INTERPRETATION PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS
Steps of Interpreting New Testament Letters
The purpose of Interpretation Project is to provide you with an opportunity to practice and hone your skills of biblical interpretation. The focus of this project is the New Testament letters. Duvall & Hays explain and illustrate the 4 steps of the Interpretive Journey for New Testament letters in Journey into God's Word: Your Guide to understanding and applying the Bible (Chapter 9). For a thorough treatment of the interpretive journey, refer to Grasping God's Word by Duvall & Hays (preferably the third edition, copyrighted in 2012). While Grasping God's Word is not required for this course, it is highly recommended.
After carefully reviewing Chapter 1 and reading Chapter 9 in Journey into God's Word, apply the 4 steps of the interpretive journey to Galatians 5:16-18. The project must be 375-500 words typed in Times New Roman and double spaced. In addition to a study Bible, consult, interact with, and document at least 3 scholarly commentaries on Galatians, citing each source. Format the project in a single Microsoft Word document using current APA, MLA, or Turabian style (whichever corresponds to your degree program).
This interpretation project must substantially address each of the follow steps of the interpretative journey:
Step 1: Grasp the text in their town. During the first step of the interpretive journey, you will use your observation skills to read the text carefully and discover what the text meant to the biblical audience. During this step, you will need to read about the cultural and historical background of the passage. For your purposes here, a good study Bible along with Bible dictionaries and commentaries will give adequate background information on the text under consideration (Galatians 5:16-18).
During Step 1, you will also identify the literary context of Galatians 5:16-18. You will need to read the entire letter to the Galatians. It is preferable to read the letter in one sitting. After all, that is how the New Testament letters were intended to be read. As you read through the letter, try to ignore the chapter and verse divisions and read it as a literary unity. Think in terms of topical paragraphs as you read the letter. You will then summarize the text in 100-125 words. In order to understand the literary context of Galatians 5:16-18, you will need to summarize the main point of the paragraph that precedes it (Galatians 5:13-15), the paragraph that contains your text (Galatians 5:16-18), and the paragraph that comes right after your text (Galatians 5:19-26). You will notice that different Bible versions divide the paragraphs a bit differently, but go with the divisions given above. After this exercise, you will be able to state what your text meant to the first-century audience.
Step 2: Measure the width of the river to cross. Step 2 of the interpretive journey is discovering the differences between the biblical (original) audience and you today. You are separated from the biblical audiences (whether Old Testament or New Testament) in time, culture, geography, language, situation, etc. These differences create a divide, a river as it were, that prohibits you from making a direct move from the original context to your present-day context. Consequently, Step 2 is an essential process in which you will discover the significant differences between your situation and that of the biblical audience. You will also identify the unique aspects of the situation that is depicted in the biblical passage. Consider possible similarities you have with the biblical audience as well. You will write, in 100-125 words, a description of the differences that define the width of the river you need to cross.
Step 3: Cross the principilizing bridge. In light of how your situation is similar to and different from that of the biblical audience, try to identify the theological principle or principles reflected in the text. The theological principle will rise naturally out of the biblical text. It will be part of the meaning of the text and not something you read back into the text. In order to decide whether you have truly discovered a theological principle, ask yourself the following questions:
1. Is this theological principle clearly reflected in the biblical text?
2. Is it timeless rather than tied to a specific situation?
3. Is the principle culturally bound?
4. Is it consistent with the teaching of the rest of Scripture?
5. Is it 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. Review the example on pp. 19-20 (Old Testament passage) and pp. 101-102 (New Testament passage) of the Duvall & Hays text. Write out the theological principle or principles in 1-2 sentences (50-75 words) using present-tense verbs.
Step 4: Grasp the text in your town. Now, it is time to apply the theological principle that has been derived from the biblical text to you today. While there may be only 1 theological principle in a biblical passage, several applications may be appropriate. Ask yourself how individual Christians today should apply the theological principle or principles in their lives. In 125-150 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 concrete and specific applications to your life today. The application must be both faithful to the meaning of the text and relevant to your life today.
It will be important to review Chapter 8 in Journey into God's Word in order to complete Step 4. Duvall & Hays provide an excellent example in this chapter of all 4 steps of the interpretative journey using Philippians 4:13 as the destination text.