How Do We Make Sense of the Bible?

I am taking a theology class at my local seminary. In it, we are learning how to correctly interpret the bible. I thought I would pass along some of what I am learning.

When we read the bible, how literally should we take it? For example, are women still supposed to wear veils to church? 1 Corinthians 11:5 reads:

But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved.

Are we to take this literally? Or, do we just discount it because women covering their heads in church is no longer in our culture? Let’s take another example. Leviticus 23:22 says:

“‘When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the Lord your God.’”

Very few of us have crops harvesting on our lands. If you do, will leaving the edges of your field unharvested help the poor in cities hundreds of miles away from you?

In the book Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, authors Klein, Blomberg and Hubbard suggest that we:

1. Determine the original application intended in the passage to the original audience.

2. Evaluate how those original applications apply to the original historical situations. If they still apply today, use them.

3. If the original applications are not transferable, identify the broader cross-cultural principles that the specific elements of the text reflect.

4. Find applications appropriate for today that implement these principles.*

So, let’s take the example of women covering their heads in church. When Paul wrote that command, for Jewish women, having a shaved head might have suggested they were guilty of adultery. For Greco-Roman women, shaved heads may have indicated they were the masculine partner in a lesbian relationship. Obviously, those applications don’t apply in our culture today. So, the specific practice here is irrelevant. On the other hand, there is a principle here that we can apply: any dress or grooming, behavior or conversation that can be interpreted as being against God, is as wrong today as it was then. So, next we need to find an appropriate application for today. We could say, perhaps, that we should dress modestly, and behave respectfully when we are in church (and at all other times as well).

In the other example, where the farmer is told not to reap to the edges of his field, the principle that could apply to us today might read, “Be generous with the poor. Don’t be greedy, and keep every morsel for yourself, and don’t waste good food.” An application for that might be to start a food bank at your church, using food that isn’t “perfect” that might otherwise be thrown away by your local grocery stores. Or, you might read it as a suggestion to give to your local food bank, or sponsor a child living in poverty in Africa.

Of course, this isn’t an exact science. The point is to try to discern what the original author meant, try to decide what the underlying principle was, and apply that principle in today’s culture.

As I was thinking about this concept, I had a realization. I LOVE the book of Philippians. I started to wonder if I love it so much because most of the text has principles that still apply today. So, I got out my bible, and began reading my favorite passages.

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. . . And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (verses 1:3-6, 1:9-11)

In the above passage, Paul is writing to fellow Christians in Philippians to tell them how much he loves, and admires them, and hopes they keep growing in their faith.

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (verse 1:21) 

Things are bad for Paul right now. If he dies, he will then be with Jesus, which is better. If he lives, he will continue working for Christ.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!

*W. Klein, C. Blomberg, R. Hubbard, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017), p. 610.