He Gave Us Scripture: Foundations of Interpretation
© 2013 by Third Millennium Ministries
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means for profit, except in brief quotations for the purposes of review, comment, or scholarship, without written permission from the publisher, Third Millennium Ministries, Inc., 316 Live Oaks Blvd., Casselberry, Florida 32707.
Unless otherwise indicated all Scripture quotations are from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 International Bible Society. Used by Permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
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For videos, study guides and other resources, visit Third Millennium Ministries at thirdmill.org.
Contents
I. Introduction 1
II. Necessity 3
III. Connections 5
A. God 5
1. Eternal Counsel 6
2. Character 7
3. Covenant Promises 7
B. World 8
C. People 9
1. Sinful Images 9
2. Religious Divisions 10
3. Classes 11
IV. Developments 11
A. Epochal 12
B. Cultural 13
C. Personal 15
V. Conclusion 15
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For videos, study guides and other resources, visit Third Millennium Ministries at thirdmill.org.
He Gave Us Scripture: Foundations of Interpretation Lesson Seven: Applying Scripture
INTRODUCTION
We all know that in ordinary life we write down some things for temporary use and others for very long-term use. Well, for followers of Christ, there’s certainly one book that will never grow obsolete: the Bible. Generation after generation, the people of God have cherished the Scriptures — and we should, because the Bible has a lot to say about living for God in every place and in every age. Jesus looked at the Bible as the Word of God that would remain the standard for God’s people until all is accomplished. And as his followers, we do the same.
This is the seventh lesson in our series He Gave Us Scripture: Foundations of Interpretation, and we’ve entitled it “Applying Scripture.” In this lesson, we’ll suggest some approaches to application that are very useful in making the original meaning of Scripture relevant for modern audiences.
In this series, we’ll define the process of application as:
Appropriately connecting the original meaning of a biblical document to contemporary audiences in ways that impact their concepts, behaviors and emotions
Since this definition makes use of our earlier definition of original meaning, it may be helpful to recall that original meaning is:
The concepts, behaviors and emotions that the divine and human writers jointly intended the document to communicate to its first audience.
We need to understand what the author truly said, and then we can make the application. The application must come from the meaning of the passage, and knowing that original as far as we can helps us to understand, are we in the same theological position as the original hearers of this? Are we under the Mosaic Covenant? Are we under a certain covenant? And therefore, understanding the original setting, history, theological and contextual helps us then to properly understand it. We now know whether we need to bring that meaning through the finished work of Christ since we are now under the finished work of Christ.
— Dr. Stephen J. Bramer
Now, the process of application isn’t always easy, because we have to account for significant developments that have taken place between the times when the Bible was written and our own day. But the goal of the process of application is the same now as it was when Scripture was first written: to impact the concepts, the behaviors and the emotions of God's people according to the will of God.
The most important distinction we can make between original meaning and application is that our investigation of original meaning focuses on the impact Scripture was intended to have on the concepts, behaviors and emotions of its first audiences. But the interpretive process of application is concerned with how the modern audience should be impacted on all these levels.
The original meaning of the text is critical to our application because it’s the inspired and authoritative meaning of the text. So, the proper modern application of a text must always be faithful to its original meaning. At the same time, our modern applications also have to go beyond original meaning in some sense, because they have to take into account modern times, cultures and individuals.
Knowing the original meaning of a biblical passage helps us to apply it to our own lives because we recognize that a key component to its original meaning is understanding its original purpose, that is, the change that God designed that text to accomplish in its first audience, in its first readers, in the light of their situation, in the light of their frame of reference, how much of Scripture they knew at that point or had access to, in the light of the trials, the temptations that they were facing. That was God’s application to them. The meaning really was serving the purpose of effecting his Holy Spirit’s sanctifying purpose in their lives. Well, the Spirit’s purpose in their lives is in continuity with the Holy Spirit’s purpose in our lives. So the more we can understand their situation, their need, and therefore the purpose for which God gave that text in the original setting and to the original audience, that sets a trajectory for how the Spirit intends to apply that text in our life, in our situation. And that should be our guide as pastors, preachers, teachers in the way we apply the text. We ask how did God intend it to make a change, to make a difference in their lives then and then how does that carry over into the Holy Spirit’s purpose in conforming us more and more to the image of Christ today?
— Dr. Dennis E. Johnson
Our discussion of the process of application will touch on three issues: First, we’ll consider the necessity of application. Second, we’ll examine the connections between the original meaning and modern audiences that make application possible. And third, we’ll take a look at some of the major developments that have taken place between the times when the Bible was written and life today. Let’s begin with the necessity of application.
NECESSITY
Listen to how James talked about the necessity of application in James 1:21-25:
Get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does (James 1:21-25).
James taught that it’s not enough to know what Scripture says. In order to benefit properly from Scripture, we have to be impacted by it; our concepts, behaviors and emotions have to be changed. This kind of application is absolutely necessary for every believer if we want to receive the blessings of God. But what about the process that leads to this result of application? Is it really necessary to exert the effort to determine how our concepts, behaviors and emotions should be impacted?
Well, the best way to make the Scriptures relevant and applicable … to one’s everyday life is to think about the context in which the values of Scripture, or the teaching of Scripture, or the theology of Scripture applies. And again, it kind of depends on the kind of text that I’m dealing with, but usually there are attitudes that are important in Scripture — why we think about God, the way we think about our neighbor, the kind of compassion that I’m supposed to show, that kind of thing — that tells me how I’m supposed to live. And those values are very important. I think when we tend to study the Bible as a history book or an abstraction in terms of its theology and we don’t add the ethical dimension of what the passage is calling us to do and be as people, we have a problem. But if we keep the relational, ethical dimension of Scripture which runs all the way through it very much on the table, then virtually any passage can have an application that calls us to think more sensitively about the way we live.
— Dr. Darrell L. Bock
In 1 Corinthians 10:11, Paul demonstrated the importance of searching for contemporary application with these words:
These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come (1 Corinthians 10:11).
In the context of this chapter, Paul was reminding the Corinthians that the books of Exodus and Numbers told stories about the judgments that the Israelites of the Exodus suffered because they had rebelled against God. And in this verse, he took the necessary steps to apply these stories to the church at Corinth.
Paul applied the Old Testament stories to the New Testament church both by taking into account connections or continuities between the original audience and his Corinthian audience and by considering developments or changes that had taken place between Moses’ day and his own day.
On the one hand, Paul connected the two audiences by urging that these stories “were written down as warnings for us.” It wasn’t difficult for Paul to make this connection. Exodus and Numbers had originally been written for the second generation of the Israelites of the Exodus from Egypt. They were written to warn these people not to repeat the failures of the first generation. So, Paul focused first on a similarity between the Corinthians and the original audience: the Corinthian church was in danger of failure. So these stories warned them just as they had warned the original audience.
On the other hand, Paul qualified his application by noting important developments that had taken place since the time of Moses. Israel’s failures happened to the first generation Israelites, but they were written down for Paul’s audience and all other believers. The scriptural record turned the Old Testament experiences into examples and warnings for the church, “on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.”
The expression “the fulfillment of the ages” is one of many ways New Testament writers distinguished the period of the New Testament from the period of the Old Testament. With these words, Paul acknowledged that the Corinthians had the benefits of developments in redemptive history that the original audience of Exodus and Numbers did not have. The Corinthians were living over 1,000 years after Moses. They weren’t on a journey from Egypt to Canaan like the original audience; they were on a journey to the new heavens and new earth. The fulfillment of the ages had come on them. As a result, Paul’s application for the Corinthians had to account for those developments. And Paul highlighted these differences throughout the rest of 1 Corinthians 10, where he warned the Corinthians not to fail in their personal Christian lives or in their relationships in their church.
Paul’s application of the Old Testament books of Exodus and Numbers to the Christians in Corinth reflects the basic process that takes place every time we apply the Scriptures. Application must always take into account both the connections between original and modern audiences and the developments that have taken place between them. We need to recognize these connections and account for these developments if we’re to make appropriate applications of the Scriptures to our lives today.
Now that we’ve seen the necessity of application, let’s turn our attention to the many connections or continuities between the original readers of biblical books and modern audiences.
CONNECTIONS
It’s the connections or continuities between ancient and modern audiences that make biblical texts relevant for modern people. And there are countless ways to describe these continuities.
In this lesson, we’ll divide these connections into three main categories. First, we’ll see that both audiences have the same God. Second, they live in a similar world. And third, they’re the same kind of people. Let’s look at each of these categories, beginning with the fact that both audiences have the same God.
God
The Scriptures are clear that there is only one God to whom all audiences of Scripture owe their loyalty and obedience. And as traditional Christian theology teaches, God is immutable, meaning that he doesn’t change. Since God is immutable, and since loyalty and obedience to him are universal obligations, there are strong connections between the impact Scripture was intended to have on its original audience and on its modern audience.