Back to BasicsSample

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE TEXT

People will never see everything the same way. We all have our own experiences, perspectives and biases. This is important to remember when we approach the task of studying the Bible. 2 Tim. 2:15 reads, “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The word ‘study’ in the original Greek is spoudazo, which means ‘to exert oneself.’ The idea Paul is expressing is that this is not the same as cramming the night before a test. We must be diligent to honestly and accurately interpret and explain the text (exegesis), so that we don’t become guilty of eisegesis, which is reading into the text something that is not there.

Our goal is to begin in the land, culture and language of the original audience and arrive in the land, culture and language of today while preserving the meaning and intent of the text. This requires us to cross what J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays have called the Principlizing Bridge. This bridge gets us from the author’s mind to ours and from the original audience to the present audience without replacing the original meaning.

In order to cross this bridge we have to recognize that there are several gaps we need to traverse. They include a time gap of thousands of years, a cultural gap, a language gap, and a context gap. This will require some research. We need to understand how societies functioned in Ancient Near East culture. We should consult available resources to gain knowledge of what words meant in Hebrew and Greek at the time the author used them. There may be idioms used at one point, which are no longer used today. If we try to understand those words and phrases based solely upon their current meaning, we will end up misconstruing the text.

When we do uncover a theological principle, it should fit with the rest of Scripture. God is not the author of confusion. The principle should be timeless, which means it is just as true in our culture as it was when it was written. When you find a particular passage that is difficult to understand, always allow the clearer text to clarify the less clear passage. Scripture verifies Scripture. Once we discover the meaning we can safely cross the Principlizing Bridge and apply that meaning to our current culture and context.