Ways To Interpret The Bible

I examined Jeremiah 13:1-11in these three translations: New International Version (NIV), English Standard Version (ESV), and The Message (MSG); most of the perspectives will be coming from the NIV. The NIV calls this narrative ‘A Linen Belt’, the ESV called it ‘The Ruined Loincloth’, and the MSG called it ‘People Who Do Only What They Want to Do’. The story starts out with God telling Jeremiah to buy a linen belt and not to let it touch water. Jeremiah bought the linen belt and tied it around his waist just as God told him to do. Then God said to him that he should take the belt to Perath (possibly the Euphrates) and hide it in a crevice amongst the rocks. Jeremiah obeyed God, went to Perath and hid the linen belt in a crevice between the rocks. Many days later God told him that he should go get the belt that he hid amongst the rocks and Jeremiah listened to God so he went back to Perath to retrieve the linen belt. Jeremiah retrieved the belt, but now has a belt that is ruined and useless. Then God said, “In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt—completely useless!  For as a belt is bound around the waist, so I bound all the people of Israel and all the people of Judah to me, to be my people for my renown and praise and honor. But they

The Bible was originally written in Hebrew by a series of many authors around the time of 1450-1410 BC (Holy Bible, Scofield). Moses who wrote Genesis, supposedly received direct information from God himself about how the world and man were created. This is the first point of interpretation because there is a need to have blind faith in Moses. There are many stories in Genesis that seem absurd and hard to believe really happened, unless you are someone who believes in the power of God and has this blind faith. For example, God gives Adam and Eve a garden and says not to take the fruit from one tree and when they eat the fruit from that tree, God punishes them, “Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life” (1:17, Gen). From a figurative standpoint we can

Because of aspects like how someone was raised and what type of culture they lived in, individuals interpret the Bible differently. This means that even if an individual believes the Bible is the inherent word of God, they may not have the same beliefs as someone who declares the same claim.

In William C Platchers essay he states that the bible is true, and if the bible is true than the meaning behind the teaching and stories are true as well. To fully understand the bible and how to apply it to our lives we need to understand its message. Not only the message one the base layer, to understand the message sometimes you need to dig a little deeper. This is something that all Christians are taught, it is one of the fundamentals of our religion. Once we understand the message behind what we read, then we have to trust it. If we trust God our Lord and savior. Then we are able to put that same amount of trust into the bible. He then discusses how different people have come to interpret this truth. William Placher elaborates on two

As Scott Duvall and Daniel Hays state in Grasping God’s Word, every copy of the Bible today is a translation, “unless everyone wants to learn Hebrew and Greek (the Bible’s original languages)… (Duvall and Hays 23). This being the case, people may debate which translation is more accurate; however, the best way to understand the Bible is by reading several different translations and comparing them to one another. The main reason several translations helps people grasp the full meaning of Scripture is because some translations are word for word, which is the formal approach in translation and gives a reader the closest possible words from when the text was written. On the other hand, the more functional approach in translation is thought for

The Bible can be interpreted in a literal form ( i.e. direct instruction) or figurative form (i.e. poetical language). How one interprets the bible either by direct instruction or poetic language depends on how they were taught (Graham, 2009). There are two different categories professed and controlling beliefs in which a person operates within. A professed belief is generated by a formal verbal instruction which usually results in one’s behaviors not fully match with their beliefs. A controlling belief is generated by experiences that most often lead to one’s behaviors closely matching their beliefs because of what they perceive as truth (Graham,

The bible is a piece of literature that has been re-written many times, and in the bible there are tremendous amounts of illusions. There are illusions in the bible, but not all of them can be recognized easily, they are not all straight forwards in other words.

Seized by Truth: Reading the Bible as Scripture is written by Joel Green, a New Testament scholar, and Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. Prof. Green, has participated and contributed greatly on a wide range of topics related to both New Testament scholarship and theology.

The bible is an old book written a long time ago for an ancient audience. God is the divine author of the bible and he intended for us to be able to read and understand it, even in these current times. However, those ancient years in the time of the roman empire was were Christianity, as we know it, began its first steps. For this to happen, the authors who were inspired, had to make sure that their audience could understand and relate with their words. While we have learned to translate the language of the bible over the years the words and meanings are still the same. Which is why it is important to understand the context in which the Bible was written.

When examined through a semi-technical lens, the Bible designates a significant amount of passage-space to the discussion of economic matters. Many of Jesus’ parables and the book of Proverbs seem heavily focused on such a topic. However, the Bible is far from a standard textbook that could be used in an economics class. The Bible does not go into detail explaining economic principles such as monetary and fiscal policies, aggregate supply and demand curves, inflation, etc. Instead, from a Christian perspective, the Bible acts as a framework for our actions, attitudes, and views surrounding wealth and the actions taken by ourselves and others, including national governments. One crucial aspect of economics that proves to be a significant motivating

There are many ways to interpret a text, but for text like the bible it take what we called the senses of Scripture to use as an application to understand the bible. In the Chapter 6 of the book “How Do Catholics Read the Bible” entitled “How do Catholics Interpret Scripture,” the author discuss three senses of Scripture in which are various ways relate how meaning of a text is interpret, which are in literal sense, spiritual sense and fuller sense. According the author, the chapter 7 “How do Catholics Interpret Scripture” “the definition of the literal sense repsect both the divine and human contaranito of the owrd of God in human language… and interpreting the text in its original historical and cultural context. It asserts that one arrives

The interpretation of the bible is serious because it is the one source of God 's words. Many people may twist and bend its words to suit their own situations.

Genesis 1-3 offered the very first outline of societal norms and therein introduced interpretations of norms related to family, gender, and sex. In our now-progressive society, the constraints of indubitable religion are removed and the differing interpretations of gender, sex, and family within religion are freely debated. Since the text of creation is divine and human logic cannot fully interpret or understand God’s word, there are copious, varying interpretations of the text. An essential starting point for interpreting the Bible is the understanding that misinterpretations are bound to happen. The difference in time and context alone is causation, let alone the factors of translation and transcription. Susan T. Foh and Carol Meyers, both graduates of Wellesley College, have very differing strategies regarding how to interpret divine texts. Meyers, a professor at Duke, directed attention towards the context in which the text was written. Since our societies are constantly in flux, the context from when the text was written is often different from the context in which predominant and accepted interpretations were fabricated. Foh’s strategy of interpreting and understanding the text is to utilize latter parts of the text, which were written with more recent contexts, in order to understand the text. Both of these methodologies set up the text to be re-interpreted, however, Foh’s methodology is more complete because it allows the text to speak for itself rather than bring in

Although the bible is left up for interpretation, many believe that over time the words have been misconstrued. They yearn to

Biblical Interpretation is important and necessary so that we can understand what the text is saying, what the intended theological message is, and how to personally apply and teach these Scriptural truths to carry forward the Gospel in rescuing others from despair and death to hope and life, thus displaying His glory and growing His Kingdom. It is about finding what God is revealing about Himself and His Son Jesus Christ. Moreover, it is for us to know that God desires to have a relationship with us and for us to be set apart in a covenant relationship with Him to display holy lives that bring Him glory. Interpretation, using hermeneutical principles, help guide us in proper boundaries for interpreting Scripture so that we can reveal the intended meaning of the text. Without this, we run the risk of imposing our own ideas on the text, therefore misinterpreting. Misinterpreting can cause us to miss theological truths, administer the wrong application, and neglect or overlook the meaning of the text which weakens the impact of God’s truth in our personal lives as well as others we are teaching.