Key Questions to Ponder When Interpreting a Biblical Text

In the previous post: Reading Scripture Wisely and Well, I covered steps for analyzing a text carefully through a close reading. Here are a set of questions that can help you in the process:

1) Have I prayed for the Spirit’s guidance and direction? Ask God to astonish you with the text?

2) Do I understand the geographical and /or cultural references in this passage?

3) How does our text function within the wider argument in the book? What's going on in the context? How does this text fit into what comes before it and after it?

4) What are the key words and phrases in the text? How are these words and phrases used elsewhere by our author? 

5) If I am working on a New Testament text: What Old Testament texts are alluded to or quoted? How does the OT passage illuminate the meaning of the text I am interpreting? For OT texts: Are there quotations or allusions to other texts in the OT? If so, how do the texts illuminate one another? Is there a NT appropriation of my text? How does the NT author understand the OT text?

6) How is my passage structured? How does the structure of the passage contribute to its meaning? Does the passage flow logically? How does the story flow spacialy? How do the characters function within the story?

7) For those with facility in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek: What nuances are present in the syntax and the word order of the original language that are ambiguous or not explicit in the modern translations? Pay particular attention to verbal aspect and force of prepositions. 

8) What are the major interpretive issues present in this text? How are these resolved in the major English translations?

9) What are the possible ways that we may misread the text based on the English text?

10) What is the genre of my text (narrative, parable, discursive, prophetic, apocalyptic)? How does the genre affect my understanding of the passage?

11) What does this text assume to be true? How do these assumptions affect our reading of the text?
   
12) What elements in the text may be offensive in our contemporary context? What issues raised will be difficult for insiders? What issues in the text will be difficult for outsiders? What are the obvious objections that one could raise to the claims of the text? In what ways does the text answer these objections?

Interested in a bible study resource that builds on these sorts of questions and seeks to guide its users to read the Bible carefully while also emphasizing mission, community, and holiness? Check out my book and dvd study Invitation. It is available through Seedbed. You can see a sample and media interviews here.

© 2015 Brian D. Russell 

 

Reading Scripture Wisely and Well: Steps to Achieving a Close Reading of a Passage in Its Scriptural Context

The following essay describes the attitudes and steps for reading the Bible carefully with an eye to teaching and preaching for both Christ followers and seekers.

1. Pray for the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Prayer is vital for engaging the Scriptures. My working assumption is that the Bible is inspired by God, preserved by God, and illuminated by God. Thus, we must pray for God's guidance. Moreover, let us pray that God may astonish us anew with the riches of the text.
2. Assume the posture of a servant before the text. Do not read the text with the goal of mastering it. Read the text in the hope that it will master you.
3. Read slowly. Take your time. This is particularly true for familiar passages. One of the causes of poor interpretation is the assumption that the reader already knows the meaning of the biblical text. Reflect on the genre of the passage. Is the text a narrative, a genealogy, prophesy, poetry, a parable, or discursive literature? If you have the ability to study the text in the original languages, do it. Reading the text in Greek or Hebrew forces the reader to slow down naturally. Regardless, ponder the words and phrases used by the author. In the popular imagination and practice, interpreting Scripture is a matter of flipping back and forth to other parts of the Bible in order to understand what a given text is saying.[1] Resist this. Stay put within the confines of the text you are studying. Describe it. Dissect it. Notice how the individual words are connected together into a tapestry. Paraphrase it. Analyze it. Observe recurring words, phrases, ideas, and themes. Break it into its logical or thematic units. Reflect on how the narrative or author’s thinking progresses. Don’t give up. Commit yourself to being like Jacob who refused to let go of God until he received a blessing. Biblical interpretation does not really begin until you have engaged the text in a process of careful and sustained reading and reflection. The process will be generative in terms of insights and the framing of new questions. The wise interpreter continually captures insights and observations through careful note-taking.
4. Ask questions of the text. Engaged reading involves much more than note-taking. Over time I have discovered that the best interpreters of the Scripture were those men and women who asked the most penetrating questions. The process of reading the text carefully and recording a series of observations and questions is the secret to engaging the Bible at a deep level.[2] In many ways, biblical interpretation is nothing more and nothing less than the answering of interpretive questions that the reader asks about the text. Observations lead to questions, and questions guide the interpreter to new insights. Ask questions that engage the text at three levels: Definition, Function, and Implications. Definitional questions attempt to gain a full description of the content of the text (“What’s here?” “What is the precise and specific meaning of each element that is present?”). Functional questions focus on the “So what?” of the issue. Implicational questions attempt to probe beneath the surface to ferret out the deep meaning. Let me offer an example. If we are studying Exodus 19:4-6, we will encounter a phrase that is unique in the Old Testament. In verse 6, we find, “…you will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The twin noun phrases “kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation” are critical for the interpretation of this text. Regarding the phrases, we may ask the following definitional questions: What is the precise and specific meaning of the phrases “kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation”? What is the relationship between these two phrases? Definitional questions are followed by functional ones: Why are these particular phrases being used here? What is their significance? Finally we end with implicational questions: What are the full implications of our findings for understanding the theology and assumptions of Exodus 19:4-6? What does Exodus 19:4-6 assume to be true?
5. Read multiple translations. I recommend that interpreters use at least three different translations during the process of close reading. Make sure that you choose translations from different translational families. For example, little is gained by comparing the KJV with the NKJV. Avoid paraphrases. At minimum, the deployment of multiple translations will serve as a guard against a simple misunderstanding of the English. But more importantly, comparing translations will guide you to the seams that exist between translations. By seams, I mean those places where the exegetical difficulties present in the original show up in the form of tensions between translations that otherwise remain hidden underneath the uniformity of a given English translation. Look specifically for substantive differences between translations. Make sure that you understand the interpretive options presented by the different translations. Ask: How do the differences in translation change the meaning of the passage? For example, Genesis 1:1 reads classically in the KJV, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In some modern translations, v. 1 is understood as a clause dependent on the verse or verses that follow. The NRSV is representative of newer translational approaches, “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,….”[3] At stake here are questions of the biblical understanding of cosmology and its relationship to its ancient near eastern context.[4] Reflect on the ways that the differences in translation seem to resolve interpretive issues.
6. Reflect on the meaning of individual words. A couple of warnings: a) Don’t assume that you understand the meaning of words. When in doubt, always spend the time in word study. b) Don’t abuse the principal of “Scripture interprets Scripture” in defining words. It is folly to cite the meaning of a term used by one author when we are studying the writing of another. A classic example is the definition of faith. The writer of the Hebrews explicitly describes faith (Grk: pistis) in this manner: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Without a doubt, this is one of the clearest definitions of pistis in the Bible, but it is methodologically problematic to accept this as the definition of pistis in every other context. Words have meanings in relationship to the other words around them. Moreover, each biblical author may emphasize a different nuance of a word’s meaning. c) Don’t mistake common English definitions for a word for the meaning of a Greek or Hebrew term. For example, the Great Commandment or Shema contains a number of words that can be misinterpreted in translation. Deuteronomy 6:5, which reads in English translation, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Popular interpretations read these common English terms through a matrix more in line with Greek psychology and modern romantic sentiment than with Deuteronomy’s own ancient context. Study of the Hebrew (and cognate) usage suggests that “love” is in fact a covenant term exhorting committed obedience. “Heart” focuses on the center of human volition and rationality and not on the center of emotions. “Soul” is not the spiritual aspect or the “authentic” core of a human person, but instead Hebrew nephesh is descriptive of the totality of a person including the physical body. “Strength” is really better translated “everything else” or even “and then some” as it functions to intensify the seriousness and totality of the call to love God. Moreover, rather than suggesting three parallel spheres or attributes of loving God, “heart,” “soul,” and “strength” form a concentric structure that emphasizes to a superlative degree the whole-person commitment involved in “loving the LORD.”[5]
7. Read each passage in its broader book context. We have used two metaphors for talking about reading the Scripture at different levels. We’ve emphasized the necessity of both an eagle’s eye view of the Scriptures and a ground level analysis of individual passages. Individual books serve as the middle ground.[6] This involves more work for the interpreter, but the payoff is immense. First, look for connections. Take time to look for other places in the same book where the author deploys the same words and phrases (or close synonyms). Such repetitions or recurrences are often purposeful and can lead to substantive insights. For example, in Philippians 3:1-16 Paul offers his own life as an example for the Philippian believers to emulate (3:17). When he is describing the zeal of his pre-Christ following life in 3:6, he boast that he was a “persecutor of the church.”[7] In 3:7-11 Paul recounts the dramatic transformation that he experienced through knowing Christ. This transformation moved Paul from a person rooted and secure in a righteousness derived from his own credentials and accomplishments to a person rooted in a righteousness through Jesus the Messiah.  In 3:16 Paul articulates a moment-by-moment orientation to life through Jesus by writing, “I am pressing on continually toward the goal to win the prize of the upward calling of God in Messiah Jesus.” The phrase “pressing on” is the same Greek word typically translated “persecute” in 3:6. Observing this connect offers a real insight into the transformation of Paul. Paul, as a Christ follower is no less zealous in his faith than he was as a Pharisee. But Paul has undergone a radical reorientation. His compass point has shifted to the Risen Jesus. Paul surrendered his pre-Christian rubric of a righteousness rooted in his own abilities and accomplishments for the ultimate prize—knowing Messiah Jesus. When knowing Jesus became Paul’s primary focus, Paul’s gifts and graces became a means of glorifying and honoring Jesus rather than a means of boasting of himself to others. Second, it is vital to make sure that we understand a discrete text’s function within the broader book. What contribution does our text play in the wider contours of the book? What would be lost or gained without it? How does it relate to the passages that precede and follow it? For example, Matthew 4:17 begins a major section of Matthew’s Gospel.[8] Jesus begins his public ministry by announcing the in-breaking new age of God’s saving reign, and by exhorting his hearers to realign themselves continually in light of the Kingdom. This verse serves as a general programmatic statement for understanding 4:17—16:20. To understand fully every discrete section requires that the reader reflect on how it informs a way of life in line with the Kingdom of heaven and that one realign one’s life in conformity to the vision of the text. In 8:1–17 Jesus models boundary-breaking acts of ministry with outsiders. This is no mere report of Jesus’ historical acts. It serves as a paradigm for shaping present and future followers of Jesus to live out the ethos of the kingdom of heaven.
8. Read each passage within its broader canonical context. Texts do not exist in isolation from other texts. There are often multiple conversations taking place within the Bible between texts. In particular, it is vital to recognize and explore the ways in which the texts that we are studying stand in dialogue with other texts written before or after. For example, in its majestic praise of God, Psalm 8 looks back on the creation of humanity and God’s granting of dominion in Genesis 1:26–31 as a profound basis for worshipping God. As we interpret Psalm 8 it is vital to catch its connection back to Genesis and reflect on the way that Genesis informs our understanding of Psalm 8 (and vice versa). But there is more to Psalm 8. The writer to the Hebrews in chapter 2 verses 5–9 quotes Psalm 8:4–6 in part of his proclamation of the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. Thus, in understanding the meaning of Psalm 8 within its canonical context it is important to read it in conversation with both Genesis 1 and Hebrews 2. Likewise, this is also the case with a reading of Genesis 1 or Hebrews 2. However, not every biblical text will have explicit links to other passages as is the case with Psalm 8.
9. Establish a research agenda to engage secondary resources. Thus far, we have described the process of engaging a biblical text first hand through the practice of close reading. The best close readings do not provide the final word on a text. As suggested, many of our best observations raise additional questions. Some questions can be answered through the close reading process, but others will require the use of the fruits of biblical scholarship. After you have pondered over the text using your own observation skills, ask yourself: What are the key questions that remain unanswered that I need to resolve in order to understand this passage of Scripture? At this point, the wise interpreter will turn to resources such as Bible dictionaries, atlases, theological word books, grammar and syntax texts, journal articles, and commentaries. 
10. Use the best resources at your disposal. In the age of information, Internet search engines can quickly inundate an interpreter with more data than one could process in a lifetime. Biblical interpreters must learn to read all reference material critically. We must also eschew the tyranny of the available and commit ourselves to using the finest resources so that we are engaging the finest exegetical minds and not merely dialoging with those resources that make it onto the first screen pages of web searches. In general, such a commitment involves resisting popular authors and the latest fads for the commentaries and articles written by biblical scholars and for works by the classic interpreters of the past (early Church Fathers, the Reformers, John Wesley among others). It is critically important to use up-to-date Bible dictionaries and atlases so that one has access to the most recent discoveries as our understanding of the socio-historical background of the world of the Bible grows annually. Given the missional reality in which we find ourselves, we need to deploy the best and most penetrating resources in order to engage the text at the level that we need in our day.

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[1]This is a profound misappropriation and misunderstanding of the dictum: “Scripture interprets Scripture.” Of course this is true. But the principal assumes that one has already carefully studied a text within its original context and found its meaning elusive. Only then does the interpreter turn to other passages where the meaning may be clearer and instructive for understanding our first text.

[2]I have been formed immeasurably through Inductive Bible Study as taught at Asbury Theological Seminary. Seminal texts include: Robert Traina, Methodical Bible Study; David L. Thompson, Bible Study that Works; and Robert A. Traina and David R. Bauer, Inductive Bible Study:A Descriptive Guide to the Study of the Bible (Baker Academic, 2010).

[3]The NRSV lists two additional alternatives in footnotes: “When God began to create…” and “In the beginning God created….”

[4]For discussion of the four principal ways on construing Gen 1:1-3, see Terence E. Fretheim, God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation (Nashville: Abingdon, 2005), 35

[5]See the masterful exegetical study of the manifold issues present in the text by S. Dean McBride, “The Yoke of the Kingdom: An Exposition of Deuteronomy 6:4-5” Interpretation 27 (1973): 273-306.

[6]There is another intermediate level as well: corpus context. Books written by the same authors or redacted by the same community function in a way similar to book context in terms of helping to understand smaller passages and themes. For example, a passage in Galatians serves a role in the book of Galatians, but it also contributes to our understanding of Paul’s other letters. The same would be true of passages in Luke-Acts, John and John’s Letters, Ezra-Nehemiah, the Pentateuch, and the Deuteronomistic History.

[7]Grk dioko

[8]David R. Bauer, The Structure of Matthew’s Gospel: A Study in Literary Design (Library of New Testament Studies: 31; Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 1989).

Reading Scripture Wisely and Well (Part 3): Steps to Achieving a Close Reading of a Passage in Its Scriptural Context

This is the final set of steps for reading a text closely. Read Part 1 and Part 2.

7. Read each passage in its broader book context. We have used two metaphors for talking about reading the Scripture at different levels. We’ve emphasized the necessity of both an eagle’s eye view of the Scriptures and a ground level analysis of individual passages. Individual books serve as the middle ground.[1] This involves more work for the interpreter, but the payoff is immense. First, look for connections. Take time to look for other places in the same book where the author deploys the same words and phrases (or close synonyms). Such repetitions or recurrences are often purposeful and can lead to substantive insights. For example, in Philippians 3:1-16 Paul offers his own life as an example for the Philippian believers to emulate (3:17). When he is describing the zeal of his pre-Christ following life in 3:6, he boast that he was a “persecutor of the church.”[2] In 3:7-11 Paul recounts the dramatic transformation that he experienced through knowing Christ. This transformation moved Paul from a person rooted and secure in a righteousness derived from his own credentials and accomplishments to a person rooted in a righteousness through Jesus the Messiah.  In 3:16 Paul articulates a moment-by-moment orientation to life through Jesus by writing, “I am pressing on continually toward the goal to win the prize of the upward calling of God in Messiah Jesus.” The phrase “pressing on” is the same Greek word typically translated “persecute” in 3:6. Observing this connect offers a real insight into the transformation of Paul. Paul, as a Christ follower is no less zealous in his faith than he was as a Pharisee. But Paul has undergone a radical reorientation. His compass point has shifted to the Risen Jesus. Paul surrendered his pre-Christian rubric of a righteousness rooted in his own abilities and accomplishments for the ultimate prize—knowing Messiah Jesus. When knowing Jesus became Paul’s primary focus, Paul’s gifts and graces became a means of glorifying and honoring Jesus rather than a means of boasting of himself to others. Second, it is vital to make sure that we understand a discrete text’s function within the broader book. What contribution does our text play in the wider contours of the book? What would be lost or gained without it? How does it relate to the passages that precede and follow it? For example, Matthew 4:17 begins a major section of Matthew’s Gospel.[3] Jesus begins his public ministry by announcing the in-breaking new age of God’s saving reign, and by exhorting his hearers to realign themselves continually in light of the Kingdom. This verse serves as a general programmatic statement for understanding 4:17—16:20. To understand fully every discrete section requires that the reader reflect on how it informs a way of life in line with the Kingdom of heaven and that one realign one’s life in conformity to the vision of the text. In 8:1–17 Jesus models boundary-breaking acts of ministry with outsiders. This is no mere report of Jesus’ historical acts. It serves as a paradigm for shaping present and future followers of Jesus to live out the ethos of the kingdom of heaven. 

8. Read each passage within its broader canonical context. Texts do not exist in isolation from other texts. There are often multiple conversations taking place within the Bible between texts. In particular, it is vital to recognize and explore the ways in which the texts that we are studying stand in dialogue with other texts written before or after. For example, in its majestic praise of God, Psalm 8 looks back on the creation of humanity and God’s granting of dominion in Genesis 1:26–31 as a profound basis for worshiping God. As we interpret Psalm 8 it is vital to catch its connection back to Genesis and reflect on the way that Genesis informs our understanding of Psalm 8 (and vice versa). But there is more to Psalm 8. The writer to the Hebrews in chapter 2 verses 5–9 quotes Psalm 8:4–6 in part of his proclamation of the person and work of Jesus the Messiah. Thus, in understanding the meaning of Psalm 8 within its canonical context it is important to read it in conversation with both Genesis 1 and Hebrews 2. Likewise, this is also the case with a reading of Genesis 1 or Hebrews 2. However, not every biblical text will have explicit links to other passages as is the case with Psalm 

9. Establish a research agenda to engage secondary resources. Thus far, we have described the process of engaging a biblical text first hand through the practice of close reading. The best close readings do not provide the final word on a text. As suggested, many of our best observations raise additional questions. Some questions can be answered through the close reading process, but others will require the use of the fruits of biblical scholarship. After you have pondered over the text using your own observation skills, ask yourself: What are the key questions that remain unanswered that I need to resolve in order to understand this passage of Scripture? At this point, the wise interpreter will turn to resources such as Bible dictionaries, atlases, theological word books, grammar and syntax texts, journal articles, and commentaries. 

Use the best resources at your disposal. In the age of information, Internet search engines can quickly inundate an interpreter with more data than one could process in a lifetime. Biblical interpreters must learn to read all reference material critically. We must also eschew the tyranny of the available and commit ourselves to using the finest resources so that we are engaging the finest exegetical minds and not merely dialoging with those resources that make it onto the first screen pages of web searches. In general, such a commitment involves resisting popular authors and the latest fads for the commentaries and articles written by biblical scholars and for works by the classic interpreters of the past (early Church Fathers, the Reformers, John Wesley among others). It is critically important to use up-to-date Bible dictionaries and atlases so that one has access to the most recent discoveries as our understanding of the socio-historical background of the world of the Bible grows annually. Given the missional reality in which we find ourselves, we need to deploy the best and most penetrating resources in order to engage the text at the level that we need in our day. I'll post some suggested resources in future blogs.

Let me know if you have any questions.

© 2015 Brian D. Russell  

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[1]There is another intermediate level as well: corpus context. Books written by the same authors or redacted by the same community function in a way similar to book context in terms of helping to understand smaller passages and themes. For example, a passage in Galatians serves a role in the book of Galatians, but it also contributes to our understanding of Paul’s other letters. The same would be true of passages in Luke-Acts, John and John’s Letters, Ezra-Nehemiah, the Pentateuch, and the Deuteronomistic History.

[2]Grk dioko

[3]David R. Bauer, The Structure of Matthew’s Gospel: A Study in Literary Design (Library of New Testament Studies: 31; Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 1989).

Reading Wisely and Well (Part 2): Steps to Achieving a Close Reading of a Passage in Its Scriptural Context

Continuing my tips for reading Scripture wisely and well...Read Part one here
 
5. Read multiple translations. I recommend that interpreters use at least three different translations during the process of close reading. Make sure that you choose translations from different translational families. For example, little is gained by comparing the KJV with the NKJV. Avoid paraphrases. At minimum, the deployment of multiple translations will serve as a guard against a simple misunderstanding of the English. But more importantly, comparing translations will guide you to the seams that exist between translations. By seams, I mean those places where the exegetical difficulties present in the original show up in the form of tensions between translations that otherwise remain hidden underneath the uniformity of a given English translation. Look specifically for substantive differences between translations. Make sure that you understand the interpretive options presented by the different translations. Ask: How do the differences in translation change the meaning of the passage? For example, Genesis 1:1 reads classically in the KJV, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” In some modern translations, v. 1 is understood as a clause dependent on the verse or verses that follow. The NRSV is representative of newer translational approaches, “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,….”[1] At stake here are questions of the biblical understanding of cosmology and its relationship to its ancient near eastern context.[2] Reflect on the ways that the differences in translation seem to resolve interpretive issues. 

6. Reflect on the meaning of individual words. A couple of warnings: a) Don’t assume that you understand the meaning of words. When in doubt, always spend the time in word study. b) Don’t abuse the principal of “Scripture interprets Scripture” in defining words. It is folly to cite the meaning of a term used by one author when we are studying the writing of another. A classic example is the definition of faith. The writer of the Hebrews explicitly describes faith (Grk: pistis) in this manner: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Without a doubt, this is one of the clearest definitions of pistis in the Bible, but it is methodologically problematic to accept this as the definition of pistis in every other context. Words have meanings in relationship to the other words around them. Moreover, each biblical author may emphasize a different nuance of a word’s meaning. c) Don’t mistake common English definitions for a word for the meaning of a Greek or Hebrew term. For example, the Great Commandment or Shema contains a number of words that can be misinterpreted in translation. Deuteronomy 6:5, which reads in English translation, “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” Popular interpretations read these common English terms through a matrix more in line with Greek psychology and modern romantic sentiment than with Deuteronomy’s own ancient context. Study of the Hebrew (and cognate) usage suggests that “love” is in fact a covenant term exhorting committed obedience. “Heart” focuses on the center of human volition and rationality and not on the center of emotions. “Soul” is not the spiritual aspect or the “authentic” core of a human person, but instead Hebrew nephesh is descriptive of the totality of a person including the physical body. “Strength” is really better translated “everything else” or even “and then some” as it functions to intensify the seriousness and totality of the call to love God. Moreover, rather than suggesting three parallel spheres or attributes of loving God, “heart,” “soul,” and “strength” form a concentric structure that emphasizes to a superlative degree the whole-person commitment involved in “loving the LORD.”[3]

If you missed part one, you can Read Part one here

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[1]The NRSV lists two additional alternatives in footnotes: “When God began to create…” and “In the beginning God created….”

[2]For discussion of the four principal ways on construing Gen 1:1-3, see Terence E. Fretheim, God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation (Nashville: Abingdon, 2005), 35

[3]See the masterful exegetical study of the manifold issues present in the text by S. Dean McBride, “The Yoke of the Kingdom: An Exposition of Deuteronomy 6:4-5” Interpretation 27 (1973): 273-306.

Exploring New Language for the Gospel

Here is an new blog that I wrote for Catalyst:

Exploring New Language for Proclaiming the Gospel: Examples from Scripture

A Missional Approach to NT Eschatology: Part One

The New Testament writers recognized that God’s victory through the life, death, and resurrection secured the future. The New Testament is full of visions of God’s future. God’s future is bright and good. It is one of abundant love and mercy. It is the full reversal of the effects of human sin and brokenness. It includes the full redemption of all creation. It marks the return of shalom and rest. It involves the climactic consummation of God’s future.

Our day has seen an ongoing fixation on figuring out dates and time tables. The Bible is mined ingeniously for insights used to predict the end of days. However, this is not a missional approach to Scripture. As humans, we may long to gain control of the future by connecting it to our calendar of events, but this is not the purpose of the eschatological visions of the New Testament. The New Testament writers describe God’s future as a means of inspiring a courageous faithfulness in the present. Since God’s future is secure, God’s people live as the people whom God created them to be in the present. The New Testament’s eschatological vision subverts the present struggles by proclaiming a dogged and audacious confidence in God’s final victory.

Missional Hermeneutics Video: (re)alignment for Mission

Here is my second video for Asbury Seminary's Seedbed series "Seven Minute Seminary":

Video on Missional Hermeneutics: Bible As Mission Document

Here is a video for Asbury Seminary's "Seven Minute Seminary" series for Seedbed. I usually use this sort of talk to introduce a missional approach to reading the Bible.

Reading the Bible Well: Reflecting on a Text's Implications

Reflect on its Implications and Function within the Bible

Once we have answered key questions raised in our close reading we need to begin to draw out the broader truths and ideas that are explicit and implicit in the text. The goal here is to move from the specific details and facts in a passage to an understanding of how these details together to present a deeper message.

In light of your study, reflect on questions such as these: If this were the only passage of Scripture that I had, what would I know? What broad truths emerge from reflecting on this portion of Scripture? What does this passage teach about God? What does it teach about life in God’s creation? What does it teach me about humanity and the role of God’s people?

After reflecting on these questions, it is important to attempt to assess how the teaching of a given portion of Scripture relates to the whole. Are there other places in the Bible where similar teachings or ideas are found? Reflect on how our text nuances, affirms or critiques other biblical texts. The purpose of this step is to understand the contribution of our text to the biblical message.

Make Specific Applications

The goal of the reading the Bible as Christian Scripture is conversion. The power of Scripture to shape us depends on our willingness to push beyond merely engaging the Bible with our minds but also putting its words into practice in our world. Once we understand the message of our passage in light of the biblical message as a whole we are able to explore how it may impact our lives in the present.

Here are a few questions that you may find helpful to guide you in this process:

How does this passage understand God’s mission in the world and how do we fit into God’s purposes? What kind of people does this text imagine us to be if we were to live out its message? How would my life be different if I took the truths of this text seriously? How would my community of faith need to change in light of my study?

Try to be as specific to your own setting in life as possible in making applications.

Suggestions for a Close Reading of a Biblical Text

Are you interested in learning to read the Bible more productively? Here are some brief suggestions to help you.

There are three core elements in learning to study a text closely: observe the text, ask questions, and seek answers.

Observe

First, observe the details in the text and record observations. The wise interpreter continually captures insights and observations through careful note-taking. Read slowly. Take your time. This is particularly true for familiar passages. Don’t assume that you know the meaning of any text. Ponder the words and phrases found in the text. Savor the images and language used to convey the text’s message. Notice how the individual words are connected together into a tapestry. You may find it helpful to read a couple of different translations and record the differences as a means of reflecting on the text. Stay put within the confines of the passage you are studying. Resist the temptation to flip to another part of the Bible until after you have carefully engaged the text that you are studying. Describe it. Dissect it. Paraphrase it. Analyze it. Observe recurring words, phrases, ideas, and themes. Establish an outline or create a chart to organize its content. Above all, don’t give up. Persist in the process of collecting your own observations and insights. This process will prove generative in terms of the insights and new questions that will emerge.

Ask

Second, while making observations, be sure to write out questions that your observations lead you to ask. Engaged reading requires this. The best interpreters of the Scripture are those who ask the most penetrating questions. This process of reading the text carefully and recording a series of observations and questions is the secret to engaging the Bible at a deep level. Observations lead to questions, and questions guide the interpreter to new insights. Ask questions that engage the text at two levels: defining questions and questions about function. Defining questions attempt to gain a full description of the content of the text (“What’s here?” “What is the precise and specific meaning of each element that is present?”). Functional questions focus on the “So what?” and attempt to probe beneath the surface to look for the deep meaning and implications. Let me offer an example. If we are studying Exodus 19:4-6, we will encounter a phrase that is unique in the Old Testament. In verse 6, we find, “You will be a kingdom of priests for me and a holy nation.” The twin noun phrases “kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation” are critical for the interpretation of this text. Regarding the phrases, we may ask the following defining questions: What is the precise and specific meaning of the phrases “kingdom of priests” and “a holy nation”? What is the relationship between these two phrases? Definitional questions are followed by functional ones: Why are these particular phrases being used here? What is their significance?

Answer

Third, answer key questions. In many ways, biblical interpretation is nothing more and nothing less than the answering of interpretive questions that the reader asks about the text. Review your observations and questions. Select the handful of questions whose answers are essential for making sense of the text. Begin answering your questions by looking at the observations that you have already made. What evidence have you already found through your close reading to begin to develop possible answers? If you need additional help in answering your questions, you may find it helpful to read other commentaries, look up subjects in a bible dictionary, or use a concordance to study key words as they are used elsewhere in Scripture. 

Wrap up

Summarize your answers along with the key evidence that supports them. When summarizing, attempt to answer a question such as this: If this were the only part of Scripture that I had, what would I know? 

For more details on these elements see the longer blog post: Reading the Bible Missionally: A Short Guide for Interpreters

Here are two books that will help you learn to read Scripture wisely and well:

         

Skills for Reading Scripture: Context(s)

Skills for Reading Scripture

There is no substitute for learning to read the text carefully and closely. Each of us can gain competence in this practice. Reading the Bible may be compared to a trip to the ocean. Like the ocean, the Scriptures have various levels and depths of meaning. The reader must decide whether to be satisfied merely with observing the ocean from a chair on the beach, dipping one’s toes into the shallows, or heading out far from shore. If one only enjoys the ocean from one particular spot, much will be missed. It is vital for us as readers to venture as deeply as possible into the biblical passages we are studying and to learn to view them from a variety of perspectives in order to experience them in all of their richness. Just as the ocean runs from the shallows along the shore to the unfathomable depths of the Mariana Trench so the Scriptures offer us as much depth as we desire. How deeply do we want to explore the Scripture?

Reading in Context

The key to understanding any passage in the Bible is learning to read it in its literary context. Reading Scripture is a dance between the reader, the text, and its wider context. Like a dancer who must maintain awareness of both the music and her partner, the wise reader must keep in view both the discrete details of the passage of Scripture being studied and the wider movements of the passages surrounding it. In biblical interpretation, context is everything. By literary context, we mean several interlocking levels.

First, the primary source of evidence for understanding the meaning of a passage is its immediate context. In most cases this will be the text that we are studying and the paragraphs immediate before and after it. For example, if we are studying the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6:9-13) it is important to observe that it occurs within a block of teaching that focuses on prayer (6:6-15). The verses immediately before the Lord’s Prayer contrast it with prayers that emphasize many words and religious formulas and the verses after it focus on the necessity of forgiveness. Our reading of the Lord’s Prayer must be informed by and account for these elements.

Second, each passage has a wider context in the book in which it occurs. To get a sense of the book context take a few minutes to read the introductory notes in the Common English Study Bible to the book you are studying and observe the outline of the whole. This will help you to gain an understanding of the role that the smaller passage with which you are working plays in the overall message of a book. Again looking at the Lord’s Prayer, we may observe that it falls within a larger segment (6:1-18) that serves to warn against public acts of piety (almsgiving, prayer, and fasting) as a means to gaining rewards from God. Widening our lens a little more, we may observe that this text falls within a larger block of teaching materials known traditionally as the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:1–7:29). In this material Jesus is training his disciples for the ministry of announcing the good news of the kingdom of heaven (Matt 4:17–11:1).

Reading in context is vital as a guard against misreading the meaning of a passage. A truism about reading in context is this: “A text without a context is a pretext.” Apart from reading a passage of Scripture in context we may easily make a text say what we desire for it to mean rather than to hear the message that the text itself wants us to hear. The wise reader must remember this: Read an individual text in light of its literary context. This practice alone will keep us from many errors.

There are other contexts that the wise reader will also be attentive to as time permits. First, information on the historical context or background can help us to gain a richer appreciation of a passage of Scripture. The study notes in this Bible will draw the reader’s attention to important historical details. In addition, readers may find it helpful to use a bible dictionary or a full-length commentary. For example, in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, Paul mentions opponents who are harassing the Philippian Christ followers (e.g., 1:28, 3:2, 3:18). Who are these opponents? Is there one group or are there several different opponents? What is the nature of their opposition? Answering these questions would provide helpful historical background for understanding Paul’s words to the Philippians.

Second, readers need to be aware of related texts that the passage we are studying alludes to and/or other passages that may allude to our text. Psalm 8 is a text that models both of these situations. Psalm 8 is a hymn of praise to the Lord. It reflects on the status and mission of humanity in light of the majestic nature of God. Psalm 8:6-8 focuses on the stewardship role played by women and men over creation. The psalmist clearly has in mind the creation story in Genesis 1:1–2:3. If we are going to fully comprehend the message of Psalm 8, we will need to study how the psalmist interprets uses the material from Genesis. The savvy reader will also want to know that Hebrews 2:6-8 quotes Psalm 8:4-6. If we are going to understand the full biblical meaning of Psalm 8, we will need to be aware of how the author of the book of Hebrews deploys Psalm 8 in his letter.

Reading with the Big Picture in Mind

Reading the Bible as Christian Scripture also involves understanding each individual passage and book within the overall context of the Bible as a whole. The Christian canon of sixty-six books links the Old and New Testament and proclaims an overarching narrative when viewed as a whole. We may observe the following framework that holds the discrete elements of the Bible together: Creation, Fall, Israel, Jesus the Messiah, Church, New Creation. The Bible begins with the story of the Creation of the world (Gen 1–2) and ends with the description of a future New Creation (Revelation 20–21). The biblical story opens with a very good world and ends with the recreation of very goodness. In between these bookends, we find the biblical story of the salvation of the people and all creation. The need for salvation is first described in Genesis 3–11. This section of Scripture describes the fundament problem in the world: human alienation and sin. This problem has fractured the very good creation described in Gen 1–2. God responds to this problem by calling a people for himself through whom he will bless all nations (Gen 12–Malachi). This people is named Israel. God calls Israel’s ancestors in Gen 12–50. He rescues them from slavery in Egypt and establishes a covenant relationship with them as a means of preparing them to serve as a people of blessing to the world, and leads them through the wilderness to the promised land of Canaan (Exodus–Deuteronomy). Joshua­–Esther narrate Israel’s life in Canaan, its times of obedience/disobedience, exile, and return. The wisdom books (Job–Song of Songs) include the prayers of God’s people and their reflections on the good life within God’s creation. The Old Testament ends with the Prophetic books. The Prophets (Isaiah–Malachi) serve to call God’s people back to their roots as the holy redeemed people through whom God will bless the nations and they also envision a radical future act of salvation. The New Testament opens with the four Gospels, which tell the story of the Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Jesus announces the inbreaking of God’s future and fulfills the hopes and expectations of Israel’s Scriptures. Jesus’ death and resurrection marks the climax of God’s saving work and serves to announce the final victory of God. Acts–Rev 19 tells the story of the Church under the power of the Holy Spirit witnessing to all nations about the good news of Jesus. Revelation 20-21 brings the story full circle by envisioning the full consummation of God’s victory in a New Creation.

The wise reader keeps in mind this broader story as a means of understanding much smaller portions of the Bible. Again a balance must be maintained. To focus only on this broad summary risks missing the many nuances that individual biblical books and passages within them offer. If we only focus on the big picture we may flatten out the Bible by forcing its individual pieces to conform to our assumptions about the big picture. But to focus only on the specific details of smaller passages runs the risk of missing the overall message of the Bible. It is like having all of our clothing piled randomly in a closet without any discernible organizing principle. The big picture serves as hangers and dividers to make sense of our wardrobe. The wise reader will be aware simultaneously of the broader narratives and themes of the Bible while also hearing the witness of the individual passage under current consideration.