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Bible Study MethodsGrace Institute for Biblical LeadershipSpring 2005 |
[Previous: Studying Hebrew Poetry ] [Next: Principles of Interpretation]
After observing the passage, we are ready to interpret the passage. We are ready to ask the question, what is the point of the passage ? Interpretation is the process of determining the meaning, principle, or point that the original author was trying to communicate to his original readers. In interpretation, we are attempting to stand in the author's shoes and ask, what did he mean? What was he trying to say? What principle was the author trying to communicate? What is the key point of the passage to the original readers?
Interpretation is distinguished from the other steps in the inductive method:
• Observation does not address the question of meaning.
• Correlation compares the subject passage to other passages. Interpretation does not require other passages to determine meaning.
• Verification compares the student's interpretation with other interpreters. The student must conduct their independent interpretation first before taking this step.
• Application moves the meaning from its original setting into a current life situation.
Interpretative questions are the bridge from observation to interpretation. Thoughtful questions help identify where the challenges to meaning are to be found in the passage. Often time many of these questions will arise during the observation stage.
Interpretative questions might include:
• What does this mean?
• Why is this said here?
• What does this imply?
After creating a list of questions, the interpreter then selects specific questions to answer which will drive the student towards the passage's meaning.
• Avoid questions which relate to application. Don't ask how this works today. Ask instead how the meaning relates to the original reader and author.
• Avoid questions which have been or should have been answered in the observation stage.
• Avoid yes or no questions.
• Good questions are tough to answer.
• Select a few questions which seem to focus on the point of the passage, rather than send us down some theological rabbit-trail.
The synthesis/analysis interchange involves a three step process:
• Observing the whole – Initial observation of the unit of study as a whole, including a horizontal chart if the passage is extended.
• Examining the parts – Detailed observation of the detailed parts, including syntactical analysis.
• Restating the whole – After looking at the details, the student revises and restates the whole based on the detailed observation.
To understand any unit of study requires an understanding of its relationship with the surrounding context. This requires an understanding of the larger context and an understanding of how the study unit fits within this whole.
There are various levels of context, each of which must be considered:
• Immediate Paragraph
• Nearby Paragraphs
• Sections of a Book
• The Entire Book
• Biblical Books of Related Periods
• The Bible as a Whole
Context has significant impact on meaning. For example, consider the word “fan.” In the context of a hot day in the orient, a fan has one meaning, while in the context of a baseball game, a fan has a completely different meaning.
Within scripture, a word or a passage can have a very different meaning for us depending on the context. For example, in Matthew 18:20, Jesus says:
For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.
While many believers have found this an encouraging passage about the presence of God within the body of believers, the context is one of church discipline and speaks of God's presence when the church excommunicates believers.
Interpretation moves beyond simple observation, and begins assigning meaning to those observations. Because the scripture is the written word, meaning then is closely connected with definition, connotation, and meaning of words.
However, because the bible was written in ancient Hebrew and Greek, we sometimes loose the subtle nuances of the words of scripture. To recapture the full meaning of the words of scripture as intended by the original author, we have to take the extra effort and do a word study.
• Consider words which are syntactically significant. This will come from your syntactical analysis.
• Consider words which are repeated within the passage.
• Consider words which seem to be the center of the theme of the passage.
• Consider words which theological in nature.
• Consider words which you do not understand.
• Concordances: Strongs, NAS Exhaustive Concordance, Youngs
• Lexicon: Thayer (Greek), Brown, Driver Briggs, Gesenius (Hebrew)
• Word Study Books: TDNT (New Testament, “Kittle”), TWOT (Old Testament), Zodhiates, Vines (New Testament) or Wilsons (Old Testament).
• www.biblestudytools.net : Use NAS with Strong's Numbers or the Interlinear bible.
As we have learned, words have different meanings depending upon context. Yet within all these various meanings, each word has a general meaning which ties all the uses of the word together in a general way. In doing a word study, we look first for the general meaning of the word by looking for the commonalities in a words usage.
After this, we look for a specific meaning for a word as found in our particular passage. This involves looking for the subtle nuances or connotation so of the word within the immediate context.
For example, the Greek word kosmos ( kovsmoß) is used three times in the book of Ephesians:
Eph 1:4 … He chose us in Him before the foundation of the kosmos , that we should be holy and blameless before Him.
Eph 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this kosmos , according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the kosmos
In the first instance, kosmos is something whose foundations represent the beginning of time. In the second instance, kosmos is a course of behavior which is connected with the Satanic kingdom and disobedient people. The third instance, being in the kosmos is in opposition to being with God and having hope.
What is the general meaning which connects these three uses of the word kosmos ? In all three cases this word refers to a large or universal domain. But the specific meaning within chapter 2 refers to a universal system or order which operates within that universal domain.
In a word study we begin with the general and use that to help us determine a definition for the word within the context of the passage we are studying.
• Use the transliterated Greek or Hebrew word.
• Find the definition and word origin from a lexicon.
• Find how the word is translated in other passages.
• Look up where the word is used in other passages and make observations on how the word is used. Select passages that are near your target passage and/or are from the same author, date, or genre.
• Summarize the way the word is used in the passages you selected. You are looking to find meaning based on the context.
• From the word usage, determine a general definition of the word.
• Determine the specific definition as it is used in your target text.
• Use a word study book to correlate your results.
Using the handout as a template, do a word study on the Greek word charis ( cariß ), using Ephesians 2:1-10 as the target text. Be sure to look up all the usages of this word in the book of Ephesians in your study.
After our contextual study and our word study, it is time to answer the questions raised in step 1. When two or more viewpoints are available, each viewpoint needs to be tested according to sound interpretative principles (see below). The viewpoint that satisfies these principles best should be the viewpoint we use.
The final interpretative step is to communicate the results in a final paragraph. This paragraphs is the beginning of your own personal commentary on the passage. It is to explain the meaning of the passage using the data gathered from observations, syntactic analysis, contextual studies, word studies, and your interpretative questions and answers.
The goal is to clarify the meaning of the text by explaining the text phrase by phrase in the order in which the text appears. Such an explanation uses equivalent expressions to make the meaning of the passage clear.
Eventually the correlation, verification, and application stages will be incorporated into this paragraph as a final personal commentary on the passage.
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