Bible Interpretation, Student Workbook, SW05

1 1 6 /

B I B L E I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

argument is their open claim of their faith in the profit of the Word of God for all, beginner, intermediate, and mature believer. 2 Tim. 3.16-17, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17] that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” How can we so use our understanding of the rules of literature as to improve our knowledge of the Word of God, and not make it impossible for all but the experts to tell us what the text actually means?

Old Fashioned Ways

Around the turn of the century, many evangelical scholars paid more attention to the types of the Bible. A type is a prefiguring of Christ in the OT that is revealed in the NT. For instance, Melchizedek is a type of Christ, for Christ is the high priest of the Church. Manna is seen as a type of Christ, who is the bread of life (John 6), the serpent that Moses placed on the pole in the wilderness that God provided for the healing of the people is a type (John 3.14-15). This form of looking for Christ in the OT images, characters, and pictures (e.g., the Tabernacle, the Levitical priesthood, and the sacrifices recorded in the OT), is now seen as less effective and unimportant by many scholars. Because of exaggerations and misinterpretations of many who used this method, now the focus on the connection between the OT pictures and stories and the person of Jesus is not as popular. Do you think that this may still be a valid method, or has this phase of biblical hermeneutics ended? What should we do with all of the stories, pictures, metaphors and symbols of Scripture as they relate to Jesus Christ? With such a modern focus upon doctrine, ideas, concepts, and knowledge, many preachers have lost interest in the power of story. Although a new discipline of story-oriented theology is finding a new home in the academy (called “narrative theology”), most preachers and teachers still prefer the simple, direct summary statement that makes clear what a story, an event, or a symbol is about. With little time in their pulpits or in the classroom, many preachers and teachers must go to the around-30 minute format of presentation, which barely allows for enough time to read a text and then summarize what they believe it means in a direct statement. This form of teaching may have its problems, however, for many are seeing that the story is the more foundational form of revelation in the Bible. In other words, when Which Came First: the Story of the Doctrine?

3