email:  whitpresby@mindspring.com

Class IV, Fall 2001            “Thy Will Be Done”

 Interpreting the Bible

Session 4 Interpreting the Bible                "Thy Will Be done"

November 7, 2001

 Focus:  God’s Will:  interpretation leads to understanding.

 1.  Introductions, nametags if new people

 2.. Opening Prayer: Spontaneous, Gracious God, help us to remember that we do not live by bread alone, but by every word from you, make us hungry to eat that bread daily, that your kingdom may truly come in our lives and in your world. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, Amen.

 3.. Reflect and review: comments on previous classes.  Ask non-WPC folks if they would give us their addresses so we can send them the newsletter to announce future classes and if they would like to receive the emails that go out.

From Oct. 24:  comparing the Kingdom of God to this world?  Where do you see signs of the kingdom in our world?  Where do you feel tensions between your life now and what you perceive as the Kingdom?  How can we live both in this world and in the Kingdom of God

From Oct. 17:  Question for reflection:  How can we see ourselves in the story and make it our story.  How can we understand the story of our ancestors in the faith to be our story.  Deut 5:1-4. 

From Oct. 10:  What does it mean to you that God has chosen to reveal Godself to you? 

Are you finding ways to use these during your week or not yet?

4.  What does it mean to you to interpret” something?

Acts 8:26-40, esp. vv. 30-31

Introduce The Confession of 1967.  Focus on 9.27 & 9.28.  Read them and ask for questions.  Move on as quickly as feels right.

 5.  Language, thought forms Literary fashion. 

“The Scriptures, given under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are nevertheless the words of men, conditioned by:

the language:  Hebrew for OT:  note the words for God’s name in Genesis 1 & 2. Greek for NT.  Greek language has a tense for verbs that is not found in English.  Luke 4:21 as example of this.

thought forms:  women’s roles:  compare Galatians 3:28-29 with I Timothy 2:8ff  Demons:  what the Bible calls demons we call mental illness.

and literary fashions:  Letters and apocalyptic as specific literary genres.  Hebrew poetry uses parallelism.

Recall our previous exercise comparing Fairy Tale, Poetry & Newspaper article.

 6.  Views of life, history & the cosmos They reflect views of:

life:  Hebrew, OT life, is pastoral.  Patriarchs were shepherds and “ranchers” and their vision of heaven was a desert blooming etc.

NT life was beginning urban, with trade routes and mixes of religions and philosophies.  The vision of heaven was that of a city, a new Jerusalem.

history:  Literal, from Adam to Jesus in generations etc, vs modern cosmology of 4 billion years of earth life.

The writer’s view of history reflects only the world they knew and their experience of it.  We should not expect them to talk about dinosaurs or space travel, for example, because they did not know about them.  This leads to realizing even more that the bible is the word of humans.  If it didn’t take this into account, we would have expected God to tell us about dinosaurs etc.

and the cosmos:  The picture of creation as found in Genesis and Ps 104

which were then current. 

 7.  Cultural diversity.  Jesus as the pup seal of God, for Alaska Eskimos or the dolphin of God for South Pacific Islanders.

 8.  Apocalyptic.            Notes from the Harper Collins Study Bible on the characteristics of Jewish Apocalyptic literature also found in the book of Revelation.

1.  Usually a first person narrative about visions of the future, the heavenly world or both.

2.  Jewish apocalypses usually reflect a sharp distinction between the present evil age and the imminent future age of blessing.

3.  The conflict between a righteous minority and a wicked majority is understood as representing a clash between God and Satan.

4.  After a period of intense conflict and great suffering, God will intervene in history to vindicate and reward God’s people and punish or eliminate their earthly oppressors.

5.  There is an “interpreting angel,” a heavenly being who explains the meaning of visions to the seer.

 Apocalyptic literature is always meant for the people to whom it is addressed and their situation, not as telling the future.

Some terms to understand in Revelation.

666

Babylon

Study Bible notes etc. are most helpful for Revelation.

Recall again our previous exercise comparing Fairy Tale, Poetry & Newspaper article.

 When will Jesus return?  See Mark 13:26 & 13:32 and parallel texts.

 Questions for reflection:  2 Timothy 3:16-17.  What are some ways in which misunderstanding scripture might hinder us doing god’s will?  What are some ways in which; coming to a greater understanding of the scriptures can help us do God’s will?

11.. Close with the Lord’s Prayer