Crossing the Obstacles to Understanding

(Lesson Two)

To being review the following diagram.

If you cannot reproduce the diagram from memory, then take a few minutes and work on it until you can do so.  It is foundational to further study.

General View of Obstacles to Understanding.

What follows is not meant to discourage the reader from studying the Scriptures.  What follows is meant to illustrate some of the complexity of translating from one time, culture, and language into another.  

 The Miracle of the Scriptural Message

Please note that the basic themes of the Bible travel across the previously mentioned barriers with perfect accuracy.  Not one of the essential doctrines of faith is missing, all are there.  As a matter of fact one of the functions of God, the Holy Spirit was and is to insure such to be so.  More about this will be discussed at a later time.

My Great, Great, Grandparent’s Diary

Just suppose that you are looking through an old trunk that has been handed down through a several generations. Among the things that you find are several diaries of your great, great...great grandparents. They of course lived in the old country and spoke the language thereof. In order to learn something about your heritage, you decide to read them.

Immediately you are faced with several challenges as noted in the previous blog.

1.    LANGUAGE:  First, you would face the challenge of language. Even if it were in your spoken language, words change in usage, idioms change, etc. "What did that word mean in the context of the day?" would be an oft repeated question in your mind.

Now imagine that you have to translate one language to another.  That opens another set of issues. 

Exact Equivalents:  Among them is the issue of exact equivalents.  Simply said in certain instances there are not exact equivalents between languages.  Take for example the four words for love in the Greek language.  Generally they are translated by one word in the English language. 

Word Order:  In the Greek language because of how the words are constructed, the most important word(s) of the sentence began the sentence.  Of course in English the language is phonetic and so in order to make the original sentence readable the sentence at times is rearranged.

Linear and Intensive:  In the Hebrew language verbs in some cases are in an intensive form.  Though not often this in some cases adds to one understands of the concepts being presented.  In the Greek language verbs may indicate a point in time action, a linear action, or both.  Much of this is lost to the one reading in the English language.

2.    CULTURE:  Second, as you translated from your great, great, grandparents language you would face the added burden of the cultural setting in the old country. What elements of culture would be present and yet misunderstood or totally missed if viewed with today's cultural understandings?

Again it is difficult for one to cross from one culture to another.  For example, in that day Jews had been dispersed throughout the known world.  There resulted from that dispersion the Synagogue System.  That meant that wherever there were seven Jewish males a Synagogue could be established.  The Synagogue was presided over by a Rabbi among his duties was instruction.  Students of promise were pushed up through the system and thus we find the Rabbi Saul of Tarsus having progressed through Judaism beyond his peers to the point he studied under the tutelage of Rabbi Gamaliel.

There are other matters to study and such will be considered in the next lesson. 

MODIFYING THE BASIC DIAGRAM

 Focusing on the diagram there are two changes to be made.

First, since our focus is upon the panoramas of Scripture no attention will be given to the eternal past.

Second, creation will be considered later so the diagram will be modified to reflect same.

Third, since the Inter-Testamental Period will be considered later in the study it will be reduced to ITP.

PUSHING DEEPER

The next level is to further divide the diagram as follows.

OLD TESTAMENT:  What you now see is that the Old Testament is divided into five periods each of which has a distinct personality.  The word “Pentateuch” means five and is an easy way to refer to the five books of Moses.

“Entrance” is when the Jews enter the Promised Land first to be ruled by one leader, then by the Judges.  The “Kings and Prophets” tell of their life under a monarch.  The “Dispersion” is when their land was conquered and they were carried off into captivity.  The final section, “Return” tells of their reoccupation of the Land of Promise.

NEW TESTAMENT:  What you see is that the New Testament is divided into four periods.  First comes the “Gospels” which simply means good words or good message.  It tells the story of Jesus from four different perspectives and for four different reasons.

The “Acts of the Holy Spirit” tell of the Holy Spirits action in establishing the Church.  Some books are written to specific congregations can be fit into this period.  There are some general letters (books) that will follow the ending of the Book of Acts.  Then comes the “Period of the Church” which will be discussed later on.  Finally the Bible closes with the "Book of Revelation." 

PROJECT

In addition to memorizing the layout and the various elements thereof, take a moment, turn to the index in the front of your Bible and look down the listing of books.  What you will see is that already with the small amount of information studied to this point; you will have a greater understanding of the layout of the Bible.

Why is the Bible so Hard to Understand?

(Introduction and Lesson One)
 
How is it that the Bible is thought to be hard to understand?

When one considers that it was written in the common language of the day, to common people of the day, using examples common to the culture, it seems clear to me that too much is made of the Bible being beyond the understanding of most people.  Hopefully when you finish this study you find such to not be so.  In fact, my prayer and hope is that you actually get a feel for Scripture as opposed to knowing  separated and unrelated facts that seem to have no connection with one another.

The Plan

Someone once said the key to a good lesson is,

“Tell ‘em what you are going to tell ‘em, tell ‘em, and then tell ‘em what you told them. “

Of course the key to this teaching method is repetition.  So it is that as one works their way through these lessons, the key will be repetition.  Therefore if something is not clear return to the previous lesson and review.

Faulty Assumption

The problem, it seems, is that our assumptions get in the way of reality. Yet, when we look at the various writers of the Scriptures and as well, those to whom the writings were address, it seems clear that "available to the common man" was a very high priority. That is not to say that there were not those who liked to plumb the depths of theological discourse (e.g. Paul in Romans); those who knew the king’s court and the statesmanship that accompanied such a life style (e.g. Esther, David, etc.) but most were of common ancestry and accomplishment.

Obstacles to Cross

For the present consider that among the obstacles that one needs to factor into the matter of understanding the Bible are the following.  The next blog submission will treat this subject.

Language:  The issues involved here are that between languages at times there are only rough equivalents.  For example in the Greek language the most important element of the sentence began the sentence.  Their system of word beginning and endings allowed for such to be so.  Of course in English the language is phonetic and so in order to make the original sentence readable the sentence at times is rearranged.

Culture:  Again it is difficult for one to cross this barrier for understanding is lost in the process.  For example in the Books of Moses, to name was to establish position.  So when God brought the animals He had created to Adam to name, it was not just calling a duck a duck or a dog a dog, but it was to establish Adam’s position in relationship with that duck and that dog.

Mind set:  Another element to consider is that in the oriental thinking of the time, chronology was not an important item.  So it was that in English sequence is important, in that culture it was more a shot-gun approach.

Setting:  All of the writings of the Scriptures were within a context.  It may be the writing itself or the story but all were in a situation.  It may have been within an historical context, a geographical context, or some other setting.  Therefore, it is important to understand something of the setting. 

First Panorama

Now turn your attention to the first look at the Panorama of Scripture.  Of course in later views each of these areas will be viewed on a deeper and deeper level.  If you follow the program your insights and understandings of Scripture will deepen. Actually it is a panorama that sets the Bible in the context of reality.

The Eternal Past:  “What was there in the eternal past?”  Very simply God created, that is called all things into being from nothing.  Before those events listed in the Book of Genesis, the Bible is silent as to the conditions present.

As to the age of the earth, there is much speculation.  It is beyond the purview of this lesson to treat the subject.

The Old Testament:  The Old Testament (testament means covenant) tells the story of beginnings.  In its pages are the beginning of nature, man, the Jewish people, the Law, sin, and so much more.  It also is the story of the Children of Israel and their growth into a nation and some of the problems and challenges that faced the nation as it grows and matures, fails and is then re-established.  

The Old Testament is cyclical, that is the books fit comfortably into two cycles.  Later we will see how it lays out in terms of those cycles.

The Inter-Testamental Period:  Between the last book of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament there was a 400 year period in which significant Geo-political events took place to prepare for the events of the New Testament.

The events in this period of time are foretold in the Old Testament and then came about just as prophesied.  Reading the prophecies is like reading a history book except that they were given years and years before the actual events.

The New Testament:  The New Testament begin with the coming of Jesus into the world.  it goes on to tell the story of the life and times of Jesus.  it continues with His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension back to the Father.  It goes on to tell of the coming of the Holy Spirit, the birth of the Church and the growth of the fledgling Church.  It tells how amidst trials and challenges the Church was established.  It ends with the telling of future events. 

The Eternal Future:  Although the Bible provides more information about the eternal future than it does about the eternal past, still in all there is much mystery associated with it.  Drawing from Old Testament writings as well as New Testament writings one finds that themes which originated in the opening pages of the Old Testament find their culmination in this period in which there is no time.   

The five sections just described are the foundational framework which underpins the remainder of the study.  The various lessons as they are prepared will push deeper into four of these eras, the Old Testament, the Inter-Testamental Period, the New Testament, and the Eternal Future.

Basic Diagram

Once the above sections are brought together it results in a diagram which approximates the following.  In order to begin to lay the foundation it might be a good idea to sketch out this diagram and label it.  Then repeat doing it until you can accurately reproduce it from memory.  Remember the key is repetition.