Interpreting the Scriptures (Part 5)

We would consider that in many cases intentionally certain doctrines where presented to be taken by people as the rules to follow. Throughout history many were looking to the freedom from error. We should trust the Words of God, like they are written down in the Holy Scriptures. There is no extra formula necessary, nor extra theological masters necessary to come to understanding. All may find inspiration in the Words like they are brought to us. We should allow that Word to have the full authority. We only have to be willing to open our ears to the Word of god so that it can come into our soul.

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To remember:

• Church leaders in the 1500s did not think the average Christian was capable of  understanding the scriptures.
• Leaders give doctrinal boundaries through which to interpret the scriptures.
• Not teaching people to ask questions and find their own answers => teaching their own brand of theology.
• Sacredness of bible = basis for seminaries and bible colleges.
• God will speak to you through whatever
• Biblical interpretation = not merely a task individuals perform => grows out of our participation in family of God in the broadest sense possible.
  

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Related articles

• P1 – An overview of 3500 years of Bible interpretation (biblicalexegete.wordpress.com)
  Following the Reformation, we see the increasing emphasis upon rationalism and a de-emphasis upon revelation. Protestant theologians would come to adopt reason and philosophical investigation as part and parcel of Bible intrepretation – i.e protestant scholasticism.
• P2 – An overview of 3500 years of Bible interpretation (biblicalexegete.wordpress.com)
  In addition to those men, movements and other men would come to shape how the wider scholarly worlds of Europe and America would come to develop an ever increasing critical stance towards the scriptures. Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleirmacher’s epochal systematic theology: “On Religion, Speeches to its Cultural Despisers”, written in 1799, could be viewed as marking the unofficial beginning of modern liberal theology. As other Old and New Testament scholars began to apply 18th century rationalism and the then newly developed theories of evolution from Charles Darwins’ “Origin of the Species” in the 19th century, the Bible came to be increasingly viewed as a book of religion, fraught with errors, a book of men and not the Word of God.
• Keeping a Simple Perspective on Biblical Interpretation (jacksonwu.org)
  Everyone can understand something. Seek the big idea of the text, but don’t assume it. It’s ok not to understand nuanced points. Keep at it. It may take days, weeks, even years. However, such perseverance frequently pays off in yielding the insights we want.
• Five Ways Not to Teach Biblical Interpretation (Part 2) (jacksonwu.org)
  People sometimes never think of the fact that writers may talk about the same topic in two passages, but have different points to make.As a result, our ability to apply Scripture is limited by our selective reading. We will not grow because we will constantly assume we know what the author is getting at.
• Lecture Review: “Reflections on the Bible, Evolution, and the Journey of Faith” by Peter Enns (mpworth.wordpress.com)
  For Enns, a literalist approach to Scripture “assumes that the mark of divine inspiration is to isolate itself from cultural context”—Enns doesn’t agree; therefore, we cannot simply “graft” evolution onto evangelicalism—by suggesting that Adam and Eve could have been some early hominid couple chosen by God, etc. The first gene pool was no less than about 10,000 humans, and this must be accounted for (see, for example, Dennis Venema’s article, “Genesis and the Genome.”).
• Thy Word Is Still Truth: A Brief Review (reformedreader.wordpress.com)
  For those of you who want a mini-Reformed library on the doctrine of Scripture contained in a single volume, this one is for you.  It is true that almost everything in this book has been published previously elsewhere, but it is handy to have them all in one book.  And to top it off, there are very extensive indices (topical and scriptural).  Even though you probably won’t sit down and read Thy Word Is Still Truth straight through, it contains many excellent resources that will stimulate your studies for years to come.
• How the Ancient Church Interpreted Scripture (theophiluspunk.wordpress.com)
  I have many problems with the very term inerrancy:
  • It’s more a political term than a theological one.  Seriously: “inerrancy” is mostly used as a club for beating up people one disagrees with, declaring who the truly saved are and aren’t.
• Interpreting the Scriptures (Part 1) (supernaturalgospel.wordpress.com)
  If texts could speak for themselves, then everyone honestly and openly reading a text would agree on what the text says. But interpretations of texts abound, and people in fact do not agree on what the texts mean. This is obviously true of the texts of scripture: simply look at the hundreds, or even thousands, of ways people interpret the book of Revelation, or consider all the different Christians denominations, filled with intelligent and well-meaning people who base their views of how the church should be organized and function on the Bible, yet all of them coming to radically different conclusions. – Bart Ehrman
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  Reading the scriptures is a subjective endeavor; you can never remove you and your interpretation from the picture.
• Is Christianity Biblical?-Part 2 (spyghana.com)
  The greatest error committed by all translators of the Bible lies in their translating of all names of people they found in the Hebrew Holy Scriptures. That is not only wrong and unacceptable, it is ridiculous. It is ridiculous because, whereas, names of towns, places and other landmarks in Hebrew have remained essentially the same in the English Bible, albeit in corrupted pronunciations, all names of people originally found in the Hebrew Holy Scriptures have been translated!
• The Sufficiency of Scripture: Is God’s Word Enough? Part 2 (randomtheoloblog.wordpress.com)
  Sufficiency means that something is enough to meet the needs of a situation or a proposed end.  It refers to something being what is necessary or desirable for a specified need.  Simply put, if something is sufficient it is just what the doctor ordered.  When it comes to Scripture, God’s Holy Word, it means that the Bible is totally adequate, and competent to meet the needs of every individual Christian in every circumstance of life (see 2 Peter 1:2-3).  Nothing else is needed to guide us in our everyday living.

Supernatural Gospel

Privileged elite interpreters & self-perpetuating systems

The Reformation was about taking authority away from a man and giving it to a book. The Catholics could control their masses through the doctrine of papal infallibility, the Protestants through the doctrine of Bible inerrancy. – Glenn Steers

Church leaders in the 1500s (like many church leaders today) did not think the average christian was capable of  understanding the scriptures. They felt christians needed priests to explain to them what God demands of them.

Nowadays Christians are allowed to read bibles, but “leaders” think they need to be given “lenses” (basically doctrinal boundaries) through which to interpret the scriptures. This is the purpose of bible colleges and seminaries – not teaching people to ask questions and find their own answers, but rather teaching their own brand of theology.

As Christians, we are taught by our leaders to believe certain ideas and behave in…

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