Course: How to Study Your Bible Part 1a

This course is presented by Dr. Mark Strauss. The following is my transcription of his lecture with minimal edits to make the text flow better for reading. You can download the lecture directly here (mp3) or go to the download page to download all nine lessons here.

INTRODUCTION

Lecture 1: Introductory Hermeneutics

This is a course in basic introduction to the Bible. We call the interpretation of the Bible, hermeneutics, and so this is a course in introductory hermeneutics. God's Word, the Bible, came to us in human language and in human culture and in human contexts; and we understand God's Word by reading it within that particular culture and context in which it was given. We're gonna divide the course up beginning with introductory issues, and the first issue we're gonna cover today are some of our presuppositions, the presuppositions we bring to the table to interpret the Bible.

Presuppositions

1. The Bible is God's Word

This is not something we are seeking to prove. This is something that we take as a given as evangelicals, as those who believe the Bible is God's Word. We take it as a given that the Bible is God's Word.

What does that mean, that the Bible is God's Word? Let's look at two aspects of that:

1. The inspiration of Scripture - The Bible is inspired by God. That is claimed implicitly throughout Scripture. The Old Testament carries a constant sense throughout that... "This is the Lord's Word", "The Lord says". The prophets frequently say that.
   
   The New Testament has the stamp of apostolic authority. Compare these various Old Testament citations in the New:
   
   Acts 2:16, citing Joel 2:28-32, says "This is what was spoken by the Prophet Joel, 'In the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all people'"; so, in Acts 2, Peter cites Joel 2 and he cites it as something spoken by the prophet. So the Old Testament was given by the prophet.
   
   But then if we look at Hebrews 3:7 citing Psalm 95, the writer of the Hebrew says, "So as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion." Who spoke in the Old Testament? It was the Holy Spirit speaking.
   
   We get maybe an overall clear view of inspiration in Acts 4:25 citing Psalm 2:1: It says, "The Lord said, by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of your servant, our father, David." Who spoke in this case? It was the Lord speaking by means of the Holy Spirit through the mouth or through the spokesperson that is David.
   
   So we could see that Scripture is God's Word given by His Holy Spirit, spoken by the human author. So the inspiration of God's Word is claimed implicitly throughout Scripture.
   
   It's also claimed explicitly. One of the keys for the inspiration of Scripture is 2 Timothy 3:16-17, where it says, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training, and righteousness."
   
   That word, inspired by God, is a Greek word, theopneustos, which seems to have been coined by Paul himself. He seems to have made it up by combining two words. It means God exhaled or God breathed out His Word. How did God do that? Scripture doesn't tell us exactly how God did it, but we know that this is God's Word by virtue of His Divine inspiration.
   
   2 Peter 1:21 gives us a little bit of a hint of how God did it: It says, "No prophecy was ever made by an act of human will but people, moved by the Holy Spirit, spoke from God." So God moved individuals to speak the message that He wished to deliver.
   
   Now one clarification needs to be made here: this does not mean dictation. In other words, for the most part, God did not dictate Scripture word by word to these human authors. How do we know that? How do we know that God's word was not given for the most part through dictation? Well, the answer to that question is that the different writers of the Old Testament and the New Testament had different styles. Their personalities come out. Their style of writing comes out, and so we see that there is a human dimension in inspiration. If all of Scripture was simply dictated by the Holy Spirit to human authors, we would expect a heavy uniform style. But since we see the human authors' personalities and the vocabulary they used and the grammar that they used coming through in the Scripture that they write, we see that this is not simply dictated.
   
   
2. Authority as Scripture - What do we mean by authority as Scripture? We mean that Scripture has claim to our life and that we submit ourselves to Scripture's authority.
   
   3 ASPECTS OF AUTHORITY
   1. Scripture is authoritative over experience - We don't allow our human experience to determine what we believe or the behaviors we practice. We submit to Scripture's command, Scripture's authoritative statements.
   
   2. Authoritative over reason - It doesn't mean that we leave our brains at the door when we read the Scripture. It means that it is authoritative over rationalism or over naturalism.  We assume the supernatural. We assume the existence of God and the fact that God engages in human history and God intervenes in human history.
   
   It also means unresolved issues or apparent contradictions that we find in Scripture do not negate Scripture's authority. Instead, we accept the wait-and-see attitude if we can't resolve a particular issue in Scripture.  I believe that God is the God of reason and that His Scripture will stand up under historical and scientific scrutiny.
   
   3. Authoritative over tradition or dogma - Church traditions are good. The ancient creeds  of the church are good—they help us to understand who God is and what His Word means, but, ultimately, all church tradition must be subordinated to the authority of Scripture. So Scripture is authoritative overall church tradition or dogma. The rallying cry of the Protestant Reformation was "Sola Scriptura", that is that, ultimately, Scripture has the final authority.
   
   Sometimes we think of certain groups of placing tradition over Scripture. Maybe we think of the Roman Catholic church, for example, as placing tradition over Scripture, but in fact, we all have a tendency to do that, because all of us, whether Baptist, whether Methodist, whether Presbyterians, have church traditions that, in many ways, govern the way we think and the way we believe. Ultimately, we are to submit those traditions to the authority of Scripture.

2. The interpreter must be born again

This is something we take as a given. (We take as a given something we are not going to try to prove but simply to acknowledge in this class.) The interpreter must be born again—the interpreter must be in a relationship with Jesus Christ in order to fully comprehend God's Word.

2 Corinthians 4:4 says, "The God of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

1 Corinthians 2:14 says, "The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness and cannot understand them, because they are discerned only through the Spirit."

So, ultimately, it is the Spirit who enlightens and illuminates Scripture, so that we can understand it. That raises a significant question: Can non-Christians understand the Bible? I raise that question because we've got many Bible scholars who do not have faith in Jesus Christ, who are not believers, but they know the historical culture, they know the background, they apparently interpret God's Word very well. So how can I say then that the interpreter must be born again?

Well, I think the answer to that question is that someone can interpret Scripture, but if they don't apply it to their lives, they are mishandling God's Word. Hebrews 4:12 says, "For the Word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword: it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

God's Word is meant not just to be read and understood. It's intended to be applied to our lives. Like a double-edged sword, it's meant to cut us, to challenge us, to change us, to shape us, to guide us; and if God's Word does not guide us, if we don't allow it to guide us, then we are mishandling God's Word. So, in order to do proper Biblical interpretation, we have to know God. We have to be born again. We have to have a relationship with Jesus Christ. To read the Bible without letting it transform you is to mishandle the Word, and so to short cut the process of Biblical interpretation.

3. The interpreter must be filled with the Spirit

This is directly related to the second presupposition. Not only must they be born again, but they must actually be empowered to understand God's Word and be guided in their understanding of God's Word through the Holy Spirit.

John 16:13 says, "But when he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own, he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."

That passage was given by Jesus to His 12 disciples in the upper room discourse on the last night of His life here on earth before His crucifixion. It was given specifically to them. It wasn't given to all believers, but the truth that it teaches certainly applies to all believers, because we, like the 12 disciples, have the Spirit living in us; and He is our guide, and He is our direction. So in order to properly hear God speak, to properly understand God's Word, we have to be filled and empowered and guided by the Holy Spirit.

Theologians sometimes speak about the Spirit's role in two dimensions. These are not clear distinctions given in Scripture but, I think, they are reliable and accurate descriptions of what actually happens, how the Spirit actually works.

1. Inspiration by the Holy Spirit - The product of the human author and the divine author. Inspiration means receiving new revelation, so the authors of the Bible were inspired to write God's Word
2. Illumination by the Holy Spirit - This relates not to the author but to the reader, and that is interpreting and  applying previously given revelation

The Holy Spirit does both. The Holy Spirit was the one who inspired original authors to record God's Word, but the Holy Spirit also illuminates us as we read and interpret God's Word. He guides us into all truth.

Summary:

Those are just three basic presuppositions that we are approaching Scripture with in this class:

1. The Bible is God's Word - It is both inspired by God but also authoritative.
2. The interpreter must be born again - Only believers can accomplish the full process of interpretation; not only understanding what the text means, but also applying it to their lives.
3. The interpreter must be filled with the Spirit - We cannot properly hear and understand God's Word unless God's Spirit is guiding us.

This lecture was provided by BiblicalTraining.org.