What are the proper principles for interpreting the Bible?

Ishmael LaBiosa: Welcome to the You Ask Podcast, where the goal is to answer common questions about Christianity. Let's listen in as Pastor Rusty answers today's question. Today's question is: what are the proper principles for interpreting the Bible? Well, in many ways, interpreting the Bible is a lifelong process. The more we read the Bible, the more we understand its contents, the more time we have to observe what is there. To understand the meaning of the words, to connect the dots, and ultimately to discern the underlying meaning that's in the text. So, in some ways, biblical interpretation just takes time that we ought to read and reread and reread the Bible, and in time we gain a depth of understanding because the text of scripture becomes familiar to us. There is a field. called hermeneutics. And hermeneutics simply a means to interpret or to explain. That's what the word hermeneutics means. It's and ⁓ it's a field of study that ⁓ some pastors engage in, and ⁓ hopefully every pastor I guess engages in hermeneutics to understand the biblical text on its own terms, ⁓ seeing What is there? There's also another word you might may hear. That word is called exegesis, and that kind of means to draw out. And so you'll hear these terms if you hear a technical conversation about biblical interpretation, exegesis, that's to draw out what is there. And then hermeneutics is kind of a higher level, maybe, than exegesis, to try to interpret and to see what is there. Some people have tried to make this process pretty simple and to try to say that. There is observation, kind of what is there, like good Bible study methods, and then interpretation after one sees what is there, what does it mean, and then application, kind of what does what is there mean to me. And I guess on some level, observation, interpretation, application is not a bad three-step process to get started. Let me give you some other ideas about how to interpret the Bible. That I think it's important. Basically, we should bring tools to bear when we approach Scripture. The ultimate tool is clearly the person of the Holy Spirit, ⁓ prayerful dependence upon God as we approach the text of Scripture to ask God to speak to us through the Scripture. And I certainly don't want to take anything away from that. That is very important. But when we're also understanding The Bible. I like to say we read the Bible at two levels. On one level, we read the Bible like no other book. And so in that way, we read the Bible as it is from God, that the Holy Spirit of God guides us into all truth, illuminates his word. And so on one level, we read the Bible like no other book. And then on another level, I think we read the Bible like any other book. Because the Bible is a human and divine book. God spoke to humans and through humans to convey his word. And so, with that being the case, I think we read the Bible at these two different levels, like any other book. The Bible comes to us in sentences and paragraphs, in genres, and all of those are really important in a certain historical moment. And on another level, reread the Bible like no other book. So let me explain a few of these things that you ought to notice. First, I think when we're trying to understand a biblical book, I believe that books have authors. Now, if you're up to speed on what is happening in the modern day university, ⁓ some of these pretty basic rules of how to understand the text have been thrown out. Which is rather ⁓ mystifying to me, because to me, one of the most basic ideas is text have authors and authors have intention when they write. And so I believe that when we read a text, that we should attempt to understand what the authorly intended meaning of the author is in the text. I think it's pretty basic. Like for example. If I'm reading a letter of Paul, that I should see that there is a Pauline epistle, a letter in front of me, but I'm asking the question, could I just sit still long enough here not to ask the text all the questions that I have? But what is the author of this text who is Paul under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit? What is he trying to convey? And I do think. That sometimes in evangelical circles, we are so quick to ask the question, what does the Bible mean for me? That we don't first ask the question, well, what did the author intend to mean when he wrote this text? And just that stepping back for a moment to see what is there before we move on to something else. Not only does a text have an author, a text has a context. And the context Well, least for the New Testament is the first century, and then there are many ancient contexts for the Old Testament. And I think it's important to realize that God has acted in history and writers have written in history, and some sense of historical cultural backgrounds can aid in the interpretive process. For example, when Moses writes In the book of Exodus, the context is ancient Egypt. Well, to have a little bit of understanding of ancient Egypt, especially as it coincides with what is written in the text, can certainly illuminate the text because a text has an author and a text as a historical context. So that's also important to notice. One field that is exploded in the last a hundred years is the field of biblical archaeology. Which means that many of the places that the Bible discusses, we have now unearthed. And sometimes that which we have pulled up out of the ground gives an illumination or a confirmation of that which is revealed in the text. So a text has an author, a text has a context. Also, the text has a form or a genre. And in some ways, this is probably. Of uttermost when it comes to biblical interpretation, you ought to ask the question, how is this text written? There's this little turn of phrase, it's not good grammar, but I think it would help us that we cannot we cannot know what a text means until we know how a text means. You say, Rusty, what does that mean? Well, example, if I write out a math equation. That is a certain style of writing. Or if I write a manual on how to build something, that's a technical type of writing. If I write a poem, well, that's another type of writing. And and these different styles of writing would require different tools of interpretation. They we would need to take a sense of well, what is this genre? And how does this genre convey meaning? Some examples, you have much of the Old Testament being historical narrative. And so it tells you a story. But then in like the first five books of the Old Testament, you have a lot of law. And then in other contexts, you have poetry. And then other places you have proverb. And then some places you have prophecy. And other places you have like apocalyptic. Maybe one difference between prophecy and apocalyptic is prophecy is. From the time of the author, a future time, apocalyptic is like the end of the world. Then you get to the New Testament, you have gospel, which seems to be a form of ancient biography. You also have historical narrative in the book of Acts, in the letters of Paul, you have letters or epistles, and then in the book of Revelation, you do have apocalyptic writing. In some ways, the Bible is not just a book, it's a library of books that has a host of genres. And you need to Approach the genre with different tools. You listen to a story different than you read a letter, different than you understand a poem. So all of that is important. So just think about this an author, a text has an author, a text has a context, a historical context, and the text has a genre, which is kind of its literary context, how it conveys meaning. One of the things that I learned early on in my theological education was just simply to read carefully and closely. I had professors who would make me do sentence diagramming. It's a kind of passe thing now. I don't know too many people doing sentence diagramming, but honestly, just reading the Bible really slowly and just saying, ⁓ look, a noun, a verb, an object, and just taking it in slowly. And to see the grammar, the syntax, the discourse that is there. I do think we need in biblical interpretation to first do the steps of observation and interpretation, to see what is there first, to hear the Bible on its own terms, to let the author of scripture speak, to understand the genre. To read the word slowly. And only once we've observed it can we really begin, I think, to interpret it. Because here's what we find out in the Bible that while the Bible is profoundly relevant to us, the way in which it is written and the topics that it discusses can oftentimes be foreign to us, foreign concepts that We don't think about on a daily basis. And so slow and patient reading will enable us to grasp concepts that are not things we talk about every day. But then as we let the Bible speak and we understand what it says, I think then and only then are we in a position to see the thought world, the concepts of the Bible. And then I think we just have a rich ability at that point to see all manner of application. In some ways, the Bible paints for us this beautiful, strange sometimes world. It gives us a window into reality that stands so different than you know what we see in here on a day-to-day basis. And I think this is the beauty to to hear these stories in the Bible, to listen to the Proverbs, to to hear the Psalms, to see the life of Jesus, to see the ministry of the church, to see the concepts in the Pauline epistles, to see the end of the world as described by John in the book of Revelation. And I think as we hear the Bible on its own terms, we really are doing Process of biblical interpretation. And the more I give myself to this particular task, I am ever fresh with application because I've tried to hear the Bible on its own terms first. And once it's spoken, it seems to have so much to say, and in such a different way than what I would see to my own situation, because I've listened to it carefully. If you've heard nothing else that I've said in this podcast today, the best thing to do for biblical interpretation is read the Bible. And as you read it, you can pick up some tools along the way, like text have authors and text have context, historical context, and texts are written in genres, and genres have rules of interpretation, and then out of that comes. unique concepts that you can only see through careful reading. And then once those concepts emerge, you have a lot to think about as far as how that applies to your life. So don't be overwhelmed by biblical interpretation. Just read it. And I think the more you read it, the more you will see what is there, the depths of richness that you will see what is there. And then you will have so much to apply To your own life. Read well. I hope this is helpful. Thank you for listening to the You Ask Podcast. This is a ministry of Liberty Baptist Church, and we pray this podcast enables you to more faithfully live out your Christian life.