I bid gracious greetings to whomever is reading! It is humorous to me (and fitting) that my first post here is before the semester began, and now my second post is after the semester has ended. I have learned much between these two posts.
One thing I have learned over the course of the semester is Hebrew. It was an exciting season to be introduced into the language and begin reading the Scriptures in one of their original languages and actually comprehending the meaning. Since, I have been on break, I decided to read through a “Hebrew Grammar” book that I got with my copy of Accordance. After reading ~70 pages, I discovered that this was a 700 page reference grammar book, so I discontinued.
As well, I’ve been introducing myself to Greek before I begin Elementary Greek next semester so I won’t be drowning between Hebrew Syntax and Greek.
Anyway, these have provoked my thinking more and more about how I read the Bible. I could explain the sources of my knowledge, but I will forgo that for the sake of the reader and get right to what I think will be more interesting.
It has occurred to me that many things effect the meaning and understanding of any passage or verse in the Bible (or anything we read, really). In particular, I have noticed five:
1.) Morpheme: I am unsure if this is the correct terminology, but I will use it for now. A “morpheme” is the smallest level of meaning in words. They are things like -ed or -ing. The -ed ending immediately communicates to us that the verb is past tense. Just two letters and we already know something about whatever is being communicated.
2.) Words: This is pretty clear, but here are some examples of how they effect meaning. The Greek word kaphale means “head”. It is used in Ephesians 5:23 when it says, “For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, His body and is Himself its savior.”
The meaning of this word has been challenged because it has been used to describe the head of river. So, the meaning of this word in Ephesians 5, they argue if I am remembering correctly, is that the husband (or man, because the Greek word aner can be translated either man or husband) is the source of the wife (the same is the case with the Greek word for woman as it is for man, i.e., woman or wife) instead of the husband being the authority of the wife. So, of course, man is the source of woman thinking back to Genesis 2.
I could be wrong about their argument, but this is still an example of how words affect meaning.
3.) Syntax: Once again, I am unsure about my usage of this term or understanding. Syntax is the relationship between words. A good example is the much-debated phrase pisteos Iesou Christou, which, as it is debated, can be translated as “faith in Jesus Christ” or “the faithfulness of Jesus Christ”. Either meaning communicates something drastically different, hence the division between the NPP (New Perspective on Paul) and traditional Protestant understanding.
The example here is how exactly is the word “faith” relating to “Jesus Christ”. Is Jesus Christ the object of our faith, or is Jesus Christ the subject of faith/faithfulness?
So, again, is an example of another level of meaning from syntax.
4.) Context: The next level could be sentence and the paragraph, but, I think, the next significant level of meaning (both of which the sentence and paragraph are) is the context. Context determines a lot: meanings of words, how I should take these words (an encouragement, admonition, etc.).
An example of how context determines meaning of words is the Hebrew word for “small/least” (qaton). This word can is often coupled with the word for “great” (gadul) and when used together in a particular context can mean “age”. For example, in Genesis 29:16: “Laban had two daughters: the least (youngest; qaton) Rachel, and the greater (older; gadul) Leah.”
5.) Theological Structure: This is the highest level of affecting meaning. A theological structure is like a overarching understanding of something. Perhaps a good example is covenant theology. Covenant theology thinks of the Bible being laid in a “Covenant of Works” (before the fall) and a “Covenant of Grace” (after the fall).
At the least, these two phrases communicate how God relates to mankind both before the fall and after. How this affects meaning and understanding of passages is in relation to the baptism debate. A covenant theologian has no problem understanding that children are in the New Covenant and applying the sign of the covenant (baptism) to the children because there is much (quantitatively) that has changed between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.
In the Old Covenant, all Israelites were in the Old Covenant the moment they were born and, to demonstrate this, they were circumcised at 8 days old. So, it is the same in the new, but instead of circumcision being the sign, it is now baptism.
Therefore, when coming to understanding a passage like Acts 2:39a “The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off…”, the meaning of this passage is affected in one way by their theological structure.
So, when considering the meaning of a passage, I think these are all things to take into consideration. Some of these don’t require as much work as others. For example, Acts 16:1: “Paul came also to Derbe and Lystra. There was a disciple there named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.”
In this passage, morphemes, words, and syntax, affect the meaning, but it is pretty obvious what the words mean and how they relate. You don’t even need much context to understand the meaning of this, but it gives the passage more depth if you know who Paul is and who Timothy later is to Paul (1 Timothy 1:1: “to Timothy, my true child in the faith…”). Theological Structure certainly affects the meaning of this passage whether you regard this as the word of God, or merely a meaningless tale told by some Greeks long ago.
So, I am excited to explore this more and come to a much deeper and firmer grasp of God’s Word and I hope this helps others in their reading of God’s Word.
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