1. Introduction
to
The Tools and Technology
Of
Understanding the Bible!

2. THE NEED FOR AN INTERPRETER: Acts 8: 30 – 35
“Do you understand what you are reading?
“How can I, unless someone explains in to me.”
DIFFICULT PASSAGES HAVE TO BE EXPLAINED TO AVOID DISTORTION: 2 Pt. 3:16
“He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking to them in these matters.
His letters contains some things THAT ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND, which
ignorant & unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their
own destruction.”
PROPHECY IN THE BIBLE IS NOT A PRIVATE MATTER: 2 Pt 1:20
“Above all you must understand that no prophecy of the
Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation.”

3. •35. What is the literal sense of a passage is not always as obvious in the
speeches and writings of the ancient authors of the East, as it is in the
works of our own time. For what they wished to express is not to be
determined by the rules of grammar and philology alone, nor solely by the
context; the interpreter must, as it were, go back wholly in spirit to those
remote centuries of the East and with the aid of history, archaeology,
ethnology, and other sciences, accurately determine what modes of writing,
so to speak, the authors of that ancient period would be likely to use, and in
fact did use.
•36. For the ancient peoples of the East, in order to express their ideas, did
not always employ those forms or kinds of speech which we use today; but
rather those used by the men of their times and countries. What those
exactly were the commentator cannot determine as it were in advance, but
only after a careful examination of the ancient literature of the East. The
investigation, carried out, on this point, during the past forty or fifty years
with greater care and diligence than ever before, has more clearly shown
what forms of expression were used in those far off times, whether in poetic
description or in the formulation of laws and rules of life or in recording the
facts and events of history. The same inquiry has also shown the special
preeminence of the people of Israel among all the other ancient nations of
the East in their mode of compiling history, both by reason of its antiquity
and by reasons of the faithful record of the events; qualities which may well
be attributed to the gift of divine inspiration and to the peculiar religious
purpose of biblical history.

4. HERMENEUTICS
The art and science of interpretation.
COMPONENTS OF HERMENEUTICS
1. WORLD OF THE TEXT
(The content itself of the issue, the object of
analysis. Consider the elements that
surround the issue, facts and figures, and the
data that make up the issue, the manner of
presentation.)

5. World of the TEXT
FORM CRITICISM:
It is necessary to determine its literary type or genre.
NARRATIVE CRITICISM:
Delivers the biblical message in the form of story
with a plot – beginning, conflict, climax, and ending.
LITERARY OR PHILOLOGICAL CRITICISM:
(philo=love, logos=word)
Study the original languages used in the Bible, covering
vocabularies, grammatical style, and the comparative usage of a
word in parallel passages, or how the same word is used in other
books of the Bible.
Example:
NT: IPSISSIMA VERBA - Actual word spoken by Jesus

6. 2. WORLD BEHIND THE TEXT
(Look at the background of the issue, the factors
that contributed why the issue is like that.
Consider the culture, situation, setting, people
involved, intentions and prevailing ideology)

7. World of the AUTHOR
world behind the text
HISTORICAL CRITICISM:
• Studies the biblical text in the light of its historical and cultural context.
• Involved in determining the author, date, audience & purpose of a given
biblical book (source, form, redaction).
TEXTUAL CRITICISM:
It recovers or reconstructs the original composition of texts vis-à-vis the volume of
divergent copies or versions
Examples:
Kng Dvd klld tht wckd prsn, th Phlstn Glth.
Kng Dvd klld th mn. (Should we read “man” or “men”?)
Kng Dvd lvd. (Should we read “loved” or “lived”?)
SOURCE CRITICISM:
Establish the sources which a given biblical writer may have used in compiling his work.
Example: OT: Pentateuch-JEDP Traditions, NT: Gospels-Quelle
REDACTION CRITICISM:
The study of how the text was edited and how it developed according to
the final editor’s point of view.

8. 3. WORLD BEFORE THE TEXT
(The application and significance today.
What are the possible effects of the
issue to us, to the contemporary or
even the future. In what way we can
relate to the issue?)

9. World of the READER
world b4 d txt
FEMINIST CRITICISM:
Involves a reading of the text in, writing of an analysis, or
reconstructing of history in the light of oppressive
structures of patriarchal society.
Gender Inclusiveness:
•1985 New Jerusalem Bible
•1986 New American Bible NT
•1989 Revised English Bible
•1990 New Revised Standard Version

10. There should be a symbiotic relationship
between Diachronic and Synchronic Reading.
1.3. Exegesis. Greek – exegeisthai, = to “draw out.” It
is a method of drawing out:
 The original intention of the writer;
 The intended meaning for the readers
whom the text was originally addressed.
This method employs several approaches which we
generally call Biblical Criticism. These tools explain
the text by establishing it in its “real world.”

11. The symbiotic relationship between Exegesis and
Hermeneutics.
Exegesis is not complete without its
derived meaning interpreted and
applied to real life of the reader.
Hermeneutics would be a very tough
job without first re-discovering the
‘world of the past’ because there is
always the danger of ‘missing the point’
and the real meaning.
Examples:
Holocaust in Moses’ times (Lev 1:2-9)
Jesus calms the storm (Mt 8:18)

12. Between the two extremes poles, other methods employ
various techniques and processes to extract explanations and
meanings from biblical texts.
1.3.1. Diachronic Reading (Greek – kronos = “through
time”) studies the:
 Historical development or historicity of texts;
E.g., Is it original or an interpolation?
Has the text been edited?
 Cultural milieu where the text originated;
E.g. Hebrew culture is colored by a deep
sense of covenant with Yahweh (Ex 24).
 Traditions across the passage of time;
E.g. Ritualistic worship (Ex 24:6-11)
offerings (Lev 1:2-9)
 Basically, the “world behind the text.”

13. 1.3.2. Synchronic Reading (Greek – “with time”)
studies and analyzes the:
 Final form of the text as it appears to us, the readers.
 Language, composition, and the narrative
structure of the text without particular interest to its
historical background such as the life situation by the
time the text was written.
E.g. What is the plot of the story? Is there a
narrative theme?
 Capacity for persuasion of the text.
[E. Bragado & A. Monera, 1997: 32]

14. Etymology in Greek:
ex = out of, ago = to lead, sis = a process
Exegesis is a process of “leading, drawing out” the meaning
from a text
Etymology in Greek:
eis = into, ago = to lead, sis = a process
The process of leading one’s own meaning into the text.

15. AUTHOR READER
SENDER RECEIVER
TEXT
MESSAGE SENT

16. To be intelle
ctually enlig
htened…
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ext fully grasped i
Mea ning of the t f
ed in the lives o
fully actualiz it.
appropriate
readers who
Personal
Conversio
n…

17. Tools for Biblical Interpretation
(XL) (XR)
Mythological Fundamentalist
Approach Approach
The Bible is a
book of stories. Literalist
Exegesis Eisegesis
drawing the putting your
meaning out of meaning into
the text the text
Historico-critical
Method
ancient record of
Diachronic Synchronic events
Reading Reading
historicity, cultural final form of
milieu, traditions the text