Everyone who reads the Bible is an interpreter whether they like it or not. People tend to think that our understanding of the Bible is the same as the Holy Spirit’s and the human author’s intent. We fail to see that everyone brings to the Bible their own culture, personal experiences, pre-understandings of words and ideas and their own theological/philosophical presuppositions. These are unavoidable but awareness of them usually prevents subjective interpretations. If we aren’t aware of them, they may lead us astray or cause us to read thoughts and ideas into the text that aren’t actually there.

Guidelines for Sound Biblical Interpretation

Genre refers to the ‘type’ of the literature. In communicating His message, God used virtually every kind of available form of written communication includin

The Majority Text is not based only on a simple count of existing manuscripts. Rather, those who hold to the Majority Text argue that it is in the majority because of its superiority, and possibly because of Divine protection of His revelation. The tradition behind the “family tree” of this text shows it to be less subject to both accidental and purposeful changes. Its long usage as the original text of the Bible by the Greek speaking world is well attested. Over 90% of all ancient Greek manuscripts in existence are Majority Text.

A related error is the “proof text” method. A person will form an idea about God’s position on a subject and will then quote a single verse or a selection of verses as proof. Often, if verses are found that seem to contradict the position, these are simply omitted from the list. Once the true meaning in context is understood, it is appropriate to use key verses or passages that truly reflect that meaning as short-cuts in bolstering the presentation of the message, but care must be taken to assure that evidentiary texts are not taken out of context.

Recently a new English translation of the New Testament, based exclusively on the Majority Text has been released. The English Majority Text Version (EMTV) is a formal equivalence translation of the Majority Text. Unlike the NKJV, which was translated by a large and carefully selected committee of the finest fundamentalist Greek scholars, the EMTV is mostly the work of a single translator. This may limit its accuracy as an objective formal equivalence translation.

Another problematic method is the “word study.” A person may try to find out the Bible’s teaching on a particular topic, say the topic of “love”, by conducting a word study. Using the concordance, a person looks up all of the verses that contain the word “love” and strings them together without paying attention to the context of the verses, the various shades of meaning carried by the word, or (often) even the various words from which the English word may have been translated, nor the times those words are used, but not translated as “love.”

Some topics in this essay:
Author Scriptures, Majority Text, Equivalence Dynamic, King Saul, Equivalence Formal, Genre Genre, Standard Version, Critical Text, Hebrew Aramaic, Context Historical, majority text, formal equivalence, standard version, dynamic equivalence, equivalent translation, critical text, king james version, formal equivalent, james version, original author, dynamic equivalent, american standard version, dynamic equivalent translation, revised standard version, original greek hebrew,