A friend was trying to answer a question about the Bible for someone. I said, “what I would do is…” and explained a process for understanding the text. I realized you might be interested, too.

1. Sometimes there is mystery. I’m listening to a seminary class these days and John Goldingay, the prof, said “I don’t know answers to questions the Bible doesn’t know the answer to.” I loved that. There are times we don’t know the answer, that we just can’t get to a clear, simple answer.

2. I look at 2-3 translations. I use a word-by-word version like the ESV or NASB, a thought-by-thought like the NIV and a paraphrase of ideas like The Message. Biblegateway.com makes this easy.

3. I look at the context of the whole book (e.g Matthew, Colossians) and all the works by the writer (e.g. Paul, John) and the whole Bible. Obviously, for every sentence I can’t read the whole Bible again. But I do look for how a writer uses that idea in other places.

4. I ask the Author. I assume that God is behind these words, both as they were written and as I am understanding them. So I ask for clarity. (Just like you may ask me questions about something I write here.)

5. I look at commentaries, books that walk through the text and explain it. Good ones (like this one on Matthew) describe what other scholars have said.

6. I look at what other scholars have said. If we look at Augustine, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Barth, and Carson, we have 1700 years of scholarship across many denominations. Where they agree, that’s probably what the text means. Where they disagree, the issue may be a secondary issue.

These steps can time and work. And you may think, “I’ll just ask Jon. He can do this.” That’s fine. But sometimes it’s worth the work.

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I did an extended version of this post on video: 300wordsaday – understanding the text