RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH

HERMENEUTICS

Good Professor, Ph.D.

Professor
COURSE : AB Theology / AB Christian Education

SUBJECT : Hermeneutics
CODE : TH 170
UNITS : 3
DAY AND TIME : Monday 9:00-12:00 AM
SCHOOL YEAR : 1st Semester 2021 – 2022
PROFESSOR :
Email :
PHONE :

COURSE DESCRIPTION
A study of exegetical and biblical interpretation with principles and methods to be
followed. “Rightly dividing the Word of Truth,” (II Tim. 2:15) to make effort in
analyzing the Word of God correctly by following rules of interpretation of
Hermeneutics.
This is a course on the various methods and principles of Biblical interpretations
including the practice in developing skills of grasping the author’s original intended
meaning and its contemporary significance.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
1. To show you the importance of the Bible and the necessity of rightly interpreting
it.
2. To make aware of some of the problems encountered by bible interpreters.
3. To help you learn and apply the accepted principles and methods of bible
interpretation.
4. To know the way of rules of interpretation that may explain broadly.
5. To understand the scripture deeply and apply it in daily living.
6. To discover and understand he basic problems of biblical interpretation.
7. To develop sensitivity and skills in the correct steps of biblical interpretation.
8. To discern the difference between exegetical and devotional uses of the Bible.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS
1. Reading of Textbooks.
2. Submission of 25 pages Term Paper

GRADING SYSTEM
1. Attendance and Participation – 30%
2. Mid Term Exam – 20%
3. Final Exam – 20%
4. Term Paper – 30%

Note: 3 Absences means failure of the subject

3 Tardiness is equivalent to 1 absent.
1
ATTENDANCE POLICY
 1. Students must attend all scheduled classes.
2. No make–up class will be given to students who miss a class during the course.
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Come to class on time.
2. Attend all scheduled classes.
3. Listen to class lectures.
4. Take notes.
5. Meet seatwork and assignment deadlines.
6. Cellular phones must be silent mode during class hours.
7. Respect yourself, your fellow students and the professor.
8. Participate in all class activities.
TEXTBOOKS
1. Protestant Biblical Interpretation, 1970, Bernard Ramm
2. Illustrated by Ventor Valdecastos, Hermeneutics, 1974, WM Farrand
3. Interpreting the Bible, 1984, Michelsen A. Barkeley
4. A Layman Guide to Interpreting the Bible, 1987, Walter A. Henrichsen
5. Handbook of Preaching, 1979, N. M. Van Cleave,
6. Understanding the Bible, John Stott
7. The Bible and its Interpretation, Weldon E. Viertel
8. An Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics, Walter C. Kaiser & Moises Silva
9. Principles of Biblical Interpretation, Louis Berkhof
10. Pastoral Training Course “Pursuing Excellence in
Handling God’s Word, 2003, Caampued, Paul C. Jr.

COURSE OUTLINE
I. INTRODUCTION 4
Understanding the Bible 4
Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth (II Tim. 2:15) 4
II. DEFINITION OF TERMS AND GENERAL INTRODUCTION 5
A. Definition of Terms 5
B. Sources of the Interpreter’s Principles 7
C. Basic Objectives of Interpreters 8
D. Valid and Invalid Principles 8
E. Areas of Study From Which Principles are Drawn 11
F. Principles Versus Mechanical Rules 12
G. The Need for Hermeneutics 12
H. Assumptions 13
I. Division of Hermeneutics 14
J. Limitations of a More Knowledge of Hermeneutics 14
K. Qualification of an Interpreter 14
L. The Equipment of the Interpreter 15
III. A SUGGESTED MINIMUM BIBLICAL FOR EXEGETICAL WORK
17 Sources of Supporting Biblical Material
(Helps for Bible Study) 16
2
IV. HOW TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE METHOD AND PRINCIPLE OF
BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

A. Eight Rules of Interpretation 19

B. Principles of Interpretation 25
C. The Three Process of Biblical Interpretation 25
D. The Relationship Between Understanding, Application
and communication Applications in the Bible 28
E. The Stand Point of Exposition 29
F. The Scope of Bible Interpretation 29
G. Rules of Interpretation 29
H. General Principles of Interpretation 30
I. Grammatical Principles of Interpretation 30
J. Historical Principles of Interpretation 30
K. Theological Principles of Interpretation 31
L. Valid and Invalid Principle 31
M. Basic Objectives of Interpretation 32
N. Importance of Proper Interpretation 32
O. Principle of Interpretation 32
P. Classifications in Context Situation 32
Q. 3 Applications in the Bible 33
R. 3 Groups Of Men In The Bible 34
S. Hermeneutical Exposition 34
T. Principle of General Hermeneutics 35
U. Principle of Special Hermeneutics 36
V. General Hermeneutics 38
W. Special Hermeneutics 41
X. Interpretation of the Parable of Jesus 50
Y. Seven Key for Studying the Bible 68
V. POINT OF DEPARTURE 69

VI. GUIDELINE IN LOOKING FOR THE CONTEXT 70

A. Elements of Grammar / Parts of Speech 70
B. Guidelines in Interpreting by the Use of Grammar 71
C. Principles for Interpreting From Context 72
D. Principles for Interpreting Lexicography 72
E. We do Need Hermeneutics for Texts Other Than the Bible 73
F. Four (4) Models for Understanding the Meaning of the Bible 76
G. Aspects of Meaning 77

VII. THE MEANING OF NARRATIVE

A. The Meaning of Narrative 85
B. Three levels of Narrative 86
C. Literary Devices in Narrative 87

3
INTRODUCTION

UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE

The Purpose of the Bible – II Tim. 3:15-17

A. A Book of Salvation

In order to grasp more firmly this positive purpose of Scripture, it many be

helpful to contrast it with some purposes it does not have.

First, the purpose of the Bible is not scientific.

Second, the purpose of the Bible is not literary.
Third, the purpose of the Bible is not philosophical.
Fourth, the Bible is primarily a book neither of science, nor of literature, nor of
philosophy but of salvation.

B. Jesus Christ

Christ in the Law - Lk. 24:27, 44; Mk. 1:15; Mt. 13:16-17
Christ in the Prophets - II Samuel 7:8-17; Isa. 9:6-7; 53:56
Christ in the Writings- Ps. 22:1; 110:1; Pro. 8:27-31
Christ in the New Testament - Acts 2:47; Col. 1:19; 2:9-10; Rev. 2–3;
19:11-16

C. Through Faith – Rom. 10:17; John 20:31

RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF TRUTH (II TIM. 2:15)

1. Dividing (Greek Orthotomeo) which means:

a. To make straight cut
b. To analyze correctly

Note: Is not dividing the scripture but teaching accurately.

2. Word (Greek Logos)

It is the scripture

3. Truth (Greek Aletheia)

To be true and to speak, tell the truth.

Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth:

It means to make effort in analyzing the Word of God correctly by
following the rules of interpretation of hermeneutics.

4
 Timothy’s Life:

A. How did Timothy apply this?

He follows the step in interpreting the Bible.

B. Why did Timothy apply this guide?

He called to be a teacher - v.24
He is called to correct those who are in opposition - v.25

Greek Orthotomeo, set straight, handle right.

It means not only to give the true meaning, but also the right application to
the various time and classes of people.
Truth must be divided dispensationally, prophetically, historically and
with regard for classes and subjects.
The chief fundamental principle of interpretation is to gather from
scripture themselves the precise meaning the wrier intended to convey.
We must apply the same principle and grammatical rules to the bible, and
exercise common sense and reason with it as with other books.
One should take the bible literally whether it is at all possible as we do all
other books.
When the language cannot be taken literally, we know it is figurative. We
should then get the literal truth conveyed by the figurative language.

DEFINITION OF TERMS AND GENERAL INTRODUCTION

DEFINITION OF TERMS

a.) Phonology – is the study of the evolution of speech sounds, especially from one status
to another with in a particular language.

b.) Morphology – is the branch of linguistics that deals with the internal structure and
forms of words.

c.) Lexicography – the act, process, art, or work of writing or compiling a dictionary or
dictionaries.

d.) Syntax – the arrangement of words as elements in a sentence to show their

relationship; sentence.

e.) Hermeneutics – the discipline that deals with principles of interpretation. (traditional
meaning)

- The Science of interpretation.

5
 - It is a Science because it provides a logical and orderly classification
of the laws and interpretations.
- The art of interpretation
- It is an art because it requires an upward skill.
- It designates both the science and arts of interpretation.
- The discipline that deals with principles of interpretation.

Greek verb Hermeneuo – to interpret or explain.

Greek noun Hermeneia – interpretation or explanation.

II Timothy 2:15 – Knowledge of truth / revelation.
II Cor. 2:17 – Pure motives.

f.) Advance Study

The greatest responsibility of a minister is the ministry of the Word of God to the
congregation.
Hermeneutics, exegesis and preaching (exposition / application) form one
continerum.
In exegesis, the preacher concentrates on the meaning of the test as originally,
historically understood.
The minister must treat his text exegetically before he treats it homiletically. To
be responsible exegete; he must have a responsive working theory of the biblical
hermeneutics.

Example of Grammatical Exegesis

I Corinthians 14:33-35 cf. I Timothy 2:11-12

Note: Consider the culture and social practice.

Historical Background

Jewish people at the time of Christ a woman are not included in counting.
Gal. 3:28 – Men and women are equal
Eg. Paul and Lydia on Mission
Acts 1:8 – Men and Women / Holy Spirit
Acts 1:14 – Acts 2:16-18

What Then!

“Interpretation is to every one”

(Preaching the word of God)

g.) Art – it is an art because the application of the rules it is by skills, and not by
mechanical imitation.
6
h.) Science – it is a science because it is guided by rules within system.

i.) Greek Mythology

Hermes – messenger of God.

– god of wealth
– god of dead
– god of conduction of soul in hades
– god of sleep

Zeus – the supreme god of the Greeks

Where – Bernabe and Paul spoke in the Bible.

Hermes – etymology or source of word

Mercurio means messenger
May 15, a Mercury Day (A Day of Feast)
Zeus – Mala
Hermes – Acts 14:11-12

j.) Exegesis – and which the meaning of the scripture is brought out.

Interpretation of the original language.

Historical, cultural and social practice and content.

i. To show the original language.
ii. Ex. Hebrew and Greek language

k.) Eisogesis – interpreting by your own concept.

– to bring or bringing a meaning into scripture as opposed.

l.) Interpretation – which means “what the Bible means”.

m.) Application –concerning “how we are to apply what the bible says”.

Note: In Exegetical Exposition

Use: 1. Strong Concordance
2. Vine’s Complete Dictionary
3. Hebrew / Greek Study Bible.

SOURCES OF THE INTERPRETER’S PRINCIPLES

Importance of Interpretation

The term “Hermeneutics” designates both the science and art of interpretation.
The Greek verb hermeneuo means “to interpret or explain.”
The Greek noun hermeneia means “interpretation,” “explanation.”
7
 The Greek verb hermeneuo means “to interpret or explain.”
The Greek noun hermeneia means “interpretation,” “explanation.”

In both the Greek counterpart and the contemporary technical term,

interpretation has to do with meaning.

Interpretation as a discipline is important because meaning has to do with the core

a of man’s thinking.

II Tim. 2:15 – (To handle the message of truth rightly demands sound principles of
interpretation).
II Cor. 2:17 - The interpreter must have pure motives.
- He must speak as one sent from God.
- He must present his conclusions before God.
- He must do all this with an awareness that he is bound to Christ.

BASIC OBJECTIVE IF INTERPRETERS

Simply stated, the task of interpreters of the Bible is to find out the meaning of a
statement (command, question) for the author and for the first hearers or readers, and
thereupon to transmit that meaning to modern readers.
The interpreter will observe whether a given statement tend to be understood by a
modern reader identically, similarly, or differently from the sense intended by the ancient
writer, and will adjust his explanation accordingly.

It is evident that all biblical interpretation has two dimensions:

1. The first concerned with discovering the original meaning of a statement.

2. The second takes account of changes in meaning which contemporary readers
may attach to the same words.

Modern man belongs to an age of technology and to the culture which accompanies
it. His environment is different, and his concepts are often correspondingly different. For
instance, he tends to think of society individualistically, with the biblical writer
emphasizes group unity. The modern reader understands little of family solidarity, of the
ancient pantheon of pagan deities, and of the tensions peculiar to a society composed of
aristocrats, freedmen, and slaves. Hence he does not grasp fully Paul’s discussions of
racial solidarity, of meat offered to idols, and of the attitude and reaction of a slave. He
understand something, but seldom realizes how much of the total meaning eludes him.

VALID AND INVALID PRINCIPLES

Principles of hermeneutics are precepts which express or describe the various
ways followed by interpreters to get at meaning. They are statements of procedure.
These principles may be adopted (i.e., consciously learned), adapted (i.e., consciously
changed), or simply appropriated from one’s habits of thinking (i.e., unconscious
acceptance of what the person regards as axiomatic or the natural was to treat any
particular kind of subject matter).
8
 These principles of hermeneutics are valid or invalid depending on whether or not
they really unfold the meaning of statement had for the author and the first hearers
and readers.

They are valid or invalid depending on whether or not readers get the idea that the
original author intended to convey.

The difference between valid and invalid principles or procedures may be illustrated
as follows.

One valid principle for determining the meaning of a word is to study the
context of the word plus the usage or meanings, which the word is known
to have in other context.

On the other hand, an invalid principle is the rule that one may use etymology to
determine the meaning of later occurrences of a word.

Etymology – is the science of tracing the meaning of a word back to its root.

The etymologist asks: What did this particular word mean in its earliest form?

1. Meaning of the Separate Words

The Bible was written in human language, and consequently must be interpreted
grammatically first of all. In the study of the text the interpreter can proceed in a
twofold way.

a. He can begin with the sentence, with the expression of the writer’s thought as a
unity.
b. And then descend to particulars, to the interpretation of the separate words and
concept; or he can begin with the latter, and then gradually ascend to a
consideration of the sentence, of the thought as a whole.

Three Things Call for Consideration Here:

a. The Etymology of the Words

The etymological meaning of the words deserves attention first, not as
being the most important for the exegete, but because it logically proceeds all
other meanings.
b. The current Uses of the Words
The current signification of a word is of far more importance for the
interpreter than its etymological meaning. In order to interpret the Bible
correctly, he must be acquainted with the significations which the words
acquired in the course of time, and with the sense in which the Biblical authors
use them
9
c. The Synonymous Use of Words

Every language contains both antonyms and synonyms.

Synonyms words are those that have the meaning, or agree in one or more
of their meanings, though they may differ in others. They often agree in their
fundamental signification, but give expression to different shades of it.

The importance of noting carefully the exact meaning of synonyms words

may be illustrated by a few examples.

Isa. 53:2 – three words are used to express the absence of the external glory in the
life of the Servant of the Lord.
“He hath nor form nor comeliness; and when we see him, there is no beauty that
we should desire him”

The first word (tho’ar) means “form” with the added idea of beauty, and therefore
refers to a beautiful bodily form.

I Sam. 16:18 – The second (hadar) designates an ornament, and, as applied to

God, is descriptive of majesty. It refers to the way in which the Lord appeared
among men rather than to his physical form. He manifested himself in a state of
humiliation.

And the third (mar’eh, from ra’ah) “to see”, sometimes refers to an external
appearance which is the expression of and therefore in harmony with an inner
essential being. The meaning of the prophet seems to be that the external
appearance of the Lord was not such as the Jews expected of the Messiah.

The New Testament furnishes a beautiful example in John 21:15-17. When the
risen Lord inquired into the love of fallen Peter, He employed two words, viz.,
agapao and phileo.

The first expresses a more reasoning attachment of choice and selection, from a
seeing in the object upon which it is bestowed that which is worth of regard; or else
from a sense that such is due toward the person so regarded, as being a benefactor,
or the like.

While the second, without being necessarily an unreasoning attachment, does yet
give less account f itself to itself; is more instinctive, is more of the feelings or
natural affections, implies more passion.”

The former, based upon admiration and respect, is a love that is controlled by the
will and of an enduring character; while the latter, based on affection, is a love that
is more impulsive and apt to lose its fervor.
10
 When the Lord first puts the qu4stion to Peter, “lovest thou me?” he used the first
word, agapao. But Peter did now dare to answer affirmatively to the question,
whether he love the Lord with a permanent love that achieves its greatest triumphs
in moments of temptation. So in answering, he employs the second word, phileo.
The Lord repeats the question, and Peter again gives the same answer. Then the
Saviour descends to the level of Peter, and in his third question uses the second
word, as if He doubted even the philein of Peter. No wonder that the latter became
sorrowful, and made an appeal to the omniscience of the Lord.

2. The Meaning of the Words in the Connection

1. The Language of Scripture should be interpreted according to its
grammatical import; and the sense of any expression, proposition, or
declaration, is to be determined by the words employed.
2. A word can have but one fixed meaning in the connection in which it
occurs.
3. Cases in which several meanings of a word are united in such a manner that
they are resolved into a higher unit or not conflict with.

For a second and more sophisticated example of valid and invalid

hermeneutics principles, we may begin by considering a valuable discussion by
Rudolf Bultmann. Bultmann has a chapter on “The Nature of History

AREAS OF STUDY FROM WHICH PRINCIPLES ARE DRAWN

Every interpreter, whether he is aware of it or not, drawn his principles from

certain areas of study. It is important, therefore to survey these areas to discuss briefly
the relevant principles derived from them.

Language
Language is one of the most important areas from which principles are drawn.
The Bible is written in three languages: Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. The better an
interpreter knows these languages, the easier will be his task. But what about those who
do not know these languages? They should know all they can about the languages. With
such knowledge they can adapt some of the principles which should be applied to the
original text to the English translation (or German, French, Spanish, etc., as the case may
be).

Hebrew and Aramaic

Both Hebrew and Aramaic are part of the Semitic language family. Semitic
languages were spoken over a wide territory. Snaith points out that “the Semitic
languages may be roughly grouped over four geographical areas:
a. Eastern – Akkadian (the modern name for Assyrian and Babylon)
b. Western – Hebrew and the Language of ancient Palestine and Trans-Jordan).
c. Northern – the various Aramaic dialects, including the later Syriac.
d. Southern – Arabic and Ethiopic.
11
 The Hebrew and Aramaic languages may be studied and classified in a threefold
way:
a. Accidence – the forms of words
b. Lexicography – the meaning of words
c. Syntax – the relationship of words, phrases and clauses.

Greek
May be analyzed and calssified under the headings of:
a. Accidence – the forms of words
b. Lexicography – the meaning of words
c. Syntax – the relationship of words, phrases and clauses.

Textual Criticism
Textual criticism is the science of determining as closely as possible what
the original author wrote.

PRINCIPLES VERSUS MECHANICAL RULES

The interpreter should realize that principles are not fixed formulas. The
mechanical rule approach to hermeneutics builds mistaken ideas from the start. Finding a
correct interpretation cannot be achieved in the way that a druggist fills a prescription.
The druggist mixes ingredients in the exact proportions demanded by the physician.
Everything is precise. But synthesizing or analyzing thought is not like synthesizing or
analyzing chemicals. Ideas are imponderable: they cannot be weighed, measured, or
counted. The interpreter used the principle, which is relevant to his particular task; by the
must do so with imagination, sympathy, and judgment. He must recognize that ideas
belong to persons, and that personal factor inevitably introduces as element of
subjectivity.

THE NEED FOR HERMENEUTICS

1. The Primary Need

This is the primary and basic need of hermeneutics.

a. To ascertain what God has said in sacred scripture.

b. To determine the meaning o the Word of God.
That we may know what has said.

Note: There is no profit to us of God has spoken and we do not know what He
has said. Therefore it is our responsibility to determine the meaning of what
God has given to us the seared scripture. To determine what God has said
is a high and holy task.

12
 It is important, therefore, to determine how God’s Word is to be
understood that we may know what God has said. This is the chief and
foremost need for hermeneutics.

2. The Secondary Need

The second greet need for a science of hermeneutics is to bridge the gap
between evil minds and the minds of the biblical writers.
That we may span the linguistical, cultural, geographical, and historical
gaps which separate our minds from those of the biblical writers.
The greater the cultural, historical and geographical divergences are, the
more difficult is the task of interpretation.
In readings the Bible we find ourselves with a volume that has great
divergences from us.

a. Language
The Bible was written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. To bridge this gap
is one of the most important task of Biblical hermeneutics.

b. Culture Gap
Between our time and biblical time which the translator and interpreter
must bridge.

Example
A knowledge customs, economic practices, military systems, legal
systems, agricultural methods, is all very helpful in the interpretation of
scripture.

c. Geography
The various Bible lands is very instrumental for understanding the sacred
text.
References to towns, places, rivers, mountains, plains, lakes and seas all
lend a flicker of light to the meaning of the Bible if will study them with the
help of geographical science.

ASSUMPTIONS

Three things hermeneutics assumes as having been accomplished. It is at

this point that exegesis begins.
1. The study of the canon determines the inspired books.
2. The study of the text determines the wording of the books.
3. The study of the historical criticism gives us the frameworks of the books.

Hermeneutics – give us the rules for the interpretation of the books.

Exegesis – is the application of these rules to the books.
Biblical Theology – is the result.
13
DIVISION OF HERMENEUTICS

1. General Hermeneutics
Refers to these rules which pertain to the interpretation of the entire Bible.

E.g. Trigger controversies in the entire Bible.

2. Special Hermeneutics
Refers to the rules whit one develop with references to special part of
scriptures.

E.g. Parables, prophecy, apocalypse and poetry.

LIMITATIONS OF A MORE KNOWLEDGE OF HERMENEUTICS

Learning the rules of Hermeneutics does not make a student a good

interpreter.
A person maybe limited in his native mental endowment, and although
able to memorize the rules of Hermeneutics. Unable to apply them with skill.
An interpreter unfamiliar with the history of interpretation may fall into
some error of long standing.

QUALIFICATION OF THE INTERPRETER

1. He must be born again. He must have a new heart.

This first principle of Bible interpretation is taken from the Bible itself.

2. A man who have a passion to know God’s Word. He must have a hungry heart.
He must have a burning desire to the Word of God and His will.
He must have the zeal that consumes; and the enthusiasm that breeds both
reverence and industry.

The Word must be:

a. Read
b. Heard
c. Studied
d. Meditated
e. Memorized
f. Applied

3. Obedient heart
4. Disciplined heart
5. Teachable heart.
14
6. Let the interpreter have always a deep reverence for God.
Meekness, humility, and patience and prime virtues for understanding Holy
Scripture, and these virtues are reflection of our reverence for God.

7. The final spiritual qualification is that of utter dependence of the Holy Spirit to guide
and direct.

“To pray well is to study well”. Acquinas used to pray, and fast when He came to
a difficult passage of scripture.
Most of the scholars whose Biblical studies have blessed the church have mixed
prayers generously with their studies.
The heart must be kept sensitive to the indwelling Spirit who is turn has inspired
the Word.

THE EQUIPMENT OF THE INTERPRETER

An interpreter must work with tools. Certainly he ought to work with the
latest critical editions of the Hebrew, Greek and Septuagint texts.
He must have those works and deal with them with the inspiration, canon
and criticism of scripture. He should have standard grammars, lexicons and
concordances of the Hebrews and Greek languages. He should consult the
learned commentaries of the fast and present.

For those students who need some guide through the Labyrinth of books
suggest:

1. Profitable Bible Study (Revised edition)

By Wilbur Smith

2. Syllabus for Old Testament Study

By R. Sampley

3. Syllabus for New Testament Study

By A.T. Robertson

4. A Bibliography of Systematic Theology

5. A Bibliography of Bible Study

Published by Theological Seminary Library, Princeton, New Jersey

Supplementary Material of importance is to be from:

1. Bible Dictionary
2. Bible Encyclopedia
15
 3. Bible Atlas and Specialized Books on such subjects as:
a. Bible History
b. Archaeology
c. Manners and Customs
d. Bible Backgrounds

THE ADVANTAGES OF GOOD COMMENTARIES ARE:

1. They present us with good models for our interpretation.

2. They give us help with difficult passages.

But he also warms us that:

1. They present us not to take the place of the Bible study itself.
2. We are not to slavishly bind ourselves to them as to authorities.
3. We are to use only the best ones.
4. Where their interpretations are conjectures, they are to be use with utmost care.
and
5. We should use original commentaries rather than those that are mere compilations
of the precious work.

GUIDELINES IN TAKING NOTES

a. Facts
b. Special and Unusual things, people, place.
c. Repeated words
d. Questions that comes to your mind
e. References elsewhere in the Bible
f. Initial thoughts and Interpretation.

HOW TO PROCEED

a. Plan f. Think and analyze

b. Pray g. Use the principle of interpretation
c. Read h. Apply
d. Observe
e. Take notes

A SUGGESTED MINIMUM BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR EXEGETICAL WORK

17 Sources of Supporting Biblical Material (Helps for Bible Study)

1. The Bible Itself

At least 7 Kinds of Bible Translation such as KJV, NKJV, NIV, NASV,
RSV, NCV (New Century Version) Tagalog Popular Version, Young Literal
Translation of the Holy Bible.
16
2. Commentaries
For explanation of hard passage.
a. Analytical
b. Devotional
c. Exegetical Material and interpretations
i. The pulpit commentary
ii. Lange’s commentary
Comment of the Theologian Last Lecturer
d. Expository Semantic

3. Concordance

To find out verses.

a. Young Analytical Concordance

b. Stilong Exhaustive Concordance
c. Topical Concordance
4. Webster Dictionary
To find the definition of each word
5. Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedia
To find the Biblical meaning
a. Gehman Davis Bible Dictionary
b. Standard Bible Dictionary
c. Smith Bible Dictionary
d. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

6. Bible Geographies

The places and location are involved, a good Bible Atlas is most helpful.

a. Historical Geography of the Holy Land

By G. A. Smith
b. Historical Atlas of the Holy Land
By G. A. Smith
c. The Westminster Historical Atlas
By Bright and F. Filson
d. Sacred Sites and Ways
By G. Dalman
e. Biblical Backgrounds
By J.M. Adam
f. The Graphic Historical Atlas of Palestine
By B. Maisler

7. Almanac
Deal with the customs, character and setting of the people.
17
8. Archeological Book
Halley’s Handbook

9. Historical Book
Give history of the Bible in chronological order with comment and interpretation
History and culture.

10. Theological Books

Refer to different type of theology.

11. Book by Book

To study the setting, outline, theme, purpose, recipient, etc.

12. Grammatical aids

To study etymology of word, original language.
a. Lexicons and Grammar
b. Strong Concordance and Vine Expository Dictionary

13. Critical Text of the Original Language

Hebrew and Greek language

14. Theological Dictionary

Theological word meaning

15. Word Study

What we are studying is the content of the book.
The aim of all exegesis is simply to fine out what the Bible says.

16. Bible Introduction

It is important to know the background of each book and the reason for its
writing.

A good book on Bible introduction will prove this information.

a. The introduction to the New Testament. By Thiessen

b. Unger’s Introductory guide to the Old Testament
c. Inspiration and canonicity of the Bible.
d. Survey of the Old Testament Introduction. by Gl;eason L. Archer, Jr.

17. Miscellaneous Reading and Study

a. Christianity through the Centuries
By Earle e. Cairns
b. The Biographies of D.L. Moody, Charles Hadden Spurgeon, Morrison of
China, Hudson of Burma, William Carey of India, Hudson Taylor of
China, George Mueller of Ireland.
18
 c. Corrie Ten Boom, The Hiding Place, on the Modern Problems such as
Francis Schaeffer’s escape form Reason.

HOW TO INTERPRET SCRIPTURE METHOD AND PRINCIPLE OF

BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

EIGHT (8) RULES OF INTERPRETING TEXT

1. Interpret the Text in the Light of the Context

A verse of scripture which seems to have one meaning may be seen to mean
something else when the context is read.

I Cor. 2:9 – seems to refer to heaven’s future glory, but the context reveals it
to be a quotation from the O. T. predicting the fuller revelations of the age of grace
which believers may enjoy in the present world. (Is. 64:4)

Heb. 12:1 – appears to be an admonition to believers to live carefully before

their unsaved neighbors but the context (Chapter 11) shows that it refers to the
believer’s race as encompassed about by the great heroes of faith (the great cloud of
martyrs of chapter 11).

Col. 2:21 – Touch not, taste not, handle not, seems to be a good prohibition
text, but it is useless as such because it is a quotation of some negative precepts that
legalistic teachers were using.

NOTE: Texts like the above are so numerous that one is never safe in the interpretation
of a text until the context has been studied.

2. Interpret a Text in Harmony with the Teaching of the Whole Bible.

The Bible does not contradict itself, therefore when the text can have two
meaning, the one is to be taken which is in harmony with the teaching of the body of
scripture.

Lk. 14:26 – seems to assert that a disciple of Jesus must hate his near
relatives, but since this would be contrary to the great body of scripture which teaches
love, the word “hate” mu8st be taken figuratively as hyperbole.

. Hyperbole – is deliberate exaggeration for emphasis.

It really means that a disciple must be willing to utterly give up home ties to
heed the call to service.

19
3. The Text Must be Interpreted in Harmony with Sound, Systematic Doctrine.

. Doctrines are formed after consulting the whole Bible’s teaching on a subject.
. Therefore a single text which seems contrary must not be used against the well
established Bible doctrine.
. The orthodox tenets of the fundamental church have been subjected to two
millenniums of scholarly interpretation.
. This does not guarantee their infallibility, but one should proceed with great caution
when interpreting a text contrary to the general fundamental consensus.

4. A Text Should be Taken Literally Unless it is Obviously Figurative, or Unless a

Literal Interpretation Would Lead to an Absurdity or an Impossibly.

. The Bible was written in the common people’s language and for average readers.
. Unrestricted spiritualizing and allegorizing does violence to the Bible and makes it
little more than a playground for metaphysical minds.

. Metaphysical – existing only in thought; abstract

. Allegory – a story in which people, things, happenings have another meaning, as

in a feeble or parable.

. That spiritualizing is vain is seen by the fact that not two such interpreters get the
same result.

There are indeed some figures of speech in the Bible, but they are in nearly every
case so obvious as such that there should be no confusion.

. In nearly case where a Bible narrative is allegorized, the forced application is

inferior to the real and literal application.

5. If possible, Consult the Original Language as a Help to Interpretation.

One should not try to make independent translation of words or passages of

the Greek and Hebrew texts unless one studied the grammar of these languages.
Greek and Hebrew will greatly aid the minister to interpret his texts correctly,
but let him keep these aids in his study where they belong.

6. Make Use of the Scholar of Other Translators.

If the minister does not have a thorough knowledge of the original languages,
he will be helped in interpreting the text by comparing several literal and modern
speech translations of the Bible, such as:
. The Emphasized Bible – By Rotherham
. Weymouth’s New Testament
20
 . Helen Montgomery’s Centenary Translation
. Moffatt’s Translation
. Young’s Literal Translation

By comparing some of these with the King James Version,

misinterpretation based upon archaic words will be avoided.

.For instance:

. Study – in II Tim. 2:15 – will be seen to mean “Strive earnestly”, not study
books.
. Charity – I Cor. 13 – will be replaced by “love”.
. Let – II Th. 4:15 – will give way to “hinder”
. Prevent – I Th. 4:15 – will be found to mean “precede”
. Conversation – Gal. 1:13 – will be seen rather to mean “behavior”.

7. Furthermore, Consult Parallel Passages.

Scripture best interprets – Scripture.

. If the same idea is expressed several places, but in somewhat different words, it is
made clearer by comparison.

. If an ethical principle is applied to several different cares, it is seen to be general in

application and not simply a local emergency measure.

. Some commands and prohibitions are of only local and temporary significance and
others are meant for the whole church for all time.

NOTE: Comparing parallel passages can usually solve this problem of application.

8. Finally, Consult One of Some Good Commentaries of the Critical Exegetical

Type.

The writers of the good exegetical commentaries were careful Biblical

scholars conversant with theology and the original languages, and while they are not
infallible, of course, their opinions are worth considering along with one’s own in the
process of in of interpreting the text.
Do not be slavish follower of commentaries, but do not either reject their
explanations with out good reasons and careful study.

ANSWER: 8 RULES OF INTERPRETATION

1. Get the Preceding and Succeeding Verses.

21
 Phil. 4:13 answer found in verse 12
Phil. 1:29II about the problem and the answer is found in Tim. 3:12
Phil. 2:14 answer found in verse 12
Phil. 2:21 answer found in verse 20
Phil. 1:21 answer found in verse 1:24; 22-24

II Peter 3:18 – the knowledge of the Lord.

What it is?
Knowledge – not referring to Christ but refer to man.
Knowledge
Foreknowledge - I Peter 1:2
Foreknowledge – proginosko – to know before
Ginosko – to know
Pro – before

Is use of Divine knowledge concerning

Christ – I Peter 1:20 – to know beforehand
Foresee – foreknow (Ordain)
Know (Before)

Ginosko – to know, in a great variety of applications and which many important

(as follow , with othereitr not that clearly, expressed (Allow, be aware (of)
Feel
Know (ledge) perceive, be resolve, can speak, be sure, understand
Knowledge – seeking to know
Foreknow, foreknowledge – to know before
Pro – before

Ginosko – to know

Is use of divine knowledge concerning:

a. Jesus Christ I Peter 1:20, RV – foreknow, KJV foreordained

b. Israel as God’s earthly people, Romans 11:2
c. Believers, Romans 8:29 The foreknowledge of God is the basis of His
foreordaining counsels
d. Of human knowledge
i. Of persons – Acts 26:5
ii. Of facts – II Peter 3:17
e.g.
I Peter 5:17answer found in I Peter 5:6
I Peter 3:18 answer found in II Peter 3:17

2. Contradictive to the Other But the Bible Does not Contradict Itself.
Luke 14:26
22
 Note: Use etymology Greek word to interpret
Cf. Deut. 13:6-8, 33:9, Mt. 10:37
Deut. 12:25; Acts 20:24; Rev. 12:11

3. Get the Systematic Doctrine.

Use commentary
Gen. 3:15

4. Get the Literal Meaning of Word.

II Thess. 3:10
Cf. Gen. 3:19; I Thess. 4:11
Know about the historical background

Allegorical – refers to the hidden spiritual meaning contained in the literal text of
a scripture passage.
Apocalyptic interpretation – seek to discover concealed meaning that reveal future
events in scripture passage.

5. Consult the Original Language.

Use strong Concordance

Vine Expository Dictionary
Mk. 11:23 answer found in 11:12; 11:20
Mk. 11:22 KJV Have faith in God
Have faith of God

Note: (Magkaroon ng faith na kagaya ng Dios)

E.g God Hebrew word (Strong Exhaustic Concordance)

a. Genesis 1:1 – Elohim
b. Genesis 6:5 – Yehovah
c. Genesis 14:18 – El
d. Genesis 15:2 – Yehovih
e. Deuteronomy 32:15 – Elowahh
f. Judges 20:18 – Beyth-El
g. Ezra 4:24 – Elahh
h. Isaiah 44:8 – Tsuwr – Rock
i. Habakkuk 31:19 – Adonai – Master, Lord

6. Use Vine Expository Dictionary

e.g To get the meaning on

Strong Vines
Genesis 1:1 Elohim El
Ezra 4:24 Elahh Ala
23
 Matt. 5:11 – For the teacher of Hermeneutics
Spiritual only

7. Consult Parallel Passage

Matthew looks at parallel passage like Luke
Tukso after preparation Use Tagalog popular version
Tukso before preparation

e.g. Numbers 25:9 - 24,000 – Died

I Cor. 10:8 - 23,000 Died

Noted: 24,000 Died in one day

23,000 Died in one day
1,000 Died in one remaining day

Use other passage

If there is conflict use historical to get the real number.
Figurative – Inspirational
Conflict – Historical
Problem – Doctrinal

Note: Scripture is best interpreted by scripture.

8. Use Different Kinds of Commentary.

We suggest – use number 1, 5 and 6

Number 1 Contextual (Preceding and succeeding verse)
Number 5 Concordance (Hebrew and Greek)
Number 6 Both Concordance and Vines Expository Dictionary
Formula: 1 + 5 = 6 / C + C = C3

How to use Strong Concordance and Vines’ Expository Dictionary

Example: Genesis 4:1

1. Look knew – Old Testament Hebrew Page 574
2. Knew – 3045 – Use Vine’s Expository Dictionary
Old Testament / Hebrew Language
3. Knew Hebrew Yada – to know by experiencing
At the back of Concordance 2:21 1921

Notice:
5,000 – Difficulties in the Bible
– Hermeneutics is the key of success
– Always use literal word
– Research and find the original source of word.
24
PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

1. Interpret the passage according to the context.

2. Interpret according to the correct meaning of the word used.

- Example Jn. 3:16 and James 4:4 “World”
- a. Kosmos – human race, mankind.
- b. Aion – an age, period of time
- c. Aikomeñe – inhabited earth

3. Interpret according to the grammar of the passage.

- relationship of words

4. Interpret according to the purpose of the writer and his plan in writing the Book.
Example: I John 5:13 – purpose

5. Interpret according to backgrounds.

6. Interpret in the light of the Bible teaching as a whole.

- Interpret scripture by scripture. (Bible interprets itself)

HOW GOD COMMUNICATES THROUGH HIS WORD TODAY

Educational Objectives
1. To understand why there are 3 processes involved when understanding the Bible.
2. To know what the three processes are and how they relate to one another.

THE THREE PROCESSES OF BIBLE INTERPRETATION

In the Bible God communicates in the first place to particular person, at a

particular time in history using a particular person to write the message down in a
particular book of the Bible.
Many differences exist between us and the people for whom the Bible was
originally written.

God
Biblical Times Today

Differences of:
Culture Youth Group
MESSAGE Language
History
Situation
Others

25
For example in Colossians God spoke a particular message
At around A.D. 60
To a church in Colosse
Written by the Author Paul

The people who best understood the message of Colossians were the Christians in
Colosse.
But how can that message to the original receivers speak to us?
This happens through three processes.

THE THREE PROCESSES OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

1. Understanding – is also known as Exegesis

Understanding – it is the capability to receive and give meaning.
C – Clarity
L – Listen
U – Understand
E – Explain
2. Application – as Hermeneutics
3. Communication – as Homiletics

LEVELS OF HERMENEUTICS:

1. Devotional – “what does it meant for me?” 1st person

2. Sermonic – “how to share with you what does it meant for me?” 2nd person
3. Exegesis – “what is meant?” 3rd person

FIRST PROCESS
– is called understanding
– is also known as exegesis

The purpose of the process of understanding (exegesis) is as nearly as

possible to find the meaning that the original receivers of the Bible understand.
When we want to know what God is saying ins a Book, for example
Colossians, we make as if were a “CUT’ into God’s whole message.

God
Biblical Times Today

Differences of:
Culture Youth Group
MESSAGE Language
History
Situation
Others
26
 We make the Cut by placing ourselves into situation of the original
receiver of the message, in this case the Colossians in order to understand the
message as well as they did.
It is like using a time machine to move from our time to their time.

SECOND PROCESS
– is called application
– know as Hermeneutics
Once we understand what God spoke to the original receiver of the
message. We can bring that message across time to ourselves and the people to
whom we are ministering.
God
Biblical Times Today

Differences of:
Culture Youth Group
MESSAGE Language
History
Situation
Others

We bring the message across time by applying it to ourselves and the

people to whom, we are ministering. It is like getting into our time machine again
and traveling with the message toward our time.

THIRD PROCESS
– Is called communication
– Known as homiletics

Once we have applied the message to a specific group of people and know
what it says to them, it is still necessary to communicate it to them.

God
Biblical Times Today

Differences of:
Culture Youth Group
MESSAGE Language
History
Situation
Others

The applied message can be communicated in a number of ways. This will be

determined by the nature of the group to which you are ministering and what its
circumstances are.
27
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN UNDERSTANDING, APPLICATION AND
COMMUNICATION

Passage Of Scripture Sermon, etc.

Message To Original Message for Target Group

Receiver
Greet with kiss to show Greet in manner that
Christian love and Shows Christian love
appreciation and appreciation

Message To Original Message To Original

Receiver Receiver
Greet with kiss to Greet in manner that
show Christian love Shows Christian love
and appreciation and appreciation

Relatives Relatives
Message only to Original Cultural expression for target
Receiver group

Greet with kiss e.g. Greet with handshake

Absolutes Absolutes
Message to Original Receiver Message to everyone today
Greet in manner that Greet in manner that
shows Christian love shows Christian love
and appreciation and appreciation

28
THE STAND POINT OF EXPOSITIONS

The living God, Creator and Redeemer is a communicator, and the

inspired and inerrant scriptures which set before us His saving revelation is
history are his means of communicating with us today.
He now once spoke to the world through Jesus Christ His Son speaks to us
still in and through His written Word.
Publicly and privately, therefore through preaching, personal study and
meditation, with prayer and in the fellowship of the Body of Christ, Christian
must continually labor to interpret the scriptures so that their normative divine
message to us maybe properly understood.

THE SCOPE OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

1. Exegesis
This extracting from the text of what God by the human writer was
expressing to the latter’s envisaged readers.

2. Integration
The correlating of what each exegetical venture has yielded with whatever
other biblical teaching bears on the matter in hand and with the rest of biblical
teaching as such.

3. Application of the exegeted teaching

Viewed explicitly as God’s teaching, for the correcting and directing of
the thought and action.
Application is based on the knowledge that God’s character and will,
man’s nature and need, the saving ministry of Jesus Christ, the experiential
aspects of godliness including the common life of the church and the many side
relationship between God and His word including his plan for its history are
realities which do not change with the passing years.

RULES OF INTERPRETATION

THE RULES OF INTERPRETATION ARE DIVIDED INTO 4 CATEGORIES.

1. General principles of interpretation.

2. Grammatical principles of interpretation.
3. Historical principle of interpretation.
4. Theological principles of interpretation.

29
A. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

Are principles that deal with the overall subject of interpretation.

They are universal in nature rather than being limited to special
considerations, which are listed in other three (3) section.

Rule 1. Work from the assumption that the Bible is authoritative.

Rule 2. The bible interprets itself; scripture best explains scriptures.
Rule 3. Saving faith and the Holy Spirit are necessary for us to understand and
properly the scriptures.
Rule 4. Interpret personal experience in the light of scripture and not scripture in the
light of personal experience.
Rule 5. Biblical examples are authoritative only when supported by a command.
Rule 6. The primary purpose of the Bible is to change our lives, not increase our
knowledge.
Rule 7. Each Christian has the right and responsibility to investigate and interpret the
Word of God for Himself.
Rule 8. Church history is important but not decisive in the interpretation of Scripture.
Rule 9. The promises of God throughout the Bible are available through the Holy
Spirit for the believers of every generation.

B. GRAMMATICAL PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

– Are principles that deal with the text itself.
– They lay down the ground rules for understanding the word and sentences on
the passage under study.

Rule 10. Scripture has only one meaning and should be taken literally.
Rule 11. Interpret words in harmony with the meaning in the times of the author.
Rule 12. Interpret a word in relation to its sentences and context.
Rule 13. Interpret a message in harmony with its context.
Rule 14. When an inanimate object is used to describe a living being, the
statement maybe considered figurative.
Rule 15. When an expression is out of characters with the thing described, the
statement may be considered figurative.
Rule 16. The principal parts and figures of a parable represent certain realities.
Consider only these principal part and figures when drawing conclusion.
Rule 17. Interpret the words of the prophet in their usual literal and historical
sense, unless the context or manner in which they are fulfilled clearly
indicates they have a symbolic meaning.
Their fulfillment may be in installments, each fulfillments being a
pledge of that which is to follow.

C. HISTORICAL PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

Are principles that deal with the background or context on which the
books of the Bible were written.
30
 Political, economic and cultural situations are important in considering the
historical aspect of your study of the Word of God.

Rule 18. Since scripture originated in a historical context, it can be understood

only in the light of Biblical history.
Rule 19. Through God’s revelation in the scripture is progressive, both Old and
New Testaments are essential parts of this revelation and form a unit.
Rule 20. Historical facts or events become symbols of spiritual truths only if
scriptures to designate them.

D. THEOLOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

Are principles that deal with the formation of Christian doctrine.

They are, of necessity “Broad” role, for doctrine must take into
consideration all that the Bible says about a given subject.
Though they tend to be somewhat complicated, they are nonetheless
important, for they play a profound role in shaping that body of belief you call
your convictions.

Rule 21. You must understand the Bible grammatically before you can understand
it theologically.
Rule 22. A doctrine cannot be considered Biblical unless it sums up and includes
all that the scripture say about it.
Rule 23. When two doctrines taught in the Bible appear to be contradictory
accept both as scriptural in the confident belief they will resolve
themselves into a lighter unity.
Rule 24. A teaching merely implied in Scripture may be considered Biblical
when a comparison of related passage supports it.

VALID AND INVALID PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

VALID PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

Determine the meaning of the word study the context of the word plus the
usage and meaning use the word is known to have it in other context.

E.g. Acts 1:1 refer to the Book of Luke

Note: Use reference Acts 1:1 cf Lk. 1:3; Luke 3:23

What: What is the first book mentioned here?

What is the content of that first book?
Introduction of the Son of Man.
The work and teaching 1”1-4:13
31
INVALID PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

It is the rule that one may be use etymology to determine the meaning of
the latter occurrences of a word. “Etymology” is the science of tracing the
meaning of the word back to its roots.
E.g.

Gentiles Jews
Eph 2:8 James 2:22
By faith By faith

Acts 2:38 Acts 16:31

Repent Believe

Context – part of a discourse in which word or passage occurs and helps to

explain the two passages.

BASIC OBJECTIVES OF INTERPRETATION

- To find out the meaning of statement whether it is a command or a

question for the author for the first hearers or readers and there upon to
transmit that meaning to modern readers.

IMPORTANCE OF PROPER INTERPRETATION

1. II Cor. 6:14
2. Ps. 115:17
3. Acts 15:28-29; Js. 2:24

PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

1. To study how New Testament interpret the Old Testament.

2. To study the law of language or principles for the understanding of language.

CLASSIFICATION IN CONTEXT SITUATION

1. Context with other writing.
The different author with related thought.
E.g. See: Footnote or reference.

2. Context with particular writing.

There is one author of a book to another book.
E.g.
The Book of Moses:
Genesis
Exodus
32
 Numbers
Leviticus
Deuteronomy

The Epistle of Paul

Romans
I, II Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
I, II Thessalonians
I, II Timothy
Titus
Philemon

3. Context With Immediate Writing.

Two or three verses is not related to the chapter
E.g. John 4:1-54
Verses 31-33, 34 – is not related to the whole chapter

4. Context Absent Writing.

One verse is not related to the chapter.
E.g. John 2:1-25
Verse 24 – all knowing God (Is not related to the chapter)

3 APPLICATIONS IN THE BIBLE

Remember that nearly all the verses in the Bible have three applications.

1. Doctrinal
The first one will be doctrinal, for that is why the scriptures were written.
See II Timothy 3:16

2. Historical
The second one will be historical, that is, what is described as having taken place
actually took place.
The historical setting will show you how the verse is to be applied.

3. Spiritual
The third application will be spiritual or “Devotional,” that is, it can be use to help
a Christian out in, matters of admonition (I Cor. 10:11), Comfort (Rom. 15:4),
Learning (Rom. 15:4), Correction … Instruction of righteousness (II Tim. 3:16).

Doctrinal – II Tim. 3:16 – Tenets of Faith : II Tim. 3:16-17

E.g. Book of Romans
33
 Historical – Old Testament
Spiritual or Devotional – New Testament
a. Doctrinal
b. Spiritual or Devotional
c. Inspirational

3 GROUPS OF MEN IN THE BIBLE

Always ask yourself “Who is speaking? And “To whom is he speaking?” The
Bible list three different groups of men that it addresses itself to:
1. The Jews
2. The Gentile
3. The Church
See I Cor. 10:32

Outside of the Body Christ (The Church of God in I Cor. 10:32) There are
unsaved Jews and unsaved Gentiles.
In the Body of Christ (See: I Cor. 12:13 and Gal. 3:28) There is neither
Jew nor Greek.
Passages in the Bible are aimed at an unsaved Jew in this age, or an
unsaved Gentile in this age. But if the message is to be applied to the Old
Testament or the great tribulation, then you will find saved Jews and saved
Gentiles who are not Body of Christ, and thereby they retain their titles: “Jew and
Gentile.

E.g. Matthew 24 – Tell about the Jew

Who is speaking?
To whom is he speaking?
Verse – 14, 39
To convert: Zech13:8
Accepted the gospel 3½ years – 144 preacher
(Greater tribulation – Rev. 7)

HERMENEUTICAL EXPOSITION

Text : Exodus 2o0:1-17

Topic: The Ten Commandments
Outline:
I. Relation with God – verses 3 – 11
II. Relation with neighbor – verses 12 – 17

Consider:
1. Mount Sinai
2. Covenant
3. Worship

34
 Conclusion
Matt. 22:35
Matt. 13:34
Note:
In Hermeneutics avoid proof text
In preaching must be:
1. Hermeneutics
2. Homiletics
3. Application

PRINCIPLE OF GENERAL HERMENEUTICS

1. Literary Genre (Kind, sort)

Determines the frames of references in which words are used and the
interpreter mood and stanch.

Example:
Pentateuch
History
Poetry
Prophecy
Gospel
Parables
Epistles
Apocalyptic

2. Word Study
Words can be studied etymologically, comparatively and historically.

- We need to study and think what the words are and what do they meant.
- Words put together becomes a language and if there’s a language, there is
communication.

Facts About Words

1. Words change their meaning over a period of time.
2. Different Words have similar meanings.
Example: Galatians 6:2-5 “Burden and God”
3. God use human words to reveal His truth
4. Sometimes the Bible uses the same words of different meaning in different
places.

How to Study Words

1. Look up the Word in Dictionary
2. Study the word in it’s context
3. Use a concordance.
35
 Exegesis
Meaning, historical, cultural context
Source of Words
a. Lexicon
b. Concordance / Vines
c. Bible Dictionary
d. Bible Encyclopedia

E.g.
Mark 10:25 – Needle – ref. Bible Dictionary

Assignment: Research Study

a. Repent – Gen. 6:6; Jonah 3:9-10; Mt. 4:17; Acts 2:38
b. Power – John 1:12; Acts 1:8
c. In the beginning – Gen. 1:1; John 1:1
d. Needle – Mk. 10:25
e. Yoke – Mt. 11:28-30
f. Wine – I Tim. 5:23

3. Grammatical Exegesis or Literal Exegesis

Get the root the literal meaning of word and phrases means their normal
customary sense “in site” in their language.

A. Context of a passage
E.g.
Rich – Rich in brother and sister but poor in money

B. Cultural Elements
References to persons, events, social practices and matter of geography.
E.g. Cities, town, river, mountain, plane and plant and animal.

PRINCIPLE OF SPECIAL HERMENEUTICS

1. The Spiritual Factor

They are always defend on Holy Spirit – II Peter 1:21; Jer. 33:3
Believer is the qualification of spiritual factor.
A regenerate person, the interpreter trust and relies on the Holy Spirit for
illumination.

Note: Old Pentecostal way of Preaching

2. Unity of Scripture and its Harmony

The one of their both Old Testament, New Testament is Jesus Christ and
His redemption.
36
 However, the New Testament is prioritized in the theological of Christian
life.

E.g. Old Testament and New Testament – Jesus in His redemption

Text : Gen. 3:15
Topic : Promise of redemption
Protevangeleum – the first form of the Gospel
Enmity – Christ and his triumphant to Satan
Serpent – Satan
Woman – Church
Seed of the woman – Mary as the instrument
Seed of the serpent – Anti Christ
Bruise they head – Jesus
Bruise thy heal – Jesus at Calvary

Daniel 7 – Interpretation of Genesis 3:15 (Symbolic)

3. Progressive Revelation (Development)

God take man where He find and seek Him higher and higher final ethical
formulation rebuilt from the New Testament and there is no uniformity of
importance in scripture.

E.g. Ethical New Testament Final; What He said in the New Testament
Text: Exo. 20:8 – Work and Sabbath Day – Rest Day
Exo. 20:9 – 6 days to work
Exo. 20:11 – 6 days, God created everything
Exo. 20:10 – Rest Day
Isa. 42:4 – Well pleased

Matt. 12:12
Luke 6:6-11
John 5:1-9

E.g. Lev. 24:17, cf. Exo. 21:12; Deut. 19:11,12,21

Ethical New Testament is final – What He said in the New Testament.
Matt. 5:38-39

Another – Matt. 5:21-22; 27-28; 31-34

4. The Self Interpretation of Scripture

Scripture interpret scripture.
The whole of scripture interprets the parts of scripture and this no part of
scripture can be so interpreted as to reform the teaching of the whole of scripture.

37
 E.g.
Gen. 1:26-28; Jn. 5:17
Gen. 3:17-19
Rev. 21:5

5. The Supernatural on Scripture

The interpreter does not rule out the supernatural; but accept it as an
important element of the Biblical revelation.

E.g.
Dramatically should be the center
The miracle of Jesus Christ
a. Water turn to wine – John 2:1-11
b. Healing through His Word – John 4:43-54
c. Healing at the pool – John 5:5-9
d. Jesus fed the 5,000 – John 6:1-15
e. Jesus walks on the water – John 6:16-21
f. Jesus heals a man born blind – John 9:1-12
g. Lazarus is brought to life – John 11:38-44

6. Theological Exegesis
Deal with creative extension of the meaning of the text. It is interested in
the largest implication of the text.
Also it is theological version of “scripture interpret scripture”.
The exegesis brings all the either material to the text to bear upon the text.

E.g.
Deepest implication of the text

GENERAL HERMENEUTICS

The ascertaining of those principles with application to the entire Bible.

Refers to those rules which pertain to the interpretation of the entire Bible.
Trigger controversies in the entire Bible.

E.g. Controversial Issues Study the following.

1. Eph. 2:28; James 2:22

2. I Tim. 2:12; I Cor. 14:34
3. Acts 1:9; Acts 1:11
4. Acts 9:7; Acts 22:9
5. Gen. 6:6; Jonah 3:9-10
6. I Tim.5:23; I Tim. 3:8
7. I John 1:10; I John 3:9
8. I John 5:17; Rom. 5:12
38
 9. Matt. 4:17; Acts 2:38
10. Rom. 3:27-28; Rom. 2:3
11. John 1:12; Acts 1:8
12. Gen. 1:1; John 1:1

GENERAL HERMENEUTICS

1. Context
2. Language
3. Translation
4. History
5. Culture

Context

Primacy of Context

Neglect of context is a common cause of erroneous interpretation and

irrelevant application.
For example: Arthur W. Pink interprets John 1:35-43 as presenting a
typical picture of the Christian Dispensation. He asserts that the phrases “the
next day after, John stood” v.35 and “the tenth hour” v. 39 mean “the end f
John’s activities were now reached.
Such an application is entirely out of context, for in John 3:23 John the
Baptist is portrayed as a very active man: “And John also was baptizing in
Aenon near to Salim, because their was much water there; and they came and
were baptized.
Context is basic because it forces the interpreter to examine the entire
line of thought of the writer. When the interpreter projects his own ideas into
the thought he is interpreting, he ceases being an honest interpreter and
becomes a personal propagandist under the guise of explaining the work of
another.

Tools For Mastering Content

One cannot properly handle context until he has a good grasp of

biblical content. The interpreter must know the content of the book from
which the particular passage he is interpreting comes. He needs to know the
content of books is which there are passages devoted to the same theme which
he is interpreting. Sometimes the passages only appear to be parallel but in
reality are not. In other parallels the first glance discloses little in common
but careful examination reveals decisive points of similarity. Biblical content
is essential for the much-needed grasp of content.

39
Varieties in Context Situations

Immediate Context
The first responsibility of every interpreter is to note carefully what
precedes and what follows any verse or passage which he is interpreting. This
often involves going back two or three paragraphs and ahead two or three
paragraphs. Chapter divisions do not necessarily serve as boundary lines. One
may need to go back to the preceding chapter or ahead to the next chapter to get
the true context. It is surprising how much light a careful study sheds on any one
verse or group of verses.

Example: Ephesians 3:4-6

In these verses Pal declares that he has understanding in the mystery

which is Christ (genitive of apposition) or about, relating to Christ (Objective
genitive). Either of these syntactical usages comes to about the same meaning.
The relative pronoun “which” (vs. 5) has for its antecedent “mystery”. Christ and
all that is involved in him was not made known in past generations “as it is now
revealed in his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” The last verse of the
three (v.6), beginning “that is, how the Gentiles…” has an infinitive (in Greek) as
the main verbal element.

The verse can be regarded either:

1. As an appositive to the relative pronoun “which” (v.5)
2. As the subject of the verb “revealed” (v.5)
3. As indirect discourse after the verb “revealed” (v.5).

If the third possibility is chosen, the connection then would be: “It was reveled that the
Gentiles are…”

If one selects the second construction, he would translate the verses vs. 5b-6): “As the
fact of the Gentiles being heirs together with Israel, and belonging to the same promise in
Christ Jesus through the Gospel has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit.”

If it is the first alternative, the verse would read: “As it (the mystery) is now revealed to
his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that is that the Gentiles should be heirs
together with Israel, and belonging to the same body with Israel, and shares together with
Israel of the promise in Christ Jesus prefers the gospel.”

Context in Particular Writing

What are parallel? Parallel material means identical or similar language, or
identical or similar ideas found in a different context from the one being studied. When
the parallel is found in other material in the same writing, one should be alert to see
whether the fuller presentation of the subject in different contexts helps to clarify the
meaning in any one context.

40
 Eph. 3:5 – “holy apostles and prophets”
Eph. 4:11 – Parallel

Context in Other Writing

Absence of Context

Principles For Interpreting From Context

Language

Sound of Words (Phonology)

Form of Words (Morphology)
Meaning of Words (Lexicology, Lexicography)
Tools n
Factors Influencing Meaning
Principles for the Interpreter in Lexicography

Relationship of Words (Syntax)

Tools
Basic Syntactical Elements – Verb, Noun and Clause
i. Verb
ii. Noun
iii. Clauses
Principles for the Interpreter of Syntax

History And Culture

Meaning and Significance
Culture
Divergent Historical Backgrounds
Position in Life and Perspective in Faith

Tools for the Interpreter

Basic Elements
Geographical Factors
Political Factors
Environmental Factors of Everyday Living
Diversity in Historical Cultural Situations
Current Emphasis on History and Culture in Interpretation
Principles and Interpretation

SPECIAL HERMENEUTICS

A. Short Figures of Speech

1. Sources of Imagery
2. Figures Emphasizing Comparison
41
a. Simile – is an explicitly stated comparison employing words such as “like” and “as”.

In approaching similes the interpreter should seek to understand fully the two
things compared.

Example:
Lk. 10:1-3 – “Go, behold, I am sending you as lambs in the midst of wolves”.

This figure brings out the undercurrent of antipathy to Jesus, the fact that
the seventy had no experience or personal qualifications for such conflict, and the
increasingly sharp division between those who followed Jesus and those who
opposed him.

Mt. 23:37; Lk. 13:34 - …your children as a hen gathers together her brood under
wings…

Jesus shows the protection and care he wanted to give to his own people.

Mt. 24:27; Lk 17:24 - …just as the lightning comes…

The coming of the Son of Man for his disciples will be like the lightning
that flashes across the sky. The Simile is employed to correct any erroneous
reports of a secret coming with Christ in some desert place of inner storehouse.

Old Testament – Isa. 1:8; 29:8; 55:10-11; Jer. 23:29; Mal. 3:2
Epistles – I Cor. 3:15; 13:11; I Thess. 5:2

b. Metaphor
is comparison by direct assertion, in which the speaker or writer describes
one thing in terms of something else.

Lk. 12:32 - …little flock… (Jesus concept of the church)

Jn. 10:16 - …other sheep…
Lk. 8:21 – These are my mother and brothers: those hearing and doing the
message of God.

.Spiritual relationship to God.

Old Testament – Jer. 2:13; Isa. 59:1

3. Figures Involving Association

a. Metonymy
Means using the name of one thing for another thing because the two are
frequently associated together or because one may suggest the other.

42
 Example:

White House – to refer to the President (U.S.A.)

Lk. 24:27 - …they have Moses and the prophets…

Moses – 5 Books of the Law
Prophets – From Joshua to Malachi.
Old Testament – Gen. 42:38

b. Synecdoche
Is as figure of speech in which a part is used for a whole or a whole for a
part. A singular may be used for a plural and a plural for a singular.

Judges 12:7 – Then Jephthah, the Gileadite, died, and he was buried in the cities
of Gilead.

He was buried in only one of the cities of Gilead, but the plural shows the
loyalty which his own people l felt for Jephthah. Synecdoche underlines the
strength of tribal ties.

Micah 4:3; Isa 2:4

4. Figures Stressing a Personal Dimension

a. Personification
In personification a thing, quality, or idea is represented as a person.

Mt. 6:43 – Do not begin to worry about tomorrow, because the morrow will worry
about itself.
Ps. 114 – celebrates God’s great deliverance of Israel from Egypt.
Red Sea –is described as fleeing
Jordan River – is driven back or turns back.
The mountains skip like rams and the little hills like lambs.

b. Apostrophe
This figure is akin to personification. In apostrophe words are addressed
in an exclamatory tone to a thing regarded as a person (personification), or to an
actual person.
Ps. 114:5-6; II Sam. 18:33; Judges 5:3-4,31

5. Figures Demanding Additions to Complete Thought

a. Ellipsis (Brachylogy)
Refers to an idea not fully expressed grammatically so that the interpreter
must either supply words or expand and alter the construction to make it
complete.
43
 Gal. 3:5 – (God)
Rom. 11:12 – (The individual Gentile reader; continue in the sphere of Gods
goodness)
Acts 18:6 – Your blood upon your head.
(Let your blood come upon your head)

b. Zeugma
Is a specialized form of ellipsis. In certain contexts words are place
together which properly do not belong together.

I Tim. 4:3 (The italicized words make clear that the infinitive “abstain” is not to
be tied to the participle “forbid” but in reality is dependent upon a
participle which is not expressed.
I Cor. 3:2 – I gave you milk to drink, not solid food.
I gave you milk to drink: I did not feed you with solid food.

c. Aposiopesis
In aposiopesis a part of a sentence is consciously suppressed either
because the writer is strongly moved emotionally or because he wants to achieve
a rhetorical effect – perhaps the awareness that an alternative with serious
consequences is being presented.

6. Figures Involving Understatement

a. Euphemism
In Euphemism a word or phrase that is less direct is substituted because
the writer believes that the direct form would be distasteful, offensive, or
unnecessarily harsh.
Acts 1:24-25

b. Litotes or Meiosis

7. Figures Involving and Intensification or Reversal of Meaning

a. Hyperbole
Is conscious exaggeration by the writer to gain effect.
John 21:35

b. Irony
In irony the writer or speaker uses words to denote the exact opposite of
what the language declares.

Context is essential in recognizing irony.

We must know the surroundings of the speaker and his relationship to the person
to whom he speaks.
44
 Mt. 23 – Jesus pronounces woes against the scribes and Pharisees. He
speaks of them as building the tombs of the prophets and
decorating the memorials of righteous persons.

These leaders had stated confidently that if they had been living in
the days of their fathers, they would not have murdered the prophets.

Jesus, however, pointed out that by their own admission they were
sons of men who did murder the prophets (Mt. 23:31).

The Jesus remarks further: “And you make full the measure of
your fathers”. (Mt. 23:32).

I Cor. 3 and 4 Paul deals with the party spirit in Corinth. He

comments about their loyalty to Apollos and to himself in particular (I
Cor. 4:6-8).
In this irony Paul is striking out against their-seated pride.

8. Figures Involving Fullness of Thought

a. Pleonasm
In pleonasm the writer repeats an idea which has already been expressed
simply because he has the habit of repeating. Pleonasm is rarely seen by the
English reader because the translators feel that it would only bring
misunderstanding. The English reader would see it as meaningless redundancy.

Lk. 22:11 – And you will say to the household master of the house.
II Sam. 7:12-16 declares “that God swore with an oath (took an oath with an
oath) to him that one from the fruit of his loins with sit upon his throne.
(Acts 4:30)

A style Luke follows because he wants to stress how energetically God entered
into a living relationship with David and his descendants.

b. Epanadiplosis or Epizeuxis
This term describes a situation where an important word is repeated for emphasis.
Rev. 14:8; 18:2 – Fallen, fallen.
Rev. 4:8 – Holy, holy, holy
Isa. 6:1-5 – Isaiah’s main purpose in this figure and John as well was to drive
home the holiness of God.

c. Climax
In climax, a series of qualities, characteristics, or actins are listed.
Rom. 5:3-5 – first the quality is stated then this quality is specifically sati to give
birth to or to be followed by anther quality.
45
 II Peter 1:5-7 – Repeating the list of qualities (climax)
emphasizes the activity of the believer.

9. Interrogation
Rhetorical questions are far more that a teaching technique. Sometimes
they are answered. At other times the answer is obvious and no explicit statement
is necessary. But the question becomes a means of focusing the thought upon a
central idea.

Rom. 4:9-10 - These questions and answers indicated to any reader conversant
with Judaism that the Jewish pride in a ceremonial rite was
misplaced.

Abraham came into a covenant relation before such rites were begun. The
relationship of faith was central.

10. Distinguishing Figurative From Literal

Figuration language is a pervasive feature of human discourse. It lends
vivacity to expression and adds depth of meaning. In order to understand any figure,
one must of course fist recognize the literal meaning and then, by reflecting on the
relevant points of similarity, interpret the significance of the figure. Fortunately it
is usually easy to recognize a figurative expression and to make the necessary
distinctions.

B. Opaque Figures of Speech

Many seemingly obscure statements of the Bible can be brought into focus
by seeing their context, language and historical-cultural background. But there
are other passages where genuine obscurity exists, and which cannot be
interpreted by the foregoing methods.

1. Riddles
A riddle is a concise saying which is intentionally formulated to tax the
ingenuity of the hearer or reader when he tries to explain it.

a. Secular Riddles
Judges 14:14 – Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong
came forth sweetness.

It is important for the interpreter to observe:

1. The reason for the riddle.
2. The content of the riddle.
3. The outcome of the riddle.

b. Sacred Riddles – Rev. 13:18; 16:13; 19:20; 20:10; Daniel 3

46
Geometria
Hell – 222
Lucifer – 444
Vicarus Dei – 666
Computer – 666

2. Fables
A fable is a fictitious story meant to teach a moral lesson. The characters
are often members of the animal or vegetable kingdoms whose actins, being
contrary to the natural activities of the animals or tree, depict the vagaries,
emotions, and failures of human beings.

a. Jotham’s Fable Against Political Tyranny

Judges 9:8-15, 16-20

b. Jehoash’s Fable Against Belligerent Meddling

II Kings 14:7-10 – Jehoash then applied the fable by telling Amaziah that
he was proud f his victory over Edom. He wryly suggests that he ought
to enjoy his honor by staying at home. Amaziah ignored his advice and
was defeated.

c. Ezekiel’s Parabolic Fable Against Alliance with Egypt

Ezekiel 17 is divided into three parts:

1. The prophet’s riddle and parable, vs. 1-10
2. Meaning of the story about the eagles and the vine, vs. 11-21
3. The final planting of Jehovah when he establishes his Messiah as head
over all, vs. 22-24. (Isa. 11:1; 53:2 – Jesus)

Procedures for Interpreting Fables

1. Understand the contemporary situation in which the speaker resorted to a
fable.
2. Note whether the fable is simple or complex, i.e., is the fable trying to teach a
lessons by stressing one point or several points?
3. Observe the influence of the gable on the hearers and the immediate response
or comment of the one who told the fable – words, attitude, or action of both
hearers and of the profounder of the fable are significant.
4. State why the lesson taught in the fable is pertinent to modern man and in
what other ways the same lesson can be brought to the modern reader’s
attention.

3. Enigmatic Sayings
These consist of statements which are so highly saturated with meaning
that the hearer is perplexed because of his own unpreparedness for that meaning.

47
a. Obscurity in Old Testament Revelation

Numbers 12:6-8 – there is contrast between the manner in which God revealed
himself to the propjets (by vision and by a dream) and the way he revealed
himself to Moses. In this context Moses is in a class by himself. God spoke
to Moses face to face (mouth to mouth) in direct appearance or personal
presence.

Hence God’s revelation in and through the prophets by means of vision and
dreams (inward intuition) is pictured as being enigmatic.

Enigmatic statements are inherent in certain kind of revelation. The way God
reveals himself affects the content of that revelation.

By way of summary, then, note three elements in enigmatic discourse:

1. Condition of the hearers.

2. Profoundness of the message.
3. Media through which revelation came to those who proclaimed it.

Ps. 49:4; Ps. 78:2

b. Obscurity in New Testament Revelation

Procedures for Interpreting Enigmatic Sayings

1. Remove all the superficial ambiguities. Check the lexical meaning of words.
Observe carefully the syntactical connections.
2. Pay careful attention to the context so that you can see how the though flows
along before, through, and after the enigmatic portion.
3. Watch for quick shifts from the literal to the metaphorical. The use of figurative
meaning for that which has just been used literally is a frequent occurrence in
enigmatic sayings where metaphor plays a basic role.
4. Check good commentaries after you have done firsthand careful exegesis for
yourself. Here enigmatic materials occur, the interpreter who consults
commentaries too soon becomes so occupied with possible solutions that he never
grapples with the obscurity.
5. Write down a tentative statement (in your own words) of what you believe the
meaning of the enigmatic statement to be. Keep such a notation. Then you will be
able to come back to it later and build upon your previous reflection. The next
time you take a different approach and may see angles that were not apparent the
first time. This may lead you to a different conclusion. Yet even the formulation
will force you to bring together all the known elements into a statement that you
hope would have been meaningful to those who first heard the saying. Revision
is an important to key to a deepening penetration of meaning.

48
c. Extended Figures of Speech
The study of syntax revealed that clauses – larger grammatical elements –
function as nouns, verbs, or adverbs. Likewise, extended figures of speech often
function similarly to some of the short figures of speech. Whether the thinking be
in Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, these extended figures of speech are not altered by
the language vehicle. They have the same purpose and the same effect.

1. Similitudes and Parables

a. Definitions
A similitude or a parable is often an extended simile. An allegory, on the
other hand, is an extended metaphor.

Examples make this clear. Let us begin with the simile:

Acts 8:32; Isa. 53:7 – He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and as a lamb
before his Shearer is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Metaphor:
Jn. 1:29 – Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world.

Similitude: Lk. 15:4-7 – Lost sheep

15:11-32 – Lost son
Allegory: John 10:1-16

b. Reasons for Use

Jesus used parables to teach spiritual truths. The condition of each hearer
determines whether that aim is realized or not. But Jesus used the parables to
throw light on the reign of God, on the demands of God, on the response of men
to the demands of God, and the like.

c. Sources of Parabolic Imagery

The content for the parables, like that of the Sort Figures of Speech, is
taken from the surroundings and everyday life of the hearer. It shows Jesus’
interest in agriculture and food production. Many parables center in domestic and
family life. Trees and their fruit are pictured. Other parables come from the
sphere of business, some dealing with employment practices and others with
capital investments. Political life is not neglected. Civil law, personal property,
the social structure and social concerns – all become an integral part of Jesus’
parables. One reason that Jesus’ parables are timeless is that he took the imagery
for his teaching from that which was familiar to his hearers. He used these
familiar facets to point to that which should have been familiar but in reality was
not. A man should figure the cost of discipleship in the same way as one figures
the cost of building a tower (Luke 14:28-30). The problems of building capital
resources are as familiar today as they were in Jesus’ day. Jesus made everyday
experiences teach spiritual truths.
49
 d. Setting for the Parables

Many modern writings on the parables emphasize a double historical setting:

1. The original historical setting in some specific situation in Jesus’ ministry.
2. The setting in the primitive Church which controlled the written form of the
parable and the literary setting for the parable.

e. Conclusion to the Parables

As certain parables are brought to a close, the reader finds a terse,
hortatory saying. These generalizing conclusions are of such a nature that they
may be found in several places in Jesus’ teaching. Or if the conclusion is found
only once, it tends to broaden out the more specific or confined emphasis of the
parable,
The parable of the workers in the vineyard closes with the saying:
Matthew 20:16 – The emphasis in the parable in on the goodness of the
owner.
The application points to the goodness of God to all.

f. Focus of Parables
In the definition of a parable we pointed out that parables have one chief
point of comparison. This is the focus of the parable. It is important for us to
relate the basic emphasis of each parable to the central idea in Jesus’ message.
The message of Jesus centered in an revolved around the reign of God. The
Greek word basileia, which designates the royal reign or kingdom of God, appears
over one hundred times in the gospel. Hence the parables serve to illustrate and
unfold various aspects of the reign of God.

INTERPRETATION OF THE PARABLES OF JESUS

1. Examine the parable closely to reconstruct the real situation in which and to
which Jesus spoke his parable.

a. What questions were put to him?

b. Who asked the question?
c. Why did they ask Jesus?
d. What were his answers?

2. Analyze the parable for the unusual element in the story. Local color will lead the
hearer to the spiritual intent of Jesus.

3. The point of the parable is often found in the last sentence of the story.

4. A parable has one (central) point, as an arrow which has one point and one area of
impact.

50
 5. For application the expounder, preacher must not only know the parable, its
circumstances and its theological weight; he must also be sensitive to his own
time, his generation, his world and his congregation, with it ever changing fears,
demands, burdens and aspirations.

Presence of the Reign of God

The main point of the parable of the tares is that heaven’s reign or God’s reign.
There is good seed and there are tares. The tares are not to be rooted out now lest there
be damage to the wheat. “Allow them both to grow together until the harvest” (Mt.
13:30). In the harvest time the bundles of tares will be for the fire and the whet will go
into the storehouse. The reign of god becomes absolute in the time of the harvest
although discordant elements are not present within God’s kingship or reign.
In Jesus’ explanation of the parable of the tares (Mt. 13:36-43), the parable is
treated as an allegory, and the meaning of various features is presented point by point.
This explanation accentuates the reign of God. the sons of the kingdom or reign
are the good seed. The reign or kingdom the is present. The future aspect of the
kingdom simply points to the universal sway of God’s reign. The climax is mentioned
but is not developed. Yet the present dimension of the reign of God as well as the future
dimension have one common source: what Jesus taught about this all–important theme.

Role of Grace in the response to the reign of God

The parable of the two sons (Mt. 21:28-32)

The disparity between the response of the two sons to the command shows
the difference in attitude towards God and his gracious demands.
Luke 15:1-7 – we see the role of grace in the action of the shepherd who
goes out to seek his lost sheep.

Loyal adherents to the reign of God

Luke 14:25-35 – (conclusions to the parables) shows that those who are disciples
of the king and adherents to the reign of God have taken into account al that
is involved in such an allegiance.
Mt. 7:24-27; Luke 6:47-49 – the loyal adherent to the reign of God has prepared
himself against the storms by faithful obedience to all that Jesus taught.

Crises in the reign of God

Mt. 21:33-46; Mk. 12:1-12; Lk. 20:9-19; Mt. 25:1-13

Parts of a Parable:
Setting
Main Point
Conclusion
51
Luke 10:25-37 – Good Samaritan
A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho – Adam
Jerusalem – the heavenly city of peace, from which Adam fell
Jericho – the moon, and thereby signifies Adam’s mortality
Thieves – The devil and his angels
Stripped him – namely, of his immortality
Beat him – by persuading him to sin
And left him half-dead – as a man he lives, but he died spiritually (half dead)
The Priest and Levite – the priesthood and ministry of the Old Testament
The Samaritan - Christ
Bound his wounds – binding the restraint of sin
Oil – comfort of good hope
Wine – exhortation to work with a fervent spirit
Beast – the flesh of Christ’s incarnation
Inn – the church
The morrow – after the resurrection
Two pence – promise of this life and the life to come
Innkeeper – Paul

Principles for Interpreting Parables

1. Seek to understand “the earthly details” of the parables as well as the original
hearers did.
2. Note the attitude and spiritual condition of the original hearers.
3. If possible, note the reason which prompted Jesus to employ the parable.
Such effort will show that parables were a part of Jesus’ method of presenting
fresh, living truths to audiences who were opposed to what they regarded as
his innovations, who failed to see that he was putting new into wineskins, or
who needed instruction as to what the reign or kingship of God really
involved.
4. State concisely the main point of the parable. Give reasons for your selection.
5. Try to relate the main point of the parable to the basic aspects of Jesus’
teaching. Keep in mind the centrality of the reign of God in all that Jesus said
and did.
6. Observe whether any generalizing sayings have come into the parabolic
narrative. Their presence adds a hortatory note which may be central or
peripheral to the main teaching of the parable.
7. Where most of the details of a parable are explained, try even harder to
uncover the main emphasis. The fact that occasionally traits of allegory
should be blended in with a parable is natural since the function and purpose
of the two may disclose a common objective. Relate the main emphasis to
present day readers. Remember that their situation may be quite different
from those of the original hearers.

52
Allegories
At the beginning of this chapter it was made clear that a parable is usually a more
extensive form of the simile while the allegory is a more extensive form of the metaphor.
An allegory is a story put together with several points of comparison.

Extensiveness of their Use

Context for Each Allegory
Focal Point of an Allegory

History is of little importance; literal meaning is overlooked; the persons,

and events in a document, stand for spiritual process and actions and essences for
the timeless truth already predetermined from other sources.

Allegory (Not true) “Symbolic”

Bible Dictionary, Greek Allegorevein, from allos, other and agorevein, to
speak in the assembly.

Allegorizing
To be distinguished from the drawing out of spiritual truth fror factual
presentation, has had broad application in Bible teaching.

Allegorical Interpretation
Is the interpretation of a document whereby something foreign, peculiar,
or hidden is introduced into the meaning of the text giving it a proposed deeper or
real meaning.
An entirely foreign subjective meaning is read in the passage to be
explained.
Expresses the relationship between certain persons and things by
substituting a whole range of persons or things from an entirely different sphere
of experience.

Gal. 4:24
Used but once in reference to Hagar, Sarah, Ishmael and Isaac. The
literary device is used extensively in scripture for example in Isaiah 5:1-7 and in
the Song of Solomon.
To speak allegorically is to set forth one thing in the image of another, the
principal rather than by direct statement.

E.g. Gal. 4:24

The following interpretations have been put on this text.

a. That it is an illustration and therefore says nothing in justification and

allegorical interpretation.
b. That it is a page out of Rabbinical exegesis and therefore improper and
indispensable.
53
 c. That it is page out of Rabbinical exegesis, to be sure, but it is a proper form of
interpretation which the Rabbis abused.
d. That it is an argumentum ad hominem and therefore does not constitute a
justification for allegorical interpretation.
e. That it is one instance of an inspired allegorical interpretation; Paul definitely
makes note that he is departing from usual methods of interpretation, and it
therefore constitutes no grounds for allegorical interpretation in general.
f. That it is an allegorical interpretation and thereby constitutes and justification
of allegorical methods.
g. That it is in reality a typological interpretation, or similar to one, regardless of
the use of the word allegory in the text.

Typology

Nature of Typology
In a single chapter we can touch only upon the most important aspects of
typology. Much has been written on this subject in the last few years. But with a
clear picture of the main aspects of typology, we can study the examples with
understanding and discernment.

Definition

In typology the interpreter finds a correspondence in one or more respects

between a person, event, or thing in the Old Testament and a person, event, or
thing closer to or contemporaneous with a New Testament writer.
In the desert, when the children of Israel were bitten by serpents, Moses
was commanded to make a serpent (presumably out of brass) and set it up on a
standard. Everyone bitten by a serpent was to look up to the elevated model of a
serpent. When he did so, he lived. This Old Testament event is considered
typical of the New Testament event of Christ’s death upon a cross: “And just as
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, in this fashion, it is necessary that
the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone believing in him might have eternal
life”(Jn. 3:14-15).

The points of correspondence are:

1. The lifting up of the serpent and of Christ.
2. Life for those who respond to the object lifted up.

In these two point s of correspondence it is clear that typology involves a

higher application of meaning.
The same is true of the response. In the case of the type, those who looked
at the brass serpent “lived”, i.e., they did not die of snake bite but continued their
physical life.
In the case of the antitype, those who commit themselves to Christ who
was lifted up in the cross have “eternal life”, i.e., they are transformed and
energized within by new kind of life both now and in the life to come.
54
 This meaning of life is infinitely greater than the former. Even so, it is
still proper to speak of a higher application of meaning.

The points of correspondence are historical in both events.

Typology and allegory need to be contrasted.

Woolcombe defines typology as: The establishment of historical
connections between certain events, persons or things in the Old testament, and
similar events, persons or things in the New Testament.
Abraham’s offering of Isaac (his only son) could be considered as a type
of God’s offering of Christ (his only begotten Son) Heb. 11:17-19.

To point this connection is to use typology as a method of exegesis.

The Greek word for “type”, tupos, occurs fourteen time in the New
Testament. Although it has several meanings, the word has only two basic ideas:
1. Pattern
2. That which is produced from the pattern, i.e. product.

Tupos is used of the mark (or pattern) of the nails (Jn. 20:25).
It is also used of that which is formed, an image or statue (Acts 7:43)
The word tupos described a pattern of teaching (Rom. 6:17)

It also stand for the content or text of a letter (Acts 23:25)

It is also used technically of an archetype, model or pattern both by
Stephen and by the writer of Hebrews (Acts 7:44; Heb. 8:5)
It is most frequently used of an example or pattern in the moral life (Phil.
3:17; I Th. 1:7; II Th. 3:9; I Tim. 4:12; Titus 2:7; I Peter 5:3)
Finally, it is used of types given by God as an indication of the future, in
the form of persons or things (Rom. 5:14; I Cor. 10:6)
Adam is the type of the one who was about to be, named Jesus, the head of
the new humanity (Rom. 5:12)
The Greek adjective antitupos (anti-type) has the meaning “corresponding
to something that has gone before. The anti-tupos is usually regarded as
secondary to the tupos (Exo. 25:40), but since tupos can mean both original and
copy.
Peter describes Noah and his family – eight persons – as being brought
safely through the water of the flood. He the adds (I Peter 3:21): Which (water)
also now saves you through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, baptism, a fulfillment
(of the type); it is not a removal of the dirt of the body, but it is a pledge of the
good conscience towards God”. Peter says that the deliverance indicated in
baptism corresponds to the deliverance experienced in Noah’s being brought
safely through the flood. The higher reality of baptism is foreshadowed by Noah’s
deliverance in the flood. Baptism “fulfills” by involving the believer in a
deliverance that infinitely transcends Noah’s deliverance in the flood.
55
 The correspondence is between a higher New Testament reality and a
lower Old Testament experience. But antitupos can also designate a lower earthly
reality which corresponds to the higher heaven reality.

God and His People in History

To understand typology, the interpreter must come face to face with one of
the great truths of the Bible. To both Old and New Testament writers, God is not
an abstraction. He is not a central idea for an ethical way of life or the raison
d’etre for the various cultic aspects of worship. He is a God who acts. He is a
God who reveals Himself. He is a God who builds upon what he has said and
done before. He is known by his people, through his people, among his people.
This relationship with his people opens up fellowship with God himself. Thus the
people of God are always the divinely chosen means for acquiring a fully
developed knowledge of God.
Israel was the people of God in the Old Testament. But in the New
Testament, God brought into being a new people of God who are freed from
nationalistic restrictions the New Testament use of the word laos (people) shows
great variety. Acts 15:14; 1`8:10; Rom. 9:25-26; II Cor. 6:14-16; Titus 2:14; I
Peter 2:9-10

Essential Characteristics of Typology

In listing the characteristics of typology the word “type” will refer to what
occurred earlier in history, and the word “antitype” to what occurred later. The
things compared are always placed by the biblical writers within the sphere of
history. To call this “redemptive history” is somewhat misleading. History does
not redeem. It is God who redeems. Since the people of God are participants in
or witness of certain kinds of action, the combination of God’s actions and the
actions of God’s people may make the title “redemptive history” seem
appropriate.

Types and antitypes disclose the following characteristics:

1. Some notable point of resemblance or analogy must exist between the type
and the antitype. The particular point must be worthy of notice. This does
not mean that the type itself, in all that it was, must be outstanding in the Old
Testament. But the point of comparison stands out.
2. Even though a person, event. Or thing in the Old Testament is typical, it does
not mean that the contemporaries of the particular person, event or thing
recognized it as typical. To the wilderness generation the brazen serpent was
a means of deliverance from snake bite. It did not show them that the second
member of the Godhead would die on a cross as God’s eternal sacrifice for
sin.
3. The point of correspondence is important for later generations because they
can see that God’s earlier action became significant in his late action. A right
perspectives on both the type and the antitype is essential if the interpreter is
to appreciate their full force.
56
Examples of Typology

a. Persons

Solomon – II Samuel 7:12-14 – He is referred to as David’s seed.

David – Ps. 69:9; 68:10

This is the setting for the passage quoted above:

1. The psalmist has a real zeal for the place where God is worshipped.
2. He himself has borne the reproaches of those who reproach God.
Jn. 2:16-17

Isaiah – Isa. 8:17-18

Melchizedek – Gen. 14:17-20; Ps. 110:4

In Genesis record the following facts are listed about Melchizedek.

1. He was king of Salem (earlier name Jerusalem).

2. He brought forth bread and wine.
3. He was a priest of God Most High.

b. Events

Rest – Gen. 2:2-3

Ps. 95:7-11; Heb. 3:7-11 – Word of Admonition
Heb. 3:15-19 – Interprets the passage literally.
Heb. 4:1-11 – takes the idea of rest found in both Genesis and
Psalms.

Grief – Jer. 31 – the prophet pains a picture of a future time of joy.

Jer. 31:15 – He will make them rejoice from their sorrow.
Rachel, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin and therefore the
mother of the Northern tribes, weeps for the ten tribes which were carried
away into captivity to Assyria.

Mt. 2:17-18; Jer. 31:15

Called out of Egypt. Hosea 11:1; Mt. 2:15
Passover. Exodus 1221-23; Jn. 1:29

c. Things
Instruction. Ps. 78:2; Mt. 13:35
Temple. Ps. 68:29; I Cor. 3:16-17; Eph. 2:19-22

57
 Interpretation of the Old Testament in New Testament Quotations and
Allusions
Literal Interpretation
Typology of Interpretation
Quotation with Interpretive Alteration – Midrash Pesher
Old Testament Language in a New Train of Thought
Allegorical Interpretation

Procedures For Interpreting Typology

1. Note the specific point or points of correspondence between the type and the
antitype. These should be examined carefully in the light of the historical
context of both. The New Testament person, event or thing as well as that of
the of Old Testament is viewed historically by the author who make use of
typology. The interpreter must see the type and the antitype as specific,
concrete realities that men encountered and to which men responded.
2. Note also the points of difference and contrast between the type and the
antitype. This is not only develops the historical picture and but also removes
the artificialities that are fatal to all true typology. The uncovering of
differences does not minimize the true significance of the point of
correspondence.
3. The New Testament picture of the unity of the people of God should be
grasped in its full significance. This gives a valuable perspective on the
matter of typology. Full understanding of typology is dependent on our
position in history.

Here are some rigorous guide rules:

1. A potential type must show a similarity in some basic quality or element.

2. The basic quality or element or the potential type should exhibit God’s
purpose in the historical context of the antitype.
3. That which is taught by typological correspondence must also be taught by
direct assertion. By a typological procedure of comparison, Christ is said to
be creator in Hebrews 1:10-12.

History and literal meaning are taken seriously, have a person or things or
events which has a real existence and significant of his own symbolize or pre-
figures or represent someone or something greater of a later time.
Is the alphabet of Old Testament coordination. It is also fundamental to an
understanding of the doctrine of the atonement which is the heart of the scriptures.
The type is a God given illustration of a Bible truth.
Paul calls types and shadows things to come that are cast by the Body of
Christ. The shadow fills the Old Testament and in the shadows is revealed.

58
 E.g.
Amos 9:11 – I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, I will raise up his
ruin build.

Jesus – Promise Land – Land of Rest (To have long life pressure to a whole life) New
Testament – Promised Land – Eternal Life

E.g. Bible Character

The Bible character types are people who either represent some aspect of
Christ life and ministry or illustrate some truth in God’s plan of redemption.

a. Adam – was the federal head of human race represents fallen man who needs
the redemption of Jesus Christ the second Adam.
b. Enoch – represent the believing church that will be walking with God when it
is raptured.
c. Noah – represents the Jewish Nation who will go through the flow of the great
tribulation.
d. Joseph – is the greatest type of Christ in Old Testament, sold into slavery and
emerging as ruler.
e. Moses and Joshua – represent Christ as deliver from the bondage of sin and
deliverer into the new life.
f. David – foreshadows Christ the king and many other spaces will not permit to
mention were types of Christ as the prophet and high priest.

Note: More on the Book of Hebrew and Romans.

The Bible interpreter should understand the meaning behind God’s choice
of Bible character types.

W. Zimmerli in Essays on Old Testament Hermeneutics clarifies typological

interpretations by his schemes of “Promise and Fulfillment.” He distinguishes carefully
between “prediction and promise”.
Prediction is the illumination of future events, but promise is the understanding
that God has determined to accomplish his purposes, and is already working towards the
completion of this goals.
It is not just a word about something to come; is speaks of a future already in
progress of fulfillment.
The Old Testament depicts God’s actions in history as a series of promises (not
predictions) and fulfillments, with each fulfillment giving rise to the expectation of a
greater fulfillment in the future.
This is because the promises of God were never exhausted by one fulfillment, so
the promise of rest in the Promised Land. Deut. 12:9; 25:19 was apparently fulfilled in
the conquest under Joshua (Josh. 21:45), but this was not meant to imply a final
fulfillment, Heb. 4:1. Clarifies and shows that Canaan was not the final intended rest.
59
 And this same movement can be seen throughout the Old Testament. In the latter
prophets the final fulfillment of promise becomes Eschatological, showing that the
fulfillments in Israel were only the beginning phase of God’s plan.
The prophets found a typological significance in the historical events which
enabled them to speak vehemently about God’s next acts in history.
So when Christ came and “Actualize” the promises, he ensured the validity of the
Old Testament by showing that it is part of the same divine progress.

Note:
Both the inspiration of the spirit in the original revelation and inscripturation (II
Pete 1:21), and the illumination of the spirit in the interpretation are duly honored.
It is God’s Word, and we must let God tell us what it means.

Symbols and Symbolical Actions

Nature of Biblical Symbols

A symbol is a sign which suggests meaning rather than stating it.

Example:
God established the rainbow as a sign, pledge or symbol that he would not
bring another flood to destroy mankind.

A summary of the characteristics of symbols may make them easier to

understand:
a. The symbol itself is a literal object.
Boiling pot, ram, he-goat, raider on horseback
b. The symbol is used to convey some lesson or truth
c. The connection between the literal object and the lesson it teaches
becomes clearer when we learn what the one who used the symbol
meant to convey by it.

Classification and Examples of Symbols

External Miraculous Symbols

Many modern students allow no place in their thinking in miracles. They
agree that the writers of the Old and the New Testament believed in miracles, but
add: “These people belong to a prescientific age. Since we now know that cause
and effect prevail. We cannot admit to the kind of miraculous phenomena
reported in the Bible.”
The mighty acts of God were mighty because they showed his control over
this pattern of nature. He changed the pattern only rarely, and for purposes which
he may or may not have disclosed. But the change in pattern, whether or not God
revealed the full significance of the change convinced the people of God that their
God was alive, that he acted and was concerned about them. (I Kings 18:26-27).
60
 i. Cherubim – Gen. 3:24 – testified to the rupture of fellowship between man and
God.
ii. Burning bush at Horeb – Exo. 3:2 – awakened Moses to be a realization of the
presence of God and to his awe-inspiring holiness.
iii. Pillar of Cloud and fire – Exo. 13:21-22 – symbolized God’s presence among
his people and his guidance of them.

Visional Symbols

In the next chapter a brief section will discuss how prophets came to know
the thing which they proclaimed. One common means was that of the vision. (Isa.
1:1; Mic. 1:1; Hab. 1:1).
A visional symbol consist of those things which were seen by the prophet
when all of the mental powers were brought to new heights of perception. The
symbol seen in the vision involved a common object from everyday life although
it stood for something else. Because of its role in the vision, this object stands for
a reality which the prophet must press home to his hearers.

i. The Lord showed Amos a basket of summer fruit. He asked him what he saw.
The prophet replied: “A basket of summer fruit.” Next the Lord answered:
“The end is come unto my people Israel; I will proceed no longer to overlook
them” (Amos 8:1-12). (Summer fruit and end) This is an understandable
symbol among an agricultural people. A ripe basket of fruit at the close of
summer is either consumed by eating, or if left uneaten, it is consumed by
spoiling. Just as the basket of fruit speedily comes to its end, so the Lord will
bring his people Israel to the end which he has appointed for them. He will no
longer overlook their sin. He will act in judgment (Amos 8:3). This is a vivid
symbol.
ii. Golden candlestick with a bowl on the top from which seven pipes brought oil
for seven lamps. Besides this candlestick were tow olive trees, one to the right
of the bowl and one to the left which supplied the oil to the bowl. (Zech. 4:1-
14).
iii. Jer. 1:13; Ezek. 37:1-14; Dan. 2:31-35,36-45; 7:1-8; Zech. 1:10; 1:18-19; 5:1-
11; 6:1-8

Material Symbols
In contrast to visional symbols, material symbols consist of things which
can be seen, touched, felt, and used by chosen representatives of the people of
God or by all the people. These are actual objects which convey a meaning
beyond their material use.

i. Blood rites involving blood are found among many ancient peoples and are
found currently among many primitive religions. (Dt. 12:23-25)
Lev. 17:11 – makes it clear that the blood itself is a complex. There is that
within the blood which plays a role in atonement. (Heb. 1:3; 7:16; 9:14; 13:20)
61
ii. Cherubim – Hebrew Kerub is found over 90 times in the Old Testament. It is
found only once in the New Testament (Heb. 9:5) Ezek. 1:5-28; 9:3; 10:1-20;
11:22; 28:14-16)

I Sam. 4:4; II Sam. 6:2; I Chro. 13:6; II Kings 19:15; Isa. 37:16: Ps. 80:2: 99:1
This symbol conveyed to the Israelites the exalted character of God.

Emblematic Numbers, Names, Colors, Metals and Jewels

The primary function of numbers is to indicate measurement of time,

space, quantity, Etc.
12 – in the Old Testament there are twelve tribes of Israel. In the New
Testament there are twelve disciples (Mt. 10:1)

In the Book of Revelation the number 12 plays a large role.

12,000 – each of the twelve tribes of Israel. (7:4-8)
12 crowns of 12 stars – (12:1)
12 gates, 12 angels – (21:12)
12 foundations, 12 apostles – (21:14)
12 kinds of fruits – (22:2)

12 as the typical number of the unbrokenness, of the irreducible

completeness of the theocratic people, of the people for God’s chosen own
possession.

Colors are usually a means of aesthetic expression.

As with numbers, any symbolic import of colors comes form
association. Ancient colors were not nearly so distinct as ours. Hence the
modern interpreter must see the colors as the ancients saw them rather
then as a whole host of distinctly graduated colors.
White horse – A military conqueror
Red Horse – Active combat in war
Black horse – Famine
Yellowish green or pale horse – Sickness, death

We can be sure that these first four seals depict vividly the total effects of
war which will prepare the world for the final period of crisis that precedes the
second coming of Christ.

Metals have utilitarian qualities that dictate their use.

Of all the emblematic elements, metals and jewels are most difficult.

Dan. 2:31-45 – the vision of the king shows the monetary value of metals. The
order goes from the highest to the lowest: gold, silver, brass or bronze, iron,
and mixture of iron and clay.
62
 12 gates – pearl – Rev. 21:21
The symbolic import of the twelve gems – an interpreter has every right to
doubt that there is any – seems to be a collective one. The thrust of the total is to
picture the beauty, worth, magnificence, and finality of the eternal city.

Jewels are often introduced because of their beauty and splendor.

Names are usually routine appellative to pinpoint persons and places.

Rev. 2:9; 3:9 – their place of worship is no longer God’s synagogue, but the
synagogue of Satan.

The term synagogue then becomes a symbol of satanic opposition to the good
news of Jesus Christ.

Jerusalem – John calls it the city of Sodom and Egypt – Rev. 11:8

The Judaism out of which Christianity came is viewed as having all of the
characteristic of Sodom and Egypt. Judaism and paganism had joined to stamp
out Christianity, but very likely the early Christians felt the Jewish antagonism
was sharper.

Emblematic Actions

Sometimes action symbolizes or suggests an idea that lives vividly in the

minds of those who observe it or who participate in the action.

Both Ezekiel (Ezek. 2:8-3:3; John (Rev. 10:2, 8-11) and John were
commanded to take a roll or scroll and eat it.

In Ezekiel this is part of the prophet’s call or commission. He3 is told that
his ministry as a prophet is not yet finished. The content of the book which
Ezekiel was to eat contained lamentations, mourning and woe – like much of the
message which he brought to his people.
In Revelation, the symbolic action is described in a section which John’s
call is reaffirmed. The book which john took and ate seems to have contained a
picture of the climax in which God will take his great power and will reign.

The message enters into his whole being.

The stress on sweetness (both Ezekiel and John) indicates the privilege
and joy of proclaiming god’s message.
The bitterness which John knew may symbolize the psychological impact
of identifying himself with his readers and taking seriously what God says.

Ezek. 4:1-8 – Builds a model of a besieged city. 4:9-17; 5:1-4

Jer. 13:1-11; 19:1-2; 27:1-15; 43:8-13
63
 Hos. 1 – 3 – His own family experiences depicted the relation between Jehovah
and his people Israel.

Emblematic Ordinances

In the New Testament, baptism and the Lord’s supper involve:

1. Common material elements.
2. The action of men.
3. And the action of God.

Principles for Interpreting Symbols

1. Note the qualities of the literal object denoted by the symbol.
2. Try to discover form the context the3 purpose for using a symbol.
3. Use any explanation given in the context to connect the symbol and the truth it
teaches. If the symbol is not explained, then use every clue found in the
immediate context or in any part of the book where the figure occurs. Try to
state why the symbol was effective for the fir hearers or readers.
4. If a symbol which was clear to the initial readers is not clear o modern
readers, state explicitly what the barrier is for the modern reader. Where there
is uncertainty of meaning, the interpreter should proceed from those factors of
which he is the most sure.
5. Observe the frequency and distribution of a symbol but allow each context to
control the meaning. Do not force symbols into preconceived schemes of
uniformity.
6. Think or meditate upon your results. The reason Paul could glory or boast in
the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14) is that he knew how this symbol stood for.
Meditation precedes such a response.

Prophecy
A prophet is a spokesman for God who declares God’s will to the people.
Prophets play a prominent role both in the Old Testament and in the New
Testament. (I Cor. 12:27-30; Eph. 4:11-13). We encounter prophets and prophecy
throughout the Bible. So it is imperative that we interpret the prophetic material
rights.

Sources of the Prophetic Message

One question is basic: were did the prophet obtain his materials?
The Scriptures take full cognizance of the false prophets who prophesy
lies and speak from the deceit of their own heart (Jer. 14:14-15). These
prophets created their own material without any genuine relationship to
Jehovah. In one sense, the true prophets created their own material too,
for each one’s individual style is stamped upon his message or in a vital
relationship to God, and it was he who spoke as well as they. Hence the
ways through which the message came to the prophet are important to the
interpreter.

64
Dreams or Night Visions
Dreams and night vision as media of acquiring knowledge on the
part of the prophets have some use, but they should not be regarded as a
main method. A classic text which refers to this method is Numbers 12:6
– If your prophet be of Jehovah, I will make myself known unto him in a
vision.

Ecstatic Visions
A much more common source of information for a prophet is what
he saw in an ecstatic state. Such an ecstatic state was not a self-induced
excitement in which the prophet jumped around in an irrational manner,
but the state was one in which the prophet had all of his mental and
spiritual faculties raised to a new level of performance. Hab. 2:1; Isa. 29:7;
Job 4:13; 20:8; 33:15; 7:14
The true prophet prophesies a vision of truth. He both spoke and
wrote the truth of the vision. Written truth is stressed in Hab. 2:2. So
content-centered is the idea of a vision for the Hebrews that the word
vision is used as a title of a book of prophecy (Isa. 11:1; Nahum 1:1l
Obad. 1).

Direct Encounter with God

In dreams and visions the prophet sees or hears in a manner
roughly similar to closed circuit television. But in direct encounter, God
himself is present to the prophet as he makes his disclosures through word,
speech, or declaration.
II Kings 20:1-6 – we see God directly communicating with his
prophet.

Interaction with Events Followed by Revelation From God

Earthly interaction followed by divine revelation is a more

frequent form of direct encounter with God. It differs from the other in
that a specific historical, event brings the prophet into a relationship with
God, because of which the prophet has ahs authoritative message from
God to deliver. Jer. 21:1-2,3-14; 36:27-32; 42:7-22

Life Situation of the Prophet

Isa. 39:1-8; II Kings 20:12-19

Nature of the Prophetic Message

The purpose of this discussion is to prepare the way for a statement

of principles to be followed in interpreting prophecy.

65
 Role of a Prophet
The prophet is a spokesman for God who declares Gods will to the
people. Two possible etymological meanings are both supported by
usage: to call, proclaim. They were certainly superb proclaimers or
messengers of the Word of God.
They were used of the Lord to examine, prove, or test the people
(Jer. 6:27).
They proclaimed inevitable judgment as well as judgment to be
avoided.
They were acted both as watchmen and intercessors.
They spoke to and out of many kinds of life situations.

The role of the prophet in the New Testament had much in

common with the Old Testament role, although there were some
differences. Acts 2:16-18; I Cor. 14:1,5,12,39

Aspects of the Prophet’s Message

Prophecy and History
Progressive Character of Prophecy
Restricted Perspective of Prophet

Language of the Prophetic Message

Procedures for Interpreting the Prophetic Message
General Hermeneutics
Focusing of Particular Message
Kinds of Prediction
Christological Orientation
Apocalyptic Imagery
Proportion of Literal and Figurative Elements

Poetry
Poetry has its own way of reaching into the hearts and minds of men. No
formal list of principles, no careful analysis of the mechanics involved in poetry
can tell why it impresses so deeply. Yet some analysis must be provided,
especially of Old Testament poetry. The New Testament contains some poetry
(example the song on the book pf Revelation) and some of the sayings of Jesus
may have been cast into poetic form, but the bulk of the poetry of the Bible is in
Hebrew. It is to this kind of poetry that we turn our attention.

Extent of Poetry

Poetic Form
Although form is essential for the full effect of poetry, translations
made for extensive distribution and for ease of reading cannot point up all
features of Hebrew poetry.

66
 Parallelism and Stressed Units: Definitions
In many languages, both ancient and modern, poetry consists in a
balance of sound, i.e. in phonetic rhythm.
The poet follows one assertion by other line of thought parallel to
the first. A verse then consists of at least two parts in which the second
part is parallel to the first. Parallelism in one of the main features of
Hebrew poetry.
Two lines (distich) usually constitute a verse, but there are three
lines (tristich) verses, four line (tetrastich) verses and even five line
(pentastich) verses.
In the last two types, the interpreter must be sure that what looks
like a four line (tetrastich) verse is not actual two-line verse (distich) and
that a five line (pentastich) is not in reality a distich and a tristich.

Incomplete Parallelism
Stanzas or Strophes
Word Order and Arrangement of words

Personal Dimension of Poetry

Poetic Imagery
Essential Factors Influencing Meaning in Poetry
In the Prophets

SPECIAL HERMENEUTICS

The ascertaining of those principles which apply to literary segment.

Refers to those rules which are develop with reference to special parts of
scripture.

E.g.
Old Testament New Testament

1. Prophecy 1. Narrative 1. Gospel

2. Parables 2. Law 2. Parable
3. Apocalypse 3. Typology 3. Epistle and Letter
4. Poetry 4. Poetry 4. Revelation
5. Wisdom Literature

RESEARCH: WORD STUDY

1. Sabbath – Lord’s Day – Exo. 20:10

2. Tithes – Mal. 3:10
3. In the beginning – Gen. 1:1; John 1:1
4. in our image after our likeness – Gen. 1:26-27

67
5. Rest – Gen. 2:1-3
6. Harden Pharaoh’s heart – Exo. 7:3, 13-14
7. Circumcision “Covenant” – Rom. 4:3-12
8. Christ the essence of life
a. Bread – Jn. 6:32; Jn. 6:50, 58; I Cor. 10:3
b. Water – Jn. 4:10; I Cor. 10:4
9. Yoke (Commitment) – Mt. 11:28-30; lk. 9:23
10. Baptism – Mt. 3:3-17; Rom. 6:3-6
11. More faith – Rom. 10:17 Eph. 2:8
12. Needle – Mark 10:25
13. Repent – Gen. 6:6; Jonah 3:9-10; Mt. 4:17; Acts 2:38

SEVEN KEY FOR STUDYING THE BIBLE

1. Pray
Prepare your heart to accept what God says to you through His word.

2. Explore the context

Select a text. You may use this chart as to determine the immediate and next
larger context.

Length of Text The Immediate context The next larger context

Shorter than a The paragraph The topic (often
paragraph identified by subtitles)
or the chapter
1 or 2 paragraphs The topic (often identified The section or the
by subtitles) or the chapter chapter.
1 Chapter or longer The book division or the The entire book
book

- Read at least the immediate context and summarize the author’s message. Write
that summary.

If you are doing a more careful study of the context, write your
observation about the following:
.What was he historical setting of the author and first readers?
.What kind of literature was used (poetry, prophecy, letter, history,
description, story, teaching, etc.)?
.List any references to the culture that may affect the meaning of the text.
.What was the author’s purpose?
.What ideas did the author emphasize?
.Summarize the author’s message in at least the immediate context.

68
 3. Investigate the context

Write your observations and answers to the questions:

Who? What? When? Where? Why? How?

4. Determine the intended meaning

According to the context, what did the author intend the text to communicate to
the first reader?

5. Harmonize your understanding with the whole Bible.

.What other Bible texts say something about your text or topic? List the references
and summarize what they say according to their contexts.
.How should you understand the test (or topic) so that the meaning of the text
remains faithful to the meaning in its own context and does not contradict other
Bile texts?
.How should you understand the text (or topic) in light of the clear teaching of the
whole Bible and especially that of the New Testament?
.Write any questions that you did not have time to answer or are not able to
answer.

6. Compare with other scholars.

.What did you learn about your text for other books or people?
.According to the context, what did the author intend the text to communicate to
the first readers?
.How should you understand the text (or topic) so that the meaning of the text
remains faithful to its own context and does not contradict the teaching of other
Bible texts?
.How should you understand the text (or topic) in light of the clear teaching of the
whole Bible and especially that of the New Testament?

7. Apply God’s word to your life.

.What does this text means to us today?

.How can I apply this text in my life?
.What do you want me do today?
.What will I do?
.When will I do it?
.Where will I d it?
.How will I do it?

POINT OF DEPARTURE
• The Basic Connection – we must believe that the Bible is the Word of God.
• Know what you believe and why you believe.
69
1. The Bible is the Word of God

Gk. Theopneustus – “God breathed”

Apocaliptus – “Revelation”

6 Kinds of Inspiration

a. Natural – ex. Songs, poems

b. Practical – scientific
c. Concept
d. Mechanical – dictation
e. Non – verbal/non Biblical – Spiritual truth
f. Verbal Plenary – God guided men to write into their own words/language.

2. The Bible is your Language

- original autograph (autographa) is in the form of scroll

O.T. – Hebrew and Armaic

NT - Greek

3. The Bible can be adequately understood through the translation.

4. The Bible unites through revelation
5. The Bible interprets itself.
6. The Bible language is mainly human language.
7. The Bible must be accompanied by honest, intelligent response to the message.
8. The Holy Spirit’s guidance is necessary in understanding the Bible.

GUIDELINES IN LOOKING FOR THE CONTEXT

1. Look at the verse
- think of any possible meaning
- write it down
2. Read the verse carefully (on the context)
3. Study the passage more closely
4. Note any repeated words
5. Try to do your sermon in your own words to see if you understand and can
express the thought clearly
6. Try to answer the questions: What does this context meant for me?

ELEMENTS OF GRAMMAR/ PARTS OF SPEECH

a. Noun e. Adjectives
b. Pronoun f. Preposition
c. Verb g. Conjunction
d. Adverb h. Interjection

70
 Examples: I Corinthians 11:27 “unworthy” – adverb
The manner of doing it describes a verb

John 21:15 “More than these” – pronoun

Fish and bread denotes a person or thing.

GUIDELINES IN INTERPRETING BY THE USE OF GRAMMAR

1. When the meaning of the verse is not clear, identify the significant as to
grammar – what part of speech is it?
2. Study the relation of each word to others.
3. Note possible meanings that are indicated.
4. If there are more than one possible meaning, consider other principles
especially context.

Phrase: - a group of words forming part of a sentence.

Tools for Mastering Content:

- Master of Biblical materials is something like mastery of a musical instrument.

- With out consistent practice the musician looses his touch with his instrument, the
same is true regarding the Biblical
- There is no substitute for constant study and review.

1. An aid to mastering the content of the Bible and retaining hat content is to use a
wide Margin Bible or inch wide on top, bottom and sides, provide space for the
interpreter’s own summaries and outlines.
2. Concise summaries, paragraph by paragraph, in the margins enable the
interpreter to grasp quickly the content of the chapter, several chapters or a
whole book.
- Since these are personal summaries, the individual who writes them has a fresh
statement in his own phraseology of the content of each book.
- By persistence he can soon have the whole Bible summarized. By frequently
scanning a well-marked Bible & by reviewing the personal summaries, the
interpreter will keep the contents fresh in his mind.

Context – the parts of a writing or statement preceding and following a quoted passage.

Varieties in context situations – immediate context.

- The first responsibility of every interpreter is to note carefully what precedes and
what follows any verse or passage which he is interpreting.
- This often involves, going back two or three paragraphs and ahead two or three
paragraphs.
- Chapter divisions do not necessarily serve as boundary lines.
- One may need to go back to the preceding chapter or ahead to next chapter to get
the true context.
71
PRINCIPLES FOR INTERPRETING FROM CONTEXT

1. Observe carefully the immediate context that which precedes and follows the
passage.
2. Observe carefully any parallels in the same book to the materials in the
passage being interpreted. Be aware if the purposes and development of
thought in the book.
3. Observe carefully any parallel in another book by the same author or in other
books by different authors. To take into
4. Account the purpose and development of thought in these books.
5. Where the immediate context is of little or no value, try to find genuine
parallels which come from the same period or time.
6. Bear in mind that the smaller the quality of materials to be interpreted, the
greater the danger of ignoring context. No axiom is better known and more
frequently disobeyed that of the quoted: “A text with out a context in only a
pretext.” Somehow to discern this kind of error in someone else is easy but to
recognize this same fault in ourselves is most difficult.

PRINCIPLES FOR INTERPRETING LEXICOGRAPHY

1. Know all possible meaning of the word on the period of its occurrence.
2. Decide which meaning fits best into the context of the writer give reasons
rather than saying “Oh it sounds best to me this way.” The familiar will often
sound best. Although it maybe inferior to another rendering.
3. Consider carefully the context of your listeners or readers so that they will not
unconsciously read their own ideas into a Biblical passage where they do not
belong.
4. Beware of all etymological pronouncements that are not well supported by
contemporary usage.
5. Beware if fine distinctions of meaning in synonyms that are not supported by
the context in which they are found.

Why we need to become proficient in an exotic – sounding science if we want to

understand the Bible?

- One possible answer is that the Bible is a divine book, & so we require special
training to understand it.
. (But this solution simply will not work)
. Roman Catholic scholar said – if anyone is able to speak in an absolutely
unambiguous fashion and to make himself understood with irresistible efficacy,
such a one is God; therefore, if there is any word that might not require a
hermeneutics, it would be the divine word.
. Protestant has always emphasized the doctrine of perspicuity or clarity of
the scriptures.

72
 . The Bible itself tells us that the essential prerequisite for understanding
the things of God is having the Spirit of God – I Cor. 2:11 & I Jn. 2:27
. We need Hermeneutics not precisely because the Bible is a divine Book
but because, in addition to being divine, it is a human book.
. Human language, by its very nature, is largely equivocal, that is, capable
of being understood in more than one way.
. We would never doubt what people mean when they speak, if utterances
could signify only one thing, we would ever hear disputes.
. In practice, to be sure, the number of words or sentences that create
misunderstanding is a very small proportion of the total utterances by a given
individual in a given day.
. What we need to appreciate, however, is that the potential for
misinterpretation is almost always there.

WE DO NEED HERMENEUTICS FOR TEXTS OTHER THAN THE BIBLE

– We need principles of interpretation to understanding trivial conversation

and even non – linguistics events after all, the failure to understand
someone’s wink of the eye could spell disaster in certain circumstances.

Hermeneutics – is not primarily a question of learning difficult techniques but it is really

a quite secondary.

.What matters, we might say, is learning to “transpose” (to shift) our customary
interpretive routines to our reading of the Bible. (Yet there precisely is where our
problem begins)

.For one thing, we must not think that what we do every day is all that simple.

- Before you could read a magazine, you had to learn English.

- You went through that difficult and complicated process with outstanding
success.

.The problem becomes more serious is there are significant linguistic and cultural
differences between the speaker or (writer) and the hearer (or reader).

.How difficult is it for most of us to understand the Bible?

.Why, then, so much debate about biblical interpretation?

.We may be able to answer that question if we consider a specific and fairly typical
example: Mt. 8:23 – 27 – the disciples said, What kind of man is this? Even the
winds and the waves obey Him.

.The question about the meaning of this passage can be considered at various levels.

73
Let us take them one at a time.

1. At the linguistic level.

– We meet no difficulties at all.

– Every Greek word in this passage is widely and clearly attested.
– Through translators may differ slightly as to which English word best
represents the corresponding Greek terms, there is no real debate about
what those Greek words mean.
– Similarly, no rare grammatical forms occur.

2. With regard to the historical setting. (Culture, geography, etc.)

– There is also no dispute

– The reference to the lake (sea) is certainly to Lake Gennesaret, or the sea
of Galilea.
– We are also well informed regarding the sudden storms that arise in that
region.

3. The meaning of the passage, however, includes more than the bare facts of the story.

– Usually we are interested in the teaching of the passage.

– Here again, however, the primary thrust of the story is crystal clear.
– The event demonstrates the great power of Jesus, so that there was no need
for the disciples to despair.

4. But what about the historicity of the narrative?

– Many hermeneutical debates focus precisely on this question.

– In the present case, it arises for two reasons:
a. In the first place, a comparison of this narrative with the parallel passages–
Mk. 4:35 – 41; Luke 8:22 – 25 reveals some interesting differences.
Did. The event occur at the point in Jesus’ ministry where Matthew
places it, or was it right after Jesus spoke the parables of the kingdom, as
Mark tells us?
Were the disciples respectful, as Matthew seems to portray them,
or were they more impulsive? (cf. Mk. 4:38).

b. In the second place, many moderns reject the possibility of miracles.

If supernatural occurrences are out of the question, then certainly
this passage will be interpreted in a way different from its apparent
meaning.

5. Still another level of meaning arises when we distinguish the historical event itself
from the literary in which we read about the event.
74
. This point is made especially clear if we again compare Matthew with the other gospels.

. For example:

– The fact that Matthew places the story right after two incidents connected
with discipleship (Mt. 8:18 – 22) may tell us something of importance.
– When we notice that the story itself is introduced with the statement that
“his disciples followed him” (words not found in Mark or Luke), We may
reasonably infer that one of the reasons Matthew relates the story is to
teach us about discipleship, which is an important theme in the whole
gospel.

6. In addition to literary context, we need to keep in mind the broader canonical context,
that is, how does the passage relate to the whole canon (the complete collection) of
scriptures?

. To ask this question is to move toward the concerns of systematic theology.

. How does our Lord’s rebuke of the disciples fit into the general biblical teaching
about faith?
. Does Jesus’ power over nature tell us something about his deity?
. Such queries are certainly part of hermeneutics broadly considered.

7. But we may go even beyond the boundaries of scripture itself and consider the history
of interpretation.

While it is very important to distinguish the meaning of the Biblical text from the
opinions of subsequent readers, there is in fact a close connection, since today we
stand at the end of a long tradition.

8. Finally, we must consider “what the passage means to me”, that is, the present
significance of the passage.

.Traditionally, this step has been described as application and has been distinguished
quite sharply from the meaning of the text.

.In recent decades, however, a number of influential writers – not only in the field of
Theology but also in philosophy and literary critics – have protested that the
distinction does not hold.

.It had been argued, for example, that if we not know to apply a command of scripture
to our daily lives, then we cannot really claim to know what that passage means.

.To reject the distinction between meaning and application seems an extreme
position, but there is no doubt a measure of truth in it.

75
 . Certainly, when most Christians read the Bible they want to know what to do with
what they read.

. What do we learn from these various levels of meaning?

FOUR (4) MODELS FOR UNDERSTANDING THE MEANING OF THE BIBLE

1. The Proof – Text Model

The proof – text approach to understanding the Bible’s meaning
emphasizes the practical and pastoral side of life.
Typically a biblical meaning is needed for some real – life purpose, and
the interpreter then goes searching for some scriptural texts that support the
topical theme or pastoral position desired.
The scriptural texts are valued more for their short, epigrammatic use of
several key words that coincide with the topic or contemporary subject chosen
than for evidence that they actually bring from their own context.
This method is vulnerable to allegorization, psychologization,
spiritualization, and other forms of quick – easy adjustments of the scriptural
words to say what one wishes them to say in the contemporary scene, ignoring
their intended purpose and usage as determined by context grammar, and
historical background.

2. The Historical – Critical Method

This method is more concerned with identifying the literary sources and
social settings that gave birth to the smallest pieces of text rather than
concentrating on any discussions about how normative these texts are for
contemporary readers and for the church.
This method has most frequently avoided any discussion of the relation of
text to divine revelation, its function as canon on the church, or its use in the
devotional – theological – pastoral enterprise of Christians.
In this method, the theory of meaning and interpretation concludes with
what the text meant in a distant time, place, and culture.

3. The Reader – Response Method

It emphasizes the necessity of allowing the reader and interpreter to
determine what the text now means – mostly in new, different, and partially
conflicting meanings.

4. The Syntactical – Theological Method

This model does the traditional grammatico – historical study of the text,
followed by a study of its meaning that shows its theological relevance – both
with respect to the rest of scripture to its contemporary application.
This model of understanding meaning stresses the need for taking whole
periscopes or complete units of discussion as the basis for interpreting a text.

76
 The key interpretive decisions revolve around how the syntax of phrases,
clause, and sentences contributes to the formation of the several paragraphs that
from the total block of text on that subject or unit of thought.

ASPECTS OF MEANING

1. Meaning As Referent

– As the example from the Shakespeare – it is possible to know the meaning

of every word in a text and still be with out a clue as to what is being said.

– In such cases, what is generally missing is sense of what is being spoken

about – the referent.

– The referent - is the object, event, or process in the world to which a

word or a whole expression is directed.

– The interpreter who wants to understand will ask the same referential
question that the Ethiopian reader of the scripture in Isaiah. 53 – asked the
evangelist Philip: Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about,
himself or someone else? (Acts 8;34)

. To be sure, the Ethiopian could understand the words, but he had no idea
what the exact referent was.

. Similar questions about the identity of referents arise in various passages.

.Jn. 6:53 – Flesh – was a reference to Jesus’ incarnation.

- Blood – referred to His death that is to his life given up violently in
death.

- Using the part for the whole, John’s hearers were expected to come to a belief in the
ministry of the incarnated Christ, as well as believing in his death and what it
accomplished.

False prophet of II Cor. 11:13, who had received a different spirit, accepted a
“different gospel”, and preached and “other Jesus” v-4, need to be identified in order to
understand what Paul was working against in II Cor. 10-13 – super or chiefest apostle
were either Gnostic pneumatics or triumphalistics, miracle-working Hellenistic Jews who
wanted to taunt Paul with their own theological creations.

. But again we must first ask, What is Paul talking about?

Who are these super-apostle?

77
.II Th. 2:3-7 – Man of lawlessness – Anti-Christ
- One who holds back – Holy Spirit

. Referent – we can identify.

. Ez. 34:23-24 – “One Shepherd” – is critical to understanding the passage.

. John 10 – Good Shepherd – Turns out to be the same one who was contrasted with evil
shepherds (all leaders, priest, prophets, princess, etc.) who
had robbed and preyed on the flock of God in the Book of
Ezekiel.

. Clearly, referent is critical.

. When we ask, “What do you mean?” – we sometimes are trying to find out what the
whole discussion is all about or who/what is
being talked about.

2. Meaning as Sense

- Meaning as referent tells what is being spoken about.

. Meaning as sense tells what is being said about the referent.

. Once a subject or object of the discourse has been established, we move on to

find out what the author attributes to that subject or object.

. When we ask for the sense of a word or a passage, we are either searching for a
definition or for some type appositional clause that will show us how the word,
or entire paragraph, is functioning in its context.

. Meaning as sense – is whatever some user willed to convey by a particular word

or series of words in a sentence, paragraph, or a discourse.

. Beyond the sentence, the relationship of proportions with in the paragraphs and
discourses carry the sense the writer wishes to convey.

. Illustration – Rom. 9:30 – 10:12 - some interpreter failed to interpret. Why?

a. Failed to establish thew exact referent the passage was addressing.

b. Failed to show what meaning or sense the passage contributes to that referent
or subject.

. If the sense-meaning in this passage is to be heeded, one must understand what

four (4) key phrases found in the text mean.

78
. Rom. 9:31 – Israel pursue a “law of righteousness”
. Rom. 9:32 – “not by faith, but as from works”
. Rom. 10:2 – they are “zealous for God… not based on knowledge”
. Rom. 10:3 – they sought to establish “their own righteousness”

. Clearly, the referent of these 4 phrases was the Jewish population.

. But what meaning and what sense did the Apostle Paul attach to one each one?
- Israel, according to these 4 expressions, had gone about the whole
process of pursuing righteousness (the topic announced in Rom. 9:30)
totally backward.

. Paul was urging , in effect: Don’t blame the Mosaic law, neither blame
God the lawgiver, for what Israel has done here.

. Israel was guilty of inventing her own law to replace God’s law out of
God’s righteousness.

. Instead the coming of God by faith, sniffed Paul, Israel insisted on

turning righteousness into a works program, as if that were possible.
- The result was a homemade righteousness, which was about as
valuable as a wooden nickel.

. What could be clearer: The gentiles obtained the righteousness of God by

believing on the One here called the stone and Rock, our Lord.
. But Israel, who went on a do-it yourself plan missed not only the proper
approach to receive this grace, but also the end or goal of the law (Rom.
10:5), which was no less than Christ himself and his righteousness.

. The sense remains throughout this whole passage:

. God’s righteousness focused on Christ and came solely by faith, not by

works.

. The person who did these things would live in the sphere of them.

. Thus Rom. 10:5 introduced two quotations from Moses, both supporting
the consistent sense initiated in the introductory question in 9:30 and
sustained in each of the four contrasts exhibited in the propositions of the
paragraphs.

. The sense of the use of these words, as they make up the sense of the
whole passage, is the second most important meaning to gain once the
referent has been identified.

79
3. Meaning as Intention

- In speaking of meaning as intention, we do not profess to get into the mind,

psychology, or feeling of the author.

. We have no way of obtaining or controlling such data.

. Instead, we interested only in the truth-intention of the author as expressed in the
way he put together the individual words, phrases, and sentences in a literary
piece to form a meaning.

HOW THE AUTHOR AFFECTS MEANING

a. The author’s intention determines whether the words are to be understood literally or
figuratively.

. Therefore, when the psalmist writes that the trees clapped their hands, it is clear
that the joining together of an inanimate subject with a predicate usually attributed
to inanimate beings enough to give us the clue that the language is figurative.

b. The author’s intention determines the referent a word is to have.

. Here are some instances where it is sometimes said that an utterance had a
meaning beyond what the original author intended.

. For. Example, if we limit ourselves for the moment only the meaning as referent,
the following affirmations seem to contradict our thesis that the author’s intention
determines meaning:

i. General statements can be applied to any member of a class,

ii. General truths can be transferred to others,
iii. Partial fulfillment’s with in a series of predictions, belonging to a line
exhibiting corporate solidarity of all the parts, can also go beyond the
immediate and particular to the final manifestation of the prediction.

.Illustrations – Objection – to our principle of authorial intentionality:

a. Mk. 10:25 – It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle

than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

.In the view of some, this utterance goes beyond the author’s immediate
referent.

. This statement would apply not only to the rich people of Jesus’ time but
to all who were members of that same class of the class of the “rich” in
any day.
80
 . However since the principle has not changed either in the Biblical
context or the modern one , the truth-intention remains the same.

. Rather than breaking our rule, it only helps to further it..

b. Mk. 7:6 – when Jesus complained, “Isaiah was right when he prohesied about
you hypocrites…”

. Isaiah did not directly address an audience existing 700 years after he
died, but the truth he affirmed was readily transferred across the centuries
because what he said could just as well have been said of Jesus’
contemporaries.

. There is no change in authorial intentionality.

c. Dan. 7:8, 11, 25 – It points to a number of persons who fulfilled the prediction
and thus beyond the author’s intention - just as the prediction about the
coming of the “little horn” or antichrist - is taken by most to be
simultaneously a reference to Antiochus Epiphanes IV and to the final
manifestation of evil in last day. (I John 2:18 – many antichrist).

. It is the author’s intended meaning that must be the starting point from
which all understanding begins.

. In the case of scripture, however, another major intention must be

considered: Divine intention

. We must ask at this point, is the divine intention in the revealed word the
same as the human authorial intention, or is different?

.There are cases in scripture where God’s “intention” clearly differed from
these of the humans he was using to assist his purposes.

. Example:
.Gn. 50:20 – You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.

. Is. 10:5-11 - The Assyrians intended to destroy Israel, but God intended
that they only be the rod of discipline in his hands.

. Is. 45:1-4 – Cyrus, the Medo-Persian, to the purposes and uses to which
God had set him, even through Cyrus did not acknowledge.

. But none of these examples is about the writing of scripture.

. What is being confused here is purpose-intended with truth-intention.

81
. In the case of the writers if Scripture, there was such a divine-human concurs us (that is,
running together in the realm of thought) that the Spirit of God was able to take the truths
of God and teach them in words to the writers of scripture.

.The great teaching passage for this declaration comes from I Cor. 2:6-16. Verse 13
stresses that the writers of the Bible received not words taught by human wisdom but
words taught by the Spirit.

.That is, the Spirit of God did not mechanically whisper the text into the writer’s ears, nor
did the authors experience automatic writing.

. Instead, they experienced a living assimilation (blending of the truth, so that

what they had experienced in the past by way of culture, vocabulary, hardships and the
like was all taken up and assimilated into the unique product that simultaneously came
from the Holy Spirit.

. And the Holy Spirit stayed with the writers not just in the conceptual or
ideational stage, but all the way up through the writings and verbalizing stage of their
composition of the text.

.In is thus difficult to see how the product of the text can be severed into divine
and human components, each reflecting independent intention – one human and other
divine.
. Therefore, to understand the intention of the human author is to understand the
intention of the divine author.

4. Meaning as Significance

. In many contexts, the term meaning and significance overlap.

.In their use in textual studies, however, we are well advised to distinguish the two
along the lines set out E.D. Hirsch.

.Meaning – is that which is represented by a text.

- It is what the author meant by his use of a particular sign sequence.
- It is what the signs represent.

. Significance – on the other hand, name a relationship between than meaning and a
person, or a conception, or a situation, or indeed anything imaginable.

.Meaning – is the determinate representation of a text for an interpreter.

.Significance – is meaning- as –related-to-some-thing-else.

. This these terms, meaning is fixed and unchanging.

Significance is never fixed and always changing.
82
.This meaning as significance could also be called the consequent or implicit sense.

. Along with there being only one, single meaning-as-sense, there are scores of
meaning-as-significance that can and must be named.

.Some of these latter meaning extend to contemporary persons, events, or issues

that go beyond of the original writers of their audience.

. Others are new relations that may be legitimately seen between an older textual
utterance and the contemporary audience’s world.

. Significance can also relate to certain theological inferences, both contained with
in the text and coming from the outside the text.

.George Bush presented a good case for the importance of inferences (conclusion)
in interpretation.

. If the inferences are not binding in the interpretation of the divine law, then we
would ask for the express command which was violated by Nadab and Abihu in
offering strange fire (Lev. 10:1-3) and which cost them their lives.

.Any prohibition in set terms on that subject will be sought for in vain.

.The text may also carry a hint of its own significance’s and inferences within
itself, such as in Acts 5:30 – the God of our Fathers raised Jesus from the dead –
whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree?

.Why didn’t the Apostle Peter simply use the verb crucify in place of the
cumbersome phrase “hanging him on a tree”?

.No doubt Peter wanted to call to mind the connotations of Dt. 21:22-23 with its
references to the accursed status of all who died in this manner.

.Could not the inference be that Messiah died under God’s “curse” on the sin of
Israel and the world as he took our place?

.The Theological implication (suggestion) and significance of the crucifixion as

Peter and Luke understood it are thereby brought home for the reader and
listener.

.Rather than classifying this kind of interference as a direct expression of

authorial intention, it seems best to consider it an example of “consequent” or
“implicit” significance that the text of the scripture encourages us to find a
legitimate part of its total meaning.

83
.It is important, however, to make certain that the consequent (following as the natural
effect) or implicit (suggested ) meaning that we attribute to a text is one that accutaely
reflects the fundamental truth or principle in the text, not a separate and different one.
.Deuteronomy 25:4 – Thou shalt not muzzle the ox…. (principle)
.I Corinthians 9:7-12 – Practical application of paying the Pastor or worker.

NOTE: Deuteronomy – was not written for oxen, but for us.

. Hosea 6:6 – I desired mercy, and not sacrifice.

. Matthew 9:10-13 – to justify his disciples’ eating with publicans and sinners.
. Matthew 12:1-7 – justify his disciples’ action of plucking and eating grain on
the Sabbath.

.The application differed from one another, but the principle behind both the Old
Testament and the New Testament texts remain the same – namely, the attitude if
the heart is more important and always takes precede over a mere external duty.

Note: Those texts illustrate legitimate inferences that carry the meaning over into a new
areas, but where the significance are the same order as those contained in the
sense that the author meant.

What illustration can we give of an inference that is separate and different from
the author’s sense and therefore to be avoided as being hermeneutically incorrect?

.Mal. 3:6 – I am the Lord do not change.

. Some have argued this way:

. Major premise (guess) : God is absolutely unchanging.

. Minor premise: What is absolutely unchanging is eternal (known from reason,
but not taught here.)

. Therefore God is eternal.

.But there is no authority in this text for claiming that God is eternal.

.In this case the implication (suggestion) and the application are separated from
what is taught in the text , and therefore it is not an inference (conclusion) that
comes from the principle taught in the text.

.Eternally is not demonstrable exegetically in this text, since it is talking about the
divine attribute of immutability or unchangeableness.

.One infers eternality, not on the basis of what this text teaches about God, but
instead, from what one knows about God from totally different sources and from
one’s definition of what it means to be God.
84
5. Other Meanings of Meaning

.Meaning can have additional definitions besides the four preceding one traces here.

a. Meaning as value – appears when we say, “The Book of Isaiah means more than
to me than all the other prophetic books.

.This is an expression of preferences and priority.

. But no claim is made as to the sense, claims, or significance of the Book

of Isaiah.

b. Meaning as entailment – is another use of this very wide-ranging word.

“This means war”, intoned the president of the U.S.A., meaning that one
phenomenon had led inexorably to another.

.Another example:

.In the life of our Lord Jesus, his obedience to the will of the Father
relentlessly led him into sufferings. Jesus learned obedience from what he
suffered (Heb. 5:8)

NOTE: That Jesus did not go to school in order “to learn” obedience, nor did he need to
be taught how to obey: rather, he learned what obedience entailed. (To include)

In this case, the meaning of “learning” for the writer of Hebrews carried
with it an entailment, much as the interpreter will sometimes see meaning
associated with Biblical words as legitimate entailments that flow from a valid
understanding of the text.

CONCLUSION

.Two principles:

a. A creative focus on the needs of the reader.

b. A desire to validate meanings and application of the text as being
correct, authoritative and therefore normative

THE MEANING OF NARRATIVE

The most common genre (style) in the Bible is narrative, with well over
one third of the whole Bible in this form.
The narrative frameworks span the history of God’s dealings with
humanity from creation to the exile of Judah in the books of Genesis to II Kings.
85
 In terms of the divisions of Hebrew canon, narrative is the predominant
genre in the Torah (eps. Genesis, Exodus, and Numbers), in all the books of the
Earlier Prophets, in some of the Latter Prophets (esp. major sections in Isaiah and
Jeremiah, plus parts of Jonah and other books) and also in several books of the
writings (esp. Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Ruth, Esther and Daniel).
.It also dominates the Gospels and Acts.

.Narrative is clearly the main supporting framework for the Bible.

Narrative in its broadest sense is an account of specific space-time events and participants
whose stories are recorded with a beginning, a middle, and an end.

. Unlike, prose, wherein things are stated directly, narrative presents things indirectly.

.Prose – language in ordinary usage.

.Its styles derives from the writer’s selection, arrangement, and historical devices.

.Rhetoric – the art of speaking with elegance and force.

The last includes pivotal statements taken from the mouths of the narrative’s key
figures, thereby allowing the author to make the points that reveal the focus and purpose
for telling the story.

.Narrative – a tale, a story

Our first job is to listen carefully to the text of scripture. Our first job is to listen
carefully to the text of scripture - including each narrative passage.

THREE LEVELS OF NARRATIVE

1. The Top Level

Is that of the whole universal plan of God worked out through his creation.
Key aspects of the plot at this top level are the initial creation itself:
a. The fall of human
b. The power and ubiquity of sin
c. The need for redemption
d. Christ’s incarnation and sacrifice.

This top level is often refereed to as the story of redemption or redemptive

history.

2. The Middle Level

Key aspects of the middle level center on Israel.
86
 a. The call of Abraham.
b. The establishment of an Abrahamic lineage through the patriarchs.
c. The enslaving of Israel in Egypt.
d. God’s deliverance from bondage and the conquest of the promised land of
Canaan.
e. Israel’s frequent sins and increasing disloyalty.
f. God’s patient protection and pleading with them.
g. The ultimate destruction of northern Israel and then of Judah.
h. The restoration of the holy people after the exile.

3. The Bottom Level

Here are found all the hundreds of individual narratives that make up the other
two levels:

a. The narrative of how Joseph’s brother sell him to Arab caravaneers

heading for Egypt.

b. The narrative of Gideon’s doubting God and testing him via he flee.
c. The narrative of David’s adultery with Bathsheba.
d. Etc.

LITERARY DEVICES IN NARRATIVE

- To help our study of narrative texts and of the meaning they are intended to
convey, let us take apart the typical narrative, looking more carefully at its key elements.

Key Elements:

1. The Scene

- The most important feature if the narrative is the scene.

-The action of the story is broken up into a sequence of scenes, each scene presenting
what took place at one particular set of acts or words that he or she wants to examine.

- One of the most notable features about Biblical narrative is “the pervasive presence
of God”.

- Often, God is one of the two character in these scenes, or the voice of the prophet
functions in place of God’s presence.

. Consider such two-characters scenes in Genesis as God and Adam in chapter 3; God
and Noah – Chapter 6; and God and Abraham – chapter 12.

87
 . God’s presence, or even the hint of this presence, often begins to establish the
promise, commands, providence, or power of God in these narrative.

.The interpreter must identify each of these scenes, much as one would break up a
long prose passage into paragraphs.

. It is help to draft a summary statement for each scene, similar to the way we might
identify the topic or theme sentence of each paragraph in an essay.

.This summary statement should focus on the actions, words or depictions in the
scene, keeping in mind the direction the author seems to be following in the whole
sequence of scenes.

2. The Point of View

.Scenes have a basic pattern, including a series or relationship with a beginning, a

middle and an end.

.This argument we usually designate as the plot of the narrative.

.Plot (the story thread of a play)

.Plot traces the movements of the incidents, episodes, or actions of a narrative,

usually as they revolve around some type of conflict.

. At some point in the narrative, the author brings to a climax the whole series of
episodes in the various scenes, thereby supplying the whole point of view for the
story.

.The narrative in I Kings 17, for example, introduces the reader abruptly to a certain
“Elijah, the Tishbite, from the inhabitants of Gilead.”

.We can easily enough identify four (4) individual in this chapter.

1. Elijah in the palace before the Israelite King Ahab v.1.

2. Elijah being fed by the ravens at the ravine of Kerith v.2-7.
3. Elijah asking the widow at the town gate of Zarephath, Phoenicia, to feed him,
which was followed by the miracle of multiplication of the oil and flour. v 8-16.
4. The death of the widow’s son in the window’s home and Elijah’s restoring him to
life with the help of God v. 17-24.

But what is the point of view underlying these 4 scenes?

The narrator’s point of view underlying this passage was to show that God’s word
was dependable in each of the circumstances of life depicted in the 4 scenes.
88
.The point of view, therefore, functions in this narrative text exactly as what I have
called the pivot point (swift turn) functions in didactic or prose texts. (intended to
instruct).

-This features, then guides us in discerning what truth the author intended to
convey in choosing and recording these episodes.

Focusing the author’s point of view depicted in the larger literary context can keep us
from settling merely a surface “lessons” or vague “blessings” as we read the biblical
narratives.

3. Dialogue

- Everything in the world of biblical narrative ultimately gravitates toward

dialogue … quantitatively,

89