How to Study the BibleHow to Study the Bible

two tasks two tasks

• Page 11• a) Find out what the text originally

meant; this task is called exegesis.• b) Learn to hear that same meaning in

the variety of new or different contexts of our own day; we call this second task hermeneutics.

aim of good interpretationaim of good interpretation

• Page 14• The aim is to get at the plain meaning of

the text.

good interpretationgood interpretation

• The test is that it makes good sense of the text.

eternal relevance eternal relevance

• Page 17• Eternal relevance means that it speaks to

all humankind, in every age and in every culture.

historical particularityhistorical particularity

• Historical particularity refers to the fact that each document is conditioned by the language, time, and culture in which it was originally written.

exegesisexegesis

• Page 19• Exegesis is the careful, systematic study of

the Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning.

good exegesisgood exegesis

• Page 22• To learn to read the text carefully and to

ask the right questions of the text.

historical context historical context

• Page 22• The time and culture of the author and his

readers and the occasion of the writing.

most important contextual question

most important contextual question

• Page 23• “What’s the point?”

four tools four tools

• Pages 24-25• a) A good Bible dictionary• b) A good Bible handbook• c) A good translation• d) Good commentaries

three original languages three original languages

• Page 34• a) Hebrew• b) Aramaic• c) Greek

three basic theories three basic theories

• Page 35• a) Literal• b) Free• c) Dynamic Equivalent

one thing one thing

• Page 48• They are occasional documents (i.e.,

arising out of and intended for a specific occasion) and they are from the first century.

two things two things

• Page 49• a) Consult a Bible dictionary or the

introduction to a commentary to find out as much as possible about the place and its people.

• b) Develop the habit of reading the whole letter through in one sitting.

necessary key necessary key

• Pages 54-55• Learning to think paragraphs.

basic rule basic rule

• Page 64• To what the text cannot mean.

second basic rule second basic rule

• Page 65• Whenever we share comparable

particulars (i.e., similar specific life situations) with the first-century setting, God’s Word to us is the same as his Word to them.

seven guidelines seven guidelines

• Pages 71-74• a) Distinguish between the central core of the

message of the Bible and what is dependent upon or peripheral to it.

• b) Distinguish between what the New Testament itself sees as inherently moral and what is not.

• c) Make special note of items where the New Testament itself has a uniform and consistent witness and where it reflects differences.

seven guidelines seven guidelines

• d) Be able to distinguish within the New Testament itself between principle and specific application.

• e) Determine the cultural options open to any New Testament writer.

• f) Keep alert to possible cultural differences between the first and twentieth centuries that are sometimes not immediately obvious.

• g) Exercise Christian charity at this point.

three levels three levels

• Page 79• a) The top level is that of the whole

universal plan of God worked out through his creation.

• b) Key aspects of the middle level center on Israel.

• c) The bottom level consists of all the individual narratives that make up the other two levels.

ten principles ten principles

• Pages 83-84• a) An Old Testament narrative usually does not

directly teach a doctrine.• b) An Old Testament narrative usually

illustrates a doctrine or doctrines taught elsewhere.

• c) Narratives record what happened—not necessarily what should have happened or ought to happen every time.

ten principles ten principles

• d) What people do in narratives is not necessarily a good example for us. Frequently, it is just the opposite.

• e) Most of the characters in the Old Testament narratives are far from perfect and their actions are too.

• f) We are not always told at the end of a narrative whether what happened was good or bad.

ten principles ten principles

• g) All narratives are selective and incomplete. Not all the relevant details are always given.

• h) Narratives are not written to answer all our theological questions.

• i) Narratives may teach either explicitly or implicitly.

• j) In the final analysis, God is the hero of all biblical narratives.

eight most common errors eight most common errors

• Pages 91-93• a) Allegorizing - Instead of concentrating on the

clear meaning, people relegate the text to merely reflecting another meaning beyond the text.

• b) Decontextualizing - Ignoring the full historical and literary contexts, and often the individual narrative, people concentrate on small units only and thus miss interpretational clues.

eight most common errors eight most common errors

• c) Selectivity - Involves picking and choosing specific words and phrases to concentrate on, ignoring the others, and ignoring the overall sweep of the passage being studied.

• d) False combination - Combines elements from here and there in a passage and makes a point out of their combination, even though the elements themselves are not directly connected in the passage itself.

eight most common errors eight most common errors

• e) Redefinition - Redefining the meaning of a text to mean something else.

• f) Extracanonical authority - Using a set of doctrines or a book that claims to reveal scriptural truths not otherwise knowable.

eight most common errors eight most common errors

• g) Moralizing - The assumption that principles for living can be derived from all passages.

• h) Personalizing - Also known as individualizing, this is reading Scripture in a way that supposes that any or all parts apply to you or your group in a way that they do not apply to everyone else.

divine activity divine activity

• Page 96• The divine activity that began with Jesus

and continues through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the church is a continuation of God’s story that began in the Old Testament.

ActsActs

• Page 99• Because God willed it and the Holy Spirit

carried it out.

first three Gospels first three Gospels

• Page 115• Synoptic (“common view”) Gospels

various forms of Jesus’ teachings various forms of Jesus’ teachings

• Page 117• Parables, purposeful overstatement

(hyperbole), proverbs, similes and metaphors, poetry, questions, and irony.

three principles three principles

• Pages 127-128• a) Selectivity• b) Arrangement• c) Adaptation

• so-called discrepancies among the Gospels– The principal of adaptation.

basic theological framework basic theological framework

• Pages 131-132• Eschatological. Eschatology has to do with the

end, when God brings this age to its close.

• How did the Jews think in Jesus’ day?– Most Jews in Jesus’ day were eschatological in their

thinking. They thought they lived at the very brink of time, when God would step into history and bring an end to this age and usher in the age to come.

Acts 3Acts 3

• Pages 132-133• That Jesus had not come to usher in the final

end, but the beginning of the end. They came to see that with Jesus’ death and resurrection, and with the coming of the Spirit, the blessings and benefits of the future had already come. In a sense, the end had already come. They learned, therefore, to be a truly eschatological people, living between the times—that is, between the beginning of the end and the consummation of the end.

differencedifference

• Pages 137-138• a) True parable - a story with a beginning and

an ending; it has something of a plot. Some examples are: The Good Samaritan, the Lost Sheep, the Prodigal Son, the Great Supper, the Laborers in the Vineyard, the Rich Man and Lazarus, and the Ten Virgins.

• b) Similitude - a parable more like an illustration taken from everyday life that Jesus used to make a point. An example is the Leaven in the Meal.

“calling forth of a response”“calling forth of a response”

• Pages 138-139• The story parables function to call forth a

response from the hearers. The parable itself is the message. It is told to address and capture the hearers, to bring them up short about their own actions, or to cause them to respond in some way to Jesus and his ministry.

their functiontheir function

• The parables can never function for us in quite the same way they did for the first hearers.

three things three things

• Page 141• a) Sit and listen to the parable again and again.• b) Identify the points of reference intended by

Jesus that would have been picked up by the original hearers.

• c) Try to determine how the original hearers would have identified with the story, and therefore what they would have heard.

six guidelines six guidelines

• Pages 150-154• a) The Old Testament law is a covenant.• b) The Old Testament law is not our

testament.• c) Some stipulations of the Old Covenant

have clearly not been renewed in the New Covenant.

six guidelines six guidelines

• d) Part of the Old Covenant is renewed in the New Covenant.

• e) All of the Old Testament law is still the Word of God for us even though it is not still the command of God to us.

• f) Only that which is explicitly renewed from the Old Testament law can be considered part of the New Testament “law of Christ.”

two basic laws two basic laws

• Page 153• a) “Love the Lord your God with all your

heart, soul, and mind.”• b) “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

law is paradigmaticlaw is paradigmatic

• Page 155• It sets a standard by an example, rather

than by mentioning every possible circumstance.

six hermeneutical guidelines six hermeneutical guidelines

• Pages 163-164• a) Do see the Old Testament law as God’s fully

inspired word for you. Don’t see the Old Testament law as God’s direct command to you.

• b) Do see the Old Testament law as the basis for the Old Covenant, and therefore for Israel’s history. Don’t see the Old Testament law as binding on Christians in the New Covenant except where specifically renewed.

six hermeneutical guidelines six hermeneutical guidelines

• c) Do see God’s justice, love, and high standards revealed in the Old Testament law. Don’t forget to see that God’s mercy is made equal to the severity of the standards.

• d) Don’t see the Old Testament law as complete. It is not technically comprehensive. Do see the Old Testament law as a paradigm—providing examples for the full range of expected behavior.

six hermeneutical guidelines six hermeneutical guidelines

• e) Don’t expect the Old Testament law to be cited frequently by the prophets or the New Testament. Do remember that the essence of the Law (Ten Commandments and the two chief laws) is repeated in the prophets and renewed in the New Testament.

• f) Do see the Old Testament law as a generous gift to Israel, bringing much blessing when obeyed. Don’t see the Old Testament law as a grouping of arbitrary, annoying regulations limiting people’s freedom.

three things three things

• Pages 167-170• a) The prophets were covenant

enforcement mediators.• b) The prophets’ message was not their

own, but God’s.• c) The prophets’ message is unoriginal.

specific contextsspecific contexts

• Page 175• Each prophetic oracle was delivered in a

specific historical setting. God spoke through his prophets to people in a given time and place, and under given circumstances. A knowledge of the date, audience, and situation, therefore, when they are known, contributes substantially to a reader’s ability to comprehend an oracle.

three features three features

• Page 180• a) Synonymous parallelism - the second or

subsequent line repeats or reinforces the sense of the first line.

• b) Antithetical parallelism - the second or subsequent line contrasts the thought of the first.

• c) Synthetic parallelism - the second or subsequent line adds to the first line in any manner which provides further information.

prophecy and second meaningsprophecy and second meanings

• Page 183• At a number of places in the New Testament,

reference is made to Old Testament passages that do not appear to refer to what the New Testament says they do. That is, these passages seem to have a clear meaning in their original Old Testament setting and yet are used in connection with a different meaning by a New Testament writer.

inspiration and illuminationinspiration and illumination

• Page 184• Inspiration is the original motivation to

record the Scripture in a certain way. Illumination is the insight to understand what the Scripture’s authors wrote.

two purposes two purposes

• Page 187• a) To express ourselves to God.• b) To consider His ways.

three points three points

• Pages 189-190• a) Hebrew poetry was addressed to the

mind through the heart. One needs to be careful of over-exegeting the Psalms by finding special meanings in every word or phrase, where the poet may have intended none.

three points three points

• b) They are musical poems and they cannot be read in the same way that an epistle or a narrative or a section of the law is written. It is intended to appeal to the emotions, to evoke feelings and stimulate a response on the part of the reader that goes beyond a mere cognitive understanding of certain facts.

• c) The vocabulary of poetry is purposefully metaphorical. Look for the intent of the metaphor. It is likewise important that one not press metaphors or take them literally.

read as a literary unitread as a literary unit

• Page 192• The Psalms are to be treated as wholes,

not atomized into single verses. Each psalm has a pattern of development by which its ideas are presented, developed, and brought to some kind of conclusion.

seven types seven types

• Pages 194-197• a) Laments• b) Thanksgiving psalms• c) Hymns of praise• d) Salvation history psalms• e) Psalms of celebration and affirmation• f) Wisdom psalms• g) Songs of trust

six elements six elements

• Page 197• a) Address – The psalmist identifies the

one to whom the psalm is prayed (the Lord).

• b) Complaint – The psalmist pours out, honestly and forcefully, a complaint, identifying what the trouble is and why the Lord’s help is being sought.

six elements six elements

• c) Trust – The psalmist immediately expresses trust in God.

• d) Deliverance – The psalmist pleads for God to deliver from the situation described in the complaint.

• e) Assurance – The psalmist expresses assurance that God will deliver.

• f) Praise – The psalmist offers praise, thanking and honoring God for the blessings of the past, present, and/or future.

imprecatory psalmsimprecatory psalms

• Page 202• Psalms that contain verbalizations to God

of anger at others.

“fool”“fool”

• Page 207• An infidel, an unbeliever who lives life

according to selfish, indulgent whims, and who acknowledges no higher authority than himself.

EcclesiastesEcclesiastes

• Page 214• A brilliant, artful argument for the way

one would look at life—if God did not play a direct, intervening role in life and if there were no life after death.

follyfolly

• Page 217• a) Violent crime• b) Careless promising or pledging• c) Laziness• d) Malicious dishonesty• e) Sexual impurity

Revelation Revelation

• Page 232• a) Apocalypse• b) Prophecy• c) Letter