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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 236
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, 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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Yes, I believe that one must be a born again beliver to understand the Bible. The mind of the natural man is limited. The natural man cannot know God or His word (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Holy Spirit dwells in the born-again Chrisitan (Ephesians 1:13,14). The Holy Spirit, which a born again believer has, teaches the believer (John 14:25,26).
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Absolutely. Scripture requires the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to understand It’s meaning.
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Yes, I do. I don’t think it’s possible to discern things that were inspired by the Holy Spirit without the Holy Spirit. I believe 1 Corinthians 2:12 speaks to this.
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Yes. The things of God are spiritually discerned. The natural man cannot receive the things of the word of God. They are foolish to them. Paul said God has chosen the foolish things to confound the wise of this world.
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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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First, becoming aware of these linguistic and cultural biases will help us to check for their influence on our interpretation. Then, we need to intentionally pray for the Holy Spirit to guide our study rather than try to lead the way and affirm our predisposed beliefs. A careful grammatico-historical exegesis will help us to approach Scripture at each level to fully interpret the meaning in context, testing our interpretation against the central truths of the Bible as the unified Word of God to see if it aligns with what we know foundationally. In all steps our thinking must be led by the Holy Spirit in submission to the Lord.
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Using our own bias cannot correctly interpret the Word of God. To do so, one has to one has to submit to the text, using the rules of hermeneutics. The original writer had only one meaning in mind when the text was written, it is our responsibility to determine what that meaning was, not what our own understanding to it is.
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I have found out, sometimes the hard way, in my teaching and preaching of scripture that pure interpretation of the Word can only come about in peace and harmony among Christians if we all have our eyes upon Jesus, no where else- especially ourselves. The love of God transcends everything.
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This is probably the most difficult area to overcome but we can through prayer and an openness to understanding the truth being conveyed in the Scriptures by the help of the Holy Spirit.
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We need exegesis to understand the true meaning of what the author intended it to mean.
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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 need to interact with humility and respect and gentleness, but appeal to the classical historical grammatical approach to understanding what the scripture writer meant and how the reader in that day would have understood it.
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The Bible calls us not to be people of argument. One must provide respect in love without compromising one’s belief through faith. One must always speak truth in love.
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In the book of 1 Corinthians, Paul addresses the issue of divisions in the church in 1:10-17, and provides a further argument on why human wisdom is insufficient in understanding the Gospel. Therefore our opinions on what the Bible teaches on non-essential things (such as the day of worship, significance of sacraments/ordinances, etc.) should be considered all in light of how they connect to the Gospel. It isn’t a matter always of preaching the right thing with the right explanation. The Gospel reveals God’s power and wisdom. (1:24-25) We need to keep the Gospel the heart of our preaching and leave the end times theories for friendly discussion. We also need to keep in mind the incomprehensibility of God. He will never make sense to us 100% because of his infinitude. This ought to remove legalistic approaches to dogmatic theology that doesn’t change anyone’s heart toward God. I’m excited to take this class!
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Listen to what others have to say. We should be mindful that we all bring our preconceived ideas to the text. We all bring our own biases to the text, whether it is individually or a denomination. The other thing is that we can all learn from one another and so when we approach others openly, we can promote unity. We can interpret passages differently and still be on the same page about God’s overall message to us.
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Believers should relate to each other in a spirit of love even if they interpret a passage differently. Believers are defined by their love for each other not by their ability to interpret scripture the same way.
