1. Let The Bible Interpret Itself.
In reading the Bible we can come across concepts phrases customs etc which are either unfamiliar or need clarifyin Find other places in the Bible where these issues are spoken of or mentioned. Compare them and see what they say in each of the contexts
As our example, we will take John 2, the wedding at cana and work through this passage using these guidelines.
As we read the passage we need to enquire about the significance of 'weddings' and 'wine.' Other words which are associated are 'marriage', 'vine'.
Check out Matthew 22-1-14 Revelation 19:7 and 9, Luke 22:18, Amos 9:13, Joel 3:18
Scripture talks of the end of time in terms of a wedding – the wedding of the Son of God to His bride The Church.
Wine is a symbol of the new kingdom: Amos 9:13, Joel 3:18, Zec 9:15/17, Luke 22:18
2. Distance Yourself From The Text
Try and look objectively at the situation which the text originally described or addressed. We want to understand this before trying to see what the text has to say to us. Sometimes commentaries can help here.
Some of the questions we can ask here is:
- What is the setting in life
- What was the historical situation
- What were the social or political conditions
- Who was the writer? Who were the hearers/readers
- What point did the writer want to make.
3. Question The Text
A text may raise all sort of questions and it’s impossible to prepare a check list. Not all questions can be answered from the text. Some questions can be even misleading.
- What is the passage saying
- Why is it saying it
- Why is it saying it here
Maybe a misleading question is Was Jesus drinking at the wedding?
4. Understand The Present Situation
A silly question you may think. But it involves at least two important activities:
thought, meditation, analysis, etc allowing the biblical passage we are interested in to give us a sphere of reference.
We need to understand more than ourselves as individuals. We need to understand the bodies which we are apart of; our church, locality, nation and world. How do we do this? By reading, not just theology or Christian books, but novels, newspapers, watching films, looking at art, listening to music, discussion.
Weddings are times of hope, joy and dreams. The future looks bright, the possibilities are unlimited. There is a sense of things can only get better, and all thoughts of difficulties, hard times or tragedies are forgotten.
5. Bring The Bible And The Present Situation Together
This is were hermeneutics really takes place: the situation the Bible portrays is seen to Have a bearing on our situation.
Scholars call this the two horizons which need to be brought together. The Bible passage has it’s own horizon or viewpoint and so has the reader. By questioning both positions a real communication can take place between them.
It is possible that when Mary confronted Jesus with the problem of the lack of wine at the wedding Jesus’ response indicates that he is not the bridegroom, it’s not his wedding and so he is not responsible for the provision of the wine. Yet his response could also imply that one day he will be a bridegroom and that he will be responsible for the wine.
The Bible tells us that the wedding be at the end of time, when there will be no more tears, no more diseases and no more death. It will be the fulfilment of hope and the culmination of history. A place where the new wine, the best wine, will be poured.
In Jesus we have the beginning of this hope, the beginning of the new wine. It is not yet fulfilled but it will be one day.
6. Respond To The Message
The hard thinking has been done and the straight forward but necessary last steps remains – obedience to what God has showed us.
7 comments:
This way to look into the Bible may be challenging, yet extremely helpful. If I used this application more often, I think I would be able to get a bettter grasp on the real meaning of certain passages and even see how I could apply them more to my life. Thanks!
Very Good. I think its good to put that much thought into reading the bible, that way I think I'll remember it better.
Yup... I like it
Sweet! I'll be using this to understand what I am reading a little better!
This was very helpful. I think it will really help me comprehend better.
One thing really cool about Jesus turning water into wine was that the 6 jars he used were used for jewish purification and were about 20 to 30 gallons each; the equivealent to 600 cases of wine. Thats a lot of wine for any wedding, and far more than any wedding party could drink for weeks. What Jesus had really done was to give them a sort of wedding gift. Moreover, he in a way threw out the importance of the old jewish purification rights by using those certain jars. Cool stuff; I guess it helps my dad is a preacher. The other part's of Andy's seminar really make the bible easy to understand.
thanks
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