Rules of Interpretation # 4

Rule of Interpretation # 4 is Rule Of Historical Background

Jesus was Jewish. Paul was Jewish. Moses was Jewish. God gave the Word to the Jews. Understanding the plan of God to the Jews, His chosen people, is a must. For His people, the descendants of Abraham, must be understood. Their beginning, their call, His plan. God meticulously laid it all out in the Torah, and it’s very specific to this group of people. “The moment the student has in his mind what was in the mind of the author or authors of the Biblical Books when these were written, he has integrated the thought of Scripture…. If he adds anything of his own. It is not proper interpretation. Theological interpretation and historical investigations can never be separated from each other…..the strictest historical…. scrutiny is an indispensable discipline to all Biblical Theology.”

Easily understood and to sum it up, History plays into everything, even modernity! To find out why things are the way they are, look back to history for the explanation.

Where the Bible is concerned, run from the preacher that says “You don’t need to read the Old Testament”, for without understanding the Old, you will never comprehend the new. All the New Testament is based on the history of God’s call to the Jews. Study the Old, so you can understand the new. And run from those preachers that separate the Hebrews from the Jews or say that the people living in Israel today are not “real Jews”, or that the church has replaced Israel. All lies and you won’t get any of that from a proper exegetical study of the Word using these 5 rules of interpretation.  

Blessing