A Good Bible Study?

Have you ever sat in a Bible study where someone said, “I don’t know what you think about this verse, but I feel like this passage means _____________!” The leader of the study then asks someone else, “What does this passage mean to you?” That person responds with a different answer than the first person. Several more people chime in with their own ideas about what the text means. “Isn’t it wonderful that God’s Word means so many different things to each one of us!” the leader comments. Everyone heartily nods their head in agreement. A good Bible study, right? 

There are, however, serious problems with a “feelings-driven” method of interpretation. If the Bible has various meanings that can differ from person to person, how can anyone objectively determine truth (John 17:17)? How can anyone say with confidence, “This is what the Bible says!” How can anyone actually know that they have understood the meaning and message of God’s Word?  

Foundational Principles for Bible Interpretation

Each passage of Scripture has only one meaning. How then should we interpret God’s Word so that we can understand its true meaning and application? Consider some of the following foundational principles for Bible interpretation:

Interpret the Bible Plainly

Each verse, chapter, and book of the Bible was carefully written to communicate God’s message to us. In revealing His Word, God did not intend to confuse or hide something from us. Like any good teacher, God uses the plain, normal, obvious meaning of words to clearly communicate His message.

We don’t need to try to discover some kind of hidden or secret meaning in the text. The Bible means what it says, and it says what it means. This doesn’t mean that every passage is easy to interpret. Far from it! The Scriptures themselves acknowledge that some texts are hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16). The various genres found in God’s Word (ex. apocryphal) present their own unique interpretive challenges. However, as the great Reformers believed, all of the truths necessary for salvation and spiritual growth are so plainly expressed in the Scriptures that the ordinary, devout reader can discover them for himself. 

Interpret the Bible Grammatically

Words are the tools for expressing thoughts. Therefore, the meaning of any passage must be determined by a study of the words and their relationships within one another. In studying the grammar of a passage, we must discern: 

  1. The meaning of words. Define and discover how words were used by the various human authors and books of the Scriptures (ex: John’s usage of “light” and “darkness;” the word “world”).
  2. The form and function of words. Notice how the different parts of speech impact the meaning and emphasis of the passage.
  3. The relationship of words. Consider how words are put together to form phrases, clauses, sentences, and paragraphs (ex. The long sentences of Paul’s epistles).

Interpret the Bible Contextually

Bible verses like Phil. 4:13 don’t stand alone. The context (setting) in which verses like these are found shapes their meaning. The interpreter must never take a verse out of its settings and give it a new meaning. Context includes…

  1. The verse(s) immediately before and after the text
  2. The paragraph and book in which the text occurs
  3. The time in which the text was written
  4. The message of the entire Bible
  5. The historical / cultural environment of that time when it was written

In his book, The Hermeneutical Spiral (pg. 37), Grant Osborn notes: 

“The first stage in serious Bible study is to consider the larger context within which a passage is found. Unless we can grasp the whole before attempting to dissect into parts, interpretation is doomed from the start. Statements simply have no meaning apart from their context. The context provides the situation behind the text. The context provides the foundation on which we can build an in-depth meaning of a passage. Without this foundation, the edifice of interpretation is bound to collapse.”

Interpret the Bible Historically

The Bible was written by specific human authors and addressed to real, historical audiences. Each author had a specific reason, message, and purpose for writing the book(s). Certain historical events were taking place that led to the timing of each book as well. We need to know the historical background (author, audience, events, reasons, purpose, and message) of the book so that we can understand its intended purpose.  To find the the historical background of a book, we can use secondary sources such as Bible commentaries, study Bibles, and Bible dictionaries.

As we seek to understand and apply God’s Word, we must remember that a text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author and his readers.

Interpret the Bible Progressively

We can get into all kinds of trouble if we neglect this principle. In giving His Word, God didn’t reveal everything about Himself all at once. Rather, He chose to progressively reveal His plan and purposes over the course of centuries, beginning in Genesis and culminating in the book of Revelation. As the redemptive story progresses, truths that were not fully known or understood in the Old Testament become clearer in the NT. What God demanded from His people in one era might not directly apply to our time today (for example, OT dietary laws). We must bear in mind the progressive nature of God’s revelation so that we don’t misinterpret or wrongly apply an Old Testament promise or command.

Interpret the Bible Christologically

The gospel is the core, unifying message of the Scriptures (Lk. 24:44-49). In the gospel, we discover the good news of all that God has done, is doing, and will do for His people through Jesus Christ. Everything in the Scriptures either 1) shows us our need of the gospel, 2) reveals God’s work for us in the gospel, 3) encourages us to respond to the gospel in a repentance and faith, or 4) unpacks the implications of the gospel for the Christian life. We simply cannot understand the Bible if we do not read it through the lenses of God’s saving work through Christ

Jared C. Wilson states, “Everything the Bible teaches, whether theological or practical, and everywhere it teaches, whether historical or poetical or applicational or prophetic, is meant to draw us closer to Christ, seeing him with more clarity and loving him with more of our affections.” Whether we’re reading Leviticus or Luke, we should be asking ourselves how the truths of the text relate to the person and work of Jesus Christ (Jn. 5:39).