Principle #6 on meaning...Bible reading week 34, day 1
Today is an in between chapter devotional of the book of Zechariah. We will pick up with chapter 7 on Wednesday. We are continuing our series on what do we mean by the word "meaning?" Specifically, what is the "meaning" of a written text? The answer that we have been describing in 7 ways is, "The meaning of a text is what the author intended to communicate by his words." The emphasis is on "the author intended" and "by his words." We are not relying on our words or our feelings but the author defines what we are to know.
We are working through 7 principles and are now to principle number 6. I have given them little titles but the credit goes to Pastor John Piper who is teaching this series through his podcast called "Look At The Book."
Principle #1 - The Bible Assumption
The Bible corrects when the reader is going the wrong way with his or her interpretation.
Principle #2 - The Golden Rule
As a reader, do unto authors as you would have readers do unto you as an author. Don't twist their words because you don't like your words twisted.
Principle #3 - The Humble Path
Reading a text in order to discover the author's intention is the humble path to greater knowledge and true wisdom. Pride blocks us from this discovery.
Principle #4 - The Biblical Worldview
This definition assumes the Biblical worldview that a God-inspired author's intention has real objective existence outside ourselves. Reality is not just an echo of our own spiritual preferences. We are here to discover not create.
Principle #5 - The Meaning Never Changes
The definition of meaning implies that a text's meaning never changes from age to age or from reader to reader. The meaning is history. This offers great stability to the Word of God.
And now unto new ground, principle #6 - The Right And Wrong
This definition of meaning gives an objective standard to test whether an interpretation is right or wrong, namely, the unchanging reality of the author's intention communicated through his words. The key words are "to test." Let's look at some Scripture.
Mark 4:13 says,
Then He said to them: "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand all of the parables?"
Jesus is assuming that if He tells them, His disciples, His followers a parable that the meaning of the parable is able to be understood. Jesus spoke in parables and meanings were hidden to those who didn't believe but for those who did believe, the parables have deep meanings that direct us to what is right and wrong.
Mark 9:31, 32 says,
For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after He is killed, He will rise three days later." But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.
Here again is Jesus teaching and telling His disciples something that they would understand even though at the moment they didn't. He gave them the right, that these things would happen so they would not go to the wrong and make up some story about what happened to Him. The meaning is very specific about the betrayal, trial, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
John 10:6 says,
Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what He was telling them.
Jesus is using speech for His disciples to be able to understand. It is His speech and His figure of speech that they will have to share, His message, to others who would come later. They would understand what He meant so that they could teach what He taught, namely the right theology of God.
We have looked at 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 but lets look again. It says,
I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.
Something is written down but it was misunderstood and Christians were going the wrong route of not reaching out to unbelievers. They were continually in their holy huddle. Paul tells them that is not what he, the author, meant. Those not to associate with were those living a double life. They were saying they were a Christian but living in open sin. The right meaning of the passage was to distance from these types of people not the other who were people of the world who needed to hear about Jesus. There was a definite right interpretation and a wrong interpretation of this teaching in Paul's letter. I think many times we have run with the wrong interpretation and therefore the witness of the church as been weakened within and never stretches out.
One last passage is John 11:11-14, which says,
He said this, and then He told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm on my way to wake him up." Then the disciples said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well." Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. So Jesus then told them plainly, "Lazarus has died."
Jesus, the author, meant "died" when He said "fallen asleep." The disciples thought Jesus meant natural sleep when Jesus really meant physical death. Looking at this again. If Jesus said He was the One to wake Lazarus up, well anyone could do that, but that Jesus had to do this could indicate that something of the power of Jesus was needed for this to happen. The basics here are that there was a right meaning and there was a wrong meaning.
The wrong meaning was located in the reader who thought it meant something else. At that point it lost objectivity and got subjective. It also made what Jesus said less stable in the arena of flexibility. The right meaning was located in the author who clarified the objective answer. It provided stability and something concrete to pass down from generation to generation.
So the recap so far is...
#1 - The Bible Assumption
#2 - The Golden Rule
#3 - The Humble Path
#4 - The Biblical Worldview
#5 - The Meaning Never Changes
#6 - The Right And Wrong
So the next in between chapter devotional will conclude this series of 7 on what is the meaning of the text. Let us pray.
"Lord, we know that we also have the Holy Spirit to guide us in understanding what You have given to us. May we pray and ask for His help. May we keep objective with Your words rather than run to the subjective. May we seek that stability that You offer rather than replace it with human flexibility that only weakens the author's intended meaning. Amen."
Pastor Adam
We are working through 7 principles and are now to principle number 6. I have given them little titles but the credit goes to Pastor John Piper who is teaching this series through his podcast called "Look At The Book."
Principle #1 - The Bible Assumption
The Bible corrects when the reader is going the wrong way with his or her interpretation.
Principle #2 - The Golden Rule
As a reader, do unto authors as you would have readers do unto you as an author. Don't twist their words because you don't like your words twisted.
Principle #3 - The Humble Path
Reading a text in order to discover the author's intention is the humble path to greater knowledge and true wisdom. Pride blocks us from this discovery.
Principle #4 - The Biblical Worldview
This definition assumes the Biblical worldview that a God-inspired author's intention has real objective existence outside ourselves. Reality is not just an echo of our own spiritual preferences. We are here to discover not create.
Principle #5 - The Meaning Never Changes
The definition of meaning implies that a text's meaning never changes from age to age or from reader to reader. The meaning is history. This offers great stability to the Word of God.
And now unto new ground, principle #6 - The Right And Wrong
This definition of meaning gives an objective standard to test whether an interpretation is right or wrong, namely, the unchanging reality of the author's intention communicated through his words. The key words are "to test." Let's look at some Scripture.
Mark 4:13 says,
Then He said to them: "Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand all of the parables?"
Jesus is assuming that if He tells them, His disciples, His followers a parable that the meaning of the parable is able to be understood. Jesus spoke in parables and meanings were hidden to those who didn't believe but for those who did believe, the parables have deep meanings that direct us to what is right and wrong.
Mark 9:31, 32 says,
For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after He is killed, He will rise three days later." But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him.
Here again is Jesus teaching and telling His disciples something that they would understand even though at the moment they didn't. He gave them the right, that these things would happen so they would not go to the wrong and make up some story about what happened to Him. The meaning is very specific about the betrayal, trial, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
John 10:6 says,
Jesus gave them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what He was telling them.
Jesus is using speech for His disciples to be able to understand. It is His speech and His figure of speech that they will have to share, His message, to others who would come later. They would understand what He meant so that they could teach what He taught, namely the right theology of God.
We have looked at 1 Corinthians 5:9-11 but lets look again. It says,
I wrote to you in a letter not to associate with sexually immoral people. I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters; otherwise you would have to leave the world. But actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.
Something is written down but it was misunderstood and Christians were going the wrong route of not reaching out to unbelievers. They were continually in their holy huddle. Paul tells them that is not what he, the author, meant. Those not to associate with were those living a double life. They were saying they were a Christian but living in open sin. The right meaning of the passage was to distance from these types of people not the other who were people of the world who needed to hear about Jesus. There was a definite right interpretation and a wrong interpretation of this teaching in Paul's letter. I think many times we have run with the wrong interpretation and therefore the witness of the church as been weakened within and never stretches out.
One last passage is John 11:11-14, which says,
He said this, and then He told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I'm on my way to wake him up." Then the disciples said to Him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well." Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. So Jesus then told them plainly, "Lazarus has died."
Jesus, the author, meant "died" when He said "fallen asleep." The disciples thought Jesus meant natural sleep when Jesus really meant physical death. Looking at this again. If Jesus said He was the One to wake Lazarus up, well anyone could do that, but that Jesus had to do this could indicate that something of the power of Jesus was needed for this to happen. The basics here are that there was a right meaning and there was a wrong meaning.
The wrong meaning was located in the reader who thought it meant something else. At that point it lost objectivity and got subjective. It also made what Jesus said less stable in the arena of flexibility. The right meaning was located in the author who clarified the objective answer. It provided stability and something concrete to pass down from generation to generation.
So the recap so far is...
#1 - The Bible Assumption
#2 - The Golden Rule
#3 - The Humble Path
#4 - The Biblical Worldview
#5 - The Meaning Never Changes
#6 - The Right And Wrong
So the next in between chapter devotional will conclude this series of 7 on what is the meaning of the text. Let us pray.
"Lord, we know that we also have the Holy Spirit to guide us in understanding what You have given to us. May we pray and ask for His help. May we keep objective with Your words rather than run to the subjective. May we seek that stability that You offer rather than replace it with human flexibility that only weakens the author's intended meaning. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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