It is
said that the Bible is God’s Word to Humanity, but the diversity in religions
and doctrines that claim to all be reading the same Word has had me querying
the authenticity of this statement. If it’s one God speaking, shouldn’t there
be one message we are all hearing? How can I be sure who is right, who is wrong
and whether I’m reading the Bible right?
The scriptural texts were written over 2000 years ago in a land and
culture far removed from mine today, so it is often that I ask myself whether
what I am reading in the bible actually applies to me, a girl in Uganda in the
21st Century.
Some
say that the bible should be read plainly and argue against interpreting the
scriptures, but from simple observation of the world around us, it is clear
that everyone’s “plain” differs. A good understanding of the true “plain
meaning” of scripture requires good interpretation of the scriptures. But how
do I know that I am interpreting well? Reading Fee and Stuart’s How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth,
I am encouraged that there is a method to the madness of trying to hear what
God is saying to me through these words that were written centuries ago.
Good
interpretation means that I am seeking to get to the true meaning of the text.
As I read the bible I should first of all be trying to understand what the
writer at that time was saying to the people at that time. It is not right to
assign my own meaning to the text that is not what the text originally meant. I
should not be trying to find some unique revelation that no one has ever come
up with before. Trying to do this usually indicates that I am prideful (trying
to show myself better than others), I misunderstand spirituality (thinking that
the more “hidden truths” I discover in the scriptures, the more spiritual I am)
or I am trying to find a biblical backing for a given bias. All of this usually
leads to wrong interpretation of bible text.
Good
interpretation of Biblical text is of utmost importance if I’m to benefit fully
from my Bible study. But why is this so hard to do? For a start, as I read
anything, I am subconsciously assigning meaning to what I am reading based on
my culture, my experiences, preconceived notions or previously heard
interpretations. This can all cause me to read into a text what the original
writer did not intend for it to say.
God’s
Word to me today was first of all God’s Word to those people those many
centuries ago. If I am to hear what God is saying to me today through His Word,
I need to first of all understand what He was saying to those first hearers
then, and why. After understanding what God was saying to the original hearers
back then, I then have the additional task of applying that message to the here
and now. My starting point in interpreting scripture should be in finding out
what the original message was to the original hearers. The process of
discovering, through systematic study, the original meaning of a scripture is
referred to as “exegesis”. It might not be easy at the start since I am used to
automatically adding some (usually poorly informed) historical background to
what I read but as I get used to doing it, it should become second nature and
make my reading and studying of scripture more exciting, with better results.
This
careful systematic study should be employed for every scriptural text read. If
I do exegesis selectively, I run a risk of reading my own meanings into a text,
thereby making the scriptures say something other than what God really said.
The challenge with doing a good exegesis is that it requires me to know a lot
of things that might not be readily available to me such as the biblical
languages, the backgrounds against which each book was written and how to
determine the original text if the copies have variations. As I try to do
exegesis, I need to consult several good experts because some of the so-called
experts are simply secondary sources quoting other secondary sources. But even
without all these skills I should be able to do a good exegesis using my own
skills and the help of a few other resources. The basic tools I require for a
good book by book exegesis are: a good bible dictionary, a good bible handbook,
a good bible translation and good bible commentaries.
In
order to do a good exegesis, I need to learn how to carefully read the
scripture and ask of it the right questions. The two basic classes of questions
I need to ask of the text are questions of context and those of content.
Questions of context are further subdivided into historical and literary
context.
Historical
context has a number of aspects which are all important for the understanding
of a given book. These include the culture and time of the author and those to
whom the book was originally addressed, as well as the occasion for which the
book was written. Knowing the prevailing political, cultural and even
geographical circumstances around each book will enhance my meaningful reading
and therefore improve my understanding of it. To help with this, I need to have
among my tools a good Bible dictionary. Understanding the occasion or purpose
of each book is a very important aspect of historical context. I need to know
what was happening at the time of writing, whether in Israel, the church or the
life of the writer, that called for the writing of that particular text. This
is more important in some books such as the Epistles than in say the wisdom
books of the Old Testament. Answers to the questions concerning the occasion of
the book are usually found within the book itself if one reads carefully.
Literary
context simply means that a given scriptural text does not stand alone. A word
in a scripture only has meaning in a sentence and this usually has meaning in
relation to the sentences that go before and after it. I need to try to trace
the author’s thought process, to understand what he is saying and why, and this
cannot be done by taking each text as a stand-alone. I need to be able to
identify paragraphs, lines or sections that denote changes in topic or emphasis
by the author. This is usually aided by a good translation that clearly denotes
these paragraphs.
The
other type of question I need to ask and seek answers for as I study scriptural
text, are the questions of content. This has to do with the meanings of words,
their grammatical relationships in sentences and the choice of the original
text when the manuscripts have different readings. The answers to these
questions around meaning require outside help and the quality of my answers
will usually be dependent on the quality of the source.
After
a good exegesis through which I have appreciated what God’s original message
was to the original hearers, I will then have the additional task of applying
that message to today. This process of seeking contemporary relevance of
ancient texts is referred to as “hermeneutics”. However, this should not be my
first step in studying the bible even though I live in the “here and now”
because good hermeneutics are dependent on solid exegesis. Without the control
of exegesis, a lot of room is left for subjectivity whereby anything goes. A
lot of the cultic or questionable preaching that is going around today is based
on people improperly interpreting scripture, simply because contemporary
meaning is attributed to the text without the control of a good exegesis. Hermeneutics is not as straightforward as we
would like and there is a lot of disagreement on the matter but one of the
rules of thumb Fee and Stuart giving is “A text cannot mean what it never
meant” that is to say, the true meaning of the biblical text for me is what God
originally intended it to mean when it was first spoken. This therefore brings
me to the conclusion that in order to be sure that I am reading and applying
the Word of God correctly, I need to carry out a good exegesis first.
