Biblical Interpretation Basics

          Interpreting the Bible is important and time-consuming. You've probably come across someone at some point in your life who has used the Bible to advance a certain agenda and who could care less about communicating what God's Word actually says to us. Well that's not the way I was taught to do Biblical interpretation. Instead, I was taught to go through the hard work of trying to determine exactly what God is trying to say to us whether we like what He has to say or not. Although it requires diligent attention to detail, there are a few basics that everyone should remember when doing any kind of Biblical interpretation.

1) The Bible was written long ago;

2) To people of a different culture;

3) Who lived in a different part of the world; and

4) Spoke a different language.

The general rule of thumb is always: CONTEXT! CONTEXT! CONTEXT!