Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: hall@vice.ico.tek.com (Hal Lillywhite) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Bible Study (was Bible versions) Message-ID: Date: 20 Jul 90 08:03:02 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR. Lines: 77 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [Fred Gilham, Charlie Wingate and others have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of commentaries etc. in scripture study.] Well, the number of ideas on how to study scripture probably exceeds the number of Christian denominations in the world today. :-) I suspect we would all agree that the ultimate goal is to understand what God meant when He revealed these words. However, there is little agreement on how to go about it (and less on what the results are). Nevertheless, I will throw in my opinion for what it's worth. I believe Henry Ward Beecher said something to the effect that comming to the Bible through commentaries is like looking at a landscape through a window in which generations of spiders have been allowed to spin their webs unmolested - you see only the part the commentators point out. I think there is a great deal of truth in this. When we subordinate our scripture study to what someone else says the scripture says, we will never go beyond what the commentator did and we will likely fall into the same errors he did. Since no man knows as much as God does no commentator is likely to grasp the full meaning of God's word. It is therefore important to read the word itself, not just what somebody else says it says. I think that the scriptures themselves should be our primary source. However, I must also realize that I myself am limited in the same way the commentators are (and in many ways more so). Therefore I should expect that a commentator will be able to point out things I have missed. In fact even other "ordinary people" may notice something I've overlooked - who has not had the experience of sitting in a Sunday School class and having another student mention something he has not noticed before? Furthermore, few of us are expert in the original languages or the historical context in which the scriptures were given. Such knowledge can often add to our understanding of the subject. I would suggest an approach similar to the following which I have tried to put in the order of importance: 1. The scripture itself. I believe we should read it carefully and pray about it. 2. The Holy Ghost. If we read, ponder, and pray I believe the Holy Spirit will help us understand. 3. Language references, particularly a good analytical concordance. Translation is difficult at best even between modern languages, a word or phrase may have several possible translations and the translator must pick the one he believes best. Inevitably imperfect translators make mistakes. Furthermore it is possible for the writer to intend a word to be taken in more than one sense. Knowing how a passage might have been translated differently can help us see various possible meanings. 4. Historical commentaries. Often scripture was given in response to a particular historical situation or uses such a situation as an example or metaphor. 5. Literary commentaries. An understanding of the literary techniques used by the writers (often different from those in common use today) can help us see what they were trying to say. 6. "Interpretive" commentaries. Both professional commentators and other normal students of the scripture can give us insights we might otherwise overlook. While these should not be our primary source of information, I believe we should accept knowledge where it is available. However, I do not believe we should automatically accept a commentator's interpretation as the only or even a correct interpretation. Of course most commentaries do not limit themselves to only history, literature, or interpretation but have elements of all 3 (and often language comments as well). However, I think we do well to be aware of what tools a commentator is using and making available to us. The point is that all these tools (and likely some I have overlooked) can work together to help us get closer to a true understanding of God's word.