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| July 6, 2008 How do we interpret Scripture? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Dec 24 2008, 10:13 PM (101 Views) | |
| lightninboy | Dec 24 2008, 10:13 PM Post #1 |
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How do we interpret Scripture? Posted by: Bob_Wilkin Recently I have become alarmed at how sloppy pastors and even Bible scholars have become in handling the Word of God. It isn’t just those who openly call themselves liberals or post-conservatives or postmoderns or modest foundationalists who essentially make the Bible fit their preconceived notions of the way things should be. No. Now many who identify themselves as conservatives do this as well. Exegesis starts at the local level. We interpret a verse of Scripture in light of the paragraph in which it appears, the section of the book, the entire book, all of the writings by that author, the entire testament (old or new) in which it appears, and then ultimately the entire Bible. For example, how would you determine what Paul meant by gospel when he uses the term in Gal 1:6-9? You’d start in that paragraph, right? Then you’d look at how it is used in the first section of the book (1:10-2:21), the second section (3:1-4:31), the final section (5:1-6:18), then and only then in the rest of Paul’s epistles, then the rest of the NT, then the rest of the Bible. Yet I’ve heard and read conservatives today who jump from Galatians 1:6-9 to verses in other books of the NT, without even discussing at all the use of the word in Galatians. Paul explains what he meant in Gal 1:6-9 and by gospel in Gal 2:15-21. We need not and should not go outside Galatians to determine what Paul means by a term in Galatians unless he doesn’t discuss that term in Galatians. People today are making the Scriptures bend to their desires about divorce and remarriage, use of money, use of time, the saving message, how to be spiritual and please God, etc. We actually have people in Christianity who are teaching Buddhist and Hindu medidative techniques to help us feel closer to Jesus! Amazing. God has not left us uninformed. He has given us His Word. Let’s be spiritually minded people who have the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:14-16). The Free Grace position is based on the Word of God and if ever start molding the Bible to say what we want it say, then we will lose the Free Grace message. |
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No I will not, No I will not Not go quietly | |
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| lightninboy | Dec 24 2008, 10:16 PM Post #2 |
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Comments: 1. mreeds Bob, your article sounds much like what Bob Evans has been teaching for years. Here’s an example, http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/jn6_observetc.htm July 11th, 2008 at 9:35 pm 2. ansbible It is interesting to note that many people will read an article in the newspaper from beginning to end and interpret it on the basis of the normative meanings of the words, within the context, keeping in mind the who, what, why, where and when of it so as to discover what the writer is actually saying. But give that person a Bible and he will most likely trash this proven method of interpretation and deliberately violate God’s intended message, imposing on each passage whatever he compels himself to believe. For upon careful examination of the Bible it is evident that the authors whom God inspired to write every word utilized normative rules of language & context. In the absence of evidence anywhere that God’s Word is to be interpreted with a specialized set of rules outside of what man would normatively expect and in view of the evidence that a strict adherence to normative rules of language and context produces an inerrant and absolutely consistent interpretation, we must thereupon follow God’s plan of how to interpret His Word which He holds in such high esteem - on a par with His holiness. So if God’s truth is to be arrived at, then His sovereignly established method must be used, not one’s own… Truncated to save space. Please keep your answers and comments short and concise. You may communicate further through email or phone conversations. Thank you. July 12th, 2008 at 4:31 pm |
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No I will not, No I will not Not go quietly | |
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9:38 AM Jul 11