The Bible’s story is progressive (meaning, we know more about God at the end of the story than we did at the beginning). This accounts for where and how a particular text fits into the overarching story of the Bible. Lastly, we want to consider the Redemptive-Historical Context. So, for historical context, we ask questions like: Who was the author? To whom was he writing? Why was he writing? What was the setting? What was happening in the world of the original audience? Which means, the question is not, “What does this text mean to me?”, but instead, “What did this text mean to them?” As Gordon Fee said, “a text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or his or her readers.” 2 I had a professor who used to say that the Bible was written for you, but it was not written to you! And, if we are going to understand any text, we have to first understand what it meant to whom it was written, the first audience. Understanding the original audience-the person or group of people to whom the book was first written-is crucial in the process of faithful interpretation. And we pay close attention to both who the author and audience were. We ask questions about the cultures, customs, languages, and historical events occurring at the time the text was written. Historical Contex t is also what it sounds like-it involves considering the world in which the text is located. Literary Context helps us to see what the author is highlighting. Do the passages that come immediately before or after add any insight? Where does this passage fit into the flow of the entire book? What does it contribute? Why is the author telling this story at this particular point in his writing?
Look at the passage you’re studying in the context of the surrounding passages. To understand the meaning of a sentence, we must ask, ‘How does this verse fit within the rest of the passage?’ To understand the meaning of the passage, we must ask, ‘How does this fit within the rest of the book?’” 1 the meaning is discovered by looking at context, context, context. I think of it as concentric circles as you move out from your passage. But the general statement of truth still holds-and we have hope while we wait and ask God to make this true in the life of our children.Īfter we account for the genre, we look to see what words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters, and books surround the passage we’re studying.
This means if our children depart from the way we trained them, it’s not that God hasn’t made good on a promise. Proverbs are part of wisdom literature and are generalized truth statements based on observation of the way the world usually works. To use a classic example, Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go even when he is old he will not depart from it” (ESV). And it is important to first identify the genre because the genre will dictate how we are to understand the passage. The Bible contains multiple different forms of writing: poetry, narrative, law, wisdom, prophecy, letters (called epistles), and apocalyptic. The first thing we do is identify the genre the author chose to use. Literary context is exactly what it sounds like-it accounts for the literature of and around the text. It was his way of ingraining in us the very basic truth that every biblical text is rooted in a context-three different types of contexts, to be precise: literary, historical, and redemptive-historical (also called theological, biblical, or canonical). He would start a sentence, and we, in unison, would respond. I had a professor in seminary who began every class the exact same way.
The first part of observation is looking at the context. What Does it Say? (Observation or Comprehension) These questions will help us understand the Bible more faithfully.
#NEW INDUCTIVE STUDY BIBLE ESV SERIES#
Well, the concept of inductive study usually refers to a series of questions we can ask about a passage of Scripture- what does it say? (observation or comprehension), what does it mean? (interpretation), and what do I do? (application). And maybe you have the general sense that it’s good to study inductively but are unclear exactly what people mean when they use that term. If you’ve been around Bible study for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard about the inductive method. The best description of inductive Bible study I’ve heard is this: a way of studying what is “in-duh-Bible.” Funny, but true.
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