INTRODUCTION
The consensus in the world today is that the average person can't accurately interpret what the Bible says. Do the following statements sound familiar to you?: ‘’People should rely on the clergy/experts to tell us what the Bible means’’ - this statement reflects the assumption that the meaning of scripture is beyond the reach of the average person. People have always disagreed about the meaning of the Bible because of the fact that nowadays there are different denominations as people have disagreed, and sometimes their disagreements have been brutal. So is the best posture tolerance of hermeneutical diversity? To what extent? Are all meanings valid? "The Bible has been used to justify everything you can think of and a person can make it mean anything he want it to mean as there can show clear historical instances in which people have interpreted the Bible through their own cultural values, often without even being aware of it. (, 1976; , 1980)
DISCUSSION
Interpretations to the Scripture – the Holy Bible is quite not an easy thing to do, as there can be misuses as well as misconceptions of certain phrases and verses from within and that giving appropriate understanding and clearer emphasis on what God really wanted to convey to mankind through the bible has faced a lot of debates and arguments among thousands of religious sectors globally inclined to proclaim that their denomination is the real one over others. Persuasion and conviction of individual mind because of some intention as well as motive can be the utmost reason why there are so many attempts to interpret the Scripture, in order to captivate and capture the majority and possibly alter certain beliefs and values and in a way, change what their faith stands for them. (, 2001; and , 2006) The Bible is considered as the book life and that there are a lot of biblical translations that people can choose from and that it is quite confusing to know that ambiguous interpretations to it is evident in the society and in some cases causes conflicts among discussions made by religious leaders and world leaders in general and because of such attempts there has been transparency in church and state separation.
Thus, religion is one of the most influential factor when it comes to the societal as well as government activities and in order to govern and hold high power, there triggers to have diverse attempts in interpreting the Scripture without realizing that it is already misleading the perception and views of the people – the general public. (, 2002; , 2005) Moreover, moral interpretation is necessitated by the belief that the Bible is the rule not only of faith but also of conduct. The Jewish teachers of the late pre-Christian and early Christian Era, who found “in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth” (. ), were faced with the necessity of adapting the requirements of the Pentateuchal codes to the changed social condition as has been said, the importance of biblical hermeneutics has lain in the Bible's status as a sacred book in Judaism and Christianity, recording a divine revelation or reproducing divine oracles. (, 1976; , 1980) The oracles are primarily prophetic utterances, its primary purpose is to discover the truths and values of the Bible, which is seen as a receptacle of divine revelation. Four major types of hermeneutics have emerged: literal – asserting that the text is to be interpreted according to plain meaning; moral – seeking to establish the principles from which ethical lessons may be drawn; allegorical – interpreting narratives as having a level of reference beyond the explicit and anagogical or mystical – seeking to explain biblical events as they relate to the life to come. (, 1976; , 1980)
Thus, recently the word has come to refer to all deep reading of literary and philosophical texts as the vision still remains the hope of the whole human race as well the primary motivation of the modern state of Israel and its desire that Jerusalem be its capital city. Paul counsels the faithful that they avoid debilitating idleness as they wait for the coming of the Lord. (Cited in, ; ; ; ) In so doing they would imitate his practice of working for a living while carrying on his ministry. It was a poignant message to the many servants and slaves who had found hope for a better life in the gospel Paul preached and that by nature, such interpretations to the Scripture is hyperbolic as such it can never be literally interpreted in the sense as the certain purpose was to warn of judgment to come and to encourage the faithful that, come what may, God is still in control of historical events. Instead of predicting what would inevitably happen in coming troubles and persecutions, he was warning that things would get worse before they got better. for instance, some preachers may be tempted to seize on New Testament as means of predicting what will be the outcome of the present warfare instigated by criminally irresponsible terrorism or American assertive self-defense. It is imperative to realize that people live in God's world, the God who came in Jesus and is coming to complete God's historical purpose of reconciling all creation to God's eternal love. (Cited in, )
There has been this question, ‘Shall the difficulty of interpreting the Bible lead one to abandon attempts of interpreting it? It has been said that Sunday school teacher, should not put interpretation upon the Bible. Evidently, along with this dictum goes the implication that there are legitimately be different interpretations of the Scripture. In fact, a teacher of the Bible is not infrequently asked whether he gives the ‘denominational interpretation’ of the portion of Scripture he is studying. Perhaps one should not be surprised at such questions. The history of theology makes it only too evident that many men go to the Scriptures to find support for their own opinions and such interpreters very naturally find it necessary to practice imposition as a preparation for exposition. Bible teachers have themselves to thank for the decision of some law courts that the Bible is a sectarian book. It could hardly be otherwise if interpretations are to be put upon it. The phrase very well describes a method often in evidence. Interpretations have been determined in advance and then fitted to some text or perhaps the texts have been fitted to them. It is not difficult to discover the source of such exegetical anarchy as men have rebelled against enforced interpretations of the Scripture’. (Cited in, , 1903 )
There can be statements that reflect the relativism and postmodernism that has permeated the whole culture and there has been the challenge as for the reasons of interpreting the Scripture in a lot of ways as can be conceptualized in the illustration below:
Source of the above:
Since there is no objective standard to which the interpreter must bow, the final authority ceases to be the Scripture and becomes the interpreter. Allegorical interpretation is only rarely seen in Scripture (). Parables are usually not allegories. Allegories are usually narratives in which every detail has a corresponding spiritual significance. Parables are local-color stories which illustrate one main spiritual truth. When would allegorical interpretation be allowable? Only when the biblical authors explain it (as in ). Then, every word is taken absolutely literally including figures of speech and symbolism. Historical background is considered unnecessary and ignored. Any deviation from this rule is regarded as sacrilegious. The religious experience of the interpreter is the main focus and the Bible stimulates such an experience. The Bible in itself is not God's revelation, but it becomes God's revelation when someone accepts it through faith. Interpretation is thus seen primarily as a personal encounter with God. (, and , 2000) Aside, because the words of scripture are not as important as an encounter, much historical and factual information in the Bible could be false according to this view. There is no external objective control over interpretation, thus easily leading to eisogesis and proof-texting. (, 2001; and , 2006) There is not the necessary emphasis on sound doctrinal and expository study so the application may be misleading. Allegorizing occurs frequently, particularly with the use of the Old Testament. Reader-centered theories are openly biased, but they hold that in this they are no different than other approaches except that they are more honest and less naive. The reader is not under the authority of Scripture. Scripture is pressed into the ideological mold of the reader, leaving the reader in authority. (, and , 2002)
That everything in the Bible is not equally clear (), but the main message is sufficiently clear for us to be saved and accomplish God's purpose. The biblical authors assumed their readers could understand their main message. "The Bible is basically clear and lucid. It is simple enough for any literate person to understand its basic message. This is not to say that all parts of the Bible are equally clear or that there are no difficult passages or sections to be found in it. Laymen unskilled in the ancient languages and the fine points of exegesis may have difficulty with parts of scripture, but the essential content is clear enough to be understood easily." (, 1977 ) Furthermore, in conformity of the interpretations, there is the need to: (, 2006; , 2006; , 2005)
INTERPRET GRAMMATICALLY
Take the normal meaning of the words, phrases and sentences unless it is impossible to do so. The interpretation must correspond to the words and grammar in the text in a reasonable way. Otherwise, there is no objective control over the interpreter as most of the Bible can be interpreted by simply taking the language in the usual way.
INTERPRET HISTORICALLY
Historical interpretation means that we take into account the historical background of the author and the recipients. We are not interested at first in the question, "What does it mean to me?" but rather, "What did it mean to the original audience?" Use Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, commentaries, or other sources to learn more about customs, money, geography and be able to ascertain the original intent before we apply any biblical teaching.
INTERPRET CRITICALLY
The interpretation must make rational sense. The entire Bible is the product of one author (God) at the same time that it is the product of many authors. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect a consistent message throughout the Bible. Some of these rules are logical implications of a belief in the verbal plenary inspiration of scripture.
CONCLUSION
While God's purpose for man has never changed, his strategy in accomplishing that purpose has changed. He has dealt with man under different covenants, therefore, it is important to ask, "Under which program was this written?" Primary application of the passage will be to the people operating under that program, but not necessarily to others. There may be secondary applications for other programs based on principles which have universal application. The sacred status of the Bible in Judaism and Christianity rests upon the conviction that it is a receptacle of divine revelation. This understanding of the Bible as the word of God, however, has not generated one uniform hermeneutical principle for its interpretation. Some persons have argued that the interpretation of the Bible must always be literal because the word of God is explicit and complete; others have insisted that the biblical words must always have a deeper “spiritual” meaning because God's message and truth is self-evidently profound. Still others have maintained that some parts of the Bible must be treated literally and some figuratively.
Thus, fundamental belief in hermeneutics is that there is one interpretation. When the author of a book recorded history, or wrote their letter or gospel, they had a single intended meaning attached to what they wrote. This notion is easily understood today. When a person writes a letter, they are not thinking how they can write it so that the receiving person either cannot understand it or comes up with many different interpretations of what the writer meant. Instead, their is a particular meaning behind what they wrote. In turn, the interpretation is restricted by the writers intentions. Thus, when doing hermeneutics, one should always be aware of what the authors intended meaning was. This should guide and direct one's studies and should also safeguard against interpretations that do not fit the thought or flow of the book one is studying. It should be noted that although there is a single interpretation to be found in each passage, there can be more than one application.
REFERENCES
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