Starting today in the “Manipulating the Word of Truth” series, we will study the dangers and ways of abusing the Word of God. In this article, Daniel Doriani warns us about the importance of making a correct exegesis.
A biblist enters a friend’s kitchen and sees a magnet setting a diet on the refrigerator door. The plan says, “Why am I the one who knows the plans I have for you?”, says the Lord, “plans to make you prosper and not harm you, plans to give you hope, and a future” (Jr 29. 11 NIR). Does this diet friend correctly interpret the Bible? The first principle of interpretation is “contextual reading”. The biblist said to himself, “Does he know that Jeremiah was speaking to the leaders of Israel who were exiled in Babylon?That a word addressed to the nation of Israel is not necessarily a personal promise to individual Christians?The scholar worries: “Does my friend think God promised to make him prosper through this diet?Or did the formation of the scholar drive you crazy? Perhaps my friend just wants to remember that God is for his people, thinks the scholar, even for himself. “
- We confess that the Bible is the Word of God.
- But unless we read it and interpret it correctly.
- Our confession is merely a formality.
- Correct biblical exegesis is essential if we expect to know and act on biblical truth.
- A correct interpretation has two elements: technical and personal.
- Technically.
- The Bible should be read according to the grammar and lexicon of the time.
- It is not enough to know what the words flesh.
- Alliance.
- Judge.
- Talent.
- Slave or justification mean today; we need to know what they meant at the time.
- Secondly.
- We must read the text in its literary and cultural context.
The frequent ordinance: greeting yourself with a holy kiss? (Rom 16. 16; 1Co 16. 20; 2Co 13. 12; 1Ts 5. 26; 1Pe 5. 14) illustrates both principles In the West, we naively assume that this kiss is something that should be done for the people of the first century, but not for us. just ignore an order; we have to investigate. When we do this, we find that he?Kiss? It was a ritual touch of the cheeks, not the lips, and it was always man to man or woman to woman, not man to woman, culturally the kiss showed friendship, affinity and affection, therefore, to obey the ordinance in our culture, we evaluate how we show loyalty and affection, and practice it; a correct exegesis discovers that kissing itself is not Paul’s business, but wants believers to show loyalty and affection in a way that suits each culture.
Serious readers have a triple question about biblical interpretation: what does it mean, what does it mean, and how does it apply?The question is even more urgent when the disciples ask: when do I take a statement to the letter and when do I interpret?When should we literally obey an ordinance and when should we not?We answer these questions by studying a passage in its cultural context.
See the answer to these questions by reading the full article
By: Daniel Doriani. Extract from website www. ligonier. org. © 2013 Ligonier Ministries. Original: The Importance of Sound Exegesis.
This article is part of the January 2014 edition of Tabletalk magazine.
Translation: Alan Cristie. Crítica: Renata do Esperito Santo?© Faithful Ministry. All rights reserved. Website: www. MinisterioFiel. com. br Original: The importance of correct exegesis
Authorizations: You are authorized and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format, provided that the author, his ministry and translator are no longer no longer modified and not used for commercial purposes.