The Basic Rule:
When applying exegetical study to the practice of hermeneutics it is imperative to remember that a text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or his or her readers. This is why good exegesis is important to do before attempting to discover what the text means to you and how to apply it to your life.

The Second Rule:
Whenever we share comparable particulars (i.e., similar specific life situations) with the first-century setting, God’s Word to us is the same as his Word to them. This is also what gives modern day Christians a sense of immediacy with the first century. To find what the comparable particularities are and to properly evaluate how to apply scripture you must perform a careful reconstruction of their situation.

The Problem of Extended Application:
When there are comparable situations and comparable particularities, God’s Word to us in such texts must always be limited to its original intent. Furthermore, it should be noted that the extended application is usually seen to be legitimate because it is true, that is, it is clearly spelled out in other passages where that is the intent of the passage. The problem with extended application exists because in some situations it is impossible to know exactly what the original text means and therefore should not be extended.

The Problem of Particulars That Are Not Comparable:
The problem here has to do with two kinds of texts in the Epistles: those that speak to first-century issues that for the most part are without any twenty-first century counterparts, and those texts that speak to problems that could possibly happen also in the twenty-first century but are highly unlikely to do so. Here are two ways of helping with this situation. First, you must do exegesis paying close attention to hear what God’s Word was to the original audience. You should find that a clear principle has been articulated, which will usually transcend the historical particularity to which it was being applied. Second, the “principle” does not now become timeless, to be applied at random or whim to any and every situation. It should truly only be applied to genuinely comparable situations.

Matters of Indifference:
Here are a series of guidelines that might help in identifying matters of indifference.

1. What the Epistles specifically indicates as matters of indifference may be things such as: food, drink, observance of specific days, etc.

2. The matters are not inherently moral, but are cultural¬-even if its stems from religious culture. Matters that tend to differ from culture to culture, therefore, even among genuine believers may usually be considered matters if indifference.

Something very important to remember when dealing with matters of indifference is that a person that does not feel bound by something should not flaunt his or her freedom, just as a person who feels convicted should not condemn someone else.

The Problem of Cultural Relativity:
(1) The Epistles are occasional documents of the first-century, conditioned by the language and culture of the first-century, which spoke to specific situations in the first-century church. (2) Many of the specific situations in the Epistles don’t apply to us as individuals in the twenty-first century. (3) Other texts are also thoroughly conditioned by their first-century settings, but the Word to them may be translated into new, but comparable settings. (4) This leaves other texts conditioned by the first-century that share some comparable particularities, leaving the question of whether or not these texts need to be translated into a new setting or simply left in the first century. The following guidelines will help you distinguish texts that are culturally relative, on the one hand, and those that transcend their original setting, on the other hand, and have a normativeness for all Christians of all times.

1. One should first distinguish between the central core of the message of the Bible and what is dependent upon or peripheral to it.  An example of centrality would be the fallenness of all mankind, redemption from that fallenness as God’s gracious activity through Christ’s death and resurrection, the consummation of that redemptive work by the return of Christ, etc.

2. One should be prepared to distinguish between what the New Testament itself sees as inherently moral and what is not. Those items that are inherently moral are absolute and apply to every culture, for all time.

3. You must make special note of items where the New Testament itself has a uniform and consistent witness and where it reflects differences.

4. It is important to be able to distinguish within the New Testament itself between the principle and specific application. It is possible for a New Testament writer to support a relative application by an absolute principle and in so doing not make the action absolute.

5. It is important, as much as one is able to do this with care, to determine cultural options open to any New Testament writer. The degree to which a New Testament writer agrees with a cultural situation in which there is only one option increases the possibility of the cultural relativity of such a position.

6. One must keep alert to possible cultural differences between the first and twenty-first centuries that are sometimes not immediately obvious.

The Problem of Task Theology:
The difficulty here exists in that the Epistles are occasional in nature. They are focused on delivering theology through practical situations and sometimes do not speak directly to the questions that we have today. Posing a question about the morality of abortion is asking a great deal of the Epistles to perform because this was not an issue in the first-century. This does not mean that Scripture has nothing to ay about abortion for example, but we need to take great care when applying theology from the Epistles to particular situations that were not present when the Epistle was written. Remember that our immediate aim is for greater precision and consistency; our greater aim is calling us all to greater obedience to what we do hear and understand.

(This post is a summary and partial abridgement of Fee And Stuart’s book “How To Read The Bible For All It’s Worth.” It is based solely on Fee And Stuart’s work and any help that this content gives should be credited to God’s grace through their effort. In other words, give God glory, thank Fee and Stuart and buy the book.)

The Nature of the Epistles:
The Epistles are all of the New Testament except the Four Gospels, Acts, and Revelation. All of the Epistles are referred to as occasional documents, arising out of and intended for a specific occasion. They are also all from the first century. Almost all of the New Testaments letters were occasioned from the reader’s side. Usually the occasion was some kind of behavior that needed correcting, or a doctrinal error that needed setting right, or a misunderstanding that needed further light.

Much of the problems in interpreting the Epistles exist in the fact that they are occasional. We have the answers, but we do not always know what the questions or problems are. It is similar to listening to one end of a telephone conversation. The occasional nature of the Epistles also means that they are not first of all theological treatise. There is theology implied but it is task theology.

The Historical Context:
The first thing to do in reading the Epistles is to try and form an informed reconstruction of the situation the author is speaking to. To do this you can consult a bible dictionary or the introduction of a commentary. The second step, especially for study purposes is to read the letter in one sitting. This will help you grasp the big picture of the letter, examining every word will come later. Some things to jot down as you read might be:

1. What do you notice about the recipients themselves? e.g., whether Jews or Greek, wealthy or slave, problems, attitudes, etc.
2. The author’s attitude
3. Any specific things mentioned as to the specific occasion of the letter
4. The letter’s natural, logical divisions.

The Literary Context:
Here you want to begin to trace the argument as an answer to the occasion that required the letter. Define what the point of the letter is. (1) In a compact way state the content of each paragraph. (2) In another sentence or two try to explain why the author says what they say when they say it. How does this content contribute to the argument?

A good check to make sure that you have performed good exegesis is (1) to make sure that the exegesis is self-contained; that is, you do not have to go outside the text to understand the point. It is good to get additional information to help set the historical context but make sure that the conclusions you arrive at do not step out side the meaning of the letter. (2) Make sure that there is nothing in the text that does not fit into the argument. (3) When you are finished doing exegesis, there is clarity of the occasion that required the letter.

There will be times when it will be impossible to understand exactly the situation that the letter was written for, but in these cases the point of the letter can still be retrieved. Focus on what the letter means and you will have a good understanding of what the point is. Consulting a good commentary after you have done this work can be beneficial on checking your observations as well as providing insight into areas that you might have missed.

(This post is a summary and partial abridgement of Fee And Stuart’s book “Reading The Bible For All It’s Worth.” It is based solely on Fee And Stuart’s work and any help that this content gives should be credited to God’s grace through their effort. In other words, give God glory, thank Fee and Stuart and buy the book.)

The Science of Translation:
There are two choices that a translator has to make; textual and linguistic. The first has to do with the actual wording of the original text. The second has to do with one’s theory of translation. Because translators use a variety of methods for translating a text it has become a fairly exact science but not perfect. There are too many human variables to be exact. In these cases when multiple translations could emerge from a specific passage it is good to look at other interpretations of the Bible, as well as other resource material to try and get a better idea of what the author intended.

The Question of Language:
The following terms will help you become familiar with the theories of translation. It is important to think about how each of these ideas apply to the specific text you are reading and how that might affect the translation.

Original Language: The language that one is translating from; in the case of the bible Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. Hebrew being used for most of the Old Testament, Arabic (a sister language to Hebrew) used in half of Daniel and two passages in Ezra. Greek used for all of the New Testament.

Receptor Language: The language that one is translating into.

Historical Distance: This has to do with the differences that exist between the original language and the receptor language, both in matters of words, grammar, and idioms (a peculiar mode of expression, the genius or peculiar cast of a language; colloquial speech; dialect), as well as in matters of culture and history.

Theory of Translation:

This has to do with the degree to which one is willing to go in order to bridge the gap between the two languages. Here are some terms that relate to certain aspects within someone’s theory of translation.

Literal: The attempt to translate by keeping as close as possible to the exact words and phrasing in the original language, yet still make sense in the receptor language. A literal translation will keep the historical distance intact at all points. Examples of Bibles translated with this theory are The King James Version (KJV), The New American Standard Bible (NASB), and the English Standard Version (ESV).

Dynamic Equivalent: The attempt to translate words, idioms, and grammatical constructions of the original language into precise equivalents in the receptor language. Such a translation keeps historical distance on all historical and most factual matters, but “updates” matters of language, grammar and style. Examples of Bibles translated with this theory are The New International Version (NIV), The New American Bible (NAB), and The New English Bible (NEB)

Free: The attempt to translate the ideas from one language to another, with less concern about using the exact words of the original. A free translation, sometimes also called a paraphrase, tries to eliminate as much of the historical distance as possible. Examples of Bibles translated with this theory are The Living Bible (LB), and The Good News Bible (GNB).

(This post is a summary and partial abridgement of Fee And Stuart’s book “Reading The Bible For All It’s Worth.” It is based solely on Fee And Stuart’s work and any help that this content gives should be credited to God’s grace through their effort. In other words, give God glory, thank Fee and Stuart and buy the book.)

The aim of good interpretation is simple: to get to the plain meaning of the text. We tend to think that our understanding is the same thing as the Holy Spirit’s or human author’s intent. However, because of our backgrounds, knowledge, experiences, it is easy for our interpretations to become skewed from what God originally intended. The bible, in fact, that most of us read is already an interpretation from the language that it originally was penned in. This is another reason for close examination of Scripture and good exegetical study.

Another reason for the need to interpret exists because the way in which the Bible was created. It is the word of God given to people throughout history. Because God chose to speak to us in this way every book of the Bible has historical particularity. This means that every document is conditioned by the language, time, and culture in which it was originally written, as well as the oral history it had before it was written down.

One of the most important aspects of the Bible is the variety of ways in which God chose to speak to us: narrative history, genealogies, chronicles, laws of all kinds, poetry of all kinds, proverbs, prophetic oracles, riddles, drama, biographical sketches, parables, letters, sermons and apocalypses. To interpret the Bible correctly the reader must be able to not only understand the exegetical aspects of the content but also the genres in which the different books were written.

The First Task: Exegesis
This process is mostly a historical one but is imperative if good hermeneutics can be accomplished. In the end a good understanding of the history, people, culture and intended meaning will be known. If a text is interpreted correctly it is impossible for it to mean anything that the original author did not intend. This is crucial when trying to apply Gods word to our lives, in our belief, worship and understanding of him.

To begin exegetical study you must first learn to read text carefully while asking the right questions. There are two kinds of questions one should ask of every biblical passage, one on context and the other content.

1. Contextual – Historical, Literary

Historical context should include defining what the time and culture of the author and his readers are. That includes the geographical, topographical and political factors that are relevant to the author’s setting; as well as the occasion of the book; psalm, prophetic oracle, or other genre. It is important to have an understanding of why a certain kind of book needed to be written in a certain genre.

Literary context simply means reading something within context. Words only have meaning within entire sentences and usually biblical sentences only have meaning in relation to proceeding sentences. The most important thing to ask is what is the author trying to say, how are they saying it, why are they saying it here and in this way, and what are they saying next. This line of questioning applies to all of the different genres that Bible is written in.

2. Content Related

Content has to do with the meaning of specific words, the grammatical relationship in sentences, and the choice of original text where the manuscripts have variant readings. Basically you are trying to find the specific meaning of a biblical text.

Tools of Exegesis:
1. Bible Dictionary
2. Bible Handbook
3. Good Translation
4. Commentaries

The Second Task: Hermeneutics
This is the process that is used in seeking the contemporary relevance of ancient texts. This appears to be the most important aspect of studying the bible on a personal level but it is impossible to do good hermeneutics without having a very firm grasp on the practice of exegesis. This devotion to exegesis is to try and find the plain meaning of a Bible text. Without finding the true meaning of what the author intended, biblical texts can mean whatever any given reader wishes them to mean. The goal after all, of studying the bible, is to try and find the true meaning of God’s intended word, not our own. Ultimately we want to know what the Bible means for us and how we can use that understanding to serve God, obey him, worship him and adore him.

(This post is a summary and partial abridgement of Fee And Stuart’s book “Reading The Bible For All It’s Worth.” It is based solely on Fee And Stuart’s work and any help that this content gives should be credited to God’s grace through their effort. In other words, give God glory, thank Fee and Stuart and buy the book.)

Over the next month I will blog through Fee and Stuart’s book, How To Read The Bible For All It’s Worth. My hope is this series gives some foundational understanding in reading our Bibles and prepares us for another blog series in the fall focused on reading the Bible Christotelically.

The following content, and the following blog posts, is a summary and partial abridgement of Fee And Stuart’s book “Reading The Bible For All It’s Worth.” It is based solely on Fee And Stuart’s work and any help that this content gives should be credited to God’s grace through their effort. In other words, give God glory, thank Fee and Stuart and buy the book.

PREFACE:

One of the main objectives in writing this book is the goal of describing and explaining the different genres of the books of the bible. There are large differences in how one might go about reading one of the Epistles compared to the strategy of studying a Psalm. Along with this goal is the desire of the intelligent reading of scripture. The study of exegesis and hermeneutics as well as the application of these theories within everyday study and obedience to God.

Exegesis: Literary commentary; the careful, systematic study of the Scripture to discover the original, intended meaning. To find out what was the original intent of the words of the Bible.

Hermeneutics: the process of applying the original text and it’s intended meaning to become culturally relevant to the reader.