an ecletic original text rather than the Tex tus Receptus used by the KJV and the NKJV.


3. Give preference to a translation by a committee over against a translation by an individual. Translating requires an enormous amount of knowledge and skill. A group of qualified translators will certainly possess more expertise than any one translator possibly could. In addition, a group of scholars will usually guard against the tendency of individual scholars to read their own personal biases into their translation.


4. Choose a translation that is appropriate for your own particular purpose at the time. When you want to read devotionally or read to children consider a simplified, functional translation such as the New Living Translation or the New Century Version. If you are reading to nontraditional or unchurched people, consider the Contemporary English Version or The Message. If you are reading to people with English as a second language, consider the Good News Bible. If you are reading to a “King-James-only” church, consider the New King James. But for your own personal serious Bible study, it is suggested that you choose the New American Standard Bible, the New International Version, Today’s New International Version, the New Revised Standard Version, the English Standard Version, the Holman Christian Standard Bible, or the NET Bible.

This writer uses the English Standard Version and if you want to know why visit
www.esv.com

Word Studies

Introduction

This unit is all about studying the words of Scripture. Even if you don’t know the original biblical languages, Hebrew and Greek, you can still learn to use interpretive tools to do a word study properly, and we will show you how. The study starts by alerting you to common mistakes people make when studying words. It will then be explained how to identify words in a passage that need further study, how to determine what a word could mean, and finally how to decide what a word does mean in context.

Common Word Study Fallacies

English-Only Fallacy

The English-only fallacy occurs when you base your word study on the English word rather than the underlying Greek or Hebrew word and, as a result, draw unreliable or misleading conclusions.

Root Fallacy

One of the more common fallacies is the notion that the real meaning of a word is found in its original root. (i.e., in the etymology of the word). Think about how silly this can be even in English. Is a butterfly actually a fly that has lost control and crash-landed into a tub of butter? Is a pineapple a certain kind of apple that grows only on pine trees?

Time-Frame Fallacy

This fallacy occurs when we latch onto a late word meaning (usually a meaning popular in our own time) and read it back into the Bible, or when we insist that an early word meaning still holds when in fact it has since become obsolete.

Overload Fallacy

Most words can mean several different tings. The overload fallacy is the idea that a word will include all of those senses every time it is used. For example, the English word “spring” can refer to a season, a metal coil, an act of jumping, or a source of water. You would be overloading “spring: (pun intended…perhaps) to assume that in every passage in which it occurs, the word carries not just one, but all of those senses. Which meaning for “spring” does the context demand in the sentence, “Spring is my favorite season of the year”? If you said “all of the above” or even if you chose any meaning except a season of the yea, you would be guilty of the overload fallacy.

Word-Count Fallacy

We make this mistake when we insist that a word must have the same meaning every time it occurs.

Word-Concept Fallacy

We fall prey to the word-concept fallacy when we assume that once we have studied one word, we have studied an entire concept.

Selective-Evidence Fallacy

When we cite just the evidence that supports our favored interpretation or when we dismiss evidence that seems to argue against our view, we commit the selective-evidence fallacy.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Doing a word study properly takes time. Be realistic and admit that you cannot possibly study every word in your passage and still have any time for your friends. Use the following guidelines to help you choose the words you need to study.

1. Look for words that are crucial to the passage.
2. Look for repeated words.
3. Look for figures of speech.
4. Look for words that are unclear, puzzling, or difficult.

Determine What the Word Could Mean

Why do we need to determine what the word could mean before we decide what it does mean? Because most words can mean several different things (e.g., “spring”), but will usually carry only one of those meanings in a particular context. By clarifying what a word could mean, we will not confuse the various meanings of a word when interpreting a particular passage of Scripture.

Semantic Range

Once we see all the possible meanings of a word—what we refer to as a word’s range of meaning or semantic range—we will be in a better position to decide what the word actually does mean in a specific context.

Concordance Work

The first step is to use an exhaustive concordance to locate the original Hebrew or Greek word. As you see the definitions of the word and the different ways the word has been translated into English, you will begin to get a feel for what the word could mean (i.e., its semantic range).

Context Studies

This brings us to the second thing you can do to discover a word’s range of meaning. You must examine the context to see how your word is used. The one rule in doing word studies that overrules all other rules is this: Context determines word meaning.

Decide What the Word Does Mean in Context

In light of the context, the first thing you must do is to select from the possible meanings the one meaning that best fits your word. What we said earlier about the importance of context bears repeating: Context determines word meaning!

Conclusion

The process is simple, even though it takes time: (1) Determine what the word could mean, and (2) decide the most likely meaning of the word in context.

The Literary Context

Introduction

Imagine that you are a college student strolling to class one day when a total stranger hits you with a one-liner. “Go for it!” How would you respond? Would you say, “Sure,” and walk away thinking that he or she was one fry short of a happy meal? Or would you take the message with all religious seriousness and conclude God must be speaking to you through that person, answering your prayers about your dating dilemma or your decision regarding a major or your problem of whether to take the summer job?

To unveil the meaning of “go for it,” most of us would probably come back with a few questions of our own. “What exactly do you mean?” or “Go for what?” We would ask questions as part of our search for a context to give meaning to those three little words. Without a context, “go for it” can mean almost anything. Without a context, words become meaningless.

When it comes to interpreting and applying the Bible, context is crucial. In fact, we would go so far as to say that the most important principle of biblical interpretation is that context determines meaning. When we ignore the context, we can twist the Scriptures and “prove” almost anything.

What is Literary Genre?

Of every passage of Scripture, we must first notice the form it takes (i.e., how does it mean?) before we look at its content (i.e., what did it mean?). The word genre is a French word meaning “form” or “kind.” When applied to biblical interpretation, the expression literary genre simply refers to the different categories or types of literature found in the Bible. In the Old Testament you will encounter narrative, law, poetry, prophecy, and wisdom. The New Testament forms include gospel, history, letter, and apocalyptic literature. Both Old and New Testaments feature a number of subgenres (e.g., parables, riddles, sermons).

What is Surrounding Context?

Surrounding context simply refers to the texts that surround the passage you are studying. You can think of it as the textual world in which your text lives. This includes the words, sentences, paragraphs, and discourses that come before and after your passage.

Dangers of Disregarding Literary Context

You have probably heard it said that you can make the Bible say anything you want. That is true only if you disregard the literary context. There are a number of dangers associated with disregarding literary context. Here we will discuss only two of the most common problems—the first associated with individual interpreters, the second with preachers.

Ignoring the Surrounding Context

The first danger is simply ignoring the surrounding context. This usually happens when individuals focus on a single verse without paying attention to how the surrounding verses might affect its meaning.

Topical Preaching

A second danger associated with disregarding literary context is that of topical preaching. Topical preaching is a valid approach to preaching when the various passages are understood in context and the overall message doesn’t violate those individual contexts. But far too often topical preaching distorts the meaning of Scripture by disregarding the literary context.

How to Identify the Surrounding Context

1. Identify how the book is divided into paragraphs or sections. Look at several different Bible Translations to see how the translators have divided the book into smaller units.
2. Summarize the main idea of each section in about a dozen words or less. When writing your summary, think about two things: (a) the topic or main idea of the section, and (b) what the author says about the topic or main idea. As you do this, you will have to resist the temptation to get lost in all the details. Stick with the main point, the big idea.
3. Explain how your particular passage relates to the surrounding sections. Now that you can see the author’s flow of thought through the entire book by reading your section summaries, it is time to look at how your passage fits into its surroundings.

Conclusion

We study literary context because the interpretation that best fits the context is the most valid interpretation. When we disregard literary context, we run the risk of forcing the Bible to say what we want it to say. This may appear to satisfy people’s immediate needs, but ultimately, this approach hurts people by robbing them of God’s liberating truth. People are seeking time-tested answers to problems that are stating them in the face, answers that contemporary culture simply cannot supply. When we take the literary context seriously, we are saying, “We want to hear what God is trying to say to us.”