Biblical Interpretation

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Biblical Interpretation

• Method How Do We Do It?

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Recognizing the Need Translation

• Spanish bienaventurados
• Rev. 1315 in Latin America
• Matt 26 stone jar?
• Mk. 621 birthday party?
• Indians of Southern Mexico Mk 1240
• Zanaki people near Lake Victoria Rev. 320
• West Africa grace or curse?

Eugene A. Nida, Gods Word in Mans Language
(Harper, NY 1952), pp.31, 43-47
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MY ASSUMPTIONS

• The Bible is meant to be understood and lived.
• Proper Biblical Interpretation is done within the
  community of faith.
• The reader, the text, the context, and the Author
  (God) are at work in the activity of Biblical
  Interpretation.
• Proper interpretation moves from words of
  scripture, through the larger historical-critical
  inquiry, to the readers context, leading finally
  to the message for the community of faith.

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MY ASSUMPTIONS

• The goal of Bible study is to understand and
  follow the Master through accepting the call to
  decision, receiving the transformation of the
  Scripture, and proclaiming the gospel through
  word and life through the community of faith to
  the larger world.
• No one masters the Bible the Bible is the means
  by which God seeks to master us!
• Humility, integrity, prayer, imagination, and
  hope are key ingredients for Biblical
  Interpretation.

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MAJOR STEPS IN THE PROCESS

• Step 1 Understanding
• What does it say?
• Step 2 Interpretation
• What does it mean ? Why is it here?
• Step 3 Application
• How do we put this into practice?
• Self, Community, and world

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Recognizing the Need Effects

• Origen and Matthew 1912
• Matthew 529 If right eye offends, pluck it
  out!
• No blood transfusions (Acts 1529)

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Interpretation Necessary

• Nehemiah 8 give the sense
• Acts 8 Do you understand what you read?
• 2 Peter 316 Hard to understand.
• Separated by time, culture, and language

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Reasons For Disagreement

• Difference in Backgrounds
• Difference types of Appeal to Scripture
• Different Sources of Authority
• Scripture
• Tradition
• Reason
• Experience

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Task of the Interpreter

• Historical where did idea originate?
• Dogmatic what is the teaching?
• Constructive how do we apply it?

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Ways It Has Played Out

• Behind the Text
• Within the Text
• In Front of the Text

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Finding A Roadmap

• Read Humbly
• Read Prayerfully
• Read Honestly
• Read in Community
• Read from the Center

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Important Concepts

• The entire Bible is eternal truth in cultural
  packages
• Every book of the Bible is occasional
  literature
• We are called to live out the story