Steps of Interpreting New Testament Letters

Steps of Interpreting New Testament Letters

Duvall and Hays explain and illustrate the four steps of the Interpretive Journey for New Testament letters in Journey into God’s Word: Your Guide to Understanding and Applying the Bible (pp. 100–102). After carefully reading Duvall and Hays, apply these steps to Galatians 5:16–18. A solid topical paragraph must be devoted to each step. Format the project in a single Word document using APA, MLA, or Turabian style (whichever corresponds to your degree program). When the four steps are completed, your project will be between 300–400 words. This interpretation project must substantially address each of the follow steps.

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Step 1: Grasp the text in their town. Use your observation skills to read the text carefully and discover what the text meant to the biblical audience. Use a good study Bible along with Bible dictionaries and commentaries to find out about the background information on this text. Summarize the text in 100–125 words. Identify the literary context of your text. Summarize the main point of the paragraph before your text, the paragraph that contains your text, and the paragraph that comes right after your text. State what your text meant to the first-century audience.

Step 2: Measure the width of the river to cross. Find out what the differences are between the biblical audience and us today. Write 50–75 words describing the differences that define the width of the river you need to cross.

Step 3: Cross the Principilizing Bridge. In light of how our situation is similar to and different from that of the biblical audience, try to identify the theological principle(s) reflected in the text. Write out the principle(s) in 50–75 words using present-tense verbs. After writing the principle(s), ask yourself the questions below to determine whether you have truly discovered a theological principle. Is the principle(s):

1. Reflected in the biblical text?
2. Timeless rather than tied to a specific situation?
3. Culturally bound?
4. Consistent with the teaching of the rest of Scripture?
5. Relevant to both the biblical audience and the contemporary audience?

If you can answer “yes” to these 5 questions, then you have found a theological principle.

Step 4: Grasp the text in our town. Ask yourself how individual Christians today should apply the theological principle(s) in their lives. In 100–125 words, write out at least 2 real-life applications of each principle. Follow the 3 elements below when deciding on these applications:

1. Identify the key elements present in the intersection between the principle and the text’s original situation.
2. Consider a scenario in contemporary life that contains all the key elements of the principle.
3. Make an application to today, keeping it specific. The application should be both faithful to the meaning of the text and relevant to the contemporary audience.