Bible Interpretation: Grammatical Interpretation

The Importance of Grammatical Interpretation

• Grammatical interpretation is crucial because it honors the verbal inspiration of Scripture, and all words and sentences in the Bible serve a purpose.
• The goal of biblical exegesis is to determine what the text of Scripture itself says and means, not to read into it.

The Problem of Communication

• Communication can be misunderstood without a clear understanding of word meanings and context.
• In Bible study, we must discover the precise meaning of each word and sentence to understand what God meant.

Grammatico-Historical Interpretation

• This method aligns with the disciplines and conclusions of Christian scholars throughout the centuries.
• It seeks to gather the precise meaning of the Scriptures themselves, applying the same principles used to understand other books.

Determining the Meaning of Words

• Four factors influence the meaning of a word:
  • Etymology (root derivation and development)
  • Usage (customary meaning of the word when the writer used it)
  • Synonyms and antonyms (comparing with similar and opposite words)
  • Context (examining the word in its sentence and surrounding passages)

Context

• Considering the context is essential for three reasons:
  1. Words can have multiple meanings, and context helps determine the most likely meaning.
  2. Thoughts are expressed in association with other words, not in isolation.
  3. False interpretations often arise from ignoring the context.
• Several kinds of contexts should be considered:
  • Immediate context (the sentence or passage in which the word is used)
  • Broader context (the surrounding chapters or book)

Functions of Words (Parts of Speech)

• Knowing the parts of speech is helpful for Bible interpretation because:
  • The grammatical function of a word influences its meaning.
  • The parts of speech can be grouped into two families:
    • Noun family (nouns, pronouns, adjectives, prepositions)
    • Verb family (verbs, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections)

Noun Family

• Nouns name something (person, place, thing, concept, or idea).
• Nouns can be singular or plural, and have gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter).
• Pronouns substitute for nouns, and can be personal, relative, intensive, or reciprocal.
• Adjectives modify nouns or pronouns, and can refer to extent, quality, or characteristic.
• Prepositions form prepositional phrases with nouns, and can indicate various relationships.

Verb Family

• Verbs assert something about what a noun or pronoun is or does.
• Verbs have tense (past, present, or future), voice (active or passive), and mood (indicative, interrogative, imperative, or optative).
• Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, or phrases, and can indicate manner, place, time, degree, purpose, or result.
• Conjunctions connect words, phrases, or clauses, and can indicate contrast, comparison, correlation, reason, result, purpose, or conclusion.
• Interjections express emotion or feeling, and can be used to indicate negation, interrogation, affirmation, or exclamation.

Genre

• Genre refers to the literary type or category of writing.
• Distinguishing genres in Scripture helps interpret the Bible more accurately.
• Examples of literary genres in the Bible include:
  • Legal material (commandments and laws)
  • Narrative (stories with a message)
  • Poetry (verse and song)
  • Wisdom literature (proverbial and reflective material)
  • Gospels (biographical and theological material)### Biblical Literature Genres
• Jesus' teachings in parables and direct discourse are presented with his miracles and encounters with individuals to set forth information about his person.

Epistolary Literature

• Refers to the Epistles of the New Testament, from Romans to Jude.
• Includes two types of material:
  • Expository discourse: expounds certain truths or doctrines with logical support.
  • Hortatory discourse: includes exhortations to follow certain courses of action or develop certain characteristics in light of the presented truths.
• Epistles typically begin by naming the author, recipients, words of greetings, and often expressions of thanks for the readers' conduct or character.
• Differ from private letters as they are presented as messages from God with apostolic authority, intended to be read in churches.

Prophetic Literature

• Includes predictions of the future at the time of writing with injunctions to adjust lives in light of the predictions.
• Examples from the Old Testament include prophecies about the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, often accompanied by calls to repentance from sin.
• Apocalyptic material is a special form of prophetic literature, focusing on the end times and presenting the material in symbolic form.

Importance of Word Definitions

• Defining Biblical words in their original language is crucial for exegesis and hermeneutics.
• Without proper definitions, Bible teachers may supply culturally biased definitions, leading to misinterpretation and misteaching of the text.
• Knowing definitions is essential for arriving at an acceptable interpretation of the text.