Biblical spirituality is a relationship between humans and God, and relationships
are usually developed through constant communications. This unique relationship
between humans and their creator is not an exception. On a Christian perspective,
the primary means used by God to communicate with humans is the Bible. But understanding
its message today is a serious challenge for the reader. Indeed, contemporary
readers are confronted with several barriers when attempting to access the
biblical message. These include the big historical, literary, and cultural gaps
that separate us today from the original audience. Petersen (2006) notes: “It
is not sufficient to place a Bible in a person's hands with the command, ‘Read
it.’ That is quite as foolish as putting a set of car keys in an adolescent's
hands,... and saying, ‘Drive it’.” (p. 81) How then can current readers accurately
exegete sacred scripture? What is the role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical
interpretation, and why would leaders of today gain God’s wisdom through proper
exegesis?
A practical approach to
Biblical interpretation
Duval and Hays (2012) use a metaphoric picture of a journey, to explain
the process of Biblical interpretation. To them, the original Biblical audience
lived in “their town”, in a context that is different from ours today in “our
town”. The first step in Biblical interpretation is to understand the meaning
of God’s message in their town. This will require a good translation of the
Bible. Like a laboratory technician using lenses to analyze her samples, the exegete
will first scrutinize the text and try to bring out as many elements as
possible from it, including significant words, language style, literary and historical
context, and theological context. Kostenberg (2012) suggests a “hermeneutical
triad” where history, culture and theology are used to understand the text in
their town.
This first step ends with a formulation of God’s message in their town.
But there is a river of contextual differences between their town and our town.
According to the passage that is explored, the river is wide sometimes, and
sometimes it is narrow. Based on the meaning of the message in their town and
on the differences between the two audiences, the exegete will draw a
theological principle that is relevant to both audiences. The theological principle
must reflect God’s intent, be in line with the rest of God’s message in the
Bible, and relevant to both audiences. The theological principle will help to cross
the river of differences between their town and our town. Usually expressed in
one or two sentences in the present tense, it is critical to “grasping” God’s
message in our town and applying it properly by attempting to answer the
question: “How can I respond to God in my situation today?” While the principle
is not bound to time or culture or even context, application on its part varies
from audience to audience. The application of the principle in our town ends
the interpretive journey. One may ask what the role of the Holy Spirit is, if
we are to use scientific techniques to interpret the Bible.
Biblical interpretation
and the Holy Spirit
We have to acknowledge that understanding God’s instructions is the work
of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told his disciples: “When the Spirit of
truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth…” (John 16:13, Holman
Christian Standard Bible) We only need to interpret because God used the human
tool, our language, to communicate his will to us. Also, God will never
contradict himself; therefore any revelation should be in line with the whole
story of his relationship with creation.
Though human intelligence may help us to capture important facts related
to Biblical text, the Holy Spirit can open our eyes to certain facts we had
never noticed before. Because of the work of the Spirit, certain important
details of the text that we had ignored before may draw our attention. While one
may argue that Cartesian analysis is not the exclusivity of spirit-led
exegetes, life-transforming application may actually be.
God sent his Word with intent to enlighten, to heal, to set humanity free,
and to bring us back to fellowship with him. According to Petersen (2006), we
must explore the Scriptures “in such a way that the Holy Spirit uses them to
form Christ in us. We are not interested in knowing more but in becoming more.”
(p. 59) And only the Spirit can connect the cognitive impressions of Biblical
truths to real life situations, challenge us to grow, and give us the power of
inside-out renewal. It is only here, at
the level of application, that exegesis becomes useful to our lives, to our
homes, to our companies, and to our communities at large.
Exegesis and Leadership
In essence, leadership is a process whereby a leader mobilizes, equips, and
challenges people to give their best in the pursuit of the best future for the
organization and for every constituent of the process (Winston & Patterson,
2006). Understanding God’s message to us today is critical to successful leadership
for two reasons. First, God is a leader and the Bible is about his leadership practice,
including how he led while he lived as a human on earth. Leaders can learn a
lot by observing the way God led. Second, God is the creator of humanity and he
knows how we behave, therefore the best source of wisdom about human behavior
is probably in his Word. In this sense, Biblical exegesis will play a central
role in the life of the Christian leader. Petersen notes: “Spiritual leadership,
spiritual direction, and spiritual formation require that we tend to the work
of the Holy Spirit in our individual and corporate, public and political
lives.” (p. 17). With proper understanding and application of the Bible, bosses
can become a prophetic voice for their followers for more effective
organizational processes.
References
Duvall, J. S. Hays, J. D.
(2012). Grasping god's word: A hands-on
approach to reading, Interpreting, and applying the bible [Kindle Edition]
Available from amazon.com.
Köstenberger, A. J. (2012). Invitation to Biblical Interpretation &
the hermeneutical triad: new hermeneutical lenses for a new generation of Bible
interpreters. Criswell
Theological Review, 10(1),
3-12. Retrieved from http://0-search.ebscohost.com.library.regent.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001916811&site=ehost-live
Peterson, E. H. (2006). Eat this book: A conversation in the art of
spiritual reading [Kindle Edition]. Available
from Amazon.com
Winston, B. E., & Patterson, K. (2006).
An integrative definition of leadership. International
Journal of Leadership Studies, 1(2), 6-66.
