How To Study the Bible (part 2) Interpretation

Our first step of Bible study was observation.  Hopefully we have worked hard and answered many questions regarding the passage at which we have been looking.  If we have worked hard these observations help us to know what is in the passage.  Knowing the content of the passage that we have been observing is our first step of interpretation.*

We then must consider how this passage is placed in the Bible.  This is called context.  How does it fit with the rest of the verses around it?  Is it part of a large sentence and extended paragraph?  How does it fit with the surrounding paragraphs and the rest of the book?  Then how does it fit in with the entire Bible?  These questions help us to determine literary context.

We also must consider when was this taking place?  What was going on at the same time politically, socially, and technologically in the world at this time.  This is the historical context.

Closely associated with the historical context would be the cultural context.  How people communicated and lived in their time helps us to understand the scriptures more.

In some passages an understanding of the geographical context will help with a clearer interpretation of the passage.

It is also important to see how the passage one is studying fits into the greater framework of Scripture?  God through the ages slowly revealed more of His plan.  What did the writer and the recipients understand and know about God.  What was the primary religion of the culture to which the writer was ministering?

As we come to an interpretation of a passage we must compare it to other passages that speak to the subject.  God is not the author of confusion so He will not give us two messages that fully contradict.

There are several tools that can be used to help us in our interpretation of the Scriptures.   A concordance helps us find other passages that use the same words or similar words.  Many of them also have short definitions.   A Bible dictionary is helpful for finding the definitions of key words or words that we might not fully understand.   There are various types of Bible dictionaries of which some are much more in depth than others.  Your depth of study and your knowledge of the original languages may affect the type of dictionary you want to get.  It is often helpful as well to read a passage in multiple translations to see how the different translators handled the passage.

Once you are pretty certain of the meaning of the text it is wise to check some commentaries to see if you are interpreting in a similar way to well known men whose interpretations and lives have proven faithful.  Some that have been helpful to me and that are often available both digitally and in book form are “Matthew Henry’s Commentary”, Warren Wiersbe’s Expositor’s Bible Commentary”, Albert Barnes – “Barnes Notes on the Bible”, Jameson-Fawcett Brown, John Gill’s Commentary, along with John MacArthur’s Commentary have all been helpful to me at different points in my life and ministry.  I don’t know that I agree with everything any one of them say, but they give me a great foundation for which to compare my final interpretations.

We cannot stop with interpretation but must go on to application, but we will save that for another day.

*Note: I am grateful for the work of Howard and William Hendricks in "Living by the Book".  This article reflects much of what I learned through their study.  For an in depth lesson on Bible study please get this text.