Five Ways Not to Teach Biblical Interpretation (Part 2)

Last updated on: February 17, 2014 at 8:50 am By Brad Vaughn

In a previous post, I list three ways not to interpret the Bible. Today, I’ll mention the final two in my list. People commonly use these problematic methods of interpreting Scripture. 4. Dogmatic This is extremely common. This so-called way of interpretation is anything but genuine exegesis (i.e. discerning the meaning from the text). In short, readers assert, “This is what the Bible means.” Then, they proceed to find passages that confirm and correspond with their assumed interpretation. One of... Read more

Five Ways Not to Teach Biblical Interpretation

Last updated on: February 13, 2014 at 8:22 am By Brad Vaughn

In order to interpret the Bible well, we need to know both what we should do as well as what we should not do. I suggest that biblical interpretation may be the single most important yet neglected skill in the church, certainly in missions. There are a number of reasons for this. One is that we have either very limited or even mistaken views of interpretation. I will highlight five ways that we should not teach biblical interpretation. In this... Read more

Free book — Biblical Theology in the Life of the Church

Last updated on: February 12, 2014 at 8:00 pm By Brad Vaughn

Logos is giving away a helpful little book all about biblical theology! I have found many people are unfamiliar with biblical theology (as distinct from systematic theology). This is a helpful place to start. Michael Lawrence, who previously served at Capital Hill Baptist Church, does a good job introducing the relevant topics and spurring the reader to consider the relevance of biblical theology for the local church. It’s apart of the 9Marks series, published by Crossway. Here is the... Read more

Do We Give Chinese Christians Too Much Face?

Last updated on: August 14, 2015 at 7:37 am By Brad Vaughn

Darren Carlson offers a good reminder to us all. In my opinion, he describes a problem that affects both missionaries as well as those who still live in their home countries (e.g. America, England, etc.). Darren leads a great organization called Training Leaders International. In his post “Don’t Glamorize Christians ‘Over There’” “The grass is always greener on the other side. Or so we think. How many times have you heard the purity of the global church (especially the persecuted... Read more

Why We Need Metaphors, Character, and Common Sense

Last updated on: February 6, 2014 at 8:50 am By Brad Vaughn

God reveals himself in metaphors. So why do we tend to read past them?隐喻 (yǐn yù) –– Metaphors Sadly, I’m rather confident that this step will be ignored by most of my readers. However, metaphors are like a treasure map for biblical interpretation. A wealth of insights lies buried beneath their verbal imagery. Consider Romans 5–8. We orient ourselves by first identifying its key metaphors. “Sin” for example is depicted as a slave master that reigns over us and pays... Read more

"Saving God's Face" Reviewed in JETS

Last updated on: February 4, 2014 at 9:10 am By Brad Vaughn

Saving God’s Face received its first journal review! In the latest issue of Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, the book is summarized and this critiqued. The reviewer was very generous in his comments. The book is supposed to be a genuine integration of theology and missiology. A lot of books tend to focus more on one or more on the other. I hope it will contribute to the theological conversations. Click here to read the review.... Read more

What to do if they don't know Greek or Hebrew

Last updated on: September 2, 2016 at 2:13 pm By Brad Vaughn

What should we do when Chinese believers don’t know Greek or Hebrew? In the last post, I explain why we should use the biblical languages when teaching the Bible to Chinese Christians. Someone sent me the question because the most common Chinese translation of the Bible (CUV, 和合本) drops a lot of key words, like conjunctions, that convey the logic of a passage. WHAT ELSE CAN WE DO? Here are a few suggestions. 1. Try to find ways to make... Read more

Should We Use Biblical Languages to Teach Chinese Christians?

Last updated on: October 26, 2017 at 2:20 pm By Brad Vaughn

A reader sent me a question after my previous post about using “context” to interpret a Bible passage. He asked, “I agree with you that conjunctions are the most important words in the Bible, however the 和合本 often leaves out conjunctions. Do you teach your students using English Bibles? Do you have them read Hebrew/Greek? Or do you just tell them every time a conjunction is left out of the Chinese?” I felt like my response could be helpful to... Read more

What is the "Context" of Scripture?

Last updated on: January 22, 2014 at 8:50 am By Brad Vaughn

Studying context is the single most important step in the interpretation process. If so, we have to ask, “What is context?” I’ve been proposing a 5-step process to interpret Scripture that anyone can use, even if they have no other resources except the Bible. In Chinese, I summarize them in this way: 述-印-境-提-释 (shù-yìn-jìng-tí-shì). In English, “Restate-Impressions-Context-Questions-Explain.” I have a bookmark (in color or black-white) that reminds people of the entire process. Mind the Gap Most of the methods I’ve... Read more

When You Only Have a Bible: Explain It (Step 5)

Last updated on: July 26, 2022 at 1:27 am By Brad Vaughn

What do we do after we’ve restated a text, given our impressions, examined the context, and clarified our question? We explain it. In this series, I’m laying out a method to interpret the Bible when you only have a Bible. I’ve put all this in Chinese on a bookmark (in color or black-white). The process involves five straightforward steps. In Chinese, I summarize the steps this way: 述-印-境-提-释 (shù-yìn-jìng-tí-shì). Look back at previous posts to get an explanation. 5. Explain... Read more