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

ministry that very few unbelievers have been converted on the basis of long-winded arguments about the possibility of miracles and the theories of inspiration. They are more convinced by the living epistles of our lives, the kind of generosity, hospitality, and genuine servanthood that disciples of Jesus show, not the length of their essays and the weight of their intellectual arguments. Really, only Christians care about issues of inspiration.” What do you think about the pastor’s evaluation of these kinds of preaching and teaching on the inspiration? Why is he right–or wrong–in his judgment?

First Things First

One Christian leadership training center offers a full array of biblical, theological, and pastoral training to its students through a solid and dedicated faculty. In all of the programs they offer, they only demand of their students a single course: biblical hermeneutics. Their reasoning is clear and simple: the center deeply believes that the central and most important skill for Christian leadership development is gaining a mastery of the Scriptures. No other field of learning, no other skills or experience, can begin to compare with the necessity of being grounded in Scripture, of gaining the ability to preach, teach, and apply the message of the Scriptures to the various issues of family, church, work, and service. What do you make of this claim: in terms of all the things that urban leaders must learn to do and be, what place should the Word of God play in their development? Why is it simply impossible to be the kind of leader God desires for you to be if you remain ignorant and ill-equipped to “rightly divide” the Word of truth? Hermeneutics is that discipline and branch of knowledge which focuses on interpretation, especially the interpretation of texts. Biblical hermeneutics focuses specifically on the methods and science of interpreting the Bible. Since the beginning, orthodox Christian faith has held to certain fundamental presuppositions regarding the nature of Scripture, such as the inspiration of the Bible, the necessity of Scripture to interpret Scripture, and the idea that Scripture progressively reveals God’s will, ending with the person of Jesus. The Three-Step Model of biblical interpretation seeks to bridge the gap between the world of the text and our modern world, understanding the original situation, discovering biblical principles, applying Scripture to life. In order to rightly interpret the Word of God, we must prepare our hearts, minds, and our wills to humbly and rigorously study it, carefully analyze it, and heartily obey it, all to God’s glory.

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Restatement of the Lesson’s Thesis