After listening to the lecture, share your thoughts on the following:
Which of the reasons for needing a process of interpretation is the most compelling or helpful for understanding the Bible?
- This is such a great question. I think understanding the time and place in which the other is writing, or events are taking place is of vital importance; if not, we can walk away believing God tells us to make a campaign against a particular group of people to remove them from a land that He has promised to us. Doing so misinforms us and poorly represents the God we are called to serve. Scripture is live and active, and it has to be treated as such to understand best how to apply it. I believe today that one of the primary reasons why people are drawn away from God is because of the believer's misunderstanding of scripture and through poor teaching of His intent.
Have you ever seen anything like the Fourfold Approach to interpreting Scripture? Is anything in that approach new to you?
- Yes, I have seen it, and actually, its what I use when I study. Which helps because I love history.
Which aspect of context do you see most ignored when it comes to modern interpretation of the Bible?
- I think maybe the hardest to identify at times and maybe the most ignored is what issue they were solving. How did this story or situation change the problem faced in history, or better yet, what problem needed addressing? We see this very common with the epistles since we don't have the letters written to the apostles; we have what appears as a response. We draw lines to understand what was addressed but sometimes miss the point.