Category Archives: Interpretation of Bible

Preaching the Minor Prophets

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Alison Lo notes that the Minor Prophets resonate strongly with our contemporary church and society, with their themes of ‘social justice, religious corruption, financial impropriety and social and political unrest’.

They offer rich material for the preacher, then, and the following principles will help.  I summarise:-

  1. Consider the historical and cultural context.  Each prophet spoke into a specific situation: sometimes this is indicated by the heading of the book (Hos 1:1; Amos 1:1; Mic 1:1, etc.).
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Domesticating the Bible’s teaching on homosexuality

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If people don’t like what the Bible teaches, they may try one of a number of strategies designed to blunt its impact.

Applied to the thorny issue of same-sex behaviour, it can work like this:-

  1. ‘The Bible has been misinterpreted’.  Sodom is not about homosexuality, but about inhospitality.  Romans 1 is not about committed, loving same-sex relationships but about exotic and exploitative sexual behaviour.
  2. ‘The Bible is wrong’.  The Scriptures do indeed teach that homosexual behaviour is sinful, but we must work with the Bible’s underlying principles and values, re-applying them to changing times and situations.
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Starting-points for studying Exodus

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What the Exodus story means for us will depend to a large extent on our own point of view.  John Goldingay discusses a number of ‘lenses’ through which Exodus has been, and continues to be, seen.

1. Pietism.  The pietist ‘lens’ is concern with my personal relationship with God.  Biblical stories then become ‘lessons’ or templates for how God deals with us today.  In typical Goldingay fashion, however, there is a reluctance to affirm that the story of Moses and exodus prefigure God’s saving work in Christ.  …

Caution: Bible stories at work!

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When we read a narrative from the Old Testament, we want to honour it as God’s word written, and yet we may be unsure how to do so.  So we end up – all too often – mistreating and misapplying it in one or more of the following ways:-

  1. Allegorizing.  We neglect the shape of the story itself, and discover (or rather, invent) meanings that seem more relevant and more spiritual.  Graeme Goldsworthy writes of the way in which the five stones that David used to kill Goliath are identified as ‘obedience’, ‘service’, ‘Bible reading’, prayer’, and ‘fellowship’ (Gospel and Kingdom, p10)!
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How to read a story

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No, this isn’t advice for parents reading The Chronicles of Narnia to their children at bedtime.

It is, rather, a set of tips to help the preacher get inside a piece of biblical narrative in order to find out how it is put together and how it works as a story.  This is the preliminary work that a preacher needs to do in order to preach from the story in question.  It is specific to narratives: letters, poems, proverbs, and parables required other approaches.…

More urban legends of the New Testament

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I have previously listed and summarised the forty ‘urban legends’ discussed by David A Croteau.

Here are some more New Testament passages that are frequently misunderstood or misapplied:-

1. ‘Going the second (or ‘extra’) mile’ (Matthew 5:41).  When people are willing to make an effort above and beyond the call of duty, they often refer to this as going the second (or extra) mile.  This is not a complete misapplication of the text, but common usage does tend to mask its radical nature.  …

Urban legends of the New Testament

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Urban Legends of the New Testament: 40 Common Misconceptions.  By David A Croteau.  Published by B&H Publishing Group (1 Aug. 2015).

This book discussed 40 misinterpretations of New Testament passages.  Strictly speaking, only some of them could be regarded as ‘urban legends’ (i.e. they are misreadings that have passed uncritically into public consciousness).  Others are passages which are liable to interpretations that simply add something to the text that isn’t really there, or subtract something that really is there.…

Christian scholarship needs Christian faith

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Why is it that some Christian scholars engage in what James Barr called ‘maximal conservatism’?  Why is it that, according to Peter Enns, evangelical Christians are far too ready to ‘defend’ the Bible against ‘attacks’ on its (supposed) moral uprightness, historical accuracy, and theological consistency?  Why is it that Kenton Sparks feels the need to accuse evangelical biblical scholars of giving the impression that they accept all the tools of critical scholarship while, on the other hand, blithely insisting that the use of these tools, ‘when properly used’, must uphold their own predetermined views about the Bible does, and does not, teach?…

Interpreting the Sermon on the Mount

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The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) has attracted a variety of approaches to interpretation:-

1.  The Sermon as an ‘Interim Ethic’.  This was the view of Schweitzer.  Jesus’ sermon sets out a radical ethic to be followed by Jesus’ followers in the light of the imminent end of the age.  However, Jesus was mistaken: the end did not arrive.  This interpretation has serious weaknesses.  The Sermon itself contains no hint of being a short-term ethic. …

The ‘sensus plenior’ of Scripture

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What follows is based on ‘The problem of sensus plenior’, by Douglas Moo (chapter 5 of Hermeneutics, Authority, Canon, edited by D.A. Carson and J.D. Woodbridge (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986).  Moo’s chapter is available here.

A belief in the entire truthfulness and trustworthiness of Scripture raised a number of questions.  One question is this: ‘How can we accord complete truthfulness to [the New Testament] writings that appear to misunderstand and misapply those [Old Testament] texts from which they claim to derive authority and rationale for their most basic claims and teaching?’…