My Newest Understanding of Interpreting Scripture
I have been learning about the Bible since I was a child. My family believed the Bible and tried to follow it. I went to Christian schools who taught from it and from a Biblical perspective, I belonged to a church that preached from the Bible. Then when I was 16, I became a teacher myself. I became the assistant and substitute for a class of third graders. Now I look back on 30 years of teaching Sunday School, Bible studies, conferences, small group classes, and homeschooling not only my own, but other children part time through our coop and full time at homes.
I remember when I would take a lesson plan template that was made by a Sunday school or a homeschool curriculum company and teach from it without much thought. Most fundamental Biblical truths were presented accurately and the few that were not according my my specific beliefs were still within the bounds of orthodoxy and I was easily able to correct that as I prepared the lesson. None were ever remotely close to heresy. As I gained more understanding of how to correctly interpret Scripture, I began to critique the templates according to proper technique. Many Christians in many fields have not learned these principles, including pastors, teachers, authors, radio/TV speakers, evangelists, preachers, and the list goes on. I have been in this list and still am to a degree because I am still learning and improving as I hope you are.
As I studied hermenuetics, I began to approach these lesson plan templates differently. I began to catch some error in context or misapplication.
Once a lesson I taught to elementary children was based on Acts chapter 6, which is the historical narrative about the choosing of the first deacons. The lesson presented the story as Scripture tells it, but goes on to comment on how these early Christians handled a problem. It said they could have gotten into a huge disagreement and instead they acted kindly toward one another and worked it out as friends should. Then the lesson focused on friendship, working together, and the golden rule. As these concepts are good things, I could have simply taught the lesson as it was presented. No harm, no foul, right?
However, Acts 6 has essentially nothing to do with friendship or how we treat one another. It is not didactic–that is, it is not commanding a course of action or outright teaching anything. It is just a record of what happened. Many things happen in the Bible that are not advocated. It is our job to learn positive and negative from happenings–in our own lives and the lives of others, including history and the Bible.
If I were to spend significant time studying this passage, perhaps I would find that some of these applications are viable, but as I did not do that, I ignored the application presented in the lesson plan template. I stuck to the text alone and presented only the story it as it was, explaining what the word deacon means and how we apply that term in our own church, describing some of the duties deacons usually handle (which are similar but not exactly like those of these first deacons), and pointing out those serving in this capacity in our own church body. But I would not bring in any unrelated concepts–even if they are Biblical concepts–because I wouldn’t want to create the misunderstanding that they were in any way connected with the passage of Scripture that was discussed.
As I continue to grow in my understanding of Bible interpretation, I may approach teaching a lesson like this in an even more refined way in the future. I am sure I have a LONG way to go in this area, but I hope I am getting better not only in studying, but in applying what I am learning.
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