Methods of Scriptural Interpretation

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S

Scotth1960

Guest
#21
To get this discussion rolling, let's start with

this question.

Should a method of interpretation be used in a consistent manner throughout

the Bible?

As an example, should the method of interpreting the stories of Abraham be

the same as interpreting the prophecies of Isaiah?



Friends, Please see!

"HOW TO READ THE BIBLE" By The Right Reverend KALLISTOS, Bishop of

Diokleia. Orthodox Study Bible; pages 1757-1766. Fr. Jack N. Sparks, Ph.D.,

Dean, St. Athanasius Academy of Orthodox Theology, Elk Grove, CA. Nashville,

TN: Thomas Nelson Bibles, Copyright 2008.

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths" (Psalm 118:105 OSB

(119:105 KJV).


 
Dec 19, 2009
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#22
To get this discussion rolling, let's start with this question.

Should a method of interpretation be used in a consistent manner throughout the Bible? As an example, should the method of interpreting the stories of Abraham be the same as interpreting the prophecies of Isaiah?
I think the Bible should be understood in a literal fashion. That doesn’t mean we won’t discover some symbolism.
 
A

AnandaHya

Guest
#23
Interpretation is listed as a spiritual gift. Most people see it in the context of interpreting someone who is speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues could be speaking in a language that the person does not know naturally to someone whose native tongue it is or speaking in the language of angels.

I see the Bible as a codex to interpret messages from God about my every day life. sometimes it is just to write down a scripture verse and give it to someone I meet randomly. which has had various results, if nothing else it plants a seed and sometimes the person wants to talk.

One time I heard a whisper telling me to walk my dog. I shrugged it off and said I'd do it later. The voice persisted so eventually I gave in and took the dog for a walk a couple minutes later. I meet a pregnant girl who was having a really bad day walking on a street that is normally isolated from any pedestrian traffic. She sounded almost suicidal and told me "I was praying someone would come by my age to talk to."

You can't just go to the Bible and "interpret" it once, because as your life changes the sections of the Bible that speak out to you will change. That is why the Bible is called the LIVING WORD. Because if you pray before you read it for understanding and application in your life, then it will no longer be words on the page. certain words and text will pop out and stick in your mind and heart and you might meet someone during the day that really needs to be reminded of God's message through the words of the Holy Bible.

If you don't have a good memory just write a few verses on an index card and pray that God shows you a person you can share those verses with today. If you do a few each day then you'll have gone through the whole Bible in a year or so and can keep a journal about how God showed you the interpretation of those verses. Then you will have a living testimony of the change GOD's WORD has made in your life.

do it in humbliness and prayer with the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I've found it deepen relationships and gets you to meet people you might never have meet otherwise.

Nursing homes, prisons, hospitals are always looking for volunteers to visit the elderly, imates and sick, you can visit and share the gospel that way.

I've read thousands of book over my lifetime but I found the most educational was the book GOD wrote: the Bible and my life.

whatever we do and seek we must do for the edification of the church

1 Corinthians 14
Prophecy and Tongues
1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. 2 For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries. 3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. 4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church. 5 I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for[a] he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the church may receive edification.


you don't just interpret the Bible, YOU LIVE IT and engrave it into your heart.
 
Last edited:

pickles

Senior Member
Apr 20, 2009
14,479
182
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#24
I cannot offer any technical info to your question.
In fact, I never considered there was a spacific method.
I have always given , as all things in faith, to God Our Father, in Jesus. Trusting all understanding to the Holy Spirit.
After all, faith is what brings us, calls us to Jesus, why would one think that anything else would not rest in the care of God Our Father through faith?
I know some would say we need this or that understanding, but does'nt the Bible say, rest not in ones own understanding, but look to the perfect understanding given in the Holy Spirit?
But, Im no scholor, so Ill remain humble to a better understanding in Jesus! :)

God bless.
pickles
 

VW

Banned
Dec 22, 2009
4,579
9
0
#25
Do we not have the mind of Christ? We do not need to interpret scripture. That is foolishness. What we should do is read, and listen to the Spirit. If He does not show us about a certain passage, we wait on Him, when He decides we are ready, He will make it known to us.

I have read the old testament several times, and the new countless times. Now, for almost every situation, if I am willing to listen, the Spirit brings to my mind passages that have pertinence to the situation, along with understanding that is full of His wisdom. This is a blessing it is impossible to put a price on.

The scriptures are God's words, His thoughts, His likes and dislikes and His plans. They show how He is in His dealings with His creation, which we are. But we too often forget that we cannot ascertain the things of God with our native intelligence, because the natural man cannot understand the things if God. But, we have the mind of Christ. We have His mind by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

My understanding of scripture is not static, or unchanging, but as I grow in Christ, so the truth that I can understand changes; I am able to bear deeper words. No one can deny that we are a work in progress, and the One working is God. We know that this is written in scripture. If we are to do anything in this maturing process, it is to seek to facilitate God's working in us, which He is doing by His Spirit in us. And the best way to do that is to abide, to live in Jesus. John wrote that the Spirit teaches us just this very thing.

But what does this mean, live in Jesus?

By the indwelling of the Spirit, Jesus lives in us. This too is scripture. He said that He would not leave us alone, but that He would come to us. To live in Jesus means that we are to be in Him just as He is in us. He explained this also, that night before His death. To live in Jesus means that we walk in Him, relating to Him all of our lives in every way, all the time. And knowing that He is in us, watching and teaching and helping and directing us in all of our ways. He said that His sheep hear His voice, but not unless they live in Him.

All this to say that if we are in Him, we will hear what He wants us to know from scripture, and this is the only way I have found to actually know the truth.

In Christ,