Why Do We Need to Interpret the Bible? – Paul M. Williams

Knowing the Bible for Yourself (Pt. 1) As one opens the Bible, one quickly comes to discover that what they hold in their hand is not a single book, but a volume of ancient literature (some 66 books).  In fact, there are some 780, 000+ words all found sitting within a careful and purposeful grammatical structure with the oldest sections being more than 3 ½ thousand years in age and the most recent, 2000 years!  There are many different ways in which God could have communicated his will to mankind; he could have appeared at a given location every fifty years to speak to man in person or sent an angel to speak on his behalf.  Instead, God in His sovereign wisdom has chosen to communicate His message to mankind through the medium of written language.  In this first teaching part, we ask the question; "Why do we need to interpret the Bible?" As soon as one begins to read any literature, the need for interpretation comes immediately into play!!  This not only applies to the Bible, but all pieces of literature, because the underlying question that inevitably will arise is; "What does that mean?"  You cannot escape this question, and as soon as one asks this question, one by default has moved into the realm of interpretation.  The aim of all true Bible study is to uncover the plain meaning of the text so as to arrive at the proper understanding of truth.  Having understood what God's Word was to those first receiving it, we are then in a position to correctly apply the Word of God to our lives.     Download teaching notes (pdf) http://traffic.libsyn.com/bethesdashalom/1_Why_Do_We_Need_to_Interpret_the_Bible.pdf