Interpreting the Bible Well

Posted on by Marty Schoenleber, Jr.

“My heart is steadfast, O God;
I will sing, I will sing praises,
even with my soul.”

Psalm 108:1

Sometimes, when I read my Bible, I can’t get through the first verse before I collapse into the need for my soul to be honest. All real Bible study starts with honesty. Without an honest soul–a willingness to be honest–the mind will either hide from, deny, or pervert the truth, but it will not bow and embrace the truth. Psalm 108 reminded me of that today.

In Bible study, to understand the truth, we have to bow to it as true and embrace it as the will of God. 

This morning, I was teaching an adult Sunday School class on the Life of David. I have been laboring to not just teach but to train the class in how to interpret the Scripture. In one-hour sessions, broken up by Easter and other church calendar issues, it is a disjointed class looking at broad themes and the particulars of interpreting narrative literature. 

Along the way, I have given a small synopsis of how to treat different types of literature in the library of the 66 books that comprise our Bibles. Today, in response to a question, I simplified my previous summaries even further. Turning to the whiteboard, I wrote three-word summaries of how different genres communicate (generally) their truth:

  • Didactic Literature — by brute statement
  • Narrative Literature — through its structure
  • Poetic Literature — with its metaphors

To that, we might add,

  • Wisdom Literature — through its comparisons, contrasts, parallels, and repetition

All of those, while helpful, are also over-simplified. Didactic literature also uses metaphor and structure. Narrative literature uses metaphor and parable as well as poetry and poetic literature, which falls into the Wisdom Literature tradition, uses all of the elements mentioned above.

But this afternoon, I opened my Bible to Psalm 108 and realized that all of this interpretive knowledge and help is WORTHLESS without an honest, submitted heart to God. And it only took one verse to convince me. Read it again.

 “My heart is steadfast, O God;
   I will sing, I will sing praises,
   even with my soul.”
                                        Psalm 108:1

I read that first line, and a series of questions rose up in my heart. “Really? Is my heart steadfast? Can I pray this prayer? Does my heart sing . . . even with my [whole] soul? Is that true of my spirit today?”

And then it hit me, I need to add this to my “principles of interpretation.” 

Don’t we all?   

4 thoughts on “Interpreting the Bible Well”

  1. Marty, I read your post and sat with it for a while. If I’m being completely honest, I can’t pray David’s prayer right now — not authentically. My heart isn’t steadfast. My soul isn’t singing. I am going through the motions, but if I’m truthful, it feels hollow. I’m weary in a way that routine can’t fix. What I know I need — what I’m crying out for — is for God to renew my spirit. Not patch it. Renew it. Breathe new life into me. Thank you for writing something honest enough to make me be honest too.

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    1. Jeff,

      Thanks for writing and sharing. I think you have taken the first step, admitting to another brother that something is off. Honesty is a wonderful fertilizer for the soul. I was praying for you and God brought an old post to mind from when a person on Quaro asked me a question. I will attach the link. I hope it will be helpful. In the next few days, I will return to Psalm 108 with a new post that I hope will be a good follow-up to the first one. I mean it. I am praying for you. Here’s the link. https://chosenrebel.me/2019/11/11/my-relationship-with-god-is-cold/

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  2. Marty, thank you. Genuinely.

    When you wrote “I mean it. I am praying for you” — I want you to know that landed on me in a way I wasn’t expecting. We have never met. You don’t know me beyond what I’ve shared in a few comments over the years. And yet I believe you completely and I am so grateful.

    I’ve followed your writings for years. Long enough to have observed your authenticity — not just in the good posts, but the ones that share your own struggles, the ones where you didn’t have it figured out either. That consistency is what I believe trust is built on, and somewhere along the way I began to think of you as a mentor, even though you had no idea. The kind of person I’d want to sit across from over a cup of coffee and just talk — really talk. No agenda. No performance. Just two brothers who love God and are trying to be honest about the journey. I hope that conversation can happen someday.

    Until then, knowing you’re praying for me — and meaning it — means everything.

    Thank you for the post you shared — it’s just what I needed. I look forward to what you write next on Psalm 108.”

    With gratitude,
    Jeff

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