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

2. Why is it always important to start our study of the Word of God with prayer to God for wisdom, guidance, and instruction? How can we so pray as to avoid making this become an empty habit, and not a real request for the wisdom that only God can provide us as we study his Word? 3. Why is it simply impossible to discern the meaning of the text of Scripture without the aid of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor. 2.9-16)? Nevertheless, why can prayer to the Holy Spirit for guidance never be, in and of itself, a substitute for rigorous, disciplined study of the Word of God as literature ? Explain your answer. 4. What tools did we use in our first step of the Three-Step Model in our exegesis of 1 Corinthians 9.1-14? How do these tools help us understand the original situation better, i.e., what Paul was intending to communicate to the Corinthians in their own context? 5. What are the kinds of questions that we ought to ask as we seek to discern the original situation in which the text was written? How might we go about answering those questions? 6. Define the meaning of a “general principle of the Scriptures.” How do such summary statements like proverbs, sayings, and other general principles help to give us a more holistic understanding of God’s will? 7. Give examples of three summarizing statements or general principles in the Bible. How can you tell that your summarizing statement in your own personal study is actually a principle of Scripture ? What must you do to verify whether or not your discovery is actually a principle of the Word? 8. Why must we seek the mind of God as we apply the meaning of the Bible to our lives? What is the role of freedom and liberty in expressing our heart obedience to God in response to his teaching in the Scriptures? 9. Why is it always important to keep the larger message of the Scriptures concerning Christ and his Kingdom in mind when we seek to apply the Word of God to our lives? What kind of errors may occur if we fail to keep Christ central to every phase of our reading and application of the Scriptures? (Read together John 5.30-47 and discuss Jesus’ own rebuke of the Pharisees concerning this kind of practice, of reading the Bible but failing to find Christ as the heart of its meaning and message.)

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