When it comes to reading and interpreting our Bibles it is always important to take into account the historical and literary contexts of the verses recorded. But what if there was something more than the objective science of interpretation to our readings of the Bible? That is, what if there was an inward, subjective approach to the Bible that we as Christians ought to bring as well? I know those words can set any of us who love the halls of exegesis uneasy.
A Sterile Study
However, I’ve found that for some it is far too easy to simply handle the Bible as scientists handle radioactive material - behind glass, covered in sterile clothing, gloves and all - treating Scripture as something solely to be studied and examined for its contents and data to be reported, rather than something to be encountered that actually reads you better than you read it.
This doesn’t mean that we hi-jack faithful biblical exegesis. Authors, locations, genres, audiences and so on are critical! Historian R.G. Collingwood said it right when he said: “any worthwhile history must involve ‘thinking the characters’ thoughts after them.” Thus, running off in any direction desired by the reader is just foolish and selfish. Reading like that betrays a basic respect for the Author and authors of the Bible.
I believe the prophet Isaiah offers us more than a clue to encountering the living God. He provides the exact prescription.
“But this is the one to whom I will look:
he who is humble and contrite in spirit
and trembles at my word.”
~ Isaiah 66.2
Trembling. This means literally to shake or quake and be moved with awe before God’s Word.
What was the last experience that caused you to tremble?
Seeing your baby born?
Standing before Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon?
Staring out into the sea or up into the cosmos?
Visiting a cathedral? Attending a funeral?
What if that experience of trembling was to actually precede our exegesis of the text? Simply recognizing what we are reading matters. The Bible contains the very
Words
of
God.
An Inappropriate Yawn
I find that my walk with God is most stagnate when I’m no longer trembling before God’s Word, but rather yawning as I stare at the words on the pages because I’ve grown self-absorbed, bored with God because I’m too familiar with him and focused on “my kingdom come” thinking.
When was the last time you trembled at the Word of God?
If you’ll notice, Isaiah doesn’t say, “This is the one to whom I will look…”
“the one who has a PhD in Theology.”
“the one who has perfect church attendance.”
“the one who has all their t’s crossed and i’s dotted.”
“the one who has the most followers on Twitter.”
God looks for the trembling, the broken and the one who shudders before the Creator’s Word. This isn’t trying to scare you out of Bible study. This is simply giving the Bible it’s proper place. The Bible is like a lion, and thus, if you really know what you’re looking at, you, by nature, will tremble because of it’s power.
“At these words Peter trembled, Plato did not; so let the fisherman keep what the great and famous philosopher ignored!”
Augustine, Sermon 68.7
7 Feb 2012
There are various approaches people take when it comes to reading, interpreting and applying the Bible. They are engaged in what is known as hermeneutics, the science of interpretation.
As soon as you open your Bible and begin reading, you are engaged in the art of interpretation. And to be fair, one act of interpretation has transpired even before you picked up your English Bible. That’s right. You picked up a translation of the Bible.
It isn’t hard to see how radically different the modern world is when compared with the ancient Biblical era.
Who Contributed to the Bible?
The writers of the Bible are kings, peasants, men and women, slaves and free, fishermen, doctors, lawyers, philosophers, generals, artists and poets, rich and poor, and so on. The bible isn’t a list of do’s and don’ts. It isn’t just packed this prose, monolithic, one dimensional, steno symbols. It has multiple genres (Law, prophets, poetry, gospels, history, letters, and apocalyptic). These genres contain information about geography, authors and audiences, population, genealogies, and much more.
The Bible is composed of 66 books written by approximately 40 authors and we even have a few books that we don’t know for certain who wrote!
To widen the gap a bit more between the “then of writing” and the “now of reading”, consider that the Bible was written from 1400 BC-93 AD, spanning the entire Roman world, using 3 languages.
This is an incredibly complex book or, rather library of books, and really does take some rigorous intellectual engagement to begin to get your head around what you hold in your hands.
The Bible old and you are new. Now, let me give you a 10 second crash course in hermeneutics. There’s no way we can come to the Bible unbiased. We all approach Scripture with a worldview, preconceived ideas, theological persuasions, political stances, personal baggage, and so forth. And that’s not a bad thing!
However, when it comes to actually interpreting the Scriptures, there’s basically two ways of going at it and the two methods are what theologians refer to as Exegesis and Eisegesis.
Exegesis means “to lead out” or “extract from.” (Maybe think ex-odus). This is our approach to the Bible with Acts 29 and the Resurgence tends to work. We want to extract from the original meaning of the text, understand it in the world in which is was originally penned and then make the hermeneutical jump over into the 21st century.
But there’s another way to read that many others choose to use and it is called “eisegesis.” This means to “read into.” These are those who have chosen to impose their own personal or cultural beliefs upon the Scriptures as an attempt to make the Bible less offensive, more palatable or to suit their own way of life and avoid being conformed to the image Jesus rather than the pattern of the world.
Christian, ask yourself:
“Who’s Word is this, actually?
“Am I out to exegete or eisegete the Bible?”
“Does my culture and personal desires trump the authority of Scripture in my life or am I willing to obey, love, and proclaim Scripture regardless of whether I am accepted or rejected?”
7 Dec 2011
