 |
For many Christians, Biblical interpretation can be a frightening subject. Theologians disagree, churches disagree, Christians fight over dogma and even split over trivial things.
Perhaps the most amazing story that typifies how heatedly Christians can disagree is this item I found on the Internet:
Reference:
Graham L. Kendall
http://www.grahamkendall.net/
Email grahamkendall74135@yahoo.com
Document: A327-Hovind.txt
|
| "This is one of the first questions that I intend to ask the Lord when I get to Heaven. My first question, believe it or not, will be, Did Adam and Eve have a belly button? I don't know why, but that has bothered me for years.
There was a church in California that actually split over that question. One group said, Yes, they did because they would not be complete without a belly button. The other group said, No, they didn't because they were never born. That is where the umbilical cord connects before birth.
They actually split the church over that argument. One group went across town and started a new church. I saw the article in the paper. I couldn't believe it. The name of the church was, The Church of the Navelites. Only in California!" |
| Then there is all those theological words, like "exegetical" "exegesis" and "eschatology." It is enough to frighten the average person away from even reading the Bible. Traditionally, church leaders have thought that the Bible was not for the common man -too hard to understand. |
| For centuries the official churches of Europe sought to keep the scriptures away from the common man because he could not possible understand it. An English version was done in 1526 by William Tyndale with the help of Martin Luther. This was the result: |
| They were burned as soon as the Bishop could confiscate them, but copies trickled through and actually ended up in the bedroom of King Henry VIII. The more the King and Bishop resisted its distribution, the more fascinated the public at large became. The church declared it contained
thousands of errors as they torched hundreds of New Testaments confiscated by the clergy, while in fact, they burned them because they could find no errors at all. One risked death by burning if caught in mere possession of Tyndale's forbidden books. (English Bible History Article by author & editor: John L. Jeffcoat III.) |
| Getting the Bible into the hands of the English speaking common people had more to do with romance than Christian faith. King Henry VIII wanted to divorce his wife and marry another. To do it, he had to separate the English Christians from the Church of Rome and establish himself as "pope" of the new church.
(Anglican Church) He further defied the pope in Rome by funding the publishing the Bible in English in 1541. He reversed his position on an English Bible out of romance. |
| What does the common man do with a Bible in his own language? Read it! But confusion seems to start there and prideful egos support every contradictory idea and doctrine. All this would have been avoided if some simple principals had been followed. Alas, many ideas have been spawned out of ignorance of the basics of language and something
called "The Integrity of the Word of God." That is, The Word of God was authored by God. |
 | All these problems start with not recognizing who is the author. Because there are many writers, it is assumed that they are also the authors. Not so with the Bible. Let me make something perfectly clear: GOD is the author.
It's just that He is not the writer. It was written by proxy, if you will. There are several things that will carry over when the author is the same across many books, even written at different times and by different proxy writers.
They are:- use of words,
- structure,
- figures of speech,
- cultural context.
|
| When I read several books by the same author, I would be stupid to think that he uses new definitions of words in each of his books. A look at the structure of each book would reveal a similarity too. Of course he would use the same manner of speech in his figures. The simple fact for most Christians is that God has not been given credit for the use of words,
the structure of the writing and especially not the figures of speech. Never mind how foreign the Eastern culture is to us Westerners. When God is the author, there is much that will become obvious. So how do you read when God is the author of the whole Bible form Genesis to Revelation? |
| Simple. God said what He meant right where He said it. The Way International calls this "All Scripture interprets itself in the verse." Do words have new meanings in each book? No, all the books have the same author! What if you're not sure about a word? Simple, just go look at the earliest uses of that word.
God was smart enough to make sure you got it right the first time. But He doesn’t go about repeatedly defining the words over and over. He expects you to get it the first time. Therefore words fit where they are written and in the context, that is the paragraphs and topics where they are written. We call that context, remote context and remoter context. |
| This brings up another obvious point. God is not going to contradict Himself. If He established a principle in one place, it will be the same in another. Or, words must be in harmony with with other sections of scripture that deal with the same topic. It is easy (and lazy) to not think about the other sections of scripture that deal with the same topic.
It is easy (and lazy) to try to make one small part stand in contradiction to all others. That would make no sense. Obviously all sections on the same topic would be consistent when there is one author. Therefore, when a section seems difficult it must be lined up with the more clear sections on that topic. Too often, Christians will hang onto some obscure verse on a topic and ignore the many clear verses on that topic.
That is illogical and lazy. You would not do that in any work of fiction or in drama. |
| There are a couple of additional topics that need to be understood. The Bible covers a very long span of time. I have read some fiction authors that wrote books also covering a long span of time. I expect with the fiction writers that as different eras come about that some things will be different. Is God not at least that cognesent? There are several pivotal moments in the history of God's people.
God did not bring Jesus Christ onto the scene as soon as Adam fell from his position in Eden. God spent a lot of time educating mankind about Himself and His relationship to us humans. |
| The first such instruction was given when Moses (the first proxy writer) gave us the Laws of Good and Evil or you could say laws of conduct. So what did God do about the people who lived and died before the Law? He just shut His great legal and ultimately fair eyes to their ignorance. They will be judged by their works, their hearts toward God or how evil they were.
The figure of speech is "winked" at those times. He does not hold them responsible for what they could not know. |
 | Would God "wink" at the people and times after He instructed them in His ways? Of course not! Neither would you. You hold your children responsible for the instruction you give them and God, as our Father, is no different. |
| Another instruction and the greatest of all was Jesus Christ. He not only instructed us on the heart of God but fixed Adam's error by offering himself as the payment for Adam's sin and all that came after including us and those that follow until the end of time. Would you expect, after all this, that things would continue to be the same between God and man? Of course not! |
| Now we have at least three eras to consider. Would the relationship between God and man be the same in all three? Of course not. But there are books of the Bible written about all three of these eras. How about while Jesus Christ walked the earth as God's representative? Might one's relationship to God be different rubbing shoulders with the messiah, than under the Law during that time?
Yes, of course. Are there books written about that time? Of course, we have the four gospels. But had Jesus Christ completed his work? No, not yet. These eras are often called "administrations." That is, a different administrative view for each was taken by God due to the amount and kind of instruction available at that time. |
| Would it make sense to try to live as though God's instruction or deliverance never happened? No. Then it does not make any sense to apply the instructions given before Jesus Christ to the people of Jesus's time or later? No again. This is called getting "to whom correct." When a section is written to someone who lived before Jesus Christ, then it is to the people of that time.
It would not apply directly to people who lived later. Likewise, the Word of God given during the time of Jesus Christ most directly applies to them who lived then. Why would we, today, read it? Why would you want to ignore the messaih's instructions about the heart of God? I would not and neither would you. |
| Another great event changed God's relationship to man was when the greatness of Jesus Christ's work was fully fulfilled in the giving of holy spirit to man. Now, men could become "born" of God's spirit and not just try to follow and serve. Men could become sons of God, family, not just servants of the most High. The greatness of that was revealed only years later in the books that come after that event.
So why would one want to apply scriptures to God's children that was written for God's servants? I couldn't know why but Christians often do. It goes against simple and obvious rules of just reading literature but somehow in religion, "reading what's written" and "logic" don't seem to apply for some Christians. |
 | The best is last. Do you fully appreciated that the Bible comes from a different culture than your's? Abraham, Moses, King David, Jesus Christ, the Apostles Peter and Paul did not live in England, France or Russia. They lived in the middle east centuries ago. Their cultures, language and manner of thinking and speaking were very different from most of us in the Western part of the world.
We refer to that part of the world as Oriental in culture. There are books written to help us understand the differences in the culture. Have you ever noticed that a person who grew up in a different culture, still seems to think differently from you even thought he speaks English? The Bible is an Eastern book and it is like that. It may be translated into English, but it is still an Eastern book. |
| When understood that way, many things seem different. For example, there are many cultures that consider a woman very valuable to the family. If a young man wants her for his wife, his family must compensate the girl's family for taking the daughter from the family. The price is usually higher than one family can muster alone, so the price is generated by several families going together to help the young man get his bride.
This seems odd to Westerners but it is just as common in the world today, as it was in the ancient orient. If you do not understand this concept, there will be many parts of the Old Testament that will seem really odd. The Bible is an Oriental book. Ignorance of the culture will hinder your reading just as ignoring the setting of a fictional book will leave you confused as well. |
So how does one read the Bible and interpret it correctly? Answer these questions and you will have it right:
- Do you understand the word(s) in the verse?
- Do those words fit the verse?
- Does the verse fit into its immediate context?
- Does that context fit with the wider (remoter) context?
- Do you understand to whom that section is written?
- Do you understand the cultural context of what is being said?
- Do you understand the figures of speech used in that section?
|
| Get these right, and you will have no problem getting the correct understanding of your reading in the Bible. |
| Happy Reading! |
| by John Brown |
| webmaster Family Tables dot org |
| © http://www.familytables.org |