• As a believer, the first thing we should always do is ask the Holy Spirit to guide our study.
  • John 16:13 “However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.” (All scripture references are from the Berean Study Bible. 2021. BSB Publishing, LLC. unless noted otherwise)
  • 1 John 2:27 “And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all things, so remain in Him as you have been taught. 
  • 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.”
• Interpret Scripture Literally When Possible
  • Dr. David L. Cooper famous statement concerning interpretation: “When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning, unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.” (REF – David L. Cooper, The World’s Greatest Library: Graphically Illustrated (Los Angeles: Biblical Research Society, 1970), 11.)
  • John Wesley “The general rule of interpreting the Scripture is this: the literal sense of every text is to be taken if it be not contrary to some other texts. But in that case, the obscure text is to be interpreted by those which speak more plainly.” (REF – Frank Baker, ed., The Works of John Wesley, vol. 26 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 557.
  • “Along with Wesley’s logical bent, this is what led him to emphasize the plain rules of grammar and syntax and to accept the plain, natural meaning of a passage (literal or figurative), unless it led to absurdity, contradicted other Scripture passages, was contrary to reason, or ignored the context.” (REF – Weeter, Mark L. 2009. John Wesley’s Bible Interpretation Principles. Edited by Joseph Coleson. Wesleyan Theological Perspectives. Indianapolis, IN: WPH.)
  • “How is this done? It can only be accomplished through the grammatical (according to the rules of grammar), historical (consistent with the historical setting of the passage), contextual (in accord with its context) method of interpretation.” (REF – Hitchcock, Mark. 2012. The End: Everything You’ll Want to Know about the Apocalypse. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale.)
• When Interpreting Scripture Always Do So In Context
  • Start with the other verses around the scripture you want to interpret.
  • Move to the Chapter in which the verses are part of and then to the book itself.
  • Look and locate any references to other writings within the verses you are trying to interpret. This may be from another book of the Bible or from some other ancient writings. Look at these references and try to understand why the author would use these in their writing.
  • Try and understand the original intent of the author. What was their purpose in writing the book? What was their primary message from the book as a whole? 
  • Research the Historical and Cultural Background for the time period of the writing.
  • Consider the Literary Genre of the.book. Understanding whether the book is poetry, historical narrative or prophesy can help in interpreting what the author is trying to communicate.
  • Think about how the original readers of the letter/book would understand it.
  • Look at the original language. Often a word can not be translated from one language to another in a way that brings out all the nuances of the original word.
• Use Other Scripture To Assist in Interpreting Scripture.
  • A common practice in interpretation is to interpret a hard to understand passage in light of passages that are clear.
  • Looking at other books within the Bible that the author wrote can give a better understanding of what the author may mean in the passage you are interpreting.
  • Looking at the words used in a passage and how those words have been used in other passages can give great insight. A very common practice is to go find where the word was first used within Scripture and see how it is used in that setting.

Assignment for this week.

• Read John 14:1-4, work through some of the things mentioned above concerning these verses. Take good notes of your observations and be prepared to discuss next week as we try to develop an interpretation of these verses.