The Bible:
How to Read It?
Keith Campbell, Ph.D.
dkeithcampbell@yahoo.com
Review/Preview
Review
Oct. 26: Four Sources of Authority
Preview
Scripture
Nov. 2: “The Bible…Where did it Come From”
Nov. 16: “The Bible…Why Trust It?”
Today: “The Bible…How to Read It?”
Tradition
Reason
Experience
For full schedule of Dinner Lectures and for PPT’s visit
http://shanghaifellowship.org/resources/sunday-lectures/
Plan
• First things First
• How hard can it be?
Image: http://www.productivityist.com/blog/how-i-work-the-plan
• Two basic goals of Bible Reading
• Then and There
Slaves and
• Here and Now
Homosexuals
as Test Cases
• Discussion: What say you?
Image: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140804115559-202308136-first-things-first-prioritising-hacks
First Things First:
Christian Primary Goal of Bible Reading
• Hear God’s voice
• Read God’s word as a love letter to us
• Love and obey God more deeply than before
• Learn our place in His-Story
• Including family, career, recreation…
First Things First:
• Tonight: painting with broad strokes
• Further study needed
• See resources at PPT’s end
• Applying this discussion: hard work
• Bible needs become part of DNA
• “Bowling Lane” principle
• Applying this discussion: overwhelming
• Lifetime baby steps
• Holy Spirit aids in interpretation
• But rewards are eternal!
Image:
http://blog.zuken.com/index.php/
2013/10/pcb-design-manualrouting-with-broader-brushstrokes/
How Hard Can it Be?
What do you mean “How to Read It?”
How Hard Can it Be?
• It’s easy, right? Just read it?
• Easy much of the time (much agreement).
• But, how do we interpret verses like:
• “Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing
woven of two kinds of material” (Leviticus 19:19).
• “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I
am the LORD” (Leviticus 19:28).
• “Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss” (1 Thess 5:26).
• “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away…and if
your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away” (Matt
5:29–30).
• "Take and eat; this is my body” (Matt 26:26).
• “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she
must be silent” (1 Timothy 2:12).
What do you mean “How to Read It?”
How Hard Can it Be?
• Two challenges:
Image: http://candy-crush-saga.wikia.com/wiki/File:Difficult-team.jpg
• The nature of the reader (us)
• The nature of Scripture (the Bible)
Challenge: The Nature of the Reader (us)
• Bible world far removed from our world. Written:
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Over 1,500 years
In a different culture
40+ different authors
Various genres
• We bring “baggage” to the Bible (we all read through
“glasses”). Examples:
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Experiences (divorce, abuse, wealth, etc.)
Culture (the West, the East, etc.)
Prior understandings of words and ideas (sin, heaven, etc.)
Remember: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, Experience
• This calls for deep (very very deep) humility
Challenge: The Nature of Scripture
• Both human and divine
• Historically particular and eternally relevant
• Historically particular: Written in many specific times, locations,
and genres
• Eternally relevant: Written from God’s perspective for us today
Challenges
• Challenges: Yes!
• But not impossible!
• Remember: Holy Spirit helps
• Primary Bible story quite easy
Image: http://www.turnbacktogod.com/how-to-read-the-bible/
Two Goals of
Bible Interpretation
Interpreting the Bible
Two Basic Goals
• Meant then and there (authorial intent)?
• Gods Word to us was first God’s Word to them!
• Purpose:
• Read author’s intent out of the Bible
• Avoid reading our ideas into the Bible
• Means here and now?
• Application
Then and There
General Interpretive Principles
Then and There:
Introducing and Applying The Interpretive Triad to a Passage*
How the passage fits
within the overall biblical
message (allowing
tensions to exist and
interpreting the OT in
light of Jesus and the NT)
Biblical/Theology
Summary
OT or NT?
Background
Author
Date
Recipients
Cultural
(including:
Sociological
Political
Philosophical
Geographical)
What is the
Genre:
Narrative,
Poetry,
Letter,
Gospel, etc.
Second
Historical
Background
Literary Context
Context
First
*Adapted from Köstenberger, Invitation to Biblical Interpretation (2012)
Word
Meanings
Applying the Interpretive Triad:
Tools for the Trade (See Final PPT Slide)
• Several Bible translations (NIV, ESV, NASB, NLT, TNIV, etc.)
• A Couple of Study Bibles (ESV Study Bible [outstanding!], NIV
Study Bible, Archeological Study Bible, Life Application Study
Bible, Apologetics Study Bible, etc.)
• A Bible dictionary
• An Introduction to the OT and NT
• A Couple of Good commentaries
• Good Websites (see website, link at bottom of page)
You stumble upon these two passages
• Ephesians 6:5–9 (about slavery)
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Slaves: obedient to masters
Masters treat slaves respectively
Doesn’t endorse nor speak against slavery
Doesn’t tell slaves to seek freedom
• Leviticus 18:22 (about homosexuality)
Image: http://new.exchristian.net/2012/04/christians-should-loveand-accept.html
• Prohibits homosexual behavior
• “Sexual orientation”: a foreign concept to this writer
Then and There
Applying The Interpretive Triad
Historical Background (concurrent with Literary )
• Slavery (Ephesians 6:5–9)
• Author: Paul (about A.D.60)
• Recipients: Ephesian Church, addressing general theology and
instruction about Christianity
• Cultural: Slaves mistreated in Roman Empire
• Homosexuals (Leviticus 18:22)
• Author: Probably Moses (about 1400–1200 BC) Image: http://onetheology.com/2013/06/13/the-bible-andhomosexuality/
• Recipients: Former Israel slaves en route to Promised Land
• Cultural: Homosexual behavior widely accepted beyond Israel.
How do we know all this stuff? Use resources mentioned earlier!
Then and There
Applying The Interpretive Triad
Literary Context (concurrent with Historical Background)
• Slavery (Ephesians 6:5–9)
• New Testament/Covenant (after Jesus)
• Genre: Letter
• Not poetry: Can’t read figuratively.
• Context: Last of three discussions about how Christians should relate to
others within hierarchical relationships (Wives and Husbands, Children and
Parents, Slaves and Masters)
• Word Meanings: “Slaves” (NIV, NASB, NLT, KJV); could mean “Bondservants”
(ESV)
• Distinction is minimal
• Paul speaking of one person owning another person.
• Homosexuals (Leviticus 18:22)
• Old Testament/Covenant (before Jesus)
• Genre: OT law
• Context: In a long list of ethical, legal, and religious commands, including
“don’t wear clothing mixed with two types of material” or “sow your field
with two types of crops” (Lev 19:19)
• Word Meanings: Nothing debatable. Moses has in mind homosexual
behavior.
Then and There
Applying The Interpretive Triad
Biblical/Theological Summary (after Historical and Literary)
(If time would permit, we would apply the triad to all of the following)
• Slavery (partially representative b/c of space)
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Leviticus 25:44–46: Israel allowed to purchase slaves from enemies
Exodus 21:2–6; 7–11: Rules on managing and freeing slaves
Exodus 21: 20–21: Punishment for beating a slave
1 Corinthians 7:20–21: Slaves be content; but, get freedom if possible
Galatians 3:28: Slaves and free are one in Christ
Colossians 3:11: Slaves and masters are equal
Ephesians 6:5–9 (our passage): Instructions to slaves and slave owners
Colossians 4:1: Masters commanded to treat slaves rightly and fairly
1 Timothy 6:1–2: Slaves are to serve their believing masters diligently
Philemon 1:15–16: Paul commands a Christian slave owner to receive his runaway
slave “no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother [in Christ]”
• Homosexuals (every Bible passage represented)
• Leviticus 18:22; (our passage): Male homosexual behavior forbidden
• Leviticus 20:13 : Male homosexual behavior is forbidden
• Romans 1:26–27: Male and female homosexual behavior forbidden
• 1 Corinthians 6:9–11: Homosexual behavior forbidden
Then and There
Applying The Interpretive Triad
Biblical/Theological Summary (after Historical and Literary)
• Slavery
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OT: slavery assumed
OT: laws protect slaves, but we think still brutal
NT: instructions on how some slaves are to behave
NT: masters to treat slaves as equal in Christ
NT: Does not speak against the institution of slavery
NT: slaves can pursue freedom
• Homosexual
• OT: homosexual behavior is sin.
• NT: homosexual behavior is sin.
Image: http://www.catholic.org/news/hf/faith/story.php?id=52265
Here and Now
Goal: To Apply the Complete Biblical/Theological Summary to Our Lives Today
Here and Now
Scholarly Debate About the Best Interpretive Model/Method
• Everyone has a model/method, even if unaware of it!
• Three representative models/methods:
• Principlizing: Develops timeless principles that restate specific Bible
passages
• Redemptive Historical: Looks for progress, development, or other
patterns in the unfolding of biblical history
• Redemptive Movement: Similar to Redemptive, but with two
differences:
• Considers the Bible’s cultural background in assessing biblical
development. Example: The Bible always liberates women relative to its
cultural background (this is a “redemptive movement”).
• When there is biblical development, the Bible may point beyond itself to
an ultimate ethic not realized in the Bible itself.
Here and Now
Homosexual Behavior
• Principlizing: Principle of every text is clear. Thus, homosexual
behavior is sin.
Image: http://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/actuality.html
• Redemptive Historical: No progress or development. Thus,
homosexual behavior is sin.
• Redemptive Movement: No progress or development. The Bible is
always more restrictive than its cultural background about
Homosexual behavior. Thus, Homosexual behavior is sin.
Here and Now
Slavery
• Principlizing: Good principles for boss-employee relationships, for
how to treat the weak and powerless, etc.
• Challenge: Seems divorced from original biblical meaning. What
about very harsh treatment of slaves in OT?
• Redemptive Historical: Historical movement in Bible culminates in
slaves equal to masters.
• Challenge: But, institution never abolished. Is slavery okay as long as
we behave Christianly therein? Should we try to abolish slavery or
just make it better?
• Redemptive Movement: Agrees with “Redemptive Historical” model,
but suggests that the Bible’s trajectory points to an ultimate ethic of
abolition.
• Challenges: Is the Bible itself insufficient? How do we know what the
ultimate ethic is?
Here and Now
What Say You?
How do we apply what the Bible teaches on
homosexual behavior in Shanghai?
How do we apply what the Bible teaches on
slavery in Sudan?
Here and Now:
Evangelical Scholarly Agreement
• The Bible is accurate in all that it affirms. Our understanding of it may be
fallible.
• I repeat: Have firm conviction laced with deep (very very deep) humility.
• Debates most often occur with “peripheral” (albeit important) issues:
• Women’s issues, specifics of end times, eternal security of the believer,
predestination/freewill, Christian freedom (e.g. alcohol), etc.
• Many pervasive biblical teachings are less debated:
• Jesus’ death and resurrection, Jesus’ return, murder, adultery, lust, pride,
hatred, idolatry, etc.
• For general theological consensuses in evangelicalism, visit our Church’s
website: Shanghaifellowship.org (specifically: “Our Vision and Belief”)
• Must read the Bible systematically for a lifetime.
• Honest, open, ongoing, and humbly (did I mention humble?) critical
conversations within the believing community is a must.
For Further Study
• Basic: Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read
the Bible for All Its Worth.
• Intermediate: Gary T. Meadors, Four Views on Moving Beyond
the Bible to Theology.
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Advanced: Andreas Köstenberger,
Invitation to Biblical Interpretation.