Because of its incredible diversity – of background, form and content – it is sometimes difficult to know how to approach the Bible. All of us have, at some time or other, found ourselves frustrated over some obscure reference, comment or ‘problem’ passage. How should a Christian react, for example, to the instructions from Deuteronomy 22 that “A woman must not wear men’s clothing” (v. 5) or “When you build a new house, make a parapet around your roof” (v. 8)? Should we take the Genesis account of creation literally, and thus discount more ‘scientific’ explanations? Or consider Psalm 137:

<blockquote>Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried, “tear it down to its foundations!”
O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us –
he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rock.¹</blockquote>
Huh?

Then, too, many of us will have heard (or heard horror tales of!) people misusing and abusing the Bible in order to justify their own theories. These range from the well-intentioned but misguided (e.g. “Take up the 5 stones of… and defeat your personal Goliaths!”) to the truly evil (e.g. those who use the Bible to justify slavery). Satan himself was not above attempting to turn scripture to his own purposes².

It is important, then, that we have some sort of control over the way we use the scriptures to ensure that we hear what God is saying, rather than putting our own words and ideas in God’s mouth. We cannot afford to be Christians who hear only what they want to hear. God desires that we be conformed to his image and will, not that we attempt change him to suit ourselves – that’s idolatory.

The remainder of this course, then, is designed to help us to develop our ability to ‘listen’ to God’s word.

There are two tasks that we must undertake in order to correctly understand any section of the Bible: first we must understand what it meant to its original recipients; then we must translate that meaning across into our own 21st Century context for application to our own lives. Failure to do the first is the most common cause of misunderstanding the Bible. On the other hand, failure to complete the second task of translation across the centuries relegates the Bible to being just ‘another book’, an intellectual and historical curiosity.

By the way, if you’re interested, the fancy-schmancy technical terms for these tasks are <span style=”font-style:italic;”>exegesis</span> (understanding original context) and <span style=”font-style:italic;”>hermeneutics</span> (applying to today’s context).

Let’s examine these tasks in a little bit more detail.

<h2> Understanding in the original context </h2>
Here are some of the questions that would be typical of this task:
<ul><li><span style=”font-weight:bold;”>What is the source of the text? Who wrote it? When? Where? Why?</span> If the passage was written to a particular group of people, or for a particular circumstance then knowledge of that group or circumstance will help us to understand exactly what is being said. </li>
<li> <span style=”font-weight:bold;”>By what process have we received this text? What oral or written traditions are involved?</span> e.g. it is generally believed that the first five books of the Bible were written by Moses… even though he wasn’t actually present in the Garden of Eden! It is probable, therefore, that he learned about creation via an oral tradition (stories told by the campfire from generation to generation). This might lend credence to a suggestion that the Creation account is metaphorical rather than literal, as metaphor is a common device in story telling.</li>
<li> <span style=”font-weight:bold;”>What form does the text take? Is it poetry, narrative, a letter?</span> e.g. we should read a psalm differently to a narrative because poetic devices such as hyperbole (exaggeration) and metaphor are commonly present in psalms but not in narratives. We will be exploring this in more detail later on.</li>
<li> <span style=”font-weight:bold;”>What role (if any) did the editor(s) take in assembling the work?</span> e.g. as you read through Acts, we know that Luke (as a gentile) was at pains to point out that God’s gift of his son was not only for the Jews but also available “in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”³</li></ul>

There are a number of tools available to help you in answering these questions:
<ul><li><span style=”font-weight:bold;”>A good translation:</span> The fact that you are reading the Bible in English suggests that someone, somewhere, has translated it for you. But how do you know it is accurate? Personally I tend to use the New Internation Version (NIV), partly because it is what I have grown up with, partly because it is the most commonly used translation.⁴</li>
<li><span style=”font-weight:bold;”>A good Bible dictionary:</span> A Bible dictionary is good for looking up concepts that you may not have come across before, getting background on particular authors and characters in the Bible, as well as details such as weights, currencies etc. Often you will be able to find some of this information within your Bible itself – I use an NIV Study Bible which contains many of these details.</li>
<li><span style=”font-weight:bold;”>Good commentaries:</span> A good commentary should help you to gain a deeper appreciation of the passage that you are reading. It should not, however, be your first port of call! Take time to read through your passage carefully first and glean what you can first. Going straight to a commentary is like a person who, searching for treasure in a still pond, immediately digs in to the mud at the bottom. In this way, they totally obscure the ‘obvious’ treasures that are otherwise clear to see.</li></ul>

One warning. Always consider the text in context. Don’t read one verse without considering the paragraph, chapter and book it falls within. The better your understanding of the big picture, the better you will understand how that particular verse fits into the whole.

<h2> Understanding in my context </h2>
It is the matter of the here and now, how it can be applied today, that brings us to the Bible in the first place. So why not start with that? Why worry about what it meant then? Can’t the Spirit, who inspired the writing of the Bible, equally inspire me in the reading of it? Well, far be it from me to limit the work of God’s Spirit, or to claim that he cannot or will not work in that way, but it is my belief that that is not his ordinary way. Instead he expects us to be disciplined in the way we approach God’s Word. And that discipline requires us to first understand the original context.

The reason we don’t begin with the here and now is that our only control in application of a given text is found in the original intent of that text. That is to say, a text cannot mean what it never meant.

Let me give you an example. 1 Corinthians 15:29 says “Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?” On the basis of this verse, Mormons have a practice whereby they can be baptized for someone who has already died. In fact they have an entire theology whereby there are Mormon missionaries in the afterlife, who continue to preach to those who have not become Mormons in life. (So much for resting in peace if you still have to get up and answer the door to Mormons after death, hey?) But because these dead converts cannot be baptised in the afterlife, someone must be baptized in their stead. They have started with their own ideas about what happens after you die, and have then read 1 Corinthians 15:29 through that filter. In reality, Paul is merely using a contemporary custom as an illustration within his overall argument that if there is no resurrection then all that happens in this life is pointless.

This task of application is the more difficult of the two, and so it is difficult to give much in the way of general ‘rules’. As we go through the rest of this course, however, we will consider some appropriate ways of applying each of the specific genres.

Some final advice. As you read through the Bible, you will come across things that seem impossible to understand. That’s OK – don’t stress about it. As C. S. Lewis writes:

<blockquote>Whenever you find any statement in Christian writings which you can make nothing of, don’t worry. Leave it alone. There will come a day, perhaps years later, when you suddenly see what it meant. If one <span style=”font-style:italic;”>could</span> understand it now, it would only do one harm.⁵</blockquote>

By all means ask people around you, look stuff up etc. Just don’t be upset if you still can’t understand everything you read – in that you are hardly alone!

<h2> Acknowledgements </h2>
I must acknowledge up front that I am indebted to to Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart for their excellent book <span style=”font-style:italic;”>How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth</span>⁶, upon which much of the structure and content of this course is based. I can also recommend their companion volume <span style=”font-style:italic;”>How to read the Bible Book by Book</span>⁷ as an excellent introduction to the form and content of each of the books of the Bible. In addition, I have drawn material from a number of John Dickson’s books and talks⁸.

<h2> Further Reading </h2>
<ul><li>Gordon D. Fee & Douglas Stuart, “Introduction: The Need to Interpret” and “The Basic Tool: A Good Translation” in <span style=”font-style:italic;”>How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth</span> (3rd Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 17-53. </li></ul>

Endnotes

1. Psalm 137:7-9.
2. Matt. 4
3. Acts 1:8.
4. For a detailed description of the translation philosophies and a comparison of the relative merits of the most common translations available today, see Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart’s <span style=”font-style:italic;”>How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth</span> (Third Edition, Zondervan, 2003) pp. 33-53.
5. C. S. Lewis, <span style=”font-style:italic;”>Christian Behaviour</span> (J. And J. Gray, Edinburgh, 1943) p. 60.
6. 3rd Edition, Zondervan 2003.
7. Zondervan 2002
8. Available at time of writing via podcast at the <a href=”http://fm1032.com.au/”>fm 103.2 website</a>.