The first episode in a 9-part series on some of the most mis-interpreted verses in the Bible.
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Episode Summary/For Further Exploration
Practical Tips for Interpreting the Bible:
- Interpret the Bible with The Bible
- Recognize “we’re reading someone else’s mail”
- Understand the Context
- Get a readable translation of the Bible (NIV, NRSV, NAB, CEB, NASB, etc.)
- Read the text repeatedly, and read it in the context of community (in church, with the writings of scholars, in a class, with a friend)
- Find Good tools and good friends to read scripture with, even if there are interpretative differences.
- Ask God’s Spirit for guidance to understand scripture better
- View Scripture as a Friend, and develop a relationship with it; believe God might talk to you thought it
Additional Tips for Reading and Interpreting the Bible:
- “Don’t lose the forest for the trees....” “There is a script in the scripture”
- Don’t reject difficulties or force harmonization. Receive the diversity as a gracious gift from God.
- Understand, the Bible is all part of a larger mystery.
- Remember we don’t worship scripture, but scripture leads us toward worship of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit).
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Resources & References
Bible References:
1 Corinthians 13; Philippians 4, Romans 8
Dr Still Bio:
https://www.baylor.edu/truett/index.php?id=927910
Recent Dr Still Bible Publication:
https://www.baylorpress.com/9781481308250/baylor-annotated-study-bible/
George Washington Truett
https://sbhla.org/biographies/george-washington-truett/
https://www.baylor.edu/truett/index.php?id=927657
Paul: A Biography by NT Wright
https://www.amazon.com/Paul-Biography-N-T-Wright/dp/0061730580
Baylor’s Truett Seminary, Online Certificate Program
“The Online Certificate Program offered through Baylor’s Truett Seminary is designed for church members and leaders who desire more depth in their Christian life or ministry.”https://www.baylor.edu/truett/index.php?id=952491
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Additional Context
On bringing "presuppositions" to our reading of Scripture:
- “Whether one likes it or not, every reader is at the same time an interpreter. That is, most of us assume as we read that we also understand what we read. We also tend to think that our understanding is the same thing as the Holy Spirit’s or human author’s intent. However, we invariably bring to the text all that we are, with all of our experiences, culture, and prior understandings of words and ideas. Sometimes what we bring to the text, unintentionally to be sure, leads us astray, or else causes us to read all kinds of foreign ideas into the...
