Kallistos Ware’s article, “How to Read the Bible”, explains the necessary components of reading the Bible. He explained that Saint Tikhon’s perspective of the Bible is that God’s Word is love letter to His people, a conversation between God and man (Ware, 1). He also expressed the Moscow statement where the Bible helps us to obey God when we hear the message, receive it, and interpret it in order to apply it to our lives (Ware, 1). As a result, Ware combines these two ideas with four important concepts about reading the Bible: the reading is obedient, ecclesial, Christ-centered, and personal (Ware, 1). Ware describes obedience as listening to God’s voice in order to receive the message with an open heart. In addition, the reading of Scriptures …show more content…
Usually, when my pastor baptized me, I thought that becoming a Christian would change my life. It did until I found out that the Christian journey is a lifestyle. When I read Scriptures, I thought it told me to follow certain laws to make me a better Christians. However, I became lost like the Pharisees; I cared more about keeping the Ten Commandments without recognizing God’s love for my life. I spent most of life depressed where I could not stop sinning, could not follow God’s simple instructions, and could not find God in the midst of death in the family and crisis at school. I discovered a principle in this article that aligns with an astonishing detail I learned from Professor Leon Blanchette. I learned that in order to obey God, I must love Him. I became confused about this question, thinking if my devotionals interpreted Scriptures carefully and applied to my family and friends on social media. What I discovered is that I forgot to love God. I made obedience seem as a duty rather than meaningful. For example, I can apologize to a person without remorse or apologize with love. The difference between these two scenarios is that an apology out of love is meaningful, compared to an apology without remorse. This also applies to how I interpret Scriptures. In most cases, I can read the Bible when God tells me to read it. However, in order to apply four characteristics Ware mentions in his article, I must take delight in the Lord, excited to learn what God has to say to me each day(New International Version, Psalm
In argument for the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, they said that reading the Bible not only was essential to the building of good morals and development of the minds of impressionable school children, it was free to be interpreted anyway because of lack of comment and explanation. They claimed that the Bible was not a religious work, but when viewed from the eyes of a Christian, it did express the message of Christianity.
In the book “The Art of Biblical Narrative” by Robert Alter, there is one chapter (Chapter 3) titled “Biblical Type-Scenes and the Uses of Convention” (Alter 47). Alter describes several different stories (but similar in some ways) in the Old Testament that can be difficult to interpret in today’s culture. Alter describes how reading any book (more specifically the Bible), requires use of conventions, which he describes as “… an elaborate set of tacit agreements between artist and audience about the ordering of the art work is at all times the enabling context in which the complex communication of art occurs” (Alter 47). In other words, an agreement of how the writing is done; it can be pretty complex as well. He states that there are stories in the Bible that have the same stories of narrative, but there are different characters, they often are told several times in the Bible. Alter uses several of examples, like how patriarch is driven by famine; or where someone is found and is invited to eat with them, or a betrothal (engagement) near a well/body
When looking at the common theme that Barth develops in God Here and Now, it becomes apparent for the need of congregation to justify, ratify, and promote the Bible as the living word of God. When and where the Bible constitutes its own authority and significance, it mediates the very presence of God through the congregation. Encountering this presence in the Church, among those whose lives presume living through the Bible’s power and meaning. Barth states that the Bible must become God's Word and this occurs only when God wills to address us in and through it. The Christ-event is God's definitive self-disclosure, while Scripture and preaching are made to correspond to him as a faithful witness becomes the perfect statement according to Barth (Barth, 2003, p. 61).
N.T Wright (2008) stated that “When we read the scriptures as Christians, we read it precisely as people of the new covenant and of the new creation” (p.281). In this statement, the author reveals a paradigm of scriptural interpretation that exists for him as a Christian, theologian, and profession and Bishop. When one surveys the entirety of modern Christendom, one finds a variety of methods and perspectives on biblical interpretation, and indeed on the how one defines the meaning in the parables of Jesus. Capon (2002) and Snodgrass (2008) offer differing perspectives on how one should approach the scriptures and how the true sense of meaning should be extracted. This paper will serve as a brief examination of the methodologies presented by these two authors. Let us begin, with an
Harris, Stephen. Understanding The Bible. 6 ed. New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2002. Print.
The Interpreter's One Volume Commentary on the Bible. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1971). Lenski, R. C. H. Interpretation of St. Luke's Gospel (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing). House, 1961.
The New Interpreter's Study Bible: New Revised Standard Version with the Apocrypha. Nashville: Abingdon Press, ©2003.
God’s written law is something that is and should be continuously turned, to not only when Christians find themselves in need, but also throughout in one’s daily life. The four gospels tell to story of Jesus’ life and his teachings he gave while on the earth making it possible for there to be a true example of Christ-like faith. The proposition that there are differences in the story of Jesus and in his teachings seems to question the basis upon which the Christian faith is found upon. Rather than proclaiming the gospels as falsehoods because on the differences they possess, by analyzing the differences in the context of the particular gospel it can be understood that the differences are not made by mistake, rather as a literary device. While
Authority of Scripture reconciles the community with God and can transform our lives. To participate in the fuller blessing of understanding, it is important to view Scripture with historical and literary sensitivity, interpret theocentrically, ecclesially, and contextually. I realize each of these can be overwhelming to the average person who is seeking direction for a specific concern in their life. Therefore, Migliore reminds us, interpreting Scripture is practical engagement in the living of Christian faith, love, and hope in a still redeemed world. When we listen carefully to the voices of the past, from a worldwide culture, and guided by the Holy Spirit, we will open ourselves to those transformational opportunities.
Holy Bible: Contemporary English Version. New York: American Bible Society, 1995. Print. (BS195 .C66 1995)
Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, authors of How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, have written an easy-to-read book for those who want to learn more about what the Bible has to offer. The authors present distinct principles for interpreting different genres found in the Bible. The book has sold over half a million copies and is one of the most popular books regarding biblical interpretation. Fee is a seminary professor of New Testament studies at Regent College. He has authored several New Testament commentaries and is the general editor of the New International Commentary series.
Thus, an effort is made to highlight how Bible interpretation – through its publication – has developed in the history of Christianity.
When we speak or hear about the law of God or the Ten Commandments, love is usually the last thing that comes to our minds. We tend to picture large stones and towering inscriptions laid out before us, written by the hand of an angry God, a Just Judge. We see the bold words “THOU SHALT NOT” and cower in fear. We tend to correlate the law of the big ten with the halls of justice, cold, insensitive, exacting, condemning. We see them devoid of all emotion, warmth, endearment, understanding, forgiveness. Instead, we put our heads down in fearful expectation, waiting and cringing at the sound of that gavel of justice. We hang our heads low in shame, cast in the shadow of the law. Guilty, condemned, and at the same time, down deep at the gut level, we despise such commands and restrictions, feeling intense stirrings of rebellion in our hearts. “Who are you to tell me what to do,” We say. For in our minds we regularly separate love from law, for they seem diametrically opposed, antithetical to one another. This is simply not true. Lawlessness is really lovelessness. God did not hear the cries of Israel, solely to impose strict commands on a severely oppressed people, enslaved under a cruel dictator; no, God did not deliver a people from one form of cruel slavery, only to bring them under another kind. That is not salvation. Yes, this new freedom has boundaries, albeit, only because love has boundaries. So then, it is equally true we were slaves of sin and now in Christ have become slaves to righteousness. Slavery compelled us to act in rebellion, now love constrains us from such unspeakable things, for love now leads us into active submission to our “new” Master.
Answering these questions is the purpose of this essay. I begin by arguing that the Bible cannot be adequately understood independent of its historical context. I concede later that historical context alone however is insufficient, for the Bible is a living-breathing document as relevant to us today as it was the day it was scribed. I conclude we need both testimonies of God at work to fully appreciate how the Bible speaks to us.
The crux of my faith ultimately revolves around my personal salvation and union with Christ. Without God’s redeeming acts, I am still a fallen human being without hope for redemption. But, our Christian understanding of soteriology offers hope and freedom through the acts of Jesus Christ on the cross and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, we can celebrate the promise of John 3:16-18: