Posts made in October, 2006

Application: The Hardest Part in Interpretation

Posted by on Oct 27, 2006 in Blog | 4 comments

So you have followed the first two steps in interpretation, “Observation” and “Interpretation.” You have sought to determine what the text “meant” in its original context, to its original readers, as intended by the original author, exploring what some call the “first horizon” of biblical interpretation. You have studied difficult words, outlined your passage as part of your thought flow analysis, and looked at historical-cultural background issues. You have approached the task of interpretation prayerfully and laid aside your own presuppositions (by an act some call... Read More

Do You Have a Good Marriage?

Posted by on Oct 19, 2006 in Blog | 4 comments

Would you say that you have a good marriage? Some of you might answer this question in the affirmative (hopefully your spouse would, too); others might acknowledge that there remains a lot of work to do before you would claim to have a good marriage. But why aspire to having a good marriage in any case? Just to be able to feel good about having a good marriage? And what does it mean to have a “good marriage”? When is a marriage a good marriage? If it is better than most other marriages of the people we know? I submit to you that “Do you have a good marriage?” is the wrong... Read More

Preach the Word (2 Tim 4:1-2)

Posted by on Oct 13, 2006 in Blog | 1 comment

The apostle Paul wrote thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament and left an indelible mark on the Christian church. Apart from his nine letters to churches (most of which he had planted himself), he also wrote four personal letters, one each to Philemon and Titus and two to Timothy, his foremost disciple. While Paul’s first canonical epistle, the letter to the Romans, provides us with a weighty expression of the apostle’s theology, it is 2 Timothy that builds in intensity toward a climactic exhortation in an effort to secure the church’s future beyond the... Read More

Background Information and Biblical Interpretation

Posted by on Oct 9, 2006 in Blog | 6 comments

There are some purists who hold to a form of textual autonomy according to which only the text is relevant for interpretation and the use of background information is anathematized. Most, however, find the use of background information helpful, and at times even vital, in making sense of a particular biblical passage or entire book. The case for a judicious use of background information has not been helped by the excesses of those who overplay background, at times to the extent that the explicit message of a given text is set aside in keeping with a supposed piece of relevant background... Read More