Week Five | Biblical Study | Observing the Text

Transcript

1. BIBLE CLASS week 5 observing the text
2. OVERVIEW Biblical God Biblical Story Biblical Study Biblical Community & Mission
3. PUZZLE ACTIVITY BIBLICAL STUDY
4. CONTEXT & BIG PICTURE How do we get from there to here? BIBLICAL STUDY
5. THE PHILIPPIAN CHURCH • A wealthy Roman city – a retirement community for Roman soldiers • Imperial Cult Worship and Polytheism is huge • Planted with a rag-tag group of women and men(Acts 16.13; Acts 16.28; Acts 16.40) • Suffering (Acts 16.22-24, Phil 1.30; 1 Thess 2.2) • One of Paul’s favorite churches; Gave out of their poverty (Phil 4.15; 16; 2 Cor 11.8-9; 2 Cor 8.1-7) BIBLICAL STUDY
6. THE REASONS FOR PHILIPPIANS • Paul may have written it from Rome, but this could be unlikely. • Other suggestions include Caesarea and Corinth • Ephesus answers a lot of questions; Would mean that the book is written shortly after Galatians and 1 Corinthians, helping make sense of Paul’s abrupt change in Phil 3 • A thank you note for their gifts and a commendation of Epaphroditus, deserving of a hero’s welcome (2.29) • A stark lack of unity amongst the church, tarnishing their witness (2.14-16) and making them unable to withstand persecution (1.27). Humility like Christ is the answer (2.5-11) BIBLICAL STUDY
7. INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGE • This is a real letter with a real situation and we only have so many details. • Thus we tend to let our imaginations go beyond the text • But we can still get important lesson. • But often we get these lessons at the cost of the literary and historical context. We take a few sentences here and there and that’s it. BIBLICAL STUDY
8. PHILIPPIANS AND THE PRESENT DAY CHURCH • Philippians is about Christian unity, but not at the expense of the Gospel message. Paul explains unity from Christ’s perspective and examples it in himself, Timothy and Epaphroditus • A great perspective on suffering and joy • It begins and ends with God’s grace (1.2, 4.23), but this does not mean we lack responsibility in obedience(1.10, 2.12, 4.19) • It says a lot about how to interact with culture, understanding both its innate evil (2.15), but to take to heart that which is good (4.8) BIBLICAL STUDY
9. So often we want a theology, but we don’t start with the text. HOW THEN DO WE DO THEOLOGY? BIBLICAL STUDY
10. Context is Key “Any text without a context is a pretext for a proof-text.” D.A. Carson BUILDING BLOCKS
11. SOME DEFINITIONS Hermeneutics “Herman Who?” The practice of interpreting a text within a certain culture and applying the text to a differing culture • A Science • An Art • A Spiritual Act BUILDING BLOCKS
12. Exegesis [aka Interpretation] • “The historical investigation into the meaning of the biblical text.” – Gordon Fee, NT Exegesis • Not: “Why do we want Jesus to exit?” Eisegesis • The lack of investigating a text that leads to reading a meaning into a text that is not there. • Not: “I’s a Jesus” BUILDING BLOCKS
13. Contextualization • The cross-cultural communication and application of a text’s significance to our culture • All application is always cross-cultural BUILDING BLOCKS
14. Four kinds of context: Historical – What events surround the text? Cultural – What are the customs, practices, and institutions of the people involved in the text? Literary – How is the text arranged? What kind of text is it Redemptive – Where is this text’s place in God’s Grand Story? BUILDING BLOCKS
16. Canon: Christian (Protestant) Testament: New Testament Genre: Epistolary BUILDING BLOCKS
17. EPISTOLARY GENRE 1. “A text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its author or his or her readers. 2. “Whenever we share comparable particulars (i.e., similar specific life situations) with the first-century hearers, God’s Word to us is the same as his Word to them.” Gordon Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible For all Its Worth BUILDING BLOCKS
18. Canon: Christian (Protestant) Testament: New Testament Genre: Epistolary Book: Philippians Paragraph: 2.5-11 Phrase: “who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” Word: “made himself nothing” or kenosis BUILDING BLOCKS
19. BIBLICAL THEOLOGY “The branch of theological inquiry concerned with tracing themes through the diverse sections of the Bible (such as the wisdom writings or the Epistles of Paul) and then with seeking the unifying themes that draw the Bible together.” Grant Osborne, Hermeneutical Spiral, 263 BUILDING BLOCKS
20. HISTORICAL THEOLOGY The practice of understanding the history of interpretation and practice of Biblical texts. It provides two kinds of checkpoints: 1. Prevention of going outside acceptable doctrine 2. Awareness of importing a theological system onto the text – whether your own or one from history BUILDING BLOCKS
21. SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY The construction of a theology, typically within a certain theological community (Methodist, Reformed or evangelical, liberal) by which a particular issue is traced through scripture and through church history to come to a present contextualization of a doctrine. Ecclesiology Hamartiology Eschatology Soteriology Christology Pneumatology Missiology Moral Theology Antrhopology Spirituality Revelation Theology Proper Theodicy Sacramental Theology BUILDING BLOCKS
22. HOW DOES IT ALL FIT TOGETHER? BUILDING BLOCKS
23. EXEGESIS #
    Studies particular expressions of God’s revelation in terms of their: #
    Cultural Setting #
    Word Choice #
    Message BIBLICAL THEOLOGY #
    Notes the development of these ideas in the progression of God’s revelation and considers underlying larger truths behind the individual expressions SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY #
    Puts together the various aspects of these truths into the larger whole of dogma Controls Interpretations of the Text Shows the development throughout history Becomes a control of dogmatic conclusions of theology H I S T O R I C A L T H E O L O G Y
24. I. Introduction (1:1-11) 1. Greeting (1:1-2) 2. Two Prayers (1:3-11) i. A Prayer of Thanks (1:3-8) ii. A Prayer of Intercession (1:9-11) II. The Significance of Paul’s Circumstances (1:12-26) 1. The Gospel Progresses Through Paul’s Imprisonment (1:12-18a) 2. Christ Is Exalted Through Paul’s Life or Death (1:18b-26) III. The Challenge of the Philippians’ Circumstances (1:27-4:9) 1. Standing United (1:27-2:18) i. Standing United Against Opposition from Outside (1:27-30) ii. Standing United Against Division from Within (2:1-4) iii. Standing United by Following Christ’s Example (2:5-11) iv. Working Out Salvation by Standing United (2:12-18) 2. Two Examples of Christian Unity (2:19-30) I. Timothy (2:19-24) II. Epaphroditus (2:25-30) 3. A Warning Against Theological Error (3:1-4:1) I. A Seam in the Letter’s Argument (3:1) II. A Warning Against Judaizers (3:2-11) III. A Warning Against Perfectionists (3:12-4:1) 4. Concluding Admonitions (4:2-9) I. A Plea for Unity to Two Coworkers (4:2-3) II. A Brief Set of Admonitions (4:4-9) IV. Conclusion (4:10-23) 1. An Expression of Gratitude (4:10-20) 2. Closing Greetings and Benediction (4:21-23)
25. GRAMMAR Take note of the verbs (person, number, tense, voice, aspect), the participles (-ing, while), prepositions (to, below, under, etc), nouns/pronouns (case, number, gender), adjectives & adverbs (-ly) OBSERVING THE TEXT
26. KEY PHRASES Assertion: Making a statement Event/Action: Something that happened Rhetorical Question: A question used to make a declaration Desire: Expression of a wish or hope Exclamation: And assertion with additional force OBSERVING THE TEXT
27. KEY PHRASES Exhortation: Advisement or encouragement towards an action Warning: Advisement or encouragement against an action Promise: A statement concerning outcome of an action Problem/Resolution: The stating of a problem as well at its resolution Entreaty: A request made to a superior OBSERVING THE TEXT
28. KEY WORDS Look for those words that seem to be central to the theme of the passage. Often these are the words that carry a lot of meaning but can seem ambiguous. OBSERVING THE TEXT
29. MODIFYING WORDS & PHRASES Phrases and words are brought together through words that connect ideas. Sometimes these words and phrases can modify: SUBJECT & OBJECT: Who caused it to occur? Who receives the occurrence? TIME: When did it occur? Simultaneous, Sequence, Progression OBSERVING THE TEXT
30. MODIFYING WORDS & PHRASES LOCATION: Where did it occur? Sphere, Source, Separation ADVERBIAL: How did it occur? Measure, Circumstance, Cause, Result, Purpose, Means, Manner, Agency, Reference, Advantage or Disadvantage, Association, Relationship, Possession OBSERVING THE TEXT
31. MODIFYING WORDS & PHRASES LOGIC: What occurs? Basis, Condition, Inference, Concession, Contrast, Comparison CLARIFICATION: Why did it occur? Restatement, Description, Identification, Illustration, Apposition, Explanation, Alternative, Question & Answer FORM: What is the structure of the phrases? Introduction, Conclusion, List, Series, Parallels, Pivot Points OBSERVING THE TEXT
32. KEY QUESTIONS Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? OBSERVING THE TEXT
33. SOME INITIAL STEPS • Circle Key Words/Phrases • Underline Pronouns and connect them to their antecedent • Highlight Connecting Words OBSERVING THE TEXT
34. MAKING OBSERVATIONS Using the observation guide, write out a complete sentence that makes an observation of the text “The mind amongst the Philippians is to be the same as Christ Jesus.” (Phil 2.5) “Paul highlights the type of death Jesus died as one that was on a cross.” (Phil 2.8) OBSERVING THE TEXT
35. Read Philippians; Meditate on Philippians 1.27-2.11 Read: Greek for the Rest of Us, “Phrasing” pp.55-77 Complete “Observing Philippians” Activity NEXT WEEK
36. Read Philippians; Meditate on Philippians 1.27-2.11 Read: Greek for the Rest of Us, “Phrasing” pp.55-77 Complete “Observing Philippians” Activity NEXT WEEK
37. BIBLE CLASS week 5 observation observing the text