Guidelines for Interpreting the Bible
1.
As people of faith – specifically the Christian faith – we assume that the Bible is both a human and a divine work. It is human in that the writing was done by human beings with a specific audience in mind. It was written in a specific historical moment and in a specific cultural setting which affect our ability to understand its meaning. It is a divine work in that God inspired the writers to reveal in their writing something of who God is and how God is at work with humanity.
2.
The Bible is reasonably straightforward in expressing its meaning. We are not to look for deeper, spiritual meanings which require some special theological knowledge, spiritual status, or “secret” knowledge. There are no mystical codes in the Bible which we need to decipher in order reveal some hidden message or meaning. There are clearly symbolic, poetic, dramatic, and hyperbolic passages in the Bible, but we use the same guidelines in understanding these passages as we would to understand similar kinds of passages in other writings.
3.
We assume that scripture was written to be understood by the people to whom the writing was originally addressed. Therefore, to understand what the passage means for us today, we start by trying to understand what it meant to its original readers or hearers.
4.
To understand how the original hearers and readers would have understood the passage, we need to learn as much as we can about the historical setting and cultural practices of the time. What was the life situation of the original audience?
5.
Our Bible is a collection of 66 different books or writings. A wide variety of literary types are represented in these books. In order to interpret a passage we need to consider what kind of literature it is. Just as we would read a modern book of poetry differently than we would a biography, we need to understand the characteristics of the literary type we are reading. Some of the literary types in the Bible are:
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Historical narrative (1&2 Samuel)
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Poetry (Psalms)
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Prophetic writing (Isaiah, Amos, etc.)
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Letters (Romans, James, etc.)
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Wisdom literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes)
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Apocalyptic literature (Revelation, Daniel 7-12)
6.
The author of a book will bring certain perspectives or points of view to a writing. While many biblical books are anonymous, we do know the author of many of them, especially in the New Testament. Understanding the background and theological point of view of an author is very helpful in the process of interpretation. In many cases we might not know the actual name of the writer, but we can discern the writer’s perspective or point of view.
Also, scholars believe that some books may have more than one author and were later edited together (e.g., Genesis, Isaiah).
7.
It is important that we have a clear understanding of significant words that appear in a passage. There are important theological words that we need to understand (e.g., grace, sin, righteousness, holy, salvation). Because the Bible was written over a period of roughly a thousand years, some of these theological concepts changed over time. Also, different writers sometimes used the same word in slightly different ways. For example,
Paul and James used the word “faith” somewhat differently. Of course, we also have to be aware that we are reading an English translation of documents that were originally written in Hebrew or Greek. Understanding something of the original Greek or Hebrew word can also help our interpretation.