If you’re like me, you’ve not heard many sermons on interpreting the Bible accurately – I can’t recall a single one in all my years of church attendance. Every Christian is expected to be a student of the Bible, yet we are not taught how to approach our study of God’s Word. Somehow, it is assumed that we’ll just figure it out ourselves.

Consequently, most Christians frequently use an intuitive or ‘feels-right’ method of interpretation, or we resort to a spiritualising approach. If the text looks like it could be applied directly, then we attempt to do so. If not, we take a spiritualising approach to the meaning where we allegorise the biblical text—in the process showing little or no sensitivity to the biblical context. Some simply ignore the text’s meaning altogether and move on to another passage!

Sadly, such approaches as elucidated above are inadequate if we are to grasp the meaning of Biblical passages as the author intended. Many Christians are admittedly uncomfortable with such approaches, recognising their willy-nilly nature and the extreme subjectivity involved. Still, they continue to use them anyway because they are the only method they know.

A few years ago, a good friend of mine, now a church planter in Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana, handed me a copy of Duvall and Hays’ book, “Journey into God’s Word: Your Guide to Understanding and Applying the Bible”. As far as my Bible study life is concerned, this book has remained the most life-transforming literature I have ever read on interpreting and applying Scripture accurately. In this article, I will attempt to summarise the lessons I gleaned from Duvall and Hays, regarding how we navigate from the Biblical audience to today’s world.

The authors liken the process of interpreting and grasping the meaning of Biblical passages to embarking on a journey. This journey begins with reading the text thoroughly and carefully. From this careful reading, we can determine what the passage meant in the biblical context: what it meant to the original recipients. We are, however, separated from the biblical audience by culture and customs, language, situation, and a vast expanse of time. These differences form a barrier or, better still, a river that separates us from the text, often prohibiting us from directly applying the meaning of the text to ourselves. Any attempt to interpret and apply the Bible involves trying to cross the river.

Moreover, there is another significant interpretive barrier between the Old Testament (OT) biblical audience and the Christian reader today: a change in covenant. We, as New Testament (NT) believers are under the new covenant; thus, we approach God through the sacrifice of Christ. On the other hand, the OT audience was under the old covenant, and the Law was central to them.

Thus, the river between the OT text and us consists not only of culture, language, situations, and time but also of covenant. We have much more in common with the NT audience, yet, even in the NT, the different cultures, languages, and specific situations can present a formidable barrier to our understanding of the meaning of the text.

It is essential to realise that the goal of the interpretive journey is to grasp the meaning of the text God has intended. We do not create meaning out of a text; instead, we seek to find the meaning already there. However, we recognise that we cannot apply the meaning for the ancient audience directly to us today because of the river that separates us, as mentioned earlier. The guidelines provided by the authors are based on the premise that the Bible is a record of God’s communication of himself and His will to us. We revere the Bible and treat it as holy because it is God’s Word and reveals God to us.

Many texts in the Bible are specific, concrete, revelatory expressions of broader, universal realities or theological principles. While the specifics of a particular may only pertain to an individual situation of the biblical audience, the theological principles revealed in that text always apply to all of God’s people. The theological principle, therefore, has meaning and application both to the ancient biblical audience and to Christians today; thus, it becomes our bridge across the river of differences. The authors call this the principlising bridge. Rather than blindly wading out into the river (via the intuitive approach), foolishly attempting to jump across the river in one short hop (as in the spiritualising method), or wishfully gazing at the other shore without even crossing (ignoring the meaning altogether), we can safely cross over the river on the bridge that the theological principle provides.

Constructing this principlising bridge is, therefore, one of the critical steps in our interpretive journey. Below are four steps toward building the principlising bridge, as outlined by Duvall and Hays.

GRASP THE TEXT IN THEIR TOWN – what did the text mean to the Biblical audience?
Here, you read the text carefully, carefully scrutinise the grammar, analysing all the significant words. A study of the historical and literary context is required, including determining how the text we’re studying relates to the one that precedes it and what follows it. Having done this, summarise the passage’s meaning for the Biblical audience into one or two sentences using past tense verbs referring to the Biblical audience. E.g., Jesus encouraged the disciples to… Be specific and do not generalise or try to develop theological principles just yet.

MEASURE THE WIDTH OF THE RIVER TO CROSS – what are the differences between the Biblical audience and us?
Here, we try to gauge how wide the river of differences is before we cross. Look for significant differences between your situation today and the situation of the Biblical audience. If you’re studying the OT, be sure to identify those significant theological differences that result from the life and work of Jesus Christ. In addition, be it an OT text or an NT one, be sure to identify any unique aspects of the situational context of your passage.

CROSS THE PRINCIPLISING BRIDGE – what is the theological principle in this text?
Here you look for the theological principle or principles reflected in the meaning of the text as identified in “grasping the text in their town”. This theological principle is part of the meaning. Your task is not to create meaning but to discover the meaning intended by the author. As God gives specific expressions to specific biblical audiences, he is also giving universal theological teachings to all his people through the same texts.

 To determine the theological principle, keep in mind the differences when measuring the bandwidth of the river of differences. Then, note the similarities between the situation of the Biblical audience and our situation. Having reviewed the differences and similarities, return to the meaning for the biblical audience as you described in the first step (grasping the text in their town) and try to identify a broader theological principle reflected in the text but also relating to the similarities between us and the Biblical audience. This principle then forms our principlising bridge by which we can cross the river of barriers.

 During this step, you must also keep in mind the teaching of the rest of Scripture. The theological principle you discover here must be congruent with the rest of Scripture. To summarise, 1) The principle should be reflected in the text; 2) It should be timeless and not tied to a specific situation; 3) It should correspond to the teaching of the rest of Scripture; 4) It should be relevant to both the Biblical audience and the contemporary audience. This derived theological principle(s) should then be jotted down using present tense verbs in one or two sentences.

GRASP THE TEXT IN OUR TOWN – how should individual Christians apply the theological principle in their lives today?

The meaning of the text must not be left in an abstract theological principle. The final step in our interpretive journey is to ask, “how does it apply to real-life situations today?” While there will usually be a few (often only one) theological principles for each passage that is relevant for all Christians today, there will be numerous possibilities for application. Each of us will grasp and apply the same theological principle in slightly different ways, depending on our present life situations and where we are in our relationship with God.

I realise that all of these steps might appear daunting, and you might think, “I didn’t realise Bible study is such hard work!” I admit it is – if we want to do it properly. And I would ask in return: “if we can be diligent in studying academic subjects, why should we approach the Bible differently?” But is it rewarding? Oh yes, it is! Why don’t you put them to the test?