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Meaning and Application
Unit 3

1. Who Controls the Meaning?
2. Levels of Meaning
3. The Role of the Holy Spirit
4. Application

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Who Controls the Meaning?

• I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

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Who Controls the Meaning? What difference
does it make?
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Who Controls the Meaning?

• Does the reader or the author control meaning?
• The Wizard of Oz
• Simple story of good vs. evil (reader) or
• Political satire (author)
• Reader response reader as the one who
  determines the meaning
• Authorial intention stresses the author in the
  determination of meaning

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• Central issue communication
• If we view the text as communication between the
  author and the reader, we should follow the
  authorial intention approach.
• If we dont care what the author is trying to
  communicate, we are free to follow the reader
  response approach.

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• Should we view these texts as communication?

• To ignore the authors intention in texts that
  should be viewed as communication can have
  serious negative consequences for the reader.

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• Central questionis the Bible merely inspiring
  literature or is it inspired communication from
  God?
• Since we believe strongly that the Bible is Gods
  communication of himself and his will to us, we
  follow the authorial intention approach in
  Grasping Gods Word.
• In biblical interpretation, readers do not create
  or control the meaning. Rather, we seek to
  discover the meaning that has been placed there
  by the author.

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• Definitions

With reference to the Bible, the term author
refers to both the human and divine author. God
works through human authors.
Author
This term refers to what the author intended to
communicate when he wrote the text. Meaning will
be same for all Christians.
Meaning
This is the response of the reader to the
authors meaning communicated in the text.
Application will vary from Christian to
Christian.
Application
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• Definitions and the Interpretive Journey

1 Grasping the Text in Their Town What did the
text mean to the biblical audience? 2
Measuring the Width of the River What are
the differences between the biblical audience and
us?
3 Crossing the Principlizing Bridge What is
the theological principle in this text?
4 Grasping the Text in Our Town How
should individual Christians today apply the
theological principle(s) in their lives?
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• Determining what the author meant
• For proper interpretation (communication) to take
  place, we must determine what the author meant.
• How?

Context
Word Studies
Careful observation
Translation
Literary genre
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• Determining what the author meant
• The question is not What does this passage mean
  to you?
• Rather the correct sequence would be
• What does this passage mean?
• How should you apply this meaning to your life?

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Levels of Meaning

• Introduction
• Does the Bible have multiple levels of meaning?
• Are there deep spiritual meanings hidden in the
  text of the Bible that are unrelated to the
  historical-cultural and literary contexts?

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• Spiritualizing
• Looking for deep, secret, spiritual meanings
  apart from what the author communicated in the
  text. Poses a dichotomy between spiritual and
  literary.
• Since God used literary conventions to
  communicate to us, the real spiritual meaning of
  the Bible will be the same as the literary
  meaning!
• Question will we seek the literary (and truly
  spiritual) meaning intended by the author or the
  meaning created by our own speculation?

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• Allegorizing
• Allegory a story that uses an extensive amount
  of symbolism (e.g., Bunyans Pilgrims Progress)
• Allegorizing (or allegorical interpretation)
• Looks for deeper, spiritual meaning below the
  surface of the text
• The details of the biblical text stand for many
  different things (e.g., tent pegs representing
  Jesus)
• Goes far beyond comparison or symbolism
• Limited only by the fanciful imagination of the
  reader

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• Bible codes
• Gematria letters of the Hebrew alphabet
  represent numbers and words are analyzed for
  their numerical value
• Equidistant Letter Sequencing (ELS) uses
  computers to string together the text of the
  Bible without spaces and search the string for
  hidden messages
• Consensus of biblical scholarship that ELS is a
  sham!
• Problems with probability (e.g., Moby Dick)
• Unaware of variations in the Hebrew text of the OT

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• Typology
• Event or person in the OT that serves as a
  prophetic pattern or example of a NT event or
  person.
• OT sometimes foreshadows or points to what is
  fulfilled in the NT.
• Example entire sacrificial system foreshadows
  the ultimate sacrifice of Christ
• Part of one salvation story where we see a
  promise (OT) and later see its fulfillment (NT)
• General connections made explicit by the NT (and
  therefore intended by the divine author)

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• Conclusion
• Does the Bible have different levels of meaning?
  
• We do not believe it does.
• One level of meaningthe literary meaning
  (intended by the divine/human author). Includes
• Meaning for the biblical audience (Step 1 of The
  Journey) and
• Theological principle (Step 3 of The Journey)

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• Avoid the temptation to spiritualize or
  allegorize.
• Dont be gullible or naïve and fall for ELS.
• Affirm OT typology when it is identified in the
  NT.
• Use the Interpretive Journey to help you discover
  the meaning communicated by the divine/ human
  author through the text.
• By Gods design this meaning is very spiritual.

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The Role of the Holy Spirit

• Introduction
• Playing an instrument means you will one day
  think less about mechanics and begin to enjoy the
  wonder and beauty of the musical piece.

• The role of the Spirit takes us beyond steps and
  procedures to the dynamic nature of relationship.
  

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• The Spirit as divine author

Holy Spirits work in the lives of the human
authors of Scripture with the result that they
wrote what God wanted to communicate (2 Tim.
316). A finished work.
Inspiration
Holy Spirits work of bringing believers to
understand and receive the truth of Scripture. An
ongoing work.
Illumination
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• The Spirit and the Word work together and must
  never be set over against one another.
• The Spirit-inspired Word of God stands above
  personal experience and community tradition.
• The Spirit does not add new meaning to the Bible
  instead, he helps believers understand and apply
  the meaning that he inspired in the first place.

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• Can we grasp Gods Word apart from the Spirit?
• Yes cognitive grasp of basic grammatical and
  historical content
• Yes, but only to a degree
• Sin has had effect on whole person, including the
  mind
• Unbelieving preunderstanding
• Understanding the meaning of a text involves more
  than just taking in information

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• No grasping involves accepting the message of
  the Bible in a personal, experiential way
• The man without the Spirit does not accept the
  things that come from the Spirit of God, for they
  are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand
  them, because they are spiritually discerned.
  1 Corinthians 214

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• The Spirit and the Christian interpreter

• The Spirit does not make valid interpretations
  automaticno autopilot interpretation.

• The Spirit does expect us to use our minds,
  proper interpretive methods, and good study helps
  to interpret the Bible accurately.

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• The Spirit does not create new meaning or provide
  new, secret information.
• The Spirit does help us grasp the meaning of
  Gods Word by discerning theological principles
  and applying them to our lives.
• The Spirit does not change the Bible to suit our
  purposes or to match our circumstances.

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• The Spirit does bring the meaning of the Bible to
  bear on our lives.
• Convicts us that the Bible is divinely inspired
• Impresses on us the full meaning of the
  Scriptures
• Works in our hearts so that we accept its message
• The Spirits work in interpretation is not to
  change the sense the meaning of the text
  but to restore us to our senses.
  Kevin Vanhoozer

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• The Spirit often uses
• and
• to encourage growth
• to spiritual maturity.

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• Conclusion
• Methods and procedures are important (no
  spiritual switch we can flip where God does all
  the interpreting for us)
• But there is a real danger of over-intellectualizi
  ng what it means to communicate with God.
• As you study, pray that the Holy Spirit would
  work in you so that you can enter into the
  heavenly conversation.

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Application

• Introduction
• As we cross the principlizing bridge we are ready
  to apply the meaning of the text in our town.

• Grasping Gods Word understanding obedience
• We cannot apply the Bible without understanding
  it, but we can know the Bible without applying
  it.

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• Knowing how to apply a biblical text g the
  subject of this chapter.
• Actually applying a biblical text g up to you.
• Gods goal is our transformation (actual
  application)
• When we come to the point of truly grasping Gods
  Word, we will find Gods Word grasping us.

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• Meaning and application
• Meaning what the author intended to communicate
  when he wrote the text. Meaning will be same
  for all Christians.
• Application the response of the reader to the
  authors meaning communicated in the text.
  Application will vary from Christian to
  Christian.
• Question What does this passage mean and how
  do I apply this meaning to my life?

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• How to apply meaning
• 1 Grasp the text in their town by summarizing
  the original situation (historical-cultural
  context) and the meaning of the text for the
  biblical audience.

2 Measure the width of the river. What are the
differences between the biblical situation
and our situation?
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• 3 Cross the principlizing bridge. List the
  theological principle communicated by the
  text.

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• 4 Grasping the Text in Our Town.
• a. Observe how the principles address
  the situation. Note the key elements present
  in the intersection.

b. Discover a parallel situation in
contemporary life.
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• c. Make your applications specific

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• Conclusion
• Gods Word remains relevant for every generation.
• We are learning to study the Bible not just to
  learn more about God, but to know and love God
  more.
• Grasping Gods Word understanding obedience