The Importance of How to Interpret a Biblical Text
Defining the terms:
Exegetical- an explanation or critical interpretation of a text
Fallacy- Incorrectness of reasoning or belief; erroneousness.
Lexical semantics- is the study of word meaning. Descriptively speaking, the main topics studied within lexical semantics involve either the internal semantic structure of words, or the semantic relations that occur within the vocabulary.
Hermeneutics- The science of interpretation and explanation; exegesis; esp., that branch of theology which defines the laws whereby the meaning of the Scriptures is to be ascertained.
Etymology-: the history of a linguistic form (such as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language.
CONTEXT
We must have a higher respect for contextual reading of the scriptures. Context with the entirety of scripture is important but we must dig into the exegetical fallacies, lexical semantics, logical fallacies, and studying the work of those who have majored in Hebrew or Greek.
Doing so has made me aware that not only proper hermeneutics is often neglected but true context is neglected in many ways more than just cherry-picking scriptures to fit personally held doctrine.
Here lies the great divide in interpretation. But with everything it has its limits because one could spend a decade studying the ancient language and still find themselves in divide over debated scriptures.
(Debated doesn't mean the accuracy of the message and truth has been damaged in any way but simply that as modern readers we have a hard time understanding certain passages.)
The translation of words and the etymologies of the words hinges on context. For a modern example, if I was to say something was livid you would assume angry but to a 1920 writer, livid meant bluish gray. So we have to examine the mind of the author and their writing style especially since in the ancient language, words could carry different implications where only in context would you understand.
For instance, the word yom in Hebrew which means day. Well yom can have up to 4 different meanings. A 12-hour day, 24-hour day, the phrase back in those days (a season), or a long expanse of time. Only in context would you know which one.
The root fallacy was something I needed to study for instance we often hear that agape is a sacrificial love while phileo is like a strong connection between friends. But using a word search you will see both words are used interchangeably and in context carry nothing of importance other than affection. In 2 Samuel 13, Amnon we see the word agapao the verb form of agape used in reference to Amnon's rape of his sister Tamar. Jesus used both agape and phileo when asking Peter “Do you love me”.
Word studies are good but they must fit the context. For example, the word power or dýnamis in Greek. Defined- for the believer, power to achieve by applying the Lord's inherent abilities.
Dýnamis is the root word of our English word dynamite.
The power of God is indeed powerful but not in the explosive type of way. That is us applying the English word to the root word creating the root fallacy.
God's power is not of disorder as an explosion but one of design. So in context, we must hold to the author's idea of dýnamis which will not contradict the power of God explained from Genesis to Revelation. The power to create has never been witnessed by an explosion. The power to destroy is within God's power but only part of it.
As I finish writing a study on how to study the Bible my goal as a layman is to try and bridge the material in such a way that is easy to understand. What takes hours of study I hope to simplify for the reader. Both interpretation and translation are very important for us to understand to have good theology.
SUMMARY
In summary, remember the word context not only interprets the passage but equally sheds light on the meaning of the words used. We should always ask ourselves what would of come to mind by the author using certain words and in inspiration of the Holy Spirit how does the interpretation as a whole fit into the context of the whole Bible.
What would come to mind for an ancient writer will be determined by the culture, environment, their current events, their history, religion/worldview, people around them, their education (academic or trade labor), and the reason for writing.
All of this provides the context that is needed to understand the intent of the writer.
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