PRINCIPLES OF BIBLE STUDY (Part 2)
David E. Mullis, B.S., M.A., J.D., LL.M
Today we pick up with Part 2 of Principles of Bible Study. In Part 1 of Principles of Bible Study we briefly discussed facts about the Bible and why it is the inspired and infallible Word of God. In Part 2 we will briefly discuss types of bible study, theology, principles of interpretation, and bible study resources.
Types of Bible Study
There are various ways one can study the Bible. Each has its purpose and usefulness. Initially, you should choose a method of Bible study that holds your interest. From there you can choose different methods as they become useful to you. Also, you can combine the methods. For example, as you are studying a particular verse, you may want to conduct a word study of the words in the verse. The following are some of the basic methods of Bible study that will be useful to you:
Verse Analysis – The study of a single verse in the Bible with reference to its immediate context
Analytical – The careful examination of a chapter or passage in the Bible
Synthetic – The broad, overall study of a book of the Bible
Topical – The tracing of a selected topic through the Bible or a portion of it.
Biographical – The study of particular characters of the Bible
Word Study – The study of a particular word, with attention given to the derivation of the word, its use in a particular passage, and its use in other parts of the Bible.
Principles of Bible Study (Part 2) – Theology
Theology is the study of God. Christian theology is the study of God and the Christian faith. However, not all theology is created equal and there are some specific differences of which you must be aware in studying the Bible and using study aids.
Conservative vs. Liberal – Conservative Christian theology accepts the fundamental teachings of the Bible such as a triune God who is one in nature, character and purpose, the fall of man, the flood of Noah, the Immaculate Conception, the divinity, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives today.
Liberal theology tends to try to explain away the miracles of Scripture assuming that every miracle can be explained in the natural and is not really a miracle at all. From a conservative point of view, liberal theologians are heretical in regard to sound Christian doctrine. Professing themselves to be wise, they have become fools. For example, some liberal theologians try to explain that Jesus did not die on the cross and then rise from the dead. He merely swooned and appeared to be dead. He was then nursed back to health. However, without the death and resurrection from the dead, we remain dead in our sins.
Catholic vs. Protestant – The term “Catholic” means “universal.” In modern usage, however, the term has come to mean the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church is the largest most organized Christian religion in the world and ties its origin through the Bishop of Rome (the Pope) and Saint Peter to the original twelve apostles.
The Protestant churches arise out of the Reformation Movement started by Martin Luther in 1517 when he wrote his 95 Theses, which protested several key points of Roman Catholic doctrine such as the authority of the Pope, clerical celibacy, the purchasing of forgiveness of punishment after confession of sin (purchase of indulgences), the buying and selling of positions within the church (simony), purgatory, particular judgment (destiny is determined after death), devotion to Mary, intercession of the Saints, and the seven sacraments of baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, holy order, reconciliation of a penitent (confession), anointing of the sick and matrimony.
The Protestant Church accepts only baptism and the Eucharist as sacraments, believes that the lay believer can read, understand and apply theology by reading and interpreting the Scriptures for themselves, believes that each believer can have their own personal relationship with God without the intervention of the Pope or any human leader, believes that devotion to Mary and the intercession of the Saints is idolatrous, and believes that the gift of grace is free and cannot be purchased or sold.
Monotheism vs. Polytheism – Monotheism is the belief in one supreme God. Polytheism is the belief that more than one God exists. The Mormon theology is based upon polytheism in which the believer one day becomes a God himself. The historical Christian church believes that God is both triune (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and one. There is no other. Thus, the church is monotheistic.
Principles of Bible Study (Part 2): Interpretation
Principle 1: Exegesis vs. Eisegesis –
Exegesis is t principle of bible study in which a reader reads the text and formulates his theology based upon what he interprets from the Scriptures. Eisegesis is the method of study in which a reader reads into the Scriptures what he knows or believes and his biases.
Exegesis is the most accurate way to formulate theological beliefs, but it does require a lot of attention to details within the Scriptures to extract the true meaning of the Scriptures. Eisegesis is the most dangerous because it opens the door to a theology based upon a misinterpretation of Scripture by the author who has read his bias into the Scripture.
Principle 2: Interpreting Old Testament in Light of New Testament
The Old Testament must always be interpreted in light of the New Testament and never the reverse. While the Old Testament certainly illuminates the New Testament, it cannot be used to interpret the New Testament as to do so leads to many false doctrines such as the Judaizers trying to force circumcision on the Gentile believers for salvation.
Principle 3: Primary sources vs. Secondary sources
Primary sources are original documents or first-hand witnesses. Secondary sources are those that are one step removed, such as a copy of an original document or someone in which a first-hand witness confided. The Bible manuscripts are primary evidence only because there are no original writings of the authors that have been found to exist.
All manuscripts of Scripture should be considered as primary sources in their original languages as a whole and should be compared to each other. Although it is tempting to conclude that an earlier manuscript would be more accurate than a later manuscript, the mere fact one predates the other does not necessarily mean the earlier one is more accurate or reliable.
The original scriptures were written in the 1st century A.D. or earlier. They were written on various papers like papyrus or parchment. These would wear out from use and old age and decompose so scribes would hand copy the original manuscript very meticulously onto new papyrus or parchment.
However, the Scribes occasionally would make mistakes including leaving words or phrases out. The Scribes would make corrective notes in the margins, but sometimes they would place editorial notes not intended to be included in the text. A later Scribe would think the editorial note was intended to be added to the text, and the later Scribe would add it.
For this reason, the over 5600 fragments and whole manuscripts of the Bible in their original language should all be considered to be primary sources and should be compared to each other.
All of these manuscripts have been highly studied and compared to each other in determining which manuscripts are most reliable. Interestingly, these manuscripts are surprisingly consistent with one another and errors become obvious to the observer.
Principle 4: Best Evidence Rule
The Best Evidence Rule is a legal evidence rule that requires a document to be original or the best existing document to be admitted into evidence at trial. For example, if I am disputing the content of a last will and testament, I would insist upon admitting the original will rather than a copy. This is because the copy of the will could have been altered and is not the best evidence.
I say all of this to say the over 5600 manuscripts of the Bible in existence are our primary best evidence sources and all translations are actually secondary sources. However, concerning basic principles of bible study, the English translations we read are our primary best evidence sources as we tend not to be fluid in Biblical Hebrew and Koine Greek.
Principle 5: Basic Rules of Interpreting Scriptures
A fundamental principle of bible study is properly interpreting Scripture. For proper interpretation of a passage first ascertain the intent of the author and what the passage meant to the original audience. Take that meaning and bring it forward to the present for application. In ascertaining the meaning of a passage to its original audience, you must consider the following:
- The culture and idioms of the original writer and audience using both biblical passages and non-biblical contemporary writings. Context is king.
- The type of Biblical Literature (prose (poetry), history, allegory, literal and symbolic language and you must know which is which.
- Historical Background
- Geographical Conditions
- Life Setting
- The Bible is an Eastern Book and is filled with paradoxes and eastern thinking.
Principle 6: Four Corners Doctrine
The Four Corners Doctrine is a legal rule of evidence that in determining the meaning of terms of a contract, you must look solely within the four corners of the document to determine the meaning unless there is an ambiguity. Only if an ambiguity exists do you consider sources outside of the document to determine its meaning.
In applying this doctrine to interpreting the meaning of Scripture, you must read the Bible with the presumption that it is completely accurate and each part must be interpreted to be consistent with the rest of the Bible. The Bible is the authoritative, unified Word of God and is accurate if correctly interpreted.
Principles of Bible Study (Part 2): Specific Types of Interpretation
Literal Sense – Text accepted in its simplest form
Allegorical Sense – Message by comparison
Moral Sense – Lessons learned
Anagogical Sense – Explaining heaven by what is known on earth
Principles of Bible Study (Part 2): Bible Study Resources/Secondary materials (Commentaries, Bible Encyclopedias, study aids)
Secondary materials involve all Christian based writings that are not Canon, but are useful if used properly. These, like translations, vary from very technical and accurate and harder to read to the more general, less accurate, and easier to read versions. You can find many of these study aids at www.christianbook.com. Please be aware, however, that Christian study aids range from conservative to liberal. You want to choose aids that are conservative. This is discussed above under Theology.
The very basic resources that you need for a serious method of studying the Bible is the following:
A translation of the Bible that you read and understand;
A Strong’s Concordance or Young’s Concordance – These concordances are comprehensive, alphabetized listings of every word in the Bible. They are translation specific. You look up a word and the concordance will give you every passage in the Scriptures that the word appears. Beside the passage reference is typically a number that coincides with a numerical list in the back of the concordance where the word is identified in Greek or Hebrew depending upon if the passage is Old Testament or New Testament. It also gives a summary of meanings and uses of the word.
A one volume or multi-volume commentary that is conservative in its theology. A commentary is a book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse scholarly explanation of each verse of Scripture with reference to meanings of words, customs of the day in which it was written, social thought of the audience, and comparison to other Scriptures. The caution in using commentaries is that they are subject to the bias of the authors or editors. Some of the generally accepted conservative commentaries are as follows:
Matthew Henrys Commentary
Jamieson, Fausett and Brown’s Commentary
Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible
Tyndale New Testament Commentaries
Barclays Commentaries
The following secondary sources are also very useful as your study becomes more sophisticated:
Bible Encyclopedias – These work like an encyclopedia but you look up words related to the Bible. Some generally accepted conservative bible encyclopedias are as follows:
Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible
Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia
Bible Dictionaries – These work like a dictionary to give brief definitions of biblical words.
Bible Handbooks – These typically explain the cultural, geographical, and societal information for during Bible times.
Maps and Charts – These show maps of the Holy Land and related geographical areas contemporaneous with the writing of Scripture. Charts are used to show relationships of information from the Scriptures such as charting out the kings of Israel and Judah in a timeline.
Word Studies – These are detailed discussions of specific words of the Bible and their meanings and uses. This includes historical analysis of the words in their Hebrew and Greek form and how the current usages of the words evolved.
Study Bibles – These are bibles that have some of the above information summarized and arranged so that the Scripture reader can read this information without having to leave the page or at least the bible.
Archeological References – These categorize archeological findings as they relate to Scripture.
Church History References – These include writings of early church fathers and their contemporaries and renaissance to modern sermon notes.
Finally, I highly recommend for the serious Bible student to purchase access to a comprehensive Bible study software such as Logos Bible Software at logos.com. Logos is sold as a bundle of study tools at various levels and prices range from $49.99 to $10,799.99. There are nine bundles with the $49.99 bundle having 180 resources and the $10,799.99 bundle having 8125 resources.