Interpretation

We must know the literary genre, historical and cultural background, immediate situation and occasion, and intended function of each passage before we can be confident that we have properly understood it. - J.I. Packer Proper interpretation must take the general literary category of any given passage into consideration. Are we dealing with poetry or prose? Are we dealing with history or prophecy? It is important that when we interpret the Word of God, we understand as much as possible the author's intent. -Robert Hommel

Specific Rules of Interpretation

Having just considered some general rules of interpretation, we now turn our attention to some specific rules. These rules cannot be applied equally to all of scripture. Rather, these rules are attached to the different kinds of literature. The rules used for interpreting poetry are different from those used to interpret parables.

Exposition/Didactic

• Focus on the structure and terms of the text.

While there is a sense in which you should do this for all of scripture (and thus it is a general rule) it is more applicable to didactic literature than any other kind. More specifically, focus on the logical structure.

Narrative

• Pay attention to the plot and the characters.

The goal of interpretation is to discern what the author wanted to convey through his writings. One will zero in on the mind of the author more quickly in narrative literature by focusing on the plot and characters. The significance of Exodus will not be found in any carefully crafted logical argument, but rather in God's redemption of Israel. One obvious, major player that we always need to take note of yet we often don't is God. God is always key. This is true in all kinds of literature. Thus in the narrative literature, pay close attention to God, what He does, and the reasons He does things. Some of the most profound truths of the nature and mind of God will come from careful observation of Him in the narrative portions of scripture.

Parables

• There is typically one main point to a parable, try to identify this main point.
• The details are there to reinforce the main points, therefore do not press the details for significance.
• There are relevant and irrelevant details try to discern which is which.

For example, in Luke 11:5-8 is the parable of a man who came asking for bread. What he was asking for is irrelevant. It is simply there to help the story move along. The fact that it is night is more relevant since it creates an inconvenient situation where persistence (the main point) is the characteristic that overcomes the inconvenience. The fact that it is night does not have any significance in its own right, its significance is tied to how it helps illustrate the main point.

Here is an example of a poor interpretation of a parable. From Luke 10:30-37 we have the parable of the Good Samaritan. A popular interpretation historically (and one that some still hold to) is as follows:

The wounded man stands for Adam;
Jerusalem, the heavenly city from which he has fallen;
the thieves, the devil who strips Adam of his immortality and leads him to sin;
the priest and Levite, the Old Testament Law and ministry which was unable to cleanse and save anyone;
the good Samaritan who binds the wounds, Christ who forgives sin;
oil and wine; hope and stimulus to work,
the animal, the incarnation;
the inn, the church;
the innkeeper, the apostle Paul.

Some people go into even greater detail trying to draw out every implication possible. The context gives no support to this kind of allegorizing. Jesus gives this story in response to the question, "Who is my neighbor." And after the story Jesus asks, "Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man?" This was a story that contained one main point, and that was thrown along side of Jesus' teaching on loving your neighbor. Clearly reading this as an allegory is out of place.

Poetry

• Most of the Psalms are meant to be sung, not merely read. Although any doctrine should provoke some reaction in our heart, the Psalms especially are a cry of the heart and we should feel them.
• An element of Hebrew poetry is parallelism as we noted in observation. Parallelism can grant great insight into the meaning of a passage.

For example, in Isaiah 45:7 we read, "I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things." God creates evil?! Is it not true that God is not the author of evil? What sense then can we make of this passage? The full verse reads:

I form the light, and create darkness:
I make peace, and create evil:
I the LORD do all these things.

The first line contains a contrast, "I form the light, and create darkness." These are opposites of one another and it seems that God is emphasizing the fact of sovereignty over all things. Next we read that "I make peace, and create evil." Since the second line is in parallel with the first, we can expect it to follow the same thought. So when we read that God "makes peace," the opposite of this should be war, not evil. Thus we can see that what the author has in mind is not moral evil, but rather war or calamity. Doing a word study on "evil" will also reveal that "disaster, or calamity" are also acceptable translations that fit the parallelism better than "evil." Modern translations correct this misunderstanding for you.

Psalm 40:4 says:

Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

Here is an example of antithetical parallelism. What does it mean to make the Lord your trust? In this passage, the one who goes after a lie, or the person who turns to the proud, is a man who does not trust in the Lord.

Proverbs

• Proverbs also make heavy use of parallelism, therefore make us of that parallelism for insight just as in poetry.
• Proverbs are not meant to be taken in an absolute sense.

Consider Proverbs 26:4, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself." If this is taken in an absolute sense, then never can a man answer a fool according to his folly. But now consider Proverbs 26:5 which says, "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes." If these were absolute statements, then we would have a contradiction. Rather, the wisdom here is that there are times when it is good to answer a fool according to his folly so that he can see the folly in it. At other times this would not be a wise course of action. We have the same conflict in our English proverbs. "Look before you leap," and "He who hesitates is lost." Clearly there are times when it is good to consider what is ahead so you don't get yourself into a big mess. Other times call for quick decisive action. These are not contradictions, they are proverbs.

Prophecy/Apocalyptic

• Show great care in this area. Apocalyptic literature is not something we are that familiar with, so we need to proceed with caution.
• Locate the prophecy in the historical situation that it was given in. What circumstances prompted the prophecy? What is the immediate significance of the prophecy?
• Look for the fulfillment of this prophecy in scripture. By this I do not mean that we look for something in scripture that could be the fulfillment, I mean that we should find those sections of scripture that declare it has been fulfilled. See Dan. 4:33; Mt 2:17; Mt 13:14; Lk 4:21, etc.
• Go to scripture to get a feel for how fulfilled prophecy looks. Consider the fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32 in Acts 2:15-21. Peter says that what just occurred (Pentecost) was what Joel had prophesied about. He then give the relevant sections of that prophecy. The interesting part is that Peter includes the darkening of the sun and the moon turning to blood as relevant to the Pentecost event. Just reading Joel, most of us would have imagined a more literal fulfillment.