Scripture and Interpretation chapter 1-3

The oldest Bible manuscripts are the dead sea scrolls.

The Wycliffe Bible was the first English translation of the Bible.

The first two editions of the King James Version of the Bible were created in 1611.

Translation entails “reproducing the meaning of a text that is in one language (the source language), as fully as possible, in another language (the receptor language).”

A paraphrase is not a translation from the original languages at all, but merely a restatement or explanation of a particular English translation using different English words.

Some examples of observations:

Look for repetition of words and phrases

look for contrasting ideas/people/items and for other differences.

Look for comparison of ideas, people and items, and for other similarities

Look for lists- places where the text mentions 2 or more items

Look for causes for and effects of situations

Look for figures of speech

Look for conjunctions and note what they are connecting

Note the tenses of verbs- did something take place in the past present or future

Identify who each pronoun is talking about

Observation does not involve determining the meaning of a text, merely what it says

The five steps of the Interpretive journey

Step one: Grasping the text in their town. What did the text mean to the biblical audience?

Step two: Measuring the width of the river to cross. What are the differences between the biblical audience and us?

Step three: Crossing the principlizing bridge. What is the theological principle in this text?

Step four: Consulting the biblical map. How does this theological principle fit with the rest of the Bible?

Step five: Grasping the text in our town. How should individual Christians today live out the theological principles?