The
Bible comprises of messages of God to man; however if we cannot properly
interpret what it says, we are meant to misinterpret, be confused as well as
misapply biblical content. Paul says in Timothy that people should correctly
deal with "the word of truth." Interpretive disagreement usually
happens because of inconsistent and faulty approaches of interpretation. For
example, other people inflict their own preconceived notions upon the Scripture
rather than letting the scripture to speak for itself. However, when the basic
principles of interpretation are put into practice, several hitches vanish.
Scripture is a treasury full of an extensive range of literary styles from
apocalyptic revelations, didactic epistles, and psalms to historical
narratives, proverbs, and poetry. To read the Bible for all its value, it is
vital that we interpret it just as you could with other forms of communication
in the natural sense and its most obvious form. As such, people should read the
bible as literature, focusing closely on fantasy imagery, figurative language,
and its form.
The
simplest method to interpret the Bible will be to read the Bible with a focus
on the fact that God is present and speaks to us through the readings. We
should take into consideration a three-step method for interpreting the Bible.
The three steps are observation, elucidation, and application. The first as
well as the main vital step in interpreting the Bible is observation. When
reading the bible, it is important to look carefully at what is said, and how
it is said. Interpretation is discovering the meaning of a passage, the key
idea or thought of the author. Application is why we study the Bible. We want
to be obedient to God; we want our lives to change and to grow spiritually.
The
Bible is full of spiritual riches which can make us wise unto salvation. Even
though, reading the Bible may seem like putting together a massive jigsaw
puzzle. When reading the bible, you inevitably find things that you do not
understand and ask several questions. Factors that make the bible difficult to
interpret include various kinds of literature used. The Bible contains
apocalyptic literature, wisdom literature, songs, poetry, law, prophecy, and
history. Historical literature must be interpreted differently from wisdom
literature. Also, we all make mistakes. Even though we try our best to read our
preconceived biases into the Bible, it is unavoidable. Sadly, to a certain
point people misinterprets a Scripture as a result of a presupposed
understanding of what a certain Scripture cannot or can mean.
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