Wright Track Ministries

6675 Moondance Drive

Olive Branch, MS 38654

(662) 890-6398

WTVU Bible Lesson #4

Interpreting the Bible

As a teacher of the Bible you are involved in interpreting the Bible whether you teach 2 year olds or 102 year olds. In other words you are telling people what God said and in some cases giving detailed explanation of some very important scriptures. Have you ever wondered what God thinks of someone who says that the Bible teaches something that it plainly does not? Think about 2 Timothy 2:15. Imagine God standing behind a teacher in a classroom. The teacher is making interpretations of scriptures that are based on his opinions, his beliefs and on what he heard someone else say, and then ends up teaching something that God plainly did not say. Some of the class members will begin practicing and believing things that will end up causing then to have problems and in some cases, blame God for them. In other words, he is lying to the class about what God said. What kind of look do you see on God's face?

The responsibility of the Bible teacher to correctly handle God's word is a great responsibility.  That is why we must pray, study and prepare to be a teacher. The following lesson will provide some valuable material to keep you from ever ending up like the teacher in our example above. This is not only good information for preparing to teach but for your own personal Bible study.

Lesson Objectives:

1. To introduce the student to the terms "exegesis" and "hermeneutics" and to provide a basic set of rules for a teacher to follow when interpreting the Bible.

2. To lead the student in an exercise of understanding the importance of considering "the context" of a passage when interpreting it.

3. To provide an example of flawed reasoning that shows up in interpreting the Bible.

This lesson is in three sections, click on the buttons below to access them.

JER for NMW3  10-05-2000