the bible: what it is & what it isn’t getting serious about taking scripture in context
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
The Bible: What it is & What it
Isn’tGetting Serious about Taking
Scripture in Context
![Page 2: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
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.
![Page 3: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
3
MISCONCEPTIONS
![Page 4: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
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
![Page 5: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
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 …
![Page 6: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
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
![Page 7: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
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
![Page 8: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
8
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
![Page 9: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
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
![Page 10: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
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 …
![Page 11: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
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)
![Page 12: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
12
SPECIFICS
![Page 13: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
13
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
![Page 14: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
14
Phenomena of the TextUse of Ancient Literary Structures
O Covenant treaty structuresO Lawsuit genreO Afterlife sighting genreO Epistolary literatureO Parallelism, recapitulation, chiasm
![Page 15: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
15
Phenomena of the TextContent is Ancient / Primitive
O Medicine / ScienceO seat of emotions, intellectO reproductive biologyO cosmology
![Page 16: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
16
Phenomena of the TextTheological Communication
Not always (or even mostly) propositional
O Story, narrative, conceptsO ChaosO LeviathanO FireO StarsO Divine home / office / council
![Page 17: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
17
SO … WHAT TO DO?
![Page 18: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
18
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
![Page 19: The Bible: What it is & What it Isn’t Getting Serious about Taking Scripture in Context](https://reader035.vdocuments.mx/reader035/viewer/2022062515/56649c715503460f94922dc0/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
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