Missing the Point: Defective Bible Study Methods

There are a lot of people who spend a lot of time studying the Bible but do not seem to benefit from their time in the word. Maybe you are one of these individuals. If so, you might need to evaluate how you study the Bible. The purpose of Bible study is to determine the meaning of the text. In other words, the goal of biblical hermeneutics is to discover the divinely inspired meaning of a passage of Scripture.  As simple as this seems, there are many approaches to Scripture that will not accomplish this goal. Church history and the contemporary church are filled with hermeneutical models—methods of Bible study—that consistently distort the meaning of Scripture rather than accurately interpret its contents.

Allegorical Approach

Definition: The Bible must be viewed allegorically, which means that a deeper, more profound, and spiritual meaning of the Bible is hidden behind the literal meaning.

“Allegorical interpretation believes that beneath the letter or the obvious is the real meaning of the passage” (Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, 24).

• Example: Origen interpreted Numbers 33 as an exposition on the progress of the soul, rather than a description of Israel’s travels from Egypt. Each city listed is said to explain a different condition of the human soul. Or, more commonly, when preachers try to determine what the five smooth stones from David and Goliath represent for your life (hint: they are just rocks).

  
  

• Evaluation: An allegorical approach to Bible study leads to fanciful and subjective interpretations, which do not reflect the intending meaning of Scripture. Even when the Bible uses symbols and parables to make a point, it is clearly indicated by evidence within the text. In contrast, the allegorical approach opens to the door to important a “deeper meaning” into a text that was never intended by God.

• Application: We must be careful of inventing new meanings of Scripture, using the text of Scripture to say what we imagine it could say, or looking for a “deeper spiritual meaning” that is not obviously connected with the words of the passage.

Rationalistic Approach

Definition: The Bible must conform to the standards of rationalism, accepted scientific thought, and modern-day scholarship.

“According to this theory the Scripture’s teachings respecting miracles, vicarious and expiatory sacrifice, the resurrection, eternal judgment, and the existence of angels and demons are to be regarded as an accommodation to the superstitious notions, prejudices, and ignorance of the times. The supernatural was thus set aside” (Terry, Hermeneutics, 166).

• Example: Many modern-day scholars teach that the book of Isaiah was written by multiple authors over the course of a long period of time because it would be impossible for the actual Isaiah to describe future events so accurately. To this we could also add the liberal approaches to the Resurrection of Christ that assume an actual resurrection would be impossible.

• Evaluation: A rationalistic approach to Bible study limits God’s word to what we can understand rather than examining God’s word to see what he has said. A critical approach such as this robs the Bible of all that makes it special revelation.

• Application: We must be careful of restricting the meaning of Scripture to what we can comprehend or what seems rational to us. Thankfully, God is not limited by what we can understand, and Scripture does not have to pass the test of "making sense to me" in order to be true.

Cultural Approach

Definition: The Bible is viewed through the grid of contemporary culture in order to fit the message of the Bible with the sensibilities of the modern-man.

“The presupposition for cultural relativism is the same as that for rationalists: naturalism. For the naturalist, when a clear teaching of Scripture is found in conflict with some human way of thinking, revelation must give way” (McQuilkin, Understanding and Applying the Bible, 35).

• Example: In recent years a new approach to Bible interpretation has arisen which is commonly referred to a “feminist hermeneutic” which seeks to interpret the Bible suspiciously because it was recorded and preserved by men in a patriarchal society. Their aim is “to develop a feminist interpretation because the Bible is a part of the fabric of the oppression of women” (Thistlewaite, Feminist Interpretation of the Bible, 97).

• Evaluation: Whenever our interpretation of the Bible is governed by what is normative in the culture, we have replaced the authority of Scripture with the authority of the world.

• Application: We must be careful of allowing cultural norms to inform our reading of Scripture rather than establishing our view of culture based on what we read in Scripture. The Bible possesses authority over society, not vice-versa.

Subjective Approach

Definition: The Bible becomes powerful (i.e., revelation) as it speaks to me personally and applies to my exact situation. Thus, this hermeneutic becomes the pursuit of “what the Bible means to me” (subjective) instead of what the Bible means (objective).

“An existential approach to the Bible holds that the Bible is, indeed, a vehicle of God’s revelation to humankind. God gets His message through by means of the Bible. But the Bible, on its own, cannot be called the revelation of God. For the Bible to become fully God’s Word, it must be received by someone… . So the Bible becomes revelation only when properly mixed with faith by the reader or hearer” (McQuilkin, Understanding and Applying the Bible, 51).

• Example: The Neo-orthodox view that the Bible is not the word of God, but becomes the word of God to us as we read it and experience it in our lives. “The Bible is not God’s word to the soul until one reads it as one out to read the word of God” (Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, 75).

• Evaluation: The problem with the subjective approach to Bible study is that the Bible is about God not about you. You can only discover the implication of the Bible for your life when you understand what they mean about God and his demands.

• Application: We must be careful of reading the Bible to figure out “what it means to me” rather that to determine what it means. The meaning of Scripture will affect your everyday life, but how you experience the Bible or what you feel about a verse in the moment does not determine what it means.

Devotional Approach

Definition: While it is good to read the Bible devotionally, a devotional approach to the Bible skips the step of correct interpretation in order to seek immediate edification from a passage. This hermeneutic turns Bible study into the search for something we consider edifying rather than studying to understand the meaning of a text.

“The devotional interpretation is the method of interpreting Scripture which places emphasis on the edifying aspects of Scripture, and interpreting with the intention of developing the spiritual life ” (Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation, 60).

• Example: viewing Jeremiah 29:11 as an encouragement that God will bless your day really misses the deeper theology of the text. This passage does teach us about the character of God, and other portions of the Bible promise that God is working in every detail of our lives. But this passage is specifically about God’s plans to return Israel to the land after the Babylonian captivity.

• Evaluation: The devotional approach trades the long-term benefits of interpreting text and understanding theology for the immediate gratification of superficial encouragement.

• Application: We must be careful of reading the Bible in order to produce a feeling or experience. It shows true devotion to God when we seek to understand what his word actually means and respond to his truth with genuine faith.

Theological Approach

Definition: While it is good to draw theology out of our study of Scripture, faithful Bible students are careful not to import their own theological systems into the text of Scripture. A Theological Interpretation of Scripture (TIS) uses the doctrinal commitments of the church, the creeds, and the confessions to shape Bible interpretations, which threatens the clarity and authority of Scripture.

“TIS’s emphasis on the church’s interpretive role can sometimes overshadow the clarity of Scripture itself. By granting significant authority to patristic or creedal interpretations, it risks imposing anachronistic or alien concepts onto the biblical text.” (Greg Allison, “Theological Interpretation of Scripture: An Introduction and Preliminary Evaluation,” published in the Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, Volume 14, Number 2 (2010), pages 28–36.)

• Example: At its best, TIS seeks to interpret specific passages of Scripture in light of the teaching of the whole Bible. In fact, there are many times when TIS comes to correct conclusions; however, that is because they are relying on the exegetical work of previous generations who came to correct conclusions. It would be foolish to approach Scripture without the assistance of faithful interpreters from church history and a robust understanding of theology; however, the text of Scripture must have the final say in our faith and practice. As D.A. Carson points out, TIS can “so privilege theological readings that it downplays or ignores the historical particularity of the text” (Theological Commentary).

• Evaluation: TIS can flatten out the historical realities and the literary genres of a passage by emphasizing historical doctrines that are found in a passage. Even more concerning, it could confuse Bible students about the clarity and authority of Scripture.

• Application: Seek to build a faithful theology from the text of Scripture, use faithful resources to help you understand the text, and don't ignore what Christians have believed about the Bible throughout church history. But make sure the Bible always remains the source of spiritual clarity and authority in your study. If you use a study Bible, just make sure the commentary on the bottom of the page never usurps the words on the top of the page, no matter how trustworthy the commentary might be.

Prideful Approach

Definition: A hermeneutic of pride always approaches the text with assumption of superiority and the desire to gain more knowledge in order to be “puffed up.”

“To be preoccupied with getting theological knowledge as an end in itself, to approach Bible study with no higher motive than a desire to know all the answers, is the direct route to a state of self-satisfied self-deception. We need to guard our hearts against such an attitude, and pray to be kept from it” ( J.I. Packer, Knowing God, 22).

• Example: It is not enough to rub shoulders with the truth. In fact, appreciation for the truth without submission is counter productive. You may grow in knowledge, but it won’t be sanctifying knowledge. It will be pride stimulating knowledge, which Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 8:1 when he says “this knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” Some Corinthians possessed the knowledge that idols are fake and taking their food harms no one. However, “knowledge that idols were not real and that idol food was not spiritually corrupted was right knowledge and helpful knowledge. But by itself it turned inward those who had it.” In other words, this knowledge did not shape the way they lived, it only provided them with confirmation of what they were already doing. They didn’t take truth to grow or minister with it; they used truth to justify what their antagonistic actions toward “less mature” believers. They took the bread intended to nourish spiritual life and fed their divisive flesh. I call this approach to the Bible a hermeneutic of pride. Instead of reading the Bible to think God’s thoughts after Him, this approach reads the Bible as if God is thinking our thoughts after us.

• Evaluation: A mindset like this not only impedes sanctification, it propels us in the opposite direction. Truth either softens or hardens the heart depending on how it is received. If you submissively yield to the truth, it makes your heart pliable to sanctifying change.  If you arrogantly reject the truth, it makes your heart rigid to sanctifying change. Not only is your heart hardened through a hermeneutic of pride, it is also deceived into thinking that an accumulation of facts equates to Christ-likeness (James 1:22-25).

• Application: You cannot merely look at the Bible and expect to be sanctified. you must allow the Bible to change, conform, and challenge the way we think and live. This means, among other things, that if your Bible study only confirms what you already think, you’re not reading it correctly. To use James’ illustration, if you always look good in the mirror then you probably need to open your eyes. When you do–when you submissively open your eyes to how you need to be changed by the Bible–it will have a sanctifying effect. If you are willing to be “quick to hear and slow to speak” (Ja 1:19) when you come to the Bible, the Spirit will gradually and faithfully chip away at the remaining sin and worldly inclinations of your heart.

Grasping the Point

In contrast with hermeneutical approaches that obscure the meaning of Scripture, there is an approach to Bible study aimed at true meaning of Scripture. The grammatical-historical approach to Bible study is aimed at discovering the God-intended meaning of a passage by identifying the authorial intent of the passage. In other words, this approach to Scripture assumes that a passage of Scripture means what the author intended for it to mean, and that God inspired what the author intended to say. Furthermore, this approach to Bible study is built on the principle that the divinely inspired meaning of a text is discoverable through an accurate understanding of the linguistic details of the text. To put it simply, what the text says is what God has said.