Reflection: Interpreting the Bible Conference
[by Jane Iskander, 25/05/2005]



“Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” - Mark 16:15. We are commanded to imitate Jesus and tell all the people of the world about the salvation that awaits them through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The message is simple: God created the world; we sinned; God sent his son Jesus to take our punishment through death on the cross; He rose again and so we shall rise again to be with Him for eternity when He comes again.

Is this enough to know to be able to help fight in the spiritual battle that surrounds evangelism? How many times have we been trapped by questions regarding the trinity or so called sexism, the role of the church or pretty much any topic presented in the Bible? How many times do we read verses, passages or even books of the Bible out of context?

The ‘Interpreting the Bible’ one-day course (held on the 30th of April) was priceless education in contextual reading of the Bible for our own benefit and for evangelism.

Two fantastic speakers delivered their messages very clearly, even though the presence of a few theoretical words threatened to confuse.
Shaun Potts spoke on the principles of Bible interpretation and the steps involved, including interpreting passages in their original historical and grammatical context (exegesis), and the interpretation tools (hermeneutics).

Shaun relayed the importance of reading each passage keeping in mind that they were written to a different audience yet with a message for us.
One keen Narwegian brought up the controversial issue of the covering of women’s heads in the church. Are we to take Paul’s teaching literally and cover our heads or is this instruction only directed at the people of that time?

As maintained by Shaun, we need to look at the historical context first to determine how we are to follow this instruction. He indicated (in more detail) that in Paul’s time women showed submission to their husbands and God by covering their heads. It was a sign of respect that prevailed in society not just in the church. Today wives show respect to God and their husbands through today’s norms in the church, such as in the way they address them, by what they wear and the general conduct which is considered appropriate by Christians.

The rest of Shaun’s sessions were occupied with practical applications of interpretation of chosen Bible passages including Matthew 18:15-20.

The other speaker was our own pastor Tim McBride who spoke on the interpretation of the Epistles. We looked at rules to exegete epistles involving forms of the letters, the literary, historical, and cultural contexts.
Tim touched on the concept, types and form of rhetoric, which the apostle Paul used in his epistles, in relation to their historical context.
As with Shaun, Tim led us through some practical exercises in interpretation of one of Paul’s epistles (Galatians 2), and some Old Testament narratives, taking into consideration the three levels of interpretation and the four aspects of application.

You may imagine that with a whole day’s course, breaks were needed to fill our churning stomachs and sore backs. Our church chef, Atef, provided us with delicious meals ending with a mouth-watering sticky date pudding (mmmmm) for dessert.

The whole day was fantastic in providing invaluable information which I have been using in my daily quiet time and in attempting to reach others with the message of Jesus.

We need a sequel!

Related Link: Narwee Baptist Church School of Ministry