HOW TO READ THE BIBLE FOR ALL ITS WORTH

1. HOW TO READ THE BIBLE FOR ALL ITS WORTH An Overview of the book by Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart Rommel Casis & Peter Zaballa Quezon City Central Region, MMCC

2. “ All Scipture is GOD-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of GOD may be thoroughly equipped for every good work”. - 2 Timothy 3:16-17 INTRODUCTION “ Do your best to present yourself to GOD as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth”. - 2 Timothy 2:15 we cannot accept …laxity in the interpretation of Scripture. We are dealing with God’s thoughts: we are obligated to take the greatest pains to understand them truly and to explain them clearly. [D.A. Carson]

3. FUNDAMENTALS • Why do we need to interpret the Bible? • How can we interpret it correctly? • What tools do we need in interpreting the Bible?

4. Why interpret the Bible? Nature of the Scripture Nature of the reader dual nature of the scripture dual nature of the scripture Divine Human • eternal relevance • historical particularity As a reader, we bring into the text all that we are • GOD has to use almost every kind of human communication: narrative history, genealogies, chronicles, poetry, etc. What we readis a translation

5. How to interpret it correctly? Hermeneutics (“here and now”) TWO LEVELS OF INTERPRETATION • Contemporary relevance of ancient text • a text cannot mean what it never meant Exegesis (“then and there”) Historical Context - Time and culture of the author and his readers - Occasion and purpose of each biblical book and/or various parts Literary Context - Words only have meaning in sentences; biblical sentences for the most part only have clear meaning in relation to preceding sentences - Rules that apply to each literary form

6. What tools do we need? • good Bible translation • good Bible dictionary • good commentaries

7. Good Bible Translation SCIENCE OF TRANSLATION LANGUAGE TEXT • No handwritten original • language barrier; historical distance - what exist are thousands of copies produced by hand and copied repeatedly Problems • ‘theory of translation’ - later manuscripts differ significantly from the earlier copies and translations Textual criticism Resolution 1. External evidence • Formal equivalence – literal translation • Functional equivalence – dynamic • equivalent or thought for thought • translation • Free translation - paraphrased - Character and quality of manuscripts 2. Internal evidence - Mistakes copyist are susceptible

8. Good Bible Translation EXAMPLE: Ang tamad magbasa ng Bibliya ay walang utang na loob sa Diyos. The lazy to read the Bible is no debt inside to God. Formal Those who are too lazy to read the Bible have no gratitude to God. Functional IF you have not time to read the Bible you are an ingrate! Free

9. “ My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom…and if you look for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the lord and find the knowledge of GOD”. - Proverbs 2: 1-5 CLOSING REMARKS The aim of good interpretation is not uniqueness…but to get the plain meaning of the text. Primary purpose of the Bible is to change our lives, not to increase our knowledge.