Before we get started learning some tips on how to read and interpret the Bible in your bible study, It will be necessary to have an understanding that you can choose to approach the Bible in at least these three ways:
- As a historical account
- As a literature
- As an inspired word of God
Nevertheless, True Treasures approaches the Bible as an inspired word of God as guided by 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV). “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate equipped for every good work.”
Bible Authorship & Translation
The scriptures show God’s dealings with people over time. He also inspired human authors to write the scriptures. So we can conclusively say that God is the ultimate author of the scriptures through human authors. God has always used people to achieve his plan.
These human authors wrote the scriptures in the best way they knew then. They used the languages they knew better and materials that were available then. The languages that were used to write the original manuscript were
- Hebrew
- Greek
- Aramaic
Therefore, with time there was a need to translate the original text from the original languages to other languages like English and other languages. For instance, the first-ever translation was from Hebrew to Greek, commonly known as the Septuagint (LXX). The Jews who were born and grew up in the diaspora were more conversant with the Greek language than the Hebrew language prompting a need to translate the scriptures for them.
Bible Divisions and Literature
The Bible is divided into two major divisions, the Old Testament and the New Testament. Perhaps, in future, we will do further studies on why Old and New Testaments. We have a collection of 66 books. 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament.
The Bible on the other hand is done in different literature (genre) styles. We have narratives, laws, epistles (Letters), wisdom, and prophetic books. Each literature may have its own way of reading and interpreting.
Who has the meaning?
There are three positions on who controls the meaning of the scriptures. First, the reader – the reader can make a meaning depending on his own interpretation. Second, the Message itself. The meaning is hidden somewhere within the message. Thirdly, the Author – the author is the ultimate custodian of the meaning. Therefore, to get the meaning of the passage, we need to exactly know what the author actually meant. Knowing more about the author, his context, and anything that surrounds the author may help us to grasp the meaning of the text.
My position on this channel is that the meaning is always with the author. If the meaning is with the author, The more we know the higher chances we will have in understanding the scriptures. Thus, to know more, you need to make as many observations as possible.
Making Observation in Your Bible Study
It is good to understand that the dealings of God with men were not in a vacuum, these humans were within a cultural setting, a social setting, a political setting, and other contexts that might be necessary to understand. It is therefore necessary to have some background information on the historical context and literary context behind the passage you are studying.
Making Observation: Historical Context in Your Bible Study
To have a better understanding of the text in our bible study, we need to have some historical understanding that surrounds the text we are reading. It is good to remember that there were original audiences to whom the text was written. Having a better understanding of their context will therefore help us have more understanding:
Some of the things to look out for as we try to understand the historical context are the author, the audience, and historical-cultural elements.
Historical Context: Author
The more we know about the human author the better. Try as much as possible to find information about the human author as possible. For Instance, Amos. He was from Judah (the Southern Kingdom) but was sent to prophecy in Israel (the Northern Kingdom). Amos was a shepherd and farmer. He was not even a prophet but God called him and sent him to Israel. Amos 7:14
- When did the author write the scriptures?
- His relationship with his audience? – e.g. Paul & Timothy for Letters to Timothy.
- Understand where the Author was, his condition as he was writing, and why he wrote. Paul was in Prison as he was writing letters to Ephesians and Timothy
Historical Context: Audience
- Who was the author writing to? The original audience.
- The circumstance of the original audience. E.g
- Colossians was written to an audience that was battling with false teachings Col 2:4-5
- Mark is believed to have been written to a church near Rome and was written to prepare them to remain firm in persecution even as Jesus remained faithful in persecution.
- Understand the relationship between the audience and the author.
- Understand their ethnicity. E.g Galatians is mainly focusing on Gentiles.
Historical Context: Historical-Cultural elements
- Knowing more about social customs will be of great help.
- E.g relationship between the Jewish and Samaritans
- Understanding kinship redeemer will help understand the Book of Ruth
- Know more about the political/governmental situations
- E.g Acts 16:36-37 – the jailer was shocked to learn that Paul was a Roman citizen.
- Ezra 1:1 -understanding that Persia had conquered Babylonian would make a difference.
- Knowing more about the geography or topography that the text sits on will give a better understanding.
- E.g. Man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. Understanding it was a journey of about 20 miles.
Where can you get all this Information
- The Bible itself contain the information
- Acts of Apostles provide a lot of background information for most of the epistles.
- Old and New Testament Introduction & Survey
- Commentaries – Always consult more than one
- Bible Atlases
- Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Making Observation: Literary Context in Your Bible Study
- Apart from the historical context, you need to have an understanding of the literary context around the passage you are reading.
- The literary context relates to the kind of passage (genre), words, sentences, and paragraphs that surround the passage you are reading.
- The surrounding text of the passage you are reading include
- The immediate text
- The whole section where you are reading
- The rest of the book
- And the whole Bible
- Ignoring the context can make the Bible say what it is not saying.