Bible Interpretation, Student Workbook, SW05

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

• Define the role of cross-reference aids in biblical exegesis (e.g., topical bibles, cross-reference bibles, and topical guides and concordances), define their benefits for study, and lay out some of the major cautions we should be aware of when we use such tools. • Lay out the reasons for employing Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, atlases, and handbooks dealing with customs and history, identifying the benefits of such tools, as well as the caution of what wrong use or over-reliance on them can produce in our own interpretation. • Cite the definition, benefits, and cautions associated with the use of Bible handbooks, study Bibles, and guides to biblical imagery, demonstrating their usefulness and our caution in employing them in our study. • Outline the major kinds of commentaries that exist as aids to our interpretation (i.e., devotional, doctrinal, exegetical, and homiletic), and carefully articulate the major benefits and cautions associated with their use. • Summarize the “best use” protocol for using extra-biblical tools in our biblical interpretation, including our attempt to help us bridge the gap between the two worlds of the text and our contemporary world. • Articulate the limits of the tools, i.e., how in the final analysis, all claims are to be rigorously tested against the claims of the Scriptures themselves, and nothing is to be accepted that is found to contradict the plain confession of the Scriptures about the person of Christ and his work of redemption. Acts 17.10-12 - The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. [11] Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. [12] Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. In our quest to understand the purpose and plan of God through our interpretation of the Scriptures, it is easy to get lost on side issues and less important trails, to major on minors and to miss the heart and soul of what God seeks to communicate to us. What is the most important thing in our study of the Word of God? Are we to seek to impress others with the breadth of knowledge we have attained from all the hours The Spirit Most Noble

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Devotion