Interpreting the Bible Vlog Course Begins Today
Today we begin a new Vlog series which will correspond to the weekly teaching series at First Baptist Church Needville on the topic of Biblical Hermeneutics, or the science of interpreting the scriptures. This course will unfold in three general phases:
The Principles: The first several weeks will unveil the truths which must be understood and considered when studying and interpreting scripture (such as historical, contextual, linguistic principles and others).
The Process: The second major section will involve a deeper foray into the application of these principles, including study of several interpretive laws (the law of recurrence, the law of double reference, the golden rule of interpretation & others).
The Practice: The last section will engage a time of extended application in which we will break apart and study the scriptures together, applying what we have learned (finding the central truth of a paragraph, applying the principles and laws to ensure that the correct meaning, as understood by the original audience, is acquired).
Today’s video is the course overview and introduction. We invite you to join us weekly for class updates. As new videos are added, the entire coulse will be posted on the Video Courses page. While open ended, it is expected that this course will run for 15-20 weeks.
As the course unfolds, you may watch the full series on our Video Courses page. Today’s session may be watched below.
Intrepreting The Bible Pt. 2 – Linguistic Principle
Part two of our Interpreting the Bible course examines the linguistic principle in hermeneutics. While all language is subject to misunderstanding, it is so much more important that words, phrases, structure and grammar be taken into consideration by the student of scripture. The languages our modern Bibles are translated from are not only foreign, but ancient, yet they use many of the same literary devices familiar to us today which must be recognized in order to be properly understood.
This week’s vlog course focuses on the necessity of linguistic considerations in the interpretive process.
Bible Interpretation – Pt. 02 – Linguistic Principle from Jeff Kluttz on Vimeo.
Intrepreting The Bible Pt. 3 – Historical/Cultural Principle
Part three of the Interpreting The Bible series involves an overview of the Historical or Cultural principle. Essentially, this principle of interpretation states that one must understand the times and circumstances of a writing in order to fully appreciate and properly interpret the text. This understanding involves the author, the readers, the culture and even other cultures referenced in a work.
Paul’s note in Philippians about having learned to be content has much more meaning, for example, if one knows a bit about Paul’s life of trials and difficult circumstances. James’ admonition to the Jewish believers of the dispersion to “consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds” certainly has a more potent meaning to us today by realizing the dire persecution that those believers endured at the time of James’ writing. And, Jesus’ parable about virgins who forgot their oil and were shut out of the wedding banquet makes much more sense to one who has studied the nature of the Jewish wedding celebration.
Such is the nature of the application of the Historical/Cultural principle in Bible interpretation, as will be observed in this week’s video.
Bible Interpretation – Pt. 03 from Jeff Kluttz on Vimeo.
Watch earlier installments of this series here.
Interpreting the Bible Pt. 4 – the Contextual Principle
(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible” video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)
| This week’s video blog post (from the FBCN Biblical Hermeneutics class) begins with some class discussion concerning the reading assignment which is difficult to hear on camera. The actual course work for today begins at 11:50, if you wish to jump to that point. |
This week’s topic is one of supreme importance, as it is concerned with what is probably the single most abused interpretive principle. The topic in question is that of “context.” Ignorance of context is the means of all manners of false doctrines, for without context one may simply cherry pick phrases from scripture and re-weave them together in any manner desired, thus creating just about any message imaginable. As such, proper understanding of such interpretive principles offers great protection from deception by many false teachers who engage in such behaviors.
Without proper context it is nearly impossible to interpret any form of communication; especially in a document the size of the Bible. Every sentence is related to the sentences before and after it. Every paragraph is related to those before and after them. And, each chapter hinges on the development that preceded it while setting the stage for those which follow.
This week’s classwork overviews this principle. More detailed training on contextual work will follow in part two of the course.
Bible Interpretation Pt. 05 – Contextual/Theological Principles
(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)
This week’s vlog post continues the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series, picking up where we left off last week, still discussing the contextual principle of interpretation. This week’s class also goes into the theological principle: establishing that theology itself was a work in progress during biblical history. As such, Adam’s theology was much less developed than was Paul’s. Indeed, God’s progressive revelation of himself to man created a scenario where the earlier writers did not have a full picture of theology which was to be heralded as “complete” at a later time.
Bible Interpretation – Pt. 05 – Contextual/Theological Principles from Jeff Kluttz on Vimeo.
Interpreting the Bible Pt. 6 – Resources
(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)
This week’s installation in the Interpreting the Bible course is a bit of a side-bar in observation of various tools that will be required for the coursework at hand. This post will tout the benefits of a good computer Bible program and go over various types of support materials for biblical study, including Bibles, commentaries, concordances and other pertinent tools.
Interpreting the Bible – Part 7 – The Golden Rule of Interpretation
(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)
Over the next several weeks we will be examining certain “laws” which govern the norms of interpretive processes. These laws are rules which do not apply only to the Bible, but almost any work which is to be interpreted. As such, they are very common-sense-oriented principles which are understood and taken from granted by even school-age children as they read their age-appropriate stories.
Today’s rule is known by many as “The Golden Rule of Interpretation;” stating at it’s core: “if the common sense reading of a text makes sense, seek no other sense.” How much the false teachers of our Wolves in Wool series could learn from what their children already take for granted!
Bible Interpretation Pt. 07 from Jeff Kluttz on Vimeo.
Interpreting the Bible – Part 8 – Applying The Golden Rule of Interpretation
(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)
In the previous post The Golden Rule of Interpretation was introduced. This rule prevents the interpreter from arbitrarily “spiritualizing” or improperly creating symbolic truths out of a text that should be treated literally.
This week’s study focuses on the application of this rule by examining several passages in light of its principles.
Bible Interpretation Pt. 08 from Jeff Kluttz on Vimeo.
Interpreting the Bible – Parts 9–10
(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)
A double header “catch up” video is posted this week for the Interpreting the Bible course.
Part 9 is a continuation of the examination of the past several weeks of The Golden Rule of interpretation; with further examples to assist us in determining – from the context – when a text should be interpreted figuratively and when not.
Part 10 introduces a new law; The Law of Dual Reference. This law explains that prophetic texts, at times, are fulfilled in more than one historical event. In such cases, the prophet writes as if he speaks of one event, yet the fulfillment reveals that only a portion of the text will be fulfilled at one time.
There are a few manners in which dual reference may unfold. Today’s study in Part 10 will discuss what is probably the more difficult to grasp, the rare Typeographical form of dual reference; when a prophecy speaks of a type, or form, of fulfillment which is thought fulfilled in scripture, but is later revealed to have not been fully fulfilled.
Bible Interpretation Pt. 09 from Jeff Kluttz on Vimeo.
Bible Interpretation Pt. 10 from Jeff Kluttz on Vimeo.
Interpreting the Bible (Pt 11) – Double Reference (Pt. 2)
(This is a continuation of the “Interpreting The Bible“ video blog series. This post assumes the prerequisite watching of earlier videos in the series. Click the link above to watch the entire series up to this week’s installment.)
Continuing from last week’s introduction to the interpretive law of dual (or double) reference, this week’s lesson will focus in on the “gap” variety of dual reference; in which one prophecy is fulfilled in part from two different historical events which are separated by a gap of time. As such, there is frequently a presumed fulfillment of a prophecy, yet the fulfillment does not completely meet the criteria of the original prophetic word. As such, this presumed fulfillment is not complete, but partial, and will be later completed by further events.
Numerous messianic prophecies have unfolded in this manner. In several cases, one prophetic sentence – or paragraph – depicts both the first and second comings of Christ. These prophesies have been only partially fulfilled, as the “gap” has not yet passed before his second coming, when Christ will complete the prophetic vision.
Today’s video course is largely an illustration of this principle at work.
Bible Interpretation Pt. 11 from Jeff Kluttz on Vimeo.
