Category Archives: Interpretation of Bible

Beware the disjunctive fallacy!

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Ephesians 5:23 says: ‘The husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Saviour.‘

Lawrence O. Richards argues that headship in the NT has nothing to do with authority: ‘Authority, with its right to control and demand obedience, is not suggested.  The fact that the living head of the church, Jesus, is a person with supreme authority is presented to comfort and assure it of His ability to meet its needs…As head He is the source and origin of our life. …

The Bible: ‘the book of the covenant’

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Tim Ward explains how and why we can regard the Bible as a unified covenant book, notwithstanding the huge diversity found within its sixty-six separate writings.  How can it be said that God’s covenant is communicated in the narratives of Chronicles, say, or in the wisdom sayings of Proverbs?

‘Commandments declare the stipulations of the covenant.  Prophecy and epistles, in particular, expound and apply those stipulations in specific contexts; they are, in effect, the covenant preached in different contexts. …

A primer on Hebrew poetry

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It was a great eye-opener for me to learn, many years ago, the rudiments of how Hebrew poetry works.  I have found that this greatly assists in the appreciation and understanding of many parts of the Bible.

Hebrew poetry is characterised

  • not by rhyme (phonetic agreement; parallelism of sound)
  • or by rhythm (metric agreement, parallelism of time)
  • but by thought-parallelism.

Among the several varieties are:-

1.  Synonymous parallelism

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple

(Psalm 19:7)

Deliver me from my enemies, O God,
Protect me from those who rise up against me.…

Feminist Biblical Interpretation

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The Bible, writes Phyllis Trible, was born and bred in a land of patriarchy, and abounds in male imagery and language.  The interpretation of the Bible, too, has largely been in the hands of men.  Only recently has any critique of this male dominance begun to emerge.

With particular reference to the Hebrew Scriptures, three approaches to the study of women may be identified:-

1.  The case against women

The first approach emphasises the case against women. …

Significance of names in the Bible

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In biblical times, a name often had a significance far deeper than that of a mere personal label.

1. A name was given by a person in a position of authority, Gen 2:18ff.

2. The giving of a name signified the appointment of the person to a specific function or relationship, Gen 35:17-18.

3. The giving of a name sometimes expressed a hope, Gen 29:32-35, or prophecy, Hos 1:4.

4. Often, names were given as a result of some circumstance at birth, Gen 10:25; 19:22; 25:30.…

On spiritualising

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To ‘spiritualise’ is to assign a unwarranted spiritual meaning to a biblical text.

Graeme Goldsworthy gives, as one example, the following anecdote, in which a Christian teacher was attempting to expound 1 Samuel 17:40-51 (the story of David and Goliath):-

‘The fellow dressed up as Goliath had progressively revealed a list of childhood sins by peeling card-board strips off his breastplate one by one, as the speaker explained the kind of ‘Goliaths’ we all have to meet. 

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Five rules of biblical hermeneutics

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According to E.J. Carnell, in The Case for Orthodox Theology, pp 53-65, the following five rules govern Biblical hermeneutics.

1.  The New Testament interprets the Old Testament.

The relationship between the two Testaments is that of preparation and fulfilment.  The old is a ‘shadow of things to come’, Heb 10:1.  Therefore, in no case does the Old Testament enjoy supremacy over the New Testament.  ‘Moses is a servant in the house, while Christ is the Son.’ …

‘Maximal Conservatism’

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It occurs to me that theological liberalism reached the height of its influence in the period leading up to 1977.  In fact, Alister McGrath makes a comment to this effect in his biography of J.I. Packer, To Know and Serve God, p212.  In that year two books were published by SCM Press which seemed finally to demonstrate that liberalism was, in the end, an impoverished, negative, destructive influence that was incapable of serving the purpose of Christ in this or any other generation. …

Satire

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We tend to think of satire as a rather modern thing.  The 21st century, however, does not have a monopoly on stupidity, and therefore does not have a monopoly on the use of satire as a means to expose that stupidity.

Satire has three main elements: a target, a vehicle, and an implied norm against which the target is criticised.  Satire is often accompanied by a comical or mocking tone.

The flaws of biblical characters are often exposed satirically. …

Interpretation of Old Testament narratives

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Over 40% of the OT is in the form of narrative.  In common with all narratives, OT narrative has characters and plots.  The most important character is God himself.  The plot may be read at three different levels.

1.  The Top Level.  This is the whole universal plan of God for his creation.  Key aspects of this are the creation itself, the fall, the issue of sin, the need for redemption, and the work of Christ.…