Rulonda Fuller

Becoming Students of the Word The Need for Effective Studying In 2 Timothy 2:15, the apostle Paul urged his spiritual son to “do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (NIV). In order for us, as Believers, to handle the Word of Truth, we must know what it says. We have to study it, but study it effectively. Having a car doesn’t do a person any good unless she knows how to drive it and maintain the laws of the road while driving. Likewise, reading and studying the Bible will do us no good if we don’t study it effectively and get the full understanding of the text. Biblical scholars call this “hermeneutics” (pronounced ‘her-men-new-tics’) which is the art and science of Biblical interpretation, in laymen terms. Learning how to study the Bible effectively involves more than just reading a verse or chapter a day and meditating on it as you drive to work in the morning. No, it takes deliberate planning out of your day to sit, think, and dive into the text by asking questions of what you’re reading. Not just “how does this apply to my life today” queries, but deeper questions that deal with Biblical culture and/or history. The purpose of hermeneutics is to get an understanding of what the original author intended—in light of how the text applies to our lives—not to impose our own interpretations of the text over, or above, what the author’s intent was. For example, if you were reading Luke’s account of the Gospel and saw that in the first chapter that Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, thanks God for her pregnancy by saying, “The Lord has…shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people” (verse 25, NIV). Based on this verse, you might conclude something like this: “Based on the text, Elizabeth’s pregnancy took away her disgrace from the people around her. Did virgins or barren women who were married suffer public shame? Why?” This type of question is addressing the historical context of Luke 1:25 and thus, making one more engaged with the text by considering the historical elements of the original author. Again, to effectively study the Bible, the author’s intention for writing the text must be our primary focus, not our interpretations of the author’s words. Namely, we are to focus on what the original intent of the author was, what was said, and what we can get out of it, instead of what words and meanings we put into the author’s mouth by our own personal agendas and misunderstandings. In the next issue of Word Warriors, we will get into the practical ways of hermeneutics. By: Rulonda JaBrey