How Scripture Interprets Scripture

What Biblical Writers Can Teach Us about Reading the Bible

Graves, Michael

• Verlag: Baker Academic
• Jahr: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781493432332
• Thema: Theology & Religion
• Thema: Biblical Studies

This book addresses a topic of vital concern to the church: How does the ancient biblical text speak to us today? Michael Graves, an expert in ancient exegesis, describes how Old Testament texts interpret earlier Old Testament traditions, explores New Testament reception, and explains how insights from this process translate into present-day biblical interpretation. Graves clearly explains and illustrates this approach with fulsome discussions of five themes that are addressed in various ways in the Bible: personal responsibility; sacrificial offerings; insiders and outsiders; marriage, polygamy, and divorce; and the afterlife. By attending to the way these topics are addressed throughout the entire biblical witness, we become better interpreters and teachers who are more adept at discerning the Bible's teaching on these topics and others for our modern world.

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Introduction

Interpreting Scripture and Inner-Biblical Interpretation

Many people today doubt that the Bible has anything meaningful to say in our contemporary context. Even within the church, the usefulness of Scripture for helping Christians to navigate today’s complex world is often not fully recognized. It is my belief and the testimony of Christians throughout the centuries that the Bible remains relevant and teaches what is essential for human well-being. Christians have traditionally accepted the truthfulness and usefulness of Scripture as necessary corollaries of believing in Jesus. Our confidence in Scripture is grounded in the testimony of Jesus and the early church. Jesus accepted Israel’s Scriptures (that is, the Old Testament) as sacred and authoritative. Christians who lived after the apostles commended these same sacred books as Scripture, together with other books pertaining to Jesus that eventually became the New Testament. Moreover, the Bible has continued to “work” in the lives of Christians to instruct, encourage, warn, and comfort. The purpose of this book is to illustrate and explain what we can learn about biblical interpretation by paying attention to how Scripture interprets Scripture. This kind of interpretation aims to help us grow closer to God, cultivate Christian virtues, and make wise decisions that demonstrate love for God and for our neighbors.

Within Scripture, we find examples of “inner-biblical interpretation”—that is, passages in which a biblical author appropriates and reapplies an older biblical tradition. Such passages often handle their biblical sources with striking sensitivity to context and theological imagination. In certain cases, only one facet of the older meaning is brought into the new setting. Sometimes an early biblical tradition is applied in different ways by later biblical writers. Core theological ideas typically stand behind both the earliest form of a scriptural tradition and its reapplications in later biblical texts. The phenomenon of inner-biblical interpretation provides insight into how we should interpret Scripture generally and also contributes to our understanding of Scripture’s teaching on specific topics.

The first chapter of this book will present four key concepts that provide an entryway into the process of biblical interpretation. These concepts are as follows: (1) Scripture was meant to be interpreted with an attitude of reverence and with the expectation that we will learn divine wisdom; (2) we understand Scripture best when we pay attention to the ancient contexts of biblical statements as the starting point for our process of interpretation; (3) we need to read widely in the Bible to hear the whole counsel of Scripture, because the Bible contains a variety of perspectives on complex topics and each of these biblical perspectives conveys important insights; and (4) we should seek not just the contribution of each individual text but also a coherent picture of what Scripture as a whole has to say in addressing any given topic. These concepts suggest a process of interpretation that leads from the study of individual texts to a coherent statement of biblical teaching. As we will see, this process represents an application of principles learned from how Scripture interprets Scripture. It also allows insights gained from inner-biblical interpretation on specific passages to inform our present-day application.

After this first chapter on the key concepts of interpretation, five chapters follow that apply these concepts to specific topics in Scripture. The purpose of these chapters is to show how the phenomenon of inner-biblical interpretation illuminates both the topic in question and the nature of reading the Bible. The chapter topics are as follows: corporate and individual responsibility; insiders and outsiders; marriage, polygamy, and divorce; sacrificial offerings; and the afterlife. Although none of these can be addressed comprehensively, and other topics could be discussed, these chapters will be sufficient to illustrate the approach suggested by this book and show the need and value of this kind of interpretation.

In the final chapter, I will sum up key insights from each of the chapters. I will also make general observations about how Scripture interprets Scripture and suggest specific principles that can guide contemporary biblical interpretation. I hope to make clear why it is so important that we read both deeply and widely in Scripture. Furthermore, I will attempt to show that the historical tradition of inner-biblical interpretation that grows out of the Old Testament and blossoms in the New Testament finds an authentic continuation in the early church. Finally, I will argue that the Bible, even though it contains ancient texts from cultures very different from our own, equips us with the insights we need to apply biblical teaching wisely today. By interpreting Scripture well and putting it into practice, we can grow in our knowledge of God, live out our Christian calling, and help shape our world to be better, in many ways, than the one in which the biblical writers lived.

Scripture Was Meant to Be Interpreted with Reverence and Expectation

The term “interpretation” can be used in different senses. For example, if an ancient Greek letter written in an obscure style with a number of rare words was found, scholars trying to reconstruct the letter’s original meaning as intended by the author could be said to be “interpreting” its meaning. In other words, they are interpreting the linguistic and cultural evidence in order to reconstruct the historical sense of the document. In this book, I typically mean something more than this by “interpretation.” What I have in mind is closer to the interpretation offered by judges when they are interpreting a law to settle a contemporary dispute. The historical sense can (some would say “should”) serve as the foundation for how the law is applied, but what the judge must decide is how the primary idea of the law bears on a present circumstance. To take another example, professional historians must interpret the past in order to write history; that is, they must look at the evidence and decide what was important, which events caused others, and how this should be told to present-day readers. Two good historians might offer different narrative accounts of the same period because many important things could be selected to recount, different themes could be emphasized, and audiences change. When I talk about interpreting the Bible, I have in mind the whole process, from studying biblical texts in their historical contexts, to ascertaining what ideas and values are present in the text, to discerning what is important for a certain audience to know, and perhaps to stating how the audience should respond. It is in this broad sense of “interpretation” that the Bible was meant to be interpreted. This has been the belief of Christians from the beginning as part of believing in biblical inspiration.

A challenge for contemporary readers of the Bible, and perhaps a reason why the Bible is not more widely read, is that biblical texts do not speak directly to our specific circumstances. For example, the Bible does not give us direct, context-specific instructions, such as “Go to this store and buy that shirt,” or “Take this job, not that one.” If God sent messages of this sort through the Bible, there would be little need for interpretation. The original context of each message would be our context, and the directions would be perfectly clear. We could simply do as we were told and know that we were following God’s will. But as it is, the Bible does not contain messages written directly to us. Instead, the Bible is filled with various kinds of prose and poetry that address situations from the past. Some comments here and there feel directly relevant, but much of the Bible concerns ancient peoples, unfamiliar rituals, and cultural practices that are foreign to our present experience. In fact, it is common even for Christians who hold the Bible in high regard to turn primarily to other sources for guidance on how to live.

It should be stated, of course, that good advice that derives from or appropriately supports biblical teaching is valuable. Nevertheless, there is no substitute for directly encountering the Bible for ourselves. The very process of reading the Bible cultivates wisdom, orients our love in the proper direction, and inspires us to act rightly. We cannot obtain these benefits at the same level simply by listening to someone else report to us what Scripture teaches. Christians who are blessed with the opportunity to study the Bible should exercise responsible stewardship of this blessing. Still, how can reading ancient biblical texts, which do not speak directly into our present circumstances, help us to grow closer to God and other people? The answer is that we are meant to interpret them. Through interpretation the Bible is translated into wisdom that can shape us as people and guide our specific choices. The very idea that God inspired biblical texts for our instruction requires that we are meant to interpret them and apply them to our lives.

By way of example, we can contrast the ancient Code of Hammurabi with the US Constitution. Although the Code of Hammurabi sets forth ideals and values, no community still looks to it for binding law, and consequently no tradition of contemporizing interpretation surrounds it. The US Constitution, on the other hand, remains authoritative for citizens of the United States, and consequently it has been and continues to be interpreted for its contemporary relevance. Another example from US history is the phrase “All men are created equal” from the Declaration of Independence. It contains a core idea that is central to US civic thought (that is, the fundamental equality of all people) but has continued to be interpreted and applied more broadly (for example, to include women and people of all races) in light of later insights. The key point is that when a text from the past remains meaningful, people mediate its meaning to their present circumstances through interpretation.

A few moments of reflection on the Bible’s content make clear that it was meant to be interpreted for later times. This is evident, for example, where the Bible relates stories and codes that assume cultural elements that no longer exist for most of us, such as polygamy and slavery. Biblical passages that involve these topics presumably have something to teach us without requiring that we revive these practices. Again, the need for interpretation is obvious when we consider issues in today’s world, such as “How should I vote?” or “Is genetic science good or bad?”—which the Bible does not speak about directly but which can be addressed using biblical teaching. At a deeper level, the important role of interpretation becomes apparent when we see biblical texts that seem to lean in opposite directions. For example, on the basis of what the men of Judah did in Ezra 10:3–5, one might suppose that it is biblical teaching to divorce a spouse who is outside the faith. However, because of Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 7:12–14, one would think that it is not biblical teaching to do this. Both Ezra 10 and 1 Corinthians 7 have specific contexts, and we need to interpret these texts in light of their contexts, in light of each other, and within the framework of the Bible as a whole. The best Christian response to complexity in the Bible is to interpret it with reverence and faithful expectation.

As this book will illustrate in detail, that the Bible is meant for interpretation is made perfectly clear from how biblical writers interact with prior biblical traditions. Many examples will be given in the following chapters. For the present, I can mention the interpretation of Deuteronomy 23:3 (“No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation”) reflected in Nehemiah 13:1–3, and Paul’s application of Deuteronomy 25:4 (“Do not muzzle an ox while it is threshing”) to his own situation of laboring as an apostle (1 Cor. 9:7–12). While biblical texts have specific contexts that should be understood as part of responsible interpretation, biblical writers themselves testify to the fact that divinely ordained values, principles, and practices can be faithfully applied to new settings.1

An important dimension of interpreting Scripture for contemporary application is exploring all the facets of meaning that a text contains. Abraham’s binding and near sacrifice of Isaac serves as a good example (Gen. 22). In this passage, God commands Abraham to take his son Isaac and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on a mountain, but at the last minute, God tells Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac. A literal account of the narrative would describe the events that take place. But at a deeper level, what is this narrative about? Because it begins by saying that God was testing Abraham (v. 1), we might surmise that we are to learn something from how Abraham responds. Abraham’s willingness to obey (vv. 16–17: “Because you have done this, . . . I will bless you”) suggests that the patriarch’s obedience is being commended to the reader. Abraham also demonstrates trust in God, and Hebrews 11:17–19 uses this passage to commend the virtue of faith. James 2:21–24 interprets this passage to show that faith is brought to maturity in our actions. Within its broader literary context, this narrative confirms God’s promises to Abraham (Gen. 22:17–18), serves as a model for sacrifice as substitution (v. 13), and provides a vivid pictorial rejection of human sacrifice. Even these facets of meaning do not exhaust what could be said about this remarkable passage.

At the same time, we cannot validly claim that a text is about anything we wish. There are limits to what a text might mean. For example, the story of Abraham binding Isaac in Genesis 22 is not in any recognizable sense about socialism or capitalism. Even if numerous facets of meaning interlock in the unfolding of a narrative, only those facets with solid basis in the wording and ideas of the text are valid. Moreover, even some interpretations that could conceivably be derived from a text should be rejected because of the broader contexts that surround the passage. For example, someone might claim that Genesis encourages child sacrifice. Such an interpretation might suggest itself to a reader who encounters this text in isolation, but in the context of the Pentateuch it does not hold up. The process of interpretation helps us to see the abundant richness of the text’s meaning, but it does not allow for any and every meaning imaginable.

Biblical interpretation can be challenging. On difficult topics, serious disagreements sometimes arise between Christians. Nevertheless, the process of biblical interpretation is too important not to discuss. If we are to benefit from the teaching of Scripture, we need to articulate an interpretive approach that is faithful to the text and equitable to one another. To this end, the principles of biblical interpretation must go beyond advice on what not to do with the Bible. We do not want an environment in Christian education where the more we know about the Bible, the less it applies to our lives. This does not make for useful sermons or healthy Christians, and it does not reflect historical Christianity. The goal of this book is to suggest a positive approach to biblical interpretation that takes its cues from how biblical authors interpreted prior biblical traditions. In order to put this approach into practice, we need to come to the Bible ready to participate actively in the interpretive process, with a humble spirit of obedience to God and a trusting expectation that God has something to teach us from e...

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Corporate and Individual Responsibility
• 3. Insiders and Outsiders
• 4. Marriage, Polygamy, and Divorce
• 5. Sacrificial Offerings
• 6. The Afterlife
• 7. Biblical Interpretation Then and Now
• Bibliography
• Scripture and Ancient Writings Index
• Subject Index
• Back Cover