Interpretation Matters Series, Part 3

Are you a normal person trying to understand your Bible? I have good news for you. The Bible is meant to be interpreted normally by normal people like you. Although you need God’s help to understand the Bible properly, God also graciously wrote the Bible in normal human language that you can understand.

As you study the Bible, you’re seeking to answer the question “What is the normal way to understand what the Bible says according to normal rules of communication?” You can find the answer with normal methods you already use.

Interpret According to Normal Grammar

When God wrote the Bible in its original Hebrew and Greek, he wrote it according to the normal rules of Hebrew and Greek grammar. Thankfully, God has allowed the Bible to be reliably translated into English, which means we can use the normal rules of English grammar to understand it.

When you read the Bible, read it like you would other normal forms of writing. Who or what performed the action in that sentence? What was that action? How is that sentence connected to the sentences around it? Simple questions like that are the first step to understanding the Bible. You don’t need to hunt for hidden symbols or secret numerical codes (even in prophecy).

Interpret According to the Author’s Normal Intent

In your Bible study toolbox, one of your most helpful tools will be the author’s intent. This means trying to answer the question “What did the original author want his original audience to understand when they read what he wrote?” The meaning of a text cannot lie outside the answer to that question. Bible passages don’t have multiple meanings simply because they are in the Bible. There may be many applications, but there is only one meaning.

This is true for God’s intended meaning, too. When God moved men to write portions of Scripture, he didn’t have a separate meaning from the human author’s. God’s intended meaning may have included more than the human author understood (1 Peter 1:10-12), but it was not different.

As you try to figure out the author’s intent, two other steps will help you.

Interpret According to the Normal Context

There are several layers of context you need to keep in mind when reading the Bible: literary, historical, and cultural.

The literary context means paying attention to the passages that surround whatever passage you’re studying, all the way out to the context of the whole Bible. If you read a novel, you would never open it to page 114, read two sentences, and think you’d understood them correctly. You need the rest of the story. With the Bible, you must also interpret statements in their context. Consider how your passage relates to the surrounding verses before and after it, the book it’s in, the testament it’s in, and the Bible as a whole. Taking a verse out of context is the fastest road to a wrong interpretation. When it comes to interpretation, context is king.

You should also consider the historical context, the time period when a passage was written. Was a passage written to Israelites living under Solomon’s reign, or to Gentile Christians in the early church? That makes a huge difference!

Each historical period and place also has its own culture. Understanding more about the author and audience’s culture will help you understand idioms or customs that might seem strange to you. For the historical and cultural context, you’ll probably need resources like a good study Bible, Bible handbook, or commentary. The more you learn about those contexts, though, the more you’ll be able to put yourself into the shoes of the original author and audience and figure out the intended meaning of a passage.

Interpret According to Normal Literary Interpretation

Literary interpretation means interpreting a passage according to its literary genre. Poetry uses symbolism, so it may indicate that the author doesn’t want us to take him strictly literally. Historical narrative, however, communicates true historical events and indicates that we should understand the author literally. The Bible contains a beautiful variety of genres, and each should be interpreted according to the normal rules for that genre.

Interpret with One Normal Step at a Time

Bible study is often broken down into three big steps: observation, interpretation, and application. These principles focus on observation. With observation, you’re simply trying to find out what the Bible says. Don’t worry about interpreting it yet. Slow down and take time to observe the details of what the Bible says. If you’re still uncertain about what to do with these principles, don’t worry. The next several articles will deal with these pieces individually and in more detail.

For now, a simple way to practice these principles is to ask the six basic questions: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Pick a Bible passage or book and try to answer questions like these:

• Who wrote this?
• Who did he write to?
• What is the genre?
• What cultural factors influence this passage?
• What does this passage say about God?
• When was this written?
• Where was the author when he wrote this?
• Where is the setting?
• Why did the author write this?
• How should this genre be interpreted?
• How does this passage relate to passages around it and to the Bible as a whole?

You may not be able to answer all these questions, and that’s OK. The more information you have, though, the better off you’ll be.

If you’re a normal person trying to understand your Bible, that’s good, because the Bible should be interpreted normally.