How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth: Fourth Edition

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Scripture references now appear only in brackets at the end of a sentence or paragraph for ease of reading. The problem with too many preachers and teachers is that they dig around so much they tend to muddy the waters. Each version is broken down into categories from literal translation (word for word) to dynamic equivalent (phrase for phrase) all the way to free translation (concept for concept).

In fact we are convinced that the single most serious problem people have with the Bible is not with a lack of understanding but with the fact that they understand many things too well!

I knew to read in context, and that many people take a single verse for their purposes without considering what’s around it for interpretation, but yet I was guilty of shallow examination of verses I thought I knew—the “easy” ones that seemed pretty clear-cut. This still keeps good constraints on interpretation because it does not allow us to make the text mean whatever we want, but it also allows for the OT to be read in light of the NT and to see the mysteries God hid there but now fully revealed in Christ (Col.

Some of these problems are not entirely their fault - they're more illustrative of issues that can occur when a reader goes into a text already asserting that it is divinely inspired, and thereby having to prove it to be so. It may very well be that directing the study of Scripture can’t be done without directing some of the outcomes. Unless Scripture explicitly tells us we must do something, what is only narrated or described does not function in a normative (i.They are trying to guard against someone trying to make a text mean whatever they want it to mean through allegorizing it or taking the "what does this mean to you" route. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth is a concise enchiridion of the dynamic nature of hermeneutics.

I'm not religious, so my perspective on this book is obviously going to be different to the intended audience, but I would say I tried to approach this text as objectively as I could. Providing some answers wouldn't have been a problem if, yet again, they had stuck to their own advice and had alternatives. If they were going to hear it, it could only have come through events and in language they could have understood. While the same pattern used for the exegesis of Old Testament is applicable to the study of Acts, the authors provide a separate treatment of this book since the majority of believers acknowledge that Acts serves as the "pattern for Christian behavior or church life. Good thing in this book is its consistency in going through text and context for the main types of Books in the Bible.

Combined with a view of the historical context of ancient Israel, exegesis of the Psalms can provide the reader with an invaluable perspective in dealing with the vacillation of life. Considering how much has been written on any given book of the Bible, can such a short book cover the subject of biblical study fairly?

Today’s churches are desperately in need of Christians and teachers/preachers who can properly understand and interpret the Bible. Interpretation that aims at, or thrives on, uniqueness can usually be attributed to pride (an attempt to "outclever" the rest of the world), a false understanding of spirituality (wherein the Bible is full of deeply buried truths waiting to be mined by the spiritually sensitive person with special insight), or vested interests (the need to support a theological bias, especially in dealing with texts that seem to go against that bias). This is unfortunate, as the books of the Law possess considerable relevance to the holistic study and understanding of Scripture.For each of these types (genres), they have two overriding concerns: proper exegesis and proper hermeneutics. We also tend to think that -our understanding- is the same thing as the Holy Spirit's or human author's -intent-. Fee (PhD, University of Southern California) is Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia.