Bible Interpretation, Student Workbook, SW05

/ 9 9

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

To master the Word of God is the central and definitive skill for the man or woman of God, for it is the God-breathed Scripture that is able to make us competent workers and faithful servants of the Church, to enable us to equip others for ministry, and minister to the real needs of those both within and outside the Church (2 Tim. 3.16-17). There is no way that we can overemphasize the importance of your ability to handle the Word accurately (2 Tim. 2.15), to meditate upon it day and night in order to ensure success in the endeavors of God (Josh. 1.8), and guarantee the kind of fruitfulness and power you desire in every phase of your work for the Lord (Ps. 1.1-3). Listed below are the central concepts covered in this lesson on the Three-Step Model , so please review them diligently and carefully. Understanding this model can enable you to gain the knowledge and skills to become a workman of the Scriptures, approved of God and without shame as you handle his Word accurately and rightly. The Three-Step Model is an effective method of biblical interpretation designed to help us understand the truth of Scripture and bridge the gap between our ancient and contemporary worlds. The Three-Step Model defined is “to so understand the meaning of the original situation that we may discover general principles of truth which may be applied in our personal lives in the Spirit’s freedom.” While studying individual words, phrases, paragraphs, chapters, sections, and books of the Scriptures is both edifying and necessary, all of our insights into the Scriptures ought to be in sync with the message of the whole Bible, i.e., the meaning and message of God’s final revelation to us in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Three-Step Model , as a logical and methodical way of understanding Scripture, resonates and corresponds to the grammatical-historical method of Scripture interpretation, which affirms the plain sense of the Bible’s meaning. It also takes into account God’s progressive revelation in Christ, the unity of the Bible, and the integrity of the text as it communicates to us in different genres and forms. The critical preparation for the use of any form of biblical study is the attitude of the student of the Scriptures, and the phases of study in the Three-Step Model demand humility, thoroughness, and liberty for each phase respectively.

Summary of Key Concepts

The Importance of the First Reader: The Key to the Three-Step Model When interpreters and translators ask themselves how the first readers would have understood a passage, they are not asking a merely hypothetical question impossible to answer (since we have no access to their minds). Rather, this is simply a way of getting at a host of subsidiary questions: How would these words have been understood at the time? What issues and themes were of resounding importance? What kind of conceptual framework would the biblical text confront? To raise such questions is not to affirm that we can always find perfect answers. Sometimes we can infer responsible answers by “mirror-reading” the text itself. ~ Donald A. Carson. New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition. (electronic ed. of the 4th ed.). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

2

As slaves to righteousness under Christ’s lordship, we are called to obey his Word in every facet of our lives and ministries, and therefore, all legitimate