Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

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• 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. • 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 biblical interpretation seeks to discern God’s Word for the purpose of life transformation , not mind information . • The Three-Step Model may be fruitfully employed with a number of units of Bible materials (words, paragraphs, chapters, books, sections). • All study of the Word of God begins with our submission to the Holy Spirit, who alone is the author of the Scriptures and the only one sufficient to instruct us in its meaning and significance for our lives today. Our dependence on the Holy Spirit enhances our diligent study of the Word and is not meant to be a substitute for it. • The first step in employing the Three-Step Model is observing the details of the text, establishing the background of the book, its

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 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. these words have been understood at the time? What issues and themes were of resounding importance? What kind of conceptual

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