Jeff Mills
Member
This has been written by a friend of mine which I find so interesting I have told him I want to share it here! His site is: http://www.stevesweetman.com
Our Personalities
Earlier I spoke about bringing presuppositions into our interpretation of Scripture. Many times our doctrinal predisposition influences the way we interpret particular passages which in turn can pollute the text.
Like presuppositions, our personalities can also influence how we interpret the Bible. If you are a loving and caring person, Scriptures that speak of God’s love may stand out in your mind more than verses that speak of God’s wrath. This in turn may lead you to emphasize God’s love at the expense of His justice.
Those who may be more judgmental by nature may over emphasize verses speaking of God‘s wrath and judgment. This too leads to an unbalanced understanding of Scripture
So it is clear that who we are can influence how we understand and interpret the Bible, but it shouldn’t. We should let the Bible speak for itself and have a balanced approach to how we interpret the Bible.
Original Languages
For the most part, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, while the New Testament was written in common first century Greek. Knowing something of these languages opens the pages of the Bible, much like a rose opens into full bloom in the summer.
Do you need to be an expert language scholar to understand the Bible? Not really. If you follow the rules of logic that I’ve spoken of, you’re well on your way to a good understanding of Biblical truth.
At the same time there are books that can help the amateur in understanding the Bible. Vine’s Expository of New Testament Words is a good starting point. It’s a relatively easy book to comprehend that gives you simple definitions of Greek words and how and where they are used in the New Testament. From this book you can progress to more complex reading material explaining verb tenses and other such things.
Vine’s can give you a simple definition of Greek root words. Sometimes the meaning of these root words have a pool of various meanings. In this case you need the context of the word to provide the word’s exact meaning. Prefix’s and suffix’s are also added to the root word that will effect the exact meaning of the word. I say this only to let you know that there is more to understand than what Vine’s and such books provide. So unless you’re a Greek scholar, remember you’re still an amateur, and a little knowledge can be dangerous if you’re not level headed in your thinking.
Before I give you an example of the rose blossoming into full bloom, let’s have a little grammar lesson. Sorry, I did say grammar lesson. The word "leaders" is a noun because a noun is defined by being a person, place or thing. Do you remember that from grade 5? The word "leads" is a verb because it is an action word. The phrase "the ones leading" is a participle because it is half noun and half verb. "Ones" is the noun part. "Leading" is the verb part.
With this in mind Heb. 13:17 says, "obey your leaders and submit to their authority". Many have used this verse to promote a heavy handed authoritarian rule of church leadership over the church. It’s similar to a husband saying, "submit to me wife because I’m the leader around this house". I can’t see these words producing too many positive responses from your wife.
The word "leaders" used in our English versions is a noun, but in the Greek text it is a participle, having some action associated wit it. So the Greek text reads, "obey the ones leading…" Now think this through with me because this is more than semantics and double-talk. The difference between the English "leaders" and the Greek "ones leading" is that the Greek emphasizes the action of leading with the addition of the verb part of the participle . The English word "leaders" emphasizes the "office" of a leader because there’s no action involved in the noun "leaders". Can you see the difference? The Greek implies action while the English implies office.
According to the Greek text we are to submit to the "ones leading", that is, those who are actually doing the Biblical job of leading". Therefore I conclude, if the leaders aren’t leading according to Scripture, we don’t submit. We don’t submit to church leaders merely because they hold the office of a leader, as the English version seems to suggests. Once again, I derived this understanding from the Greek text and its use of the participle.
There’s many leaders who are leaders in name only and aren’t performing their duties according to Scripture. Those who use this verse for an abuse of power are misunderstanding its meaning. Heb. 13:17 is saying just the opposite to this authoritarian teaching. There’s other Scriptures that show this principle where you don’t need to delve into the Greek, but this is an example where you can see this truth more clearly by understanding the Greek text.
So did you see the rose opening up here? You would not have understood what I’ve just said from the English text alone, but with a little knowledge of grammar and Greek, this text has blossomed into a wealth of Biblical truth.
Our Personalities
Earlier I spoke about bringing presuppositions into our interpretation of Scripture. Many times our doctrinal predisposition influences the way we interpret particular passages which in turn can pollute the text.
Like presuppositions, our personalities can also influence how we interpret the Bible. If you are a loving and caring person, Scriptures that speak of God’s love may stand out in your mind more than verses that speak of God’s wrath. This in turn may lead you to emphasize God’s love at the expense of His justice.
Those who may be more judgmental by nature may over emphasize verses speaking of God‘s wrath and judgment. This too leads to an unbalanced understanding of Scripture
So it is clear that who we are can influence how we understand and interpret the Bible, but it shouldn’t. We should let the Bible speak for itself and have a balanced approach to how we interpret the Bible.
Original Languages
For the most part, the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, while the New Testament was written in common first century Greek. Knowing something of these languages opens the pages of the Bible, much like a rose opens into full bloom in the summer.
Do you need to be an expert language scholar to understand the Bible? Not really. If you follow the rules of logic that I’ve spoken of, you’re well on your way to a good understanding of Biblical truth.
At the same time there are books that can help the amateur in understanding the Bible. Vine’s Expository of New Testament Words is a good starting point. It’s a relatively easy book to comprehend that gives you simple definitions of Greek words and how and where they are used in the New Testament. From this book you can progress to more complex reading material explaining verb tenses and other such things.
Vine’s can give you a simple definition of Greek root words. Sometimes the meaning of these root words have a pool of various meanings. In this case you need the context of the word to provide the word’s exact meaning. Prefix’s and suffix’s are also added to the root word that will effect the exact meaning of the word. I say this only to let you know that there is more to understand than what Vine’s and such books provide. So unless you’re a Greek scholar, remember you’re still an amateur, and a little knowledge can be dangerous if you’re not level headed in your thinking.
Before I give you an example of the rose blossoming into full bloom, let’s have a little grammar lesson. Sorry, I did say grammar lesson. The word "leaders" is a noun because a noun is defined by being a person, place or thing. Do you remember that from grade 5? The word "leads" is a verb because it is an action word. The phrase "the ones leading" is a participle because it is half noun and half verb. "Ones" is the noun part. "Leading" is the verb part.
With this in mind Heb. 13:17 says, "obey your leaders and submit to their authority". Many have used this verse to promote a heavy handed authoritarian rule of church leadership over the church. It’s similar to a husband saying, "submit to me wife because I’m the leader around this house". I can’t see these words producing too many positive responses from your wife.
The word "leaders" used in our English versions is a noun, but in the Greek text it is a participle, having some action associated wit it. So the Greek text reads, "obey the ones leading…" Now think this through with me because this is more than semantics and double-talk. The difference between the English "leaders" and the Greek "ones leading" is that the Greek emphasizes the action of leading with the addition of the verb part of the participle . The English word "leaders" emphasizes the "office" of a leader because there’s no action involved in the noun "leaders". Can you see the difference? The Greek implies action while the English implies office.
According to the Greek text we are to submit to the "ones leading", that is, those who are actually doing the Biblical job of leading". Therefore I conclude, if the leaders aren’t leading according to Scripture, we don’t submit. We don’t submit to church leaders merely because they hold the office of a leader, as the English version seems to suggests. Once again, I derived this understanding from the Greek text and its use of the participle.
There’s many leaders who are leaders in name only and aren’t performing their duties according to Scripture. Those who use this verse for an abuse of power are misunderstanding its meaning. Heb. 13:17 is saying just the opposite to this authoritarian teaching. There’s other Scriptures that show this principle where you don’t need to delve into the Greek, but this is an example where you can see this truth more clearly by understanding the Greek text.
So did you see the rose opening up here? You would not have understood what I’ve just said from the English text alone, but with a little knowledge of grammar and Greek, this text has blossomed into a wealth of Biblical truth.
