Meaning of a Biblical Passage

The process of studying Scripture usually requires and involves more than reading surface text because an individual has to conduct an in-depth study. An in-depth study of text is a necessary process towards understanding the meaning of a passage from Scripture and grasping it fully. In essence, for an individual to gain a rich understanding of the meaning of a passage from a Scripture from different perspectives, it is important to conduct an in-depth study rather than just surface reading of the text. One of the most important aspects of gaining understanding of the meaning of a text is identifying who or what determines the meaning of that passage from the Bible. There are several exegetical methodologies and methods for Biblical interpretation that help in in-depth study of Scripture in order to know its meaning.

There are different methods of Biblical interpretation that are utilized to help in determining the meaning of a passage from Scripture. These different methods have been developed by Biblical scholars in attempts to help the reader understand the Bible. Additionally, the development of these different methods of Biblical interpretation is geared towards ensuring that the in-depth study is carried out in line with exegetical processes and interpretation for orthopraxy and orthopathy. When studying the Bible, the most common methods of interpretation focus on the reader, the text or the author. Actually, the question on who or what determines the meaning of a passage from the Bible is usually examined from the basis of whether it's the author, reader or the text itself.[footnoteRef:2] [2: George T. Montague, Understanding the Bible: A Basic Introduction to Biblical Interpretation (New York, NY: Paulist Press) 2007:144]

In that regard, there are three most commonly used methods for Biblical interpretation that are known as the three worlds of texts. These three methods are the World in Front of the Text (Reader Centered), the World Behind the Text (Author Centered), and the World Within the Text (Text Centered). These three common methods of Biblical interpretation are utilized in tandem with exegetical methodologies or processes in order to obtain a rich understanding of a Biblical passage of text. Additionally, the use of these three different methods helps in interpretation of Scripture in a manner that shows implications to the reader's contemporary situations and/or settings.

The World in Front of the Text is a reader centered approach in an in-depth study of the Bible, which involves bringing the reader's perspective to Scripture. This reader centered approach is utilized in studying Scripture because without the reader, an unread text has no meaning.[footnoteRef:3] In this case, a text or passage carries meaning when there is a mutual convergence between the reader and the text. The significance of the use of this method of Biblical interpretation is that the reader must make important decisions regarding what the text says. However, the use of this approach generates concerns on whether the meaning of a text is subjective to the reader's perceptions. This is primarily because every reader brings different experiences, interests, presuppositions, and competencies that influence his/her understanding of the Bible. The main problem with this reader centered approach is that the meaning of the passage is essentially the invention of the reader, which is distinct from the author's intention or the historical situation or context that influenced the original writing of the text. Moreover, each reading generates a new understanding, which implies there is no stable meaning of the passage or text from the Bible. [3: W. Randolph Tate, Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc.) 1991:145]

The World Behind the Text is an author centered approach in an in-depth study of the Bible in which the author's world and intentions are taken into consideration in order to derive meaning from a passage of Scripture. In this case, the text or passage is a by-product of the author who is a product of a historical context or period. Therefore, the social, cultural, political, and ideological aspects of the author comes into play when reading and/or examining a passage because of their role in shaping the author's writing/work. When this method is used, the meaning of a passage from Scripture is obtained from the author's motives with regards to his/her historical context as well as political, social and cultural aspects. This implies that the text itself and the reader are overlooked in the process of deriving meaning from a passage when using this author centered approach to Biblical interpretation. This essentially means that the major problem with this approach is limiting the meaning of a passage to its historical context, which may not be relevant to contemporary situations and settings.[footnoteRef:4] [4: Dave Smith, "Three Worlds of Text," Professor Dave Smith, last modified February 2014, http://profdavesmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Three-Worlds-of-Text2.ppt]

The World Within the Text is a text centered approach to an in-depth study of Scripture in which the literal elements of the passage are considered in order to obtain meaning and understanding. This process involves consideration of the natural languages of Scripture since languages are governed by syntactical, grammatical, and lexical codes.[footnoteRef:5] Additionally, secondary languages, which are known as literary languages, are also taken into consideration because they also have codes that influence the meaning of a passage. The use of this approach enables the reader to go beyond the meaning of a text in its natural language to what it is about through examining the codes in natural and literary languages of the Bible. Notably, the text centered approach emphasizes upon the text as the basis for the meaning of a Biblical passage. While this helps in enabling the reader to examine what the passage is about and it's meaning, it has a major problem because the text is considered as the container of meaning and understanding. The problem with this approach is that it limits the meaning that can be derived from a passage through disconnecting it from its historical context, from the author, and from the reader. In essence, the text or passage becomes autonomous, which in turn generates difficulties in understanding its meaning. [5: W. Randolph Tate, Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc.) 1991:61]

As evident in the analysis of the three most common methods for Biblical interpretation, there is no single method that can be utilized on its own to generate a rich understanding of a passage from Scripture. Each of these methods has its own strengths and weaknesses that limit its applicability as the most suitable approach for Biblical interpretation. As a result, the most effective way to determine the meaning of a passage from Scripture is to use an integrated approach that involves the reader, author, and the text. The suitability of an integrated approach also stems from the fact that meaning of a passage is a mutual engagement/discourse between the author, the text, and the reader.

In this case, a rich meaning of a passage from Scripture is derived from examining the historical context/perspective (World of the Author), the narrative (World of Text), and the reality (World of the Reader).[footnoteRef:6] When any of these perspectives is given exclusive focus while neglecting the others, it will be relatively impossible to obtain a rich meaning of a passage from Scripture. Actually, the emphasis on one method of Biblical interpretation over the others only provides a one-sided perspective of the meaning of the text. The one-sided perspective is in turn limited because of the failure to consider the other important dimensions of the text, which are crucial for a deeper understanding and application of the meaning. [6: Dave Smith, "Three Worlds of Text," Professor Dave Smith, last modified February 2014, http://profdavesmith.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Three-Worlds-of-Text2.ppt]

The significance of an integrated approach to determine the meaning of a Scripture is evident in the fact that written discourse is a conversation or communication between the author, text and the reader.[footnoteRef:7] In this case, there is no text without an author while an unread text is meaningless because the author writes in order to communicate to the reader. Communication from the author does not take place until the message (text /passage) reaches the desired destination (reader). Therefore, the author, text and the reader determines the meaning of a passage from Scripture and represent a balanced approach towards Biblical interpretation. In this process, the author brings his/her perspective through a text/passage while the reader brings his/her perspective of the world and conception of reality to the text. [7: W. Randolph Tate, Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc.) 1991:146]

Single-method approaches towards determining the meaning of a passage should be replaced with an integrative approach because the latter helps in providing a rich and balanced understanding of a Biblical passage/text.[footnoteRef:8] The hermeneutical direction for the 21st Century is increasingly embracing an integrated approach for understanding the meaning of passage from Scripture. The integrated approach involves intersecting the author, text and the reader in order to ensure analyzed texts provide Christian principles that become the reader's way of life. [8: Dirk van der Merwe, "Reading the Bible in the 21st Century: Some Hermeneutical Principles: Part 1," Verbum et Ecclesia 36 (1), http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2074-77052015000100025]