the bible: what it is & what it isn’t getting serious about taking scripture in context

The Bible: What it is & What it

Isn’tGetting Serious about Taking

Scripture in Context

Goal(this session and the previous)

Don’t

O Think about the Bible …O Talk about the Bible …

In ways that make the idea of inspiration indefensible or vulnerable to attack.

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MISCONCEPTIONS

What do we mean?O Passage focus

O Verses before and after

O More academicO Grammatical-historical Exegesis O Historical backdropO Specific occasionO Internal consistency / Bible as a wholeO Biblical languages

What do we mean?O Bigger issue than all that

O We’re been trained (conscious or otherwise) to not see what interpreting Scripture in context really means and requires

O Must understand what interpreting the Bible in context does NOT mean …

Foreign ContextsO The proper context for accurately understanding

the Bible is not:

The Church Fathers (of any era)The Roman Catholic ChurchThe Protestant ReformationDenominational DistinctivesEvangelicalismModern Critical ApproachesAny modern context

Correct Context

OThe proper context for accurately understanding the Bible is :

The one in which it was written.

OThe Bible was written for us, but not to us

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WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?

Broadly …OYou need to think like the original biblical

writers – and the original readers to whom the biblical books were written.

OYou need their worldview in your head

Broadly …

OThe Bible is filled with insider information, but we are outsiders when it comes to their world.

OWe do not share their outlook and knowledge in every area …

Broadly …

OSocial (cultural attitudes, customs, biases)

OScience (natural world, medicine, biology, micro-biology, astronomy, navigation, geography, etc.)

OCommunication (written, oral)

OReligious (unseen realm, afterlife, divine knowledge)

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SPECIFICS

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Foreign Worldview of BibleBears Marks of ANE Culture

Jacob and Laban – goats (Gen 30) Numbers 5 test for adultery Casting Lots Justice

Avenger of blood, crime and punishment (e.g., Deut. 25:11)

Status of women Polygamy, Levirate Marriage, Divorce,

Property

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Phenomena of the TextUse of Ancient Literary Structures

O Covenant treaty structuresO Lawsuit genreO Afterlife sighting genreO Epistolary literatureO Parallelism, recapitulation, chiasm

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Phenomena of the TextContent is Ancient / Primitive

O Medicine / ScienceO seat of emotions, intellectO reproductive biologyO cosmology

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Phenomena of the TextTheological Communication

Not always (or even mostly) propositional

O Story, narrative, conceptsO ChaosO LeviathanO FireO StarsO Divine home / office / council

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SO … WHAT TO DO?

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SummationO A coherent understanding of

inspiration needs to account for what is actually found in the text.

O We need toO set aside our assumptionsO focus on the biblical dataO LET THE BIBLE BE WHAT IT IS, not

make it what it isn’t

What is the Bible?O Ancient Mediterranean document …O Pre-scientific in worldview …O Supernatural in worldview …O Presumes the culture of its writers …

O God knew who he was using and what he was gettingO Providential guidance – a PROCESS, not

an eventO We honor God’s decisions