But human efforts can never correctly discern the true message of God's word. Inductive study of the Bible takes place mainly in the examination of the book and.
Part 1
1 C ontext
Whether we translate "for that" (future-oriented) or "so that" (past-oriented), the emphasis is on God's sovereign control of the situation. Each summary focuses on the "increase" of the "word" (a technical term that refers to both the preaching of the gospel and the successful results of church growth).
2 G rammar
The image can also be ambiguous, as in the many possible meanings of "the water". Many also see irony in the statement "The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses' seat.
H istorical & Cultural Backgrounds
It is a rhetorical statement of this question and controls the development of the text. Breaking down the customs assumed or discussed in the text allows us to separate basic principles (doctrines used to address the original context) from surface commands (contextualization of deeper principles from the original situation). However, most books on the use of the Old Testament in the New focus on quotations.
Thanksgiving can be proleptic in calling, anticipating the later joy of the resurrection.
G enre Analysis
Of course, novels differ radically in particular expressions (such as the French "new novel"), and some poems use rhyme while others emphasize a free form (T. S. Eliot's The Waste Lund). The process proceeds by trial and error, as the text progressively revises the reader's identification. The parallels must not only be sufficient to justify the inclusion of the text in the given class, they must also be drawn from the correct period.
Apocalyptic is not only the genre of the Book of Revelation (often called "The Apocalypse"), but it makes up a large part of 2 Peter, Jude, and 2 Thessalonians, as well as smaller parts of the Synoptic Gospels, 1 Thessalonians, and the letters to the Corinthians.
N arrative
The literary aspects lead the reader to the text as an image or portrait of the narrative world presented in the story. This point of view guides the reader to the meaning of the story and determines its topicality. The reader is expectant throughout the story as the geographic movement of the story unfolds.
Logical points of tension and particular uncertainties in the narrative also lead the reader further into the narrative world of the text.
P oetry
Proponents of the synthetic approach argue that the second line reinforces the first and is thus not purely synonymous. There is no parallelism here, as the second line completes the idea of the first. It still constitutes parallelism, however, for the second line repeats the idea of the first by stating the opposite.
The first level is the original theological meaning, and the second level is the use of the creed or hymn in a particular context.
The "wisdom" of the past is passed on to the young so that the social order and morals can continue unabated. The "fear of the Lord" is the milieu or sphere within which true wisdom is obtainable. Therefore, all three of the above (God, tradition, experience) in a certain sense played a role in the indirect authority of the wisdom proclamations.
The words are often local, related to a certain setting in people's lives (such as Genesis 3517; 1 Sam 4:20) and have a didactic purpose.
P rophecy
The connection of the prophets with the cultic religion of Israel has been much debated (see an excellent summary in Smith 1986b:992-93). The form (trance, vision, dream) was not as critical as the nature of the message. Most of the future prophecies concerned the immediate future concerning Israel, Judah, and the nations.
In the latter case, we must be careful because of the enigmatic nature of prophecy.
Hartman outlines a fivefold pattern in the apocalyptic expectations: (1) cosmic catastrophes that end sin and lawlessness; (2) divine intervention by God or a messianic figure; (3) judgment related to retaliation; (4) punishment of the wicked and (5) salvation of the faithful. In the midst of the persecuted minority among Judaism and the church, this message was of immense comfort. A modified dualism is seen in the doctrine of the two ages, this age and the one to come.
The use of cryptic symbols in the dream visions and the themes of the visions demonstrate the presence of apocalyptic thinking.
P arable
In the parable of the two sons (Mt 21:28-31), Jesus challenges the scribes to recognize the error of their own ways. For example, one must determine whether the parable of the unjust steward (Luke 16:1-13) emphasizes his dishonesty (so Bailey, Stein) or comes from the background of the laws of usury and commission (so Derrett, Fitzmyer, Marshall). The evocative power of the parable is as great today as it was in the first century.
For example, in the parable of the good Samaritan, the wounded man became Adam, who was on his way to paradise (Jericho), but was besieged by life's temptations and pleasures (robbers), who led him to sin (wounds).
B iblical Theology
In the next few pages we will look at biblical theology in relation to each of the other disciplines. The strength of the synthetic method lies in the emphasis on the unity of Scripture. The data should reflect the individual theologies and genres of the biblical literature (such as wisdom, the theology of Ruth or Esther as well as of Mark or Matthew).
The final stage in the development of a biblical theology is the identification of the archetypal concept(s) or unifying themes behind the diverse documents.
Non-evangelical theologians believe that the original purpose of the biblical books was to testify about God. The Bible itself demands that we understand it based on the author's intended meaning. Deductive reasoning uses logic to establish theological models that can be verified based on the evidence.
There is a semantic conflict between the traditional understanding of the subject (God) and the new attributes attributed in the metaphors (in Zeph 3:17 the juxtaposition of warrior and love).
H omiletics I
Contextualization
To do this, Kraft makes use of Kenneth Pike's famous distinction between "etic" and "emit" perspectives; that is, theology is not communicated from "outside" (ethically) the culture by theoretical and comparative analysis, but from "within" (expulsion) the culture. The Bible as he sees it is too culturally bound, with too little theological truth ringing in.5 The separation between God's intention and the author's results results in a canon within a canon and calls the interpreter to look for a "deeper structure" in the Bible. similar in some respects to those of structuralists (see pp. 371-74). These interact to reshape the interpreter's preconceptions and help to fuse the two horizons.7 The actual contextualization then takes place when this process of merging extends into another and broader hermeneutical spiral and encompasses the interpreter's life and situation (see figure 15.2).
Therefore, this pattern of "dynamic equivalence" must be repeated, once for the preacher as interpreter and again for the preacher/interpreter as announcer.8 The second step brings the interpreter and the text together as contextual communication occurs for the receiver. culture (see figure 15.3).
General Principles
Of course, recent approaches to the Gospels and narrative literature have shown that historical narratives do teach theological truths. In the same way, the mission of Jesus "just to the house of Israel" (Mt 1056) was not the church's pattern. If we state something in a passage that it does not say, then our application is no longer connected to the Word of God.
This is true, for example, of the allusion to "baptism for the dead" in 1 Corinthians 15:29, where the absence of parallels renders any normative status doubtful.
Specific Principles
There are two aspects of the biblical (original) context, the sociocultural situation behind the passage (discovered via background research) and the literary context that contains the passage (discovered via exegetical research). Using the exegetical tools explained in the first section of this book, the interpreter must determine the original intended message of the passage. For example, what are the exact identities of the false teachers in the Pastorals, the heresy in Colossians, or the super-apostles in 2 Corinthians.
In the sermon, one can often choose to apply the message of the text generally (as long as it is connected to the biblical theological principle behind the text, as in the diagram above) or specifically.
H omiletics II
Most scholars recognize the importance of applying a text in the same way it was used in the original setting (see Fee and Stuart Liefeld). Missiologists must decide whether to preserve a specific image or message (such as "lamb" in cultures that know nothing about sheep) or substitute a dynamic equivalent. Many missiologists are turning to networks and "internet relationships" (reaching the nuclear family as a whole) in Eastern cultures.
Fee and Stuart note two types of extended application" (such as the application of "uneven yoke" in 2 Corinthians 6:14 to marriage with non-believers) and "information that is not comparable".
The Sermon
Level I: Meaning/Interpretation
The key is brevity and simplicity so that the audience understands the development of the message. Yet style should always remain a complement to the message of the text and not an end in itself. However, the external packaging should always depend on (rather than be productive of) the interpretation of the text.
The gifted preacher often relies on techniques rather than studying the text.
The Problem of Meaning
The Issues
Structuralism takes the opposite pole and argues that such diachronic (historicist) interests are an obstacle to true meaning and that the interpreter must consider only the synchronic (literary) presence of the text as a whole. The text is only an object in a physical sense; it means that it exists only in the mind of the reader. Most Bible studies of the reader-response type (such as Culpepper, Fowler, Rosseguie) fit into this category.
The decomposition of the segments of the text (here follows Ricoeur structuralism) leads to observation of its symphonic arrangement.
