October 1, 2007
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There’s good Bible study, and there’s bad Bible study
So we’ve had two classes of Hermeneutics with about 150 pages of reading already, and I’ve learned that when we approach the Bible, we need to ask what the author’s original intent was in writing to his original reader. We need to remember that the Bible was NOT written to us, it was written to a certain reader during the author’s time. To ask the question, “What does this passage say to me?” is the wrong way to approach it. The Bible wasn’t written to you, but it’s written for you. We need to ask: What did the author mean to say to his original readers? — and then, How is that significant for me today?
Sam and I didn’t worship at church today. We were about to leave but I started feeling so nauseous from the vicodin I’ve been taking for my wisdom teeth extraction that we ended up staying home. We held worship service in our home – worship on the guitar, followed by a good hermeneutical study of the book of Haggai. In context.
This reminded me that it wasn’t too long ago that we were doing Bible study poorly. Didn’t we have everyone sit in a circle and say what they think the passage means and approve everyone’s interpretation as valid? Ugh, that was bad.
Mary Ann: Man, this means I’ve been leading Bible studies poorly for the last ten years. How come nobody told me?
Sam: Because Navigators don’t go to seminary.
Mary Ann: OH. Tru dat.I can’t wait to lead Bible studies better than I’ve ever done before.
Comments (10)
well put.
in regards to what we’ve been learning in class about context (historical context [time, place, culture, author, situation, etc.] and literary context [how does a particular verse fit into the sentence before and after, in the paragraph, in the chapter, in the book, etc.]), i wonder where Scripture memory (eg. the Topical Memory System that i used to memorize verses) fits. does it fit or does it not? is it hermeutically sound to take a verse on its own (and perhaps taken out of context) and memorize it?
what about claiming a promise?
http://ceruleansanctum.com/2005/07/that-nutty-small-group-dialectic.html
This is a great read.
so, when we say the Bible is God’s love letter to us… thats clearly wrong huh? hmm this is really sad. all of everyone Biblical ideals are being tossed out the window.
this could be an interesting discussion. telling someone that the way the Bible is speaking to them isn’t accurate… is it worth it to break the bad news to them?
what do you have to say to all the people around the world who don’t go to seminary? how ‘bad’ is it that the word is changing people while out of context?
Good questions and thoughts.
I’m still mulling over similar questions. I think where I’m at right now is that I don’t doubt God can speak any way He wants, so who am I to say that God didn’t speak to so-and-so through the Word? I don’t want to destroy another person’s faith with my knowledge. I think it would be one thing to lead a Bible study or class and teach the members how to study the Bible well — and another thing to shut someone down when they are sharing with you how the Bible spoke to them. I know, for myself, I have taken Scripture out of context over a dozen times, but I don’t doubt God was speaking to me then. I guess He speaks to us in a way we can understand. Hopefully, with our knowledge, we can help others hear more clearly God’s intended message rather than veering toward heresies or bending the Word to say whatever we want it to say.
TMS verses — I think the encouragement would be to read the verses in context and not just memorize blindly. Sadly, I’d have to say that some of those verses with the supposed ‘topics’ are completely taken out of context.
(I feel like I’m committing Navigator-heresy by saying this!)
Claiming promises — I don’t know. Well, we know already that claiming Jer 29:11 is out of context — considering it is smack in the middle of the prophecy of Israel’s exile. As Strauss said, we usually claim the promise of good things of v. 11 but not the promise of destruction in the same passage. So…the promise was written to the Israelites at that time, can it be applied to us? Sure, certain aspects. I’m not sure though about ‘claiming’ the verse/promise…
Hey MaryAnn, if you ever get the chance, please shoot me an e-mail.
kongjs at gmail
Thanks.
I took that class and enjoyed it much. Hope you will continue to be blessed by it.
Have you ever read Dr. Scorgie’s “Hermeneutics and the Meditative Use of Scripture?” Great read.
Have you ever had a case in which somebody was telling you something and it reminded you about something else — or you felt God was telling you something else? Out of context, that is. Just a random thought.
Hey Alex, Thanks for writing! To your first question, Nope, haven’t read Scorgie’s paper yet (I’ll have to do that when I have time…not sure when that will be though!!) and to the second, yes, absolutely. That happens often. Sometimes God will just bring a word to my mind – words from Scripture – and it may be apt for the situation I am in and praying about or talking to someone about, but it is out of context (particularly passages in Isaiah!). Suffice it to say, the verse that God brought to mind (“I am doing a new thing!”) to foreshadow my relationship with Sam — is from Isaiah and ‘out of context’.
But I was confident it was a word from the Lord and held onto it through our courtship (there were promises in there of God making a way where there was no way), and God made those words come true to life… so I guess that’s why I’m still a believer in God speaking to us in ways we can understand — even out of context. 
Wow, I don’t think i’ve ever tried Hermeneutics in my studies.
Usually homeletics and manual script study.
And thanks for the reminder about how we should study the bible!
yeah totally, God can give us a personal message through anything…and many times he does so through scriptures even when it’s out of context…but I guess that’s where we need to be careful – to really distinguish God’s voice from our tendencies to take the scripture of the context for our own purpose!