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Let the Bible be the Bible!

Let the Bible be the Bible!

Why do we strive to regulate, manage and systemize the Bible? Why do we reduce it to simple terms? Why do we try to cut it down to our size?

Do we really believe we can exercise control over God’s Word? Can the extraordinary be reduced to the ordinary? Can we grasp what’s sacred with our minds? Can the Story that runs deeper than our stories be governed by us? Can the Word that brings order to the world be ordered by those in the world?

Of course not. God’s Word cannot and will not be subjugated by man. “Nothing and no one can resist God’s Word” Hebrews 4:13 (MSG). For it’s wider and deeper than the sum of our years. Framed from the very beginning, it endures forever. “Laying us open to listen and obey” Hebrews 4:12 (MSG).

Let the Bible be the Bible!

How dare we think we can make it do our bidding? How dare we reduce it, as Anglican theologian N.T. Wright says, “so that whatever text we preach on it will say basically the same things”? How dare we treat it, as American Presbyterian minister Eugene Peterson says, “as just another tool for enlightenment or access to knowledge”?

We do well to remember that it’s not us that meets with the Bible so much as the Bible that meets with us. “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9.

Note the repeated use of the word “higher.” God’s in control, not us. Because God’s in control, we must come under His authority. We must relate to His Word on His terms and read His Story recognizing that it’s powerful and distinct.

Let the Bible be the Bible!

What does that look like? How do we read the Bible on God’s terms? How do we read the Bible without controlling our interaction with the text and its impact on our lives? Better still, how does the Bible read us?

The Bible reads us when we allow it to reform and reshape us. It reads us when we offer it our hearts and ask it to fill us. It reads us when we invite it to straighten out our thinking and stretch our reason into shape. And it reads us when we let it work through us – when we permit it to guide our steps in accordance with its precepts.

Let the Bible be the Bible!

We fall short when we translate the scripture into timeless truths but don’t allow Truth to transform us. We fall short when we read it and get nothing out of it beyond what we already know. We fall short when we don’t constantly recapitulate ourselves to it. And we fall short when we stick to selections of favourite passages while gagging the terrifying and tremendous things that the Bible really has to say.

May half-hearted or hard-headed Bible reading be seen for what it is. May we never take control of the text as if it’s powerless without our intervention. May we never inflict our views on a passage. And may we never exercise our critical tendencies to manipulate texts to corroborate our egocentric biases.

Let the Bible be the Bible!

May we be open to living with the mystery of the scriptures even when we’re uncomfortable. May we allow the Word to become our word in the intimate ways God has scripted for us. May we know the wholeness that comes from engaging with it. May we permit the Bible to judge and re-create our thoughts and intentions, imaginations and memories. And may we be constantly seeking to live in its light.

Related Articles

How Not To Read The Bible

Ten Ways We Hinder Bible Engagement

© Scripture Union Canada 2021

2 Corinthians 4:5


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Faith-Based Bible Engagement

Faith unlocks the door to Bible engagement. To connect with the Bible we need a dynamic, personal relationship with God through the transforming and indwelling power of Jesus. Nothing else will suffice. Bible engagement only happens when there’s an active trust in Jesus and the belief that what He says is true.

The necessity of faith can’t be minimized. To approach God’s Word we must be persuaded that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” Hebrews 11:1.

In the absence of faith, all attempts to understand the Bible properly will fail. The Bible is only alive to those who are alive to Jesus. Without faith, confusion reigns. Without faith, any critical explanation or interpretation of the Bible (exegesis) is faulty. And without faith, Bible engagement is reduced to nothing more than historical, textual, source, form, or literary criticism.

As my colleague, Annabel Robinson aptly said, “Faith is not a matter of being able to check all the right boxes. It’s a matter of relationship, of continuous love and obedience and discipleship, which might take different forms for different people.”

With the above in mind, here are twelve characteristics of faith-based Bible engagement:

  1. It acknowledges the primary role of the Holy Spirit, functioning through the text and the reader, to interpret the text.
  2. Prayer and humility are the desired posture for reading/listening, studying, and interpreting the Scriptures.
  3. Exegesis is not a solitary affair. It’s done in the context of the community of faith. That is, it’s the practice of the church and for the church.
  4. Present-day exegesis links with and continues an ancient dynamic conversation. We appreciate being part of a long line of faithful Bible engagers.
  5. While interpretations must be true to God’s intended meaning for a text, explanations are not identical.
  6. Faithful people experience fresh encounters with the Scriptures and apply them in new ways. These encounters with the Scriptures are not strictly the Scriptures themselves speaking to us, but the Holy Spirit speaking to us in and through the Scriptures.
  7. Sanctified imagination, i.e. imagination inspired by the Holy Spirit and informed by the text, is used to engage with the text.
  8. The Holy Spirit works through the text to form and reform us. The reader/listener anticipates and longs for transformation as she/he engages with the text.
  9. The Old Testament resonates with and prefigures the story of Jesus even though the writers of the Old Testament books and first readers dimly conceived Jesus.
  10. From Genesis to Revelation there’s continuity and connectivity in the meta-narrative. Connections between the testaments, when correctly traced and interpreted, tell the story of Jesus.
  11. Exegesis focuses on the Scriptures as testimony principally about Jesus. Every page of the Bible (albeit some very faintly), are witnesses to Christ.
  12. Every story fits into the larger Story. The witnesses to Christ, distinctively and with integrity, “talk to each other.” In so doing they create one big (complex yet cohesive) Story.

 

Because faith is about what we hope for and things we don’t see (cf. Hebrews 11:1), it’s tied to our longings and desires. This means faith-based Bible engagement flows from the heart (cf. Proverbs 4:23), not the head. To connect with the Bible and have the Bible connect with us, we must focus on who we love – the living truth, Jesus Christ.

Focusing Bible engagement on who we love interweaves exegesis with worship. Faith-based Bible engagement is keenly aware that we’re accountable to the Word. We cannot stand apart from the Word. It demands a response. What happens in our hearts and heads must move to our hands. We enter the world of the text, not to become brainiacs, but to be involved in the world we live in. For it’s only when we engage with the Bible obediently and practically (cf. James 2:26), and therein attribute worthiness and honour to Jesus, that faith is proved true.

© Scripture Union Canada 2020

2 Corinthians 4:5


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The Key to Interpreting the Bible

How can two astute people read the same passage of Scripture and arrive at two different interpretations?

The short answer is because people usually tend to use one of four ways to interpret the Bible – the literal, moral, anagogical or allegorical approach. The literal approach looks for the plain meaning of the text, the moral approach draws ethical lessons from the text, the anagogical approach searches for a mystical meaning in the text, and the allegorical approach looks for a second level or typological meaning in the text.

Decades ago, when I first learned about these four ways to interpret the Bible my blood pressure went up! I had many questions: What was the right approach? Could two or more approaches be right? If two or more approaches are right, what happens when the interpretations clash? How can a literal approach be used with poetic literature? How can an anagogical approach be a valid way to interpret didactic material? And so on.

My questions increased my level of frustration. As I thought about the matter, I became convinced that a Bible text, rightly read in its context, could only have one intended and definite meaning.  There was no way a text could have different, conflicting, or ethereal meanings.

Despite my hermeneutical concerns, I gradually developed a method of interpretation that applied literary, historical, theological, grammatical, contextual, translation, and supernatural considerations to my reading/hearing and preaching/teaching of the Bible. I felt like I was making progress, but I still wondered if I was missing something. Then the Scriptures themselves revealed the right way to interpret the Bible.

The right way to interpret the Bible isn’t a literal, moral, anagogical or allegorical approach. The right way to interpret the Bible isn’t tied to an approach, it’s tied to a person. Jesus is the hermeneutical key to the Bible.

To correctly handle God’s Word (cf. 2 Timothy 2:15) we must engage with it as the message, from beginning to end, about Jesus. This is essential. A Christocentric outlook is vital to understanding every page of the Bible. Any effort to determine the meaning of a text divorced from a Christocentric outlook leads to a distortion of its meaning.

This isn’t my opinion, it’s grounded in the Scriptures themselves. Jesus is the hermeneutical key to the Bible because He claims to be the subject of the Bible (cf. Luke 24:25-27). Because Jesus claims to be the subject of the Bible, the only adequate way to interpret the Bible is to consider every passage of scripture in the context of the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and future return of Jesus. As the Australian Evangelical theologian Graeme Goldsworthy says, “All biblical texts testify in some way to Jesus Christ. This makes him the center of biblical revelation and the fixed reference point for understanding everything else in the Bible.”

So what are some practical and theological implications?

  • To properly understand the Bible, saving faith in Jesus, coupled with the empowerment of the Spirit, is required
  • “We affirm that the Person and work of Jesus Christ are the central focus of the whole Bible” – Article III, Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics
  • Jesus is the only one who can mediate the Word of God to us (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5-6)
  • The person and work of Jesus must, directly and indirectly, inform our interpretation of a text
  • The meaning of a text is always linked to how God reveals Himself in and through Jesus
  • The main interpretive question is, “How does this passage attest to Christ?”
  • The Gospels are the methodological starting point for interpreting the Scriptures because this is where Jesus is seen most clearly
  • If an interpretation intentionally denies or ignores the person and/or work of Jesus, it’s a false interpretation
  • When we study, preach, or teach the Bible we should always link our studies, preaching, or teaching to Jesus
  • The application of the Bible to our daily lives must be connected to Jesus

The long and the short of it is this, Jesus is the linchpin to correctly understanding everything in the Bible. As Goldsworthy aptly says, “No Bible passage yields its true significance without reference to Jesus Christ in his gospel.”

Recommended reading:

Goldsworthy, Graeme., Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2000.

© Scripture Union Canada 2020

2 Corinthians 4:5


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Correctly Handling the Word of Truth

One of the last things Paul told Timothy was, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” 2 Timothy 2:15.

Note the phrase “correctly handles the word of truth.” The Greek word for “handles” is orthotomeō. It only appears once in the New Testament. Strong’s Concordance defines orthotomeō like this: to cut straight, to proceed on straight paths, hold a straight course, to handle aright, to teach the truth directly and correctly. Visually, we should picture it as a clear and unobstructed pathway, i.e. no impeding obstacles.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there were no obstacles to correctly handling the word of truth? Unfortunately, many obstacles need to be overcome. Maybe the biggest is the misguided notion that everyone’s opinion should be valued. But truth isn’t subjective, it’s objectively knowable. We do not have the liberty to make the Scriptures mean whatever we want them to mean.

So how do we handle the word of truth fittingly and appropriately? Here are five foundational guidelines:

  1. We should begin with understanding the master plan. When we study Scripture, we must determine where it fits into God’s plan. Every verse of Scripture must be understood in the context of its passage, every passage in the context of the chapter, every chapter in the context of the book, every book in the context of the Testament, and the Testament in the context of the whole Bible.
  2. We must be governed by the overarching principle of Scriptura sui interpres (Scripture interprets itself). Remember that God’s Word is living and active (cf. Hebrews 4:12). Throughout the Bible we see Scripture quoting Scripture. Scripture itself is the best theology professor to teach truth. When we carefully contemplate and consider different accounts of Scripture, the Scriptures will enable us to understand and correctly handle the word of truth.
  3. We must do it in community. When we handle truth, we must consider and interact with the writings/teachings of theologians past and present (insofar as they agree with Scripture). There is no new truth. God has revealed truth to Christians down through the ages. As a guiding principle, if we think we have a new interpretation, we’re probably wrong.
  4. We must look for Jesus. The theme of the Bible from beginning to end, though sometimes hidden or obscure, is Jesus (cf. John 5:39). Jesus is Truth (cf. John 14:6). Bible engagement is more than saying the Bible is true, it’s saying that our faith is in the living truth, Jesus Christ. To rightly comprehend and apprehend the truth, we must engage with Scripture the Emmaus Road way (cf. Luke 24:13-35), i.e. open the Scriptures to see Jesus (cf. Luke 24:27).
  5. We must ask God to illuminate the Scriptures. To correctly handle the word of truth we need insight and understanding from the Holy Spirit (cf. John 14:26). It’s only when the Holy Spirit shines His light on a text, that we’re able to properly analyze, accurately explain, and rightly apply the Scriptures.

 

There’s much more that could be said. Please add your comments.

© Scripture Union Canada 2019

2 Corinthians 4:5


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How to Understand and Apply the Bible

In order for the Bible to apply to our lives it must be understandable. To understand the Bible we need to know how to study it. To study the Bible we need a tried and tested methodology. Here’s a thumbnail sketch on how to understand and apply the Bible.

Pray fervently. The Holy Spirit is the One who reveals and illuminates truth. We need Him to interpret His Word. Without Him we lack understanding (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:14). As we seek to understand and apply the Bible, prayer should be interlaced throughout the process.

Use several translations. English Bibles are translations from Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek documents. Different translation philosophies (formal equivalence/word for word, dynamic equivalence/thought for thought) result in slightly different renderings of a text. To glean from a variety of translations, consider using the NIV, NLT, NRSV, ESV, GNB, and the MSG.

Check out the writer. Who wrote the book? Where was he? When did he write it? Why did he write it? To whom did he write it?

Examine the setting. To discern how the original audience understood what was written to them requires a basic knowledge of their geographical location, history, politics, customs and culture.capture

Look at the immediate context. Read what precedes and follows the text under consideration. See how the content of what went before the text and what came after the text, relates to the text.

Investigate the book context. The meaning of a text flows out of its broader context. Understand the purpose, theme(s), section/divisions and flow of thought in the whole book. Ask, “Why did the human author write this book?” and “How should the text be understood in the light of the purpose and theme of the book?”

Give thought to the whole-Bible context. The long term plan should be to read the Bible repeatedly. Aim to compare scripture with scripture. Look for cross-references (other texts that relate to the text being studied). In due course the Bible should exposit itself.

Be aware of the literary genre. The different literary genres of Scripture have different characteristics that require different interpretive techniques. For example, Hebrew poetry doesn’t use rhyme but uses parallelism (the use of synonyms and antonyms to build ideas around other ideas).

Identify figurative language. The Bible uses both literal (words/phrases used according to their proper meaning or precise definition) and figurative (words/phrases that are not literal) language. There are more than a dozen different types of figurative language used in the Bible (e.g. allegory, hyperbole, anthropomorphism, metaphor, personification, paronomasia). To interpret figurative language literally, or literal language figuratively, will corrupt the meaning of the text.

Do word studies. Words are the basic building blocks of the Scriptures. Because the Holy Spirit inspired the words we must carefully unpack the meaning and intent of the words. Use an expository dictionary/lexicon to understand how words are used in a particular context.

Read footnotes and commentaries. Profit from the scholars, theologians and experts. Use multiple sources to avoid theological bias. Take advantage of study Bibles. Consult Bible dictionaries, almanacs, handbooks and commentaries.

Search for Christ. Is the theme of Christ implicit or explicit in the text. Ask, “How should this text be understood as a witness concerning Christ?”

Apply, Apply, Apply! God is more interested in how we act on His Word than in what we know about the Word. The goal is to interpret Scripture in order to apply it. When we fail to apply and obey the Word, we fail in our interpretation of the Word.

A final thought. Understanding the Bible begins with the reality that there is one Author, with one message, and one meaning. That’s not say that the message isn’t multi-faceted, because it is. And it’s not to say that the meaning isn’t nuanced, because it is. But it is to say that our understanding and application of the Bible must be consistent with God’s intended message and meaning.

Recommended Resources:

R.C. Sproul, Knowing Scripture, Inter Varsity Press, 2009.

Robertson McQuilkin, Understanding and Applying the Bible, Moody Publishers, 2009.

Stephen H. Wheeler, Fish the Bible! Understand Scripture and Apply it to Life, 2012.

© Scripture Union Canada 2017

2 Corinthians 4:5


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Interpreting the Bible

“If the Bible is indeed God’s Word written, we should spare no pains and grudge no effort to discover what he has said (and says) in Scripture” John R.W. Stott.

So how do we interpret the Bible accurately, so that it’s not just our opinion? What are the basic hermeneutical guidelines? Here are three teachers, three principles, three questions, and three rules:

Three Teachers.

  1. The Holy Spirit. The best interpreter of any book is its author. The Holy Spirit is the only One who can reveal and illuminate truth (cf. Psalm 119:18, 1 Corinthians 2:14, Matthew 11:25-25).
  2. The Church. God reveals truth (from the past to the present) to and through the community of faith (cf. Ephesians 3:18-19, Colossians 3:16).
  3. Personal We must also teach ourselves, yet do so in full dependence and humble submission to the Holy Spirit (cf. Luke 12:57, 1 Corinthians 2:14-16, 10:15, 2 Timothy 2:7).

 

Three Principles.

  1. Natural Sense (the principle of simplicity). Look first for the obvious and natural (figurative or literal) meaning of the text. Consider the intention of the author/speaker.
  2. Original Sense (the principle of history). The message of Scripture can only be understood as it relates to the circumstances in which it was originally written.
  3. General Sense (the principle of harmony). There is an organic unity to the Bible. Approach the Scripture believing that God doesn’t contradict Himself.

 

Three Questions.

  1. What did it mean to the original audience? The Bible was written for us, but not originally to us. Pay attention to the first life setting (sitz im leben).
  2. What type of literature is it? Each genre of biblical literature must be interpreted on its own terms (the different genres of literature in the Bible includes history, narrative, wisdom literature, poetry, prophecy, apocalyptic, law, parables, gospels, and letters/epistles).
  3. Where does it fit in the Bible’s overall story? Read with the meta-narrative in mind. Track the trajectory of the passage in relation to the major ‘acts’ within the ‘drama’.

 

Three Rules.

  1. Use several good translations so that you are not committed to the exegetical choices of a single translation (e.g. NIV, ESV, NRSV, GNB, NLT).
  2. A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or his/her readers.
  3. When we share similar life situations to the first hearers, God’s Word to us is the same as it was to them.

 

And a vital closing comment from Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola, “The Bible contains its own hermeneutic … In a word, Jesus is the thread that holds all Scripture together … The Bible has no real meaning unless it is grounded in Christ.”

Have your say. Share three things about interpreting the Bible.

Sources:

Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, Zondervan, 2003.

John R.W. Stott, Understanding the Bible, Zondervan, 1999.

© Scripture Union Canada 2017

2 Corinthians 4:5

 


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How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth

In How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, the authors, Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, equip the reader with an excellent guide on how to study each genre of Scripture and read it intelligently. It’s one of my top ten Bible engagement books. Here are some tidbits from the first two chapters:

The Bible is at the same time both human and divine … it is the Word of God given in human words in history.

The Bible … is not a series of propositions and imperatives; it is not simply a collection of “Sayings from Chairman God”.

The single most serious problem people have with the Bible is not with lack of understanding … but obeying it – putting it into practice.

The task of interpretation involves the student/reader at two levels. First, one has to hear the Word they heard … back then and there (exegesis). Second, you must learn to hear that same Word in the here and now (hermeneutics).

Everyone is an exegete of sorts. The only real question is whether you will be a good one.

The key to good exegesis, and therefore to a more intelligent reading of the Bible, is to learn to read the text carefully and to ask the right questions of the text.

There are two basic kinds of questions one should ask of every biblical passage: those that relate to context and those that relate to content.

Literary context means first that words only have meaning in sentences, and second that biblical sentences for the most part only have clear meaning in relation to preceding and succeeding sentences.

Correct interpretation … brings relief to the mind as well as a prick or prod to the heart.

The most important contextual question you will ever ask – and it must be asked over and over of every sentence and every paragraph – is, “What’s the point?”

You can do good exegesis with a minimum amount of outside help … a good translation, a good Bible dictionary, and good commentaries.

Devotional reading is not the only kind one should do. One must also read for learning and understanding.

The true meaning of the biblical text for us is what God originally intended it to mean when it was first spoken.

The trouble with using only one translation … is that you are thereby committed to the exegetical choices of that translation as the Word of God.

© Scripture Union Canada 2016

2 Corinthians 4:5

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