Lesson Goal
In this lesson I hope to eradicate or greatly diminish bad biblical interpretation in churches. I also hope to arm both preacher and congregation against the shoddy Scriptural analysis of many televangelists and popular Christian writers.
Lesson Intro
You can give a man a fish or teach him how to catch his own and feed him for life. Giving a church the tools to rightly interpret the Bible will serve them well for life. Substandard biblical interpretation is not just the domain of badly educated televangelists and those who write light Christian reading, but it so pervades the Christian landscape today that many preachers and their congregations need a complete overhaul in regard to interpreting biblical truth.
There are two opposite extreme views of doctrine today. On the naïve extreme are those who teach that doctrine is irrelevant, impractical or divisive, and yet that teaching is itself doctrine. On the other extreme is denominationalism, those who overly emphasize non-essential doctrines and brand those who disagree with their narrow views as heretics.
The Bible says that doctrine is important. People were astonished at Christ's doctrine (Matthew 7:8). He taught people to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:12). Jesus' parables were doctrine (Mark 4:2). He taught people how to discern that his doctrine was right (John 7:17). The early church continued in the apostles' doctrine (Acts 2:42). Those who taught contrary doctrines were avoided (Romans 16:17).
Paul warned the Ephesians not be carried about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14) and told Timothy to warn people not to teach any other doctrine (1 Timothy 1:3). He wrote to Timothy to give attention in his preaching to doctrine (1 Timothy 4:13) and that preachers who labor in doctrine are worthy of double honor (1 Timothy 5:17). The Bible is profitable for doctrine (2 Timothy 3:16). We are warned that some will not endure sound doctrine (2 Timothy 4:3). Titus was told to teach what is consistent with sound doctrine (Titus 2:1). Those who do not abide in the doctrine of Christ do not have God and we ought not to receive their teachings into our homes (2 John 1:9-10).
Lesson Plan
This lesson will explore giving a sermon on introducing biblical interpretation to a congregation. It is not the purpose of this lesson to teach a preacher how to become a good exegete. There are plenty of excellent books and seminary or Bible College courses available on the topics of exegesis and hermeneutics that cover that far more thoroughly. This lesson will specifically encourage you to begin introducing right biblical interpretation to the congregation, so that they can be armed against the many heresies and biblically illiterate preaching in the popular Christian media today.
The Sermon on Exegesis
If you have never taken a class on hermeneutics or exegesis do so. It is a failure of some Bible Colleges that they do not make such a class mandatory. If taking a class is not convenient, urgently buy a half-dozen good books on the subject as time and finances permit, for a variety of opinions and approaches.
The exegetical process involves several key components: God, the author, the text, the ancient audience, their historical context, and the modern audience. If we include God in the process, this is called revealed exegesis. If we don’t believe in the importance of any one of these components, our exegesis will be hampered. Much modern textual criticism of the Bible either leaves God out of the picture or starts with the presupposition that God doesn‘t operate in the way that biblical authors claim. This is so-called rational exegesis, as if belief in God is somehow irrational. However, not everyone who uses the term rational exegesis discounts God. Sometimes it is used in opposition to the assumption that the Bible cannot be understood in rational human terms.
Another bigoted presupposition is that when what was written does not match the exegete’s experience he claims that the ancient writer could not have been telling the truth. Even deeply convicted believers of the Bible often mishandle the text by reading modern experience backwards, assuming that it is the same. This kind of assumption is not good interpretation. We preachers need to gently teach our audience how to rightly divide the Word of Truth.
The golden rule of hermeneutics is that if the plain sense makes common sense, seek no other sense.
How Prepare
Pick a Scripture that is often misunderstood and badly exegeted in the popular Christian media. There are many of them, but if you are not well educated in theology, you may be at a loss. Any good book on exegesis such as Exegetical Fallacies by D. A. Carson (1996, Baker Books) or How to Read the Bible for all its Worth by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart (1993, Zondervan) will give you plenty of ideas for a start. If you want to become a master exegete, may I suggest buying about 20 of the best books on exegesis over time and studying them diligently? If it takes you 5 years, it will be well worth the effort.
Example Sermon
The following is an example of how a simple principle of good exegesis can be introduced to the congregation: the principle of asking, "What does the text NOT say?"
Title: Does Deuteronomy forbid Christmas?
Goal
The goal of this sermon is to teach people how to rightly interpret Scripture.
Intro
Some good Christians avoid Christmas and Easter because they believe these are pagan feasts slipped into Christianity by apostate church leaders. Is this true? What does the Bible say? One of the sections of Scripture used to try and prove this is Deuteronomy 12. I have heard preachers read the passage, claim that Christmas comes from paganism and is therefore banned by this text of Holy Writ. Is that really what it says?
Plan
We will examine the relevant passage in Deuteronomy 12 for what it actually says, what it does not say, what God specifically banned and why Christmas is an excellent opportunity to celebrate Jesus.
Body: Deuteronomy 12:30-31
What is says: After Israel took possession of the promised land from murderous and depraved indigenous tribes God told them, not to ask how the surrounding nations serve their gods, because they did detestable things like child sacrifice.
What it does not say: Does it tell us not to borrow any custom of any kind from pagan religious practices? Does it say that nothing once used in idol worship is to be used in religious devotion to God? I suppose that could be possible. But hey, didn't pagans have temples, prayers, priests, sacrifices, religious music, festivals and so on? They sure did, and those practices are also common to both Jews and Christians.
God was specific: So what did God mean then? He gave an example of the specific kind of things not to adopt in verse 31. He did not want Israel to adopt vile and despicable things. What did God mean by that? He even gave an example: child sacrifice. Now that is pretty sick. God does not forbid prayer, which pagans also did, nor music, dancing, raising of hands in praise, sacrifices or December 25th as a day. None of those things are described as abominable. To claim that this verse bans Christmas is reading into the verse something that it does not say. It is, simply put, twisting the Scriptures.
A reason to celebrate: The practice of celebrating Jesus' birth came into the Church about 200-300 AD, long after the New Testament was written. Christians are free to celebrate the events surrounding the most important story of history: the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. There is nothing in the New Testament which tells us when we may do so and so we are free to celebrate Jesus any time of year. Most Christians do so on either December 25 or January 6.
Outro
Christmas does not celebrate child sacrifice, ritual prostitution, the birth of the sun god, the winter solstice or any other pagan thing. While some of the customs of Christmas have their origins in pagan history or worldly merchandising, the real focus of Christmas is God becoming flesh in the person of Jesus Christ, so that he could suffer and die for our sins, and that through him the whole world might be saved. That is worth celebrating!
Principles of Exegesis
Gordon D. Fee, in his New Testament Exegesis, (2002, John Knox, p. 27) states that, “Exegesis…answers the question, What did the biblical author mean? It has to do both with what he said (the content itself) and why he said it at any given point (the literary context). Furthermore, exegesis is primarily concerned with intentionality: What did the author intend his original readers to understand?”
So the first question we must answer is what did the text meant for its original audience. Gordon Fee mentions 8 steps (p. 32):
Historical context
Limits of the passage
Thorough grasp of the text
Sentence structures and syntax
Establish the text
Grammar
Significant words
Historical-cultural background
Obviously this is a very sketchy overview of a subject that is better handled over months and years of study, but it may give lay preachers an idea of what is involved in rightly dividing the word of truth, and be a reminder for those who have forgotten their classes on exegesis and hermeneutics. If this makes you tremble even more at the word of God and helps you be even more humble and of a contrite spirit (Isaiah 66:2-5) then that is a good thing. That's the kind of preacher we need.
Suggested Assignment
Debunk a popular urban myth about the Bible that will not greatly offend your congregation when you do so. If you are educated enough in theology and read widely and have watched a variety of televangelists, you may readily think of dozens of examples, from the bad interpretation of many biblical words to the misuse of dozens of verses in pop-theology. Choose something that will protect your church from the popular fads and heresies of those who make merchandise of the brethren by palming off bad theology and empty-headed fluff on naïve and innocent lambs.
Lesson Outro
One of the greatest blessings you can give your congregation is to educate them as to what is proper interpretation of Scripture, and help eradicate or greatly diminish bad biblical interpretation in churches. Arm your congregation against trendy and dreadful biblical interpretation. Help them stay focused on Jesus who is the center of our faith, rather than fads. May you be a good shepherd who feeds the Lord's sheep nourishing spiritual food!
