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Lesson OneWhat is Biblical Interpretation?4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwoA Short History of Interpretation4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ThreeBasic Principles of Interpretation4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FourInterpreting Narratives or Stories4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FiveInterpreting Poetry and Wisdom4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson SixInterpreting Prophecy4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson SevenThe New Testament Use of the Old Testament4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson EightThe Theological Use of the Bible: Putting it All Together4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson NineContemporary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TenInterpreting the Cultural Aspects of the Bible4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ElevenWhen the Bible Doesn’t Address Our Questions4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwelveInterpreting the Bible Devotionally4 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity1 Assessment
Participants 202
Discussion Questions
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Do you agree with the lecturer that a person must be a born-again Christian in order to understand the Bible? Give reasons for your answer.
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Yes to understand biblical truth you must be born again as the bible is a spiritual book the Holy Spirit is reveals and makes its truth spiritually discerned. You must invite him into a surrender heart.
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Yes – in order to be able to have a full understanding of the Bible, you must have the Holy Spirt living within you and be a Believer in Jesus or it will not make sense to you.
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Absolutely! so that we can rely on the help of the Holy Spirit to understand & interpret spiritual things.
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I understand the idea but I don’t believe that you must be born again to understand the Bible. I can assume that there are many people that understand the Bible and able to interpret it in many languages but choose not to be born again, not because they don’t believe but because they decide they do not want to do the will of the Father and will suppress the truth.
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Yes, absolutely, one must be a born again Christian, with reverence to the Awesome and Mighty God and led by the Holy spirit because spiritual messages should be interpreted spiritually. 1 Corinthians 2:14.
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If we all come to the biblical text with bias and previous conditioning, how can we expect to arrive at an interpretation that resembles the authoritative Word of God?
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How can we expect to arrive at an interpretation that resembles the authoritative Word of God? SImply, we cannot. We would be coming to the Word to justify our own actions, not see if they were in accordance with His.
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1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 states, Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. One type of evil can be manipulating the Word to align with our thinking.
I believe when we interpret the Word with biases and previous conditioning, we are tailoring it to align with our thinking rather than taking our biases and previous conditioning and making them obedient to the Word of God. As mentioned in 2 Corinthians 10:5: We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
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If we are stubborn to hold on to our bias and pre-conceptions, I am afraid we cannot expect to arrive at a fair interpretation of the Bible. Humility to learn is a prerequisite of an interpreter. There is no other way.
#Interpretation
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Although our cultural background and upbringing will play a huge role in how we interpret the text, we can still reduce our biases by being aware of them and inviting Holy Spirit to help us understand the text as God intended it to be. We are all human and will never be able to perfectly interpret the Bible, but we can combine our wisdom with other strong believers and continue to pray and ask for guidance from Holy Spirit.
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We can never come to an interpretation of the Bible that resembles God’s Word if we already have biasness or preconceived ideas of what the Bible means. We must always be open for interpretations to be given to us by the Holy Spirit that may go against any previous teachings or biasness.
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When believers interpret a passage differently (either within a church or across denominations), how should they relate to each other in a way that promotes unity in the Body of Christ and yet continues to minister God’s Word with conviction?
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We must agree on the foundations of our faith and the gospel. We must keep unity in the body.
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If they are believers that proclaim the Lord Jesus and they do not preach another Gospel, which is not another, then in love, we should reason together. We should love each other as Christ has loved us.
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They should relate to each other with humility, placing the focus completely on the Word of God and his meaning as it applies to our lives, and not as it applies to our goals.
All of this surrounded by prayer and study. -
Focus on the basics and what is agreed
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1 Peter 3:15: “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,”