Basic Bible
Interpretation
In general,
Family members do not learn how to study the Bible. As a matter of fact,
they are not even taught that they should study the Bible. They
are taught instead that they should accept the Bible teachings of the
founder of the Family and that further Bible study is an unnecessary
waste of time. Family members do not read the writings of other
Christians and are taught that Bible college is a place where faith dies
and unbelieving modernism rules. They are given lists of verses to
memorise and volumes of Family-written ‘classes’ explaining doctrine yet
they are never given the liberty to study the Bible for themselves and
are not taught even the most basic principles of Bible study.
This page
provides the very basic initial questions that should be asked whenever
anyone studies a Bible book, passage or a verse. Please note that there
are volumes written on each of these topics with direct reference to
each of the books in the Bible; this page merely hints at the depths to
which one should go in order to get as much as possible from the Bible.
These topics are intended to be the starting points for in-depth Bible
study. They do not and cannot explain these principles extensively.
Bible classes in the Family
Family ‘Bible
classes’ usually fall into one of three categories. First, there are the
classes written by the Family’s founder (Berg/Dad).
These provide little if any background detail to the scriptures
considered, and are often little more than expositions of the author’s
own personal theology, his opinions on how the Bible should be applied,
and a sprinkling of Bible verses.
Second, the
Family has published several books (for example, the Word Basics
and the
Memory Book) consisting of
categorically compiled scriptures. These volumes contain no examination
of the context of any of the verses used. At times they appear to be
chosen for inclusion solely for the reason that upon first glance they
appear to support a particular Family doctrine. These scripture
compilations are often quite one-sided, purporting to lay out the
correct biblical interpretation. Doctrines may, in fact, have many more
sides than are listed in these books. There are also significant
omissions from the books, which are as telling as the inclusions.
For example, the
Word Basics section on obedience (pp.96-102) begins with
exhortations to obey God, which are followed quickly by exhortations to
obey “godly pastors and leaders in the Lord.” Family members are
encouraged to obey their leaders wholeheartedly, “as unto the Lord
and not unto men” (p. 97, emphasis in the original). Curiously, despite
this strong message, there is not much else in the section on exactly
how a Family member should obey the Lord. The implication seems to be
that as long as Family members obey their leadership, they will be
obeying the Lord. This, of course, is not necessarily true.
A search of the
Word Basics finds the Ten Commandments listed under the category
of ‘the Law of Christ’ (p.248-249). However, Family members are not
exhorted to keep these commandments. In fact, the book states that they
were only the beginning of hundreds of laws that were “impossible to
keep” (pp.249-250). Family members are told that the law, specifically
including the Ten Commandments “served a purpose only for a time”
(p.249), that it was “unprofitable and eventually to be replaced”
(p.250), and that it has now been “discarded” (p.251) in favour of the
new Law of Love. While there are elements of truth within the Family’s
doctrine, there are serious omissions. For instance, Family members are
not told that Jesus Himself exhorted people to keep the Ten Commandments
(Mark 10:19), and they are not given any of the numerous New Testament
references to specific sins (for example, Gal 5:19-21). The rather
misleading conclusion one gets from this Word Basics section is
that a Christian’s “only obligation” (p.252) is to love God and others,
and that “we who are not bound by it [the Law], can break
it” (p.255, emphasis in original). This topic is dangerously simplistic
and appears to have been intentionally written to provide support for
the Family’s unscriptural teachings regarding sex. As a Bible study, it
is shallow, misleading and intentionally one-sided.
The third kind of
‘Bible class’ given in the Family occurs when a Family member opens his
or her concordance and compiles a list of similar verses for personal
study or for group devotions. These lists inevitably echo Family
doctrine and demonstrate little more than the person’s ability to locate
vaguely related verses.
Context
The primary rule
of all Bible study is context. The following paragraphs briefly describe
the different kinds of context that should be examined for every Bible
study. Again, please note that there is only space on this page for the
briefest of introductions to a range of topics which deserve a great
deal more attention.
Literary Context
The first step to
do when studying a particular Bible passage is to identify the type of
writing. The Bible is a rich and varied book, containing many different
kinds of literature, and it is vital to gain an understanding of these
types before attempting to interpret them. The Laws of Moses, for
example, are to be seen differently from the psalms, which are different
again from the epistles. A brief outline of each of the various literary
types in the Bible follows.
Narratives
There are many
stories in the Bible, and in each of them we must try to discern the
lesson for today. However, many of these narratives or stories do not
teach explicit doctrine from the events narrated. For example, what
doctrine may we learn from the account of Samson burning the
Philistine’s crops in revenge for the loss of his wife (Judges 15)?
Should we imitate his act of arson? Is violent retribution justified?
The Bible has much to tell us from the life of Samson, but the main
point we should remember is that the lessons are not primarily about a
hero named Samson. Bible narratives instead are stories about God, and
about the way He chooses to act with people. Therefore, in this story,
it is God who is the strongman, not Samson. It is God who is the hero,
not any man. God alone is perfect. Likewise, with any other Bible
narrative, we should first understand the relation of the events to the
whole plan of God: God is the ‘hero’ of every Bible story. We should
ask: how does this narrative fit into the account of God’s dealings with
man? How does this narrative fit within the story of Israel as God’s
chosen people? How does this narrative fit within the life of the main
character? Regardless of who the character is, it is still God alone who
is the hero of every story.
Law
The books of
Exodus to Deuteronomy contain the Mosaic Law, beginning at Exodus 20.
The Mosaic Law was actually one of a series of covenant agreements that
God made with various people (including Abraham, Noah and David). These
covenants are imposed laws, that is, they were not negotiated at any
point. God is the Sovereign Lord with the inviolable right to insist
upon obedience. The Israelites were His people of choice, called to obey
Him in order to spread the knowledge of His name throughout the earth.
The Mosaic Law contains a number of major overarching laws (the Ten
Commandments) as well as numerous stipulations which cover a variety of
areas. The Law was not intended to be exhaustive: it does not cover
every situation or circumstance. The Law was not designed to cover every
possible eventuality. Instead, many specific cases are given in order to
exemplify the way that the Law was meant to be applied. The Israelites
were then expected to apply the spirit of the Law to situations that
were not specifically mentioned. This is why Jesus repeatedly rebuked
people for misusing and abusing the Law, or for finding loopholes in it
in order to justify their own sin (for example, Mark 7:9-13).
An important
biblical study is of the progression of the covenants of the Bible,
culminating in the ‘New Covenant’ which Jesus explained at the Last
Supper, mediated by His death. This ‘New Covenant’ is the primary one on
which Christian theology is built, although there are still many
relevant and applicable details from previous covenants. The question
concerning which Old Testament stipulations are applicable to
Christians, is the subject of much discussion, and it is worthwhile
gaining an understanding of the different viewpoints.
A pertinent point
for Family members, though, is that as Jesus Himself reiterated the Ten
Commandments, and as their principles are repeated throughout the
epistles of the New Testament, it would be wrong to dismiss them as
irrelevant or inapplicable. Specifically, just as murder is still sin
(the sixth commandment), so is adultery (the seventh commandment).
Songs
The book of
Psalms, in particular, contains many songs. Importantly, these are
written as songs intended for people to sing to the Lord. They are not
written as doctrinal expositions or as God’s commandments for people.
The poetic language of the psalms are a crucial part of their format:
they were written primarily as songs, not as narratives, explicit
doctrine or commandments. Within their lines there is much doctrine, of
course, but their primary function were as songs to be sung to the Lord.
Some were for personal, individual use, while others were for united,
corporate worship. There are a variety of types of psalms, written for
use on various occasions. They stand as inspired examples of praise and
worship, of repentance and sorrow, and of trust in God’s righteousness.
Prophecy
The primary job
of the prophets of the Old Testament were to speak the words of the Lord
to the people regarding their current situation. Their main task was not
predicting the future, although of course there are many predictions
within their messages. Yet it is important to remember that when the
prophets did foretell the future, most of those predictions concerned
the immediate future of the people to whom they were speaking. The
primary role of the prophets was to give God’s message to the people
regarding their current state of affairs, to rebuke them for their sin
or to give them hope for salvation. Of the portions that predict the
future, most specifically addressed the coming fall of the divided
nations of Israel and Judah. Most were fulfilled soon after being
spoken.
It is not good
Bible interpretation to claim, for example, that the book of Jeremiah
contains predictions regarding the 21st century. Rather, one
should first allow Jeremiah to speak to us concerning his own day. There
may be certain similarities between the time of Jeremiah and the modern
world, and there is much to learn from his book concerning the nature of
God, with direct relevance to these modern times, but we must not take
prophecies that were given specifically to predict the destruction of
Jerusalem as also directly predicting the fall of America. There are, of
course, messages within Jeremiah and the other prophets that were indeed
intended for times other than the days of Jeremiah. An example might be
the prediction of the ‘New Covenant,’ described above (Jer 31:27).
The prophets
indeed spoke messages that did concern their far distant future, but by
far most of what they said concerned their immediate situation. It takes
careful study and research in order to understand these books.
Apocalypse
This is a type of
literature common in ancient times although unknown today. It is highly
figurative language, well-organised, and written in times of trouble to
illustrate the events that will occur at the end of days. The message of
apocalypse writing should be taken from the whole images described, not
from the specific details. That is, it is perhaps unwise to attempt to
decipher the meaning of each horn on each beast if the meaning is not
already given in the text.
Family
interpretations of the book of Revelations completely lack a contextual
analysis, or any acknowledgement of its literary type. Family members
would do well to take a fresh look at the book in its entirety. It was
not written in order to give a detailed schedule of events; the
apocalyptic writing of the Bible is not necessarily a cryptic timetable.
There are several major schools of thought regarding its interpretation,
however, all of them have their basis within the original setting of the
document, being a circular letter sent to seven existing churches.
Whichever modern application one follows, it must also be to some degree
comprehensible from the perspective of the first century churches. This
is not to say that today’s application will be the same as that of the
first century, but an application that excludes any possibility of first
century comprehension must be rejected. As an example, the Family
adamantly interprets the great harlot of Revelations 17 as an explicit
reference to the USA. However, as this is an interpretation
inconceivable in the first century, an alternative meaning should be
sought after. Further, or secondary, interpretations may be possible
after the initial application has been found.
Gospels
The Gospels are a
unique blend of narrative, parable and doctrinal teaching. Each one was
written with a particular purpose in mind, and a good Bible handbook can
prove very useful in learning about each. The Gospels do not attempt to
cover every incident or teaching in the life of Jesus. In fact, each of
the four authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit to choose particular
incidents for a specific purpose. Thus John chose the stories and
teaching that met the purpose of his writing:
John 20:31 but these
are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
God, and that believing you may have life in His name.
In other words,
John wrote his Gospel firstly to show that the man named Jesus of
Nazareth was the Christ, the son of almighty God. He also wanted to show
that eternal life was secured through faith in Him. Therefore he chose
incidents and teachings that almost exclusively revolve around those
themes, without mentioning many other stories from his time as Jesus’
disciple. The authors of the other Gospels also, under the guidance and
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, chose the incidents and teaching to suit
each one’s particular purpose.
Parables
The parables
Jesus told usually illustrated one main point. For the most part they
are not allegories, where each character or item represents something in
particular. Some parables, it is true, are partially allegorical, but
for the most part they are stories told to illustrate one key point. It
is important to determine how Jesus’ audience would have understood and
reacted to the parables, and to see how each parable fits into Jesus’
message of the Kingdom of God.
Acts
The book of Acts
is another unique Bible genre in that it is the only account we have of
the believers’ life following the gift of the Holy Spirit on the day of
Pentecost. There is within the book of Acts a progression documented, as
the Holy Spirit gradually transformed the Christian church from an
exclusively Jewish community based in Jerusalem to a predominantly
Gentile church based in Rome. Therefore, the book of Acts was not
necessarily written to demonstrate exactly how each Christians or church
should operate in the 21st century. Instead we may see the
growth of the church, moved by the Holy Spirit, as it brought the Gospel
to the Gentile world.
Doctrine
There are
portions of the epistles and Gospels which may be properly seen as
doctrinal exposition. It is important to take them as whole sections,
without separating the passages into individual portions. The book of
Romans, for example, has extensive doctrinal sections, and should be
examined as whole, to see how Paul’s argument progressed over the space
of the first 11 chapters.
Epistle and Personal Letter
Epistles are
circular letters written to whole churches or to groups of churches,
while personal letters were written to individuals. Galatians is an
example of the former while Philemon is one of the latter. In each case,
the Bible student needs to find out who the letter was written to, and
the reason for the letter. What prompted the author to write? In many
cases there was a specific situation that necessitated the letter. This
can dramatically affect the understanding of the passage.
Historical and Cultural Context
Regardless of the
type of book, every Bible student should familiarise him or herself with
the general historical background of each of the books. What was
happening at the time? Who was the world power? What was Israel doing?
What was ordinary life like? What was life like for believers?
Book
For each book, it
is important to find out who wrote it, why he wrote it, when he wrote
it, and on what occasion it was written. Who was the book’s original
audience? Was it originally written or spoken? How did the audience
react? What is the relation of this book to other, similar books? How
does this book relate to the Bible story as a whole?
Passage
Books of the
Bible should be divided into sections according to theme or subject
matter. This may not exactly follow the chapter divisions in the English
texts. Nevertheless, each passage should be examined as part of the
whole book, how it relates to previous and following sections.
Individual verses will then fit into the theme of the passage and of the
book.
Conclusion
The first rule of
Bible interpretation is to look for the context of the verse in
question. Without this basic skill, it is unlikely that the Bible
student will come to the correct meaning of the passage. Bible verses
are not individual, separate entities, they depend on and relate to the
rest of the Bible, and their true meaning can often only be uncovered
through analysis of the various biblical contexts.
Please see also
the page titled ‘Proof-texting,’
included in which is a list of links to other sites with very helpful
guidelines for correctly interpreting the Bible.
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