Those of us who want to deepen and enliven our faith, we love to read the Bible. Here in this ancient book, we find a story that still captivates our hearts and minds, truths that we employ in our everyday life, and encouragement and endurance in both good time and bad. But the Bible is unlike most other books that we encounter. Confessing the Christian Faith we find that there is so much more to connect us to the greater and deeper truths of the universe. And this is the book that we should like to read better. Because we confess that it is a Word from God that will both benefit of our personal life and our understanding of a greater truth.
But how, you may ask, do we read our Bible better? Is there not only one way to read anything? Can we literally just understand the words on the page, just like any non-fiction writing? Or cookbook? Or historical account? Are there points of departure from literal language? Metaphors and similes? Poetry and prophesy? And how do we assess meaning from the whole lot? Can we possibly do it “better?” This study series will look at ways to improve our methods and practice of reading the Bible.
“Hermeneutics” is a long word, and some may make the argument that it is unnecessary to explore such detail about our methods of reading the scriptures. Can’t we simply read the Bible? The answer is yes, and no. Whether you recognize it or not, everyone employs some sort of principles of interpretation to help discover the meaning and intention of the Bible. Just look at the many evaluations of the same texts of Scripture, the various ideas about God’s ultimate purpose and plan, and the vast debates about points of doctrine. We all have the same words on the page, we all practice some sort of interpretation, but our methods to discover meaning and application may be fundamentally different.
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