-
Lesson OneWhat is Biblical Interpretation?4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson TwoA Short History of Interpretation4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson ThreeBasic Principles of Interpretation4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson FourInterpreting Narratives or Stories4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson FiveInterpreting Poetry and Wisdom4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson SixInterpreting Prophecy4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson SevenThe New Testament Use of the Old Testament4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson EightThe Theological Use of the Bible: Putting it All Together4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson NineContemporary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson TenInterpreting the Cultural Aspects of the Bible4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson ElevenWhen the Bible Doesn’t Address Our Questions4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Lesson TwelveInterpreting the Bible Devotionally4 Activities1 Assessment
-
Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity1 Assessment
Participants 202
Discussion Questions
-
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.
-
Most definitely and for the very reason that the professor stated that to interpret spiritual things, such as the Bible you must have the mind of Christle, the word of God
-
Yes. Scripture has to be spiritually discerned, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives this discernment (1 Cor chapter 2). Only a born-again Christian has the Spirit dwelling in him permanently. But I believe this does not mean that the Spirit cannot reach out to a Christian to bring him to God.
#Interpretation
-
I believe that God speaks to unbelievers and can choose to reveal any meaning of the Scriptures He wants to reveal in order to draw non-Christians to Himself. However, once you are a follower of Jesus, it is often easier to understand the Bible because your spirit is alive and you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you to help you interpret Biblical truths.
-
Yes, I do believe that a person must be born again in order to rightfully understand the Bible. As the lecturer quoted Paul from 1 Corinthians 2:4 “The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God for they’re foolishness to Him. Neither can he understand them because they’re spiritually discerned.”
-
I do agree. And believe that as Christians our teacher is the Holy Spirit that leads, guides, and gives us an understanding of
the Bible.
-
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?
-
We must be reliant on Holy Spirit to lead and guide us into His truth and wisdom of the Word.
Doing so enables us to lay down any pre-concieved notions and open to understanding the meaning of scripture as intended
-
We have to dispose of bias so that we can exegete rather than eisegete.
-
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?
-
I believe that each part of the body interprets what its job is based on what body part it is and it does not argue with interpretation of the other body parts. “12 There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. 13 We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people.”
-
WE must converse with respect and gentleness and patience, but we also must stand on what we believe the author meant and how the readers of his day interpreted it. This I understand to be the historical grammatical method.
-
I believe that interpretation should be left to the Holy Spirit. And when believers somehow interpret a passage differently each should pray for the Holy Spirit to bring about the meaning of what exactly the Lord meant. The Holy Spirit does a great job of interpretation if we will allow Him and He can cross reference those scriptures like no one else can. We promote Unity when we put aside our personal interpretation and come into agreement with what the Holy Spirit has, without error, revealed. One can read a certain passage this week, and return to that same passage 6 months later and “feel” a different way about the scripture. So, which interpretation is correct. The one 6 months prior? Or the one 6 months later? Interpretation should be left to the Holy Spirit, who knows ALL.
-
they should respect each other first of all, since they’re believers. An agreement of a more in-depth study of the passage should be conducted and a willingness to pray so that the Holy Spirit can clarify the meaning of the passage. There are passages that can be debated and others that I believe cannot since they deal with doctrines that cannot be changed, like Salvation.
-
They should try and work out what their different interpretations are alike and see if they can come to a mutual agreement on what they disagree on without argument. They should study the passages they are in disagreeing about and try to come to a mutual agreement on what those verses say. They must pray over these passages and let the Holy Spirit give them the right interpretation and not rely on their own interpretation.