My first taste of bible college was in this very class called Biblical Interpretation under Bro Casey Ng. I remembered my seniors giving advice such as… sit up front cos the teacher speaks quite softly; don’t worry cos he’s a nice guy; assignments are quite easy cos mostly group work; ….. got party on the last lesson! And I must say that this class was indeed a pretty good introduction into the world of bible college and academic studies.
I went in to this class with great expectations. Why? Because as a Christian, I have but one standard to go to for the many moral, ethical questions that pop up in my life journey. And that is the inerrant word of God, the Bible. And I wanted to be able to discover for myself the truths laid within its pages, and not be too dependent upon the Sunday sermons, the seminars and courses conducted out there. I have found that self-discovery impacts me more than just listening to someone else expound on the Bible. And so I looked forward to getting the key to unlocking the Bible. And I was not disappointed.
The world of biblical interpretation is a fascinating one. The first encounter for me was that most of my favourite and often quoted verses got thrown out the window! The proverbial “Out of context!’ phrase became our oft chanted axiom. I found out that one of the most common mistake many of us make is that we approach the bible with preconceived assumptions and thinking. Unknowingly, we bring along with us our cultural background, education, and social habits into the interpretation of the bible. What a particular word means to us right now may not necessarily carry the same connotations in antiquity. And so one of the first principle I’ve learnt from here is that I must be like Marty McFly (Back to the Future) and get myself back in time to the setting of the biblical text. Get the whole picture of where it was written, the setting, the culture, to whom and for what purpose it was written.
Reading the textbooks recommended is also another practice that I’ve found most useful. It is a must to do the readings recommended as these will substantiate whatever the teacher cannot cover within the 2 hours of lesson each week. It enhances the learning experience as the books are able to cover in greater depth the techniques, principles introduced by the teacher. My personal favourite is Gordon Fee’s New Testament Exegesis: A Handbook for Students and Pastors.
Group work has been a real blessing to me in this class. It fosters friendships, forces us to interact with one another and breaks us out of the shell of individualism. Afterall, the kingdom of God is all about relationships as well. Even though I was unable to participate much in the discussions due to an unforeseen circumstance, the times when I was able to work as a group with them has been enriching. The camaraderie is great and I believe group work does add value to the whole package of learning in AGBC. On the flip side, it takes a lot more time and effort than if we were to do it individually, but the benefits outweight the inconveniences.
I will always remember this comment made by our group leader Eric. And that is that after attending this class, he is kind of disillusioned by some of the messages that are preached. Reason being that we are now more aware of when verses are taking out of context and misinterpretated by preachers. I face the same dilemma. Sitting through a Sunday sermon became a time of picking out anomalies in the preacher’s message. But I realised that I mustn’t fall into this trap of becoming a critique of sermons! The Holy Spirit can still work through whomever He has placed in that pulpit to deliver God’s message to us. Being aware of mistakes should drive me to want to find out the right meaning and share it with the people around me. It should never be one of the reasons for me to shop for another church.
The other interesting concept learnt in class was structural diagramming. Taking verses and dissecting it down to specific ideas and thoughts was a new way of learning for me. It was systematic and for me, helped to put the meanings within sentences into a logical flow. Great for studying the verses in depth.
The use of concordances and dictionaries was a thrill for me too. I finally found out how to use these goliath volumes of work. Never knew how much work can go into examing just a single word. But this concept has helped me widen my scope of looking at the biblical text. Of linking works of the same author together to get his meaning behind the use of words in his writings.
In a nutshell, it has been a good experience. This class is the start of hopefully, a lifetime journey of studying Scriptures and experiencing the wonders and revelations of God’s words in His holy bible.
