They are all meant to transform you by setting your eyes on their ultimate Author. Terms of Use. This offer is available to pastors and ministry leaders while supplies last. Twitter Instagram Facebook Blog. There are two primary reasons why the Bible can be puzzling: First, the Bible is a collection of types of books—history, poetry, biography, letters, apocalyptic imagery, etc.
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Name First Last. Address Line 1 Address Line 2. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Are you not of more value than they? Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Sometimes, the verse numbers are not specified when the reference is to an entire chapter of the Bible.
So Psalm 23 means the same thing as Psalm There are chapter or Psalms in the book of Psalms. Luke 15 ff. Luke ff is the same as Luke There are few books that have a number in front of the name s. Jude refers to verses 24 and 25 in the book of Jude.
Since there is only one chapter in the book, the chapter number is not mentioned. There are 5 books in the Bible that are only 1 chapter long. These usually skip the chapter number and are only followed by the verse numbers. Jude It affirms that these writers did not record the word of God as robotic secretaries or in moments of irrational ecstasy. The writers were fully involved—heart, mind, and soul—in the inscripturation process.
Certainly, the issue of dual authorship touches on a host of issues which cannot be detailed here. But as a starting point it is important to understand the concept of what is called divine concursus , the belief that God superintended the mental processes of the biblical writers to such a degree that their intent for their words conforms directly to his intent for those same words.
The divine and human intents in the biblical text are so harmonious that they can be spoken of as one; no part of the text is more divine or more human than another. Why may we not believe that the God who brings his purposes to fruition in his providential government of the world, without violence to second causes or to the intelligent free agency of his creatures, so superintends the mental processes of his chosen instruments for making known his will, as to secure that they shall speak his words in speaking their own?
The principle of authorial intent necessitates the principle of single meaning. Since the meaning of a text is synonymous with the divine-human intent and is not impacted by the response of the reader, there is always and only one meaning present in a text—the meaning intended when it was originally written.
Moreover, since the meaning of a text is inseparable from that divine-human intent as expressed in the original writing, the meaning of a biblical text never changes over time. Indeed, subsequent revelation may add to the quantity of knowledge revealed about a topic addressed in a given text. But subsequent revelation does not change the meaning of that text.
Furthermore, the meaning of that text is the same for all readers. It does not change from interpreter to interpreter, from culture to culture, or from generation to generation. It remains constant, objective, stable, and fixed on the pages of Scripture. In sum, a text can never mean what it never meant, and it never meant what it does not now mean. This objective quality of the biblical text makes Bible study optimistic, profitable, and God-honoring. It encourages the reader to persevere.
Although he may find it difficult to access the meaning of the text, he can be confident that the meaning nonetheless exists. It allows interpreters to have fruitful discussions as they recognize their subjective baggage and seek justification for their conclusions in the text itself. It is an important protection against the threats of cynicism and despair. Even though there is just one meaning in a text, that meaning can have many applications—applications which the writer never even envisioned.
When he recorded these words for the Ephesian church, Paul certainly was not thinking of the kinds of communication that exist today in the various forms of social media. We call this relationship significance , and it is here—not in meaning —where variations occur. But while variations occur in the realm of significance, this significance must still be anchored to the immutable, objective meaning of the text itself if it is to have authority. These observations about meaning help us answer the second fundamental question posed above: Who has the authority to determine meaning?
The answer is two-fold. See more words from the same century. Scripture cake. Accessed 11 Nov. More Definitions for scripture. See the full definition for scripture in the English Language Learners Dictionary. Nglish: Translation of scripture for Spanish Speakers. Britannica English: Translation of scripture for Arabic Speakers. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!
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