Lesson 10: Interpretive Tools
Inquire Carefully
This video alerts us to at least three important realities:
- Good observation requires intentional alertness.
- We rarely see everything we should.
- We see more every time we go back to read again.
Sound interpretation requires us to carefully observe a text and curiously explore it with probing questions. This is, as we considered in 1 Peter 1:10–12, exactly what the OT prophets did.
Effective Observation
Two commitments are necessary for effective observation:
- Slow down. Nearly everything in our culture and within us resists this. Multitasking and efficiency are high priorities in our modern world. So, it is vital that you deliberately slow down to read carefully. Read, re-read, and re-read again.
- Be relentlessly curious. Ask questions, even the obvious ones. Let one question lead to another. Consider all the possible answers and then weigh their merits. Don’t be afraid to let a hard question linger. At the same time, don’t let the vital questions go unanswered forever.
Psalm 23: An Example
A Testimony from Martin Luther
Below, you will find an excerpt from Martin Luther’s own testimony of his conversion—which came, in part, by earnestly inquiring of Scripture. The Reformation was sparked by a man who searched carefully and would not let go until he had an answer to the meaning of the text.
I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But up till then it was ... a single word in Chapter 1 [:17], “In it the righteousness of God is revealed,” that had stood in my way. For I hated that word “righteousness of God,” which according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner. Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteous wrath!” Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience. Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted. At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” There I began to understand [that] the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which [the] merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. Here a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory... And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word “righteousness of God.” Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise. —Edited by John Dillenberger in Martin Luther, Selections from His Writings from page 11.
Tools for recording your insights, observations, and questions
The rest of this lesson will give you a glimpse of the Biblearc modules which you can use to diligently study passages of Scripture. In each of these modules, you will find tools built in to help you highlight and record your insights, observations, and questions.
1. The Phrase module:
2. Mark-up text in a Notes tab:
3. The Arcing/Bracketing module:
