Today in class my professor, the well-known and well-respected Dr. Craig Blomberg, asked a pretty good question. We were discussing 1 Peter 3:18-22, a passage in which Peter discusses Christ preaching to the spirits in prison during the time of Noah. In exegeting this text correctly, one must look at the cultural knowledge of the story of Noah and the Flood in Asia 2000 years ago, dig into syntax of the passage in the original Greek and have an understanding of 1 Enoch, an inter-Testamental apochryphal text. Even with that knowledge, it’s still a very difficult passage. If I am a typical churchgoer, what am I to do? How can I interpret the text correctly without all of this superfluous, archaic knowledge readily at hand? This was the question posed by Dr. Blomberg.
After some thought and class discussion, however, I took issue with the question itself. The issue I have with it is its use of the first-person singular pronoun “I”. How can “I” interpret the text correctly? What do “I” do? There is a time and place for personal reflection and study of scripture, but there is also a time and place for community discussion. In cases like 1 Peter 3:18-22, a community discussion is vital to understanding and edification. This in and of itself is not very earth-shattering, but then it hit me: Christian commentary authors are part of the community of believers, too. As are archaeologists, textual critics, and any other type of scholar you care to mention. We are not all going to know the ins and outs of 1 Enoch or unearth ancient coins bearing Noah’s image, but because there are followers of Christ who know and do these things, we should thankfully engage them as fellow members of the community and learn from them by reading what they have to say.
Taken this way, a good commentary becomes much more than a dry book of boring facts and trivial details; it becomes an active dialogue with a brother or sister in Christ. It furthers the community that we (and the world) desperately need.
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8 comments:
Well put, my good man! Community discussion, however, is a double-edged sword. There's lots of good insight but also lots of misunderstandings. But maybe its good to get them out in the open. Hooray for openness.
Gracias por comentar. Me gusta mucho que goces mi poste.
Un resumen excelente de nuestra discusion en la clase. Me alegro de que la pregunta te guiera en tal pensamiento profundo!
Muchas gracias, don griego.
why do you think jon scripture is so difficult to discern? should not the message of God be easily understood? sure "topics" need to be thoroughly studied, but the principle behind the text must be simplisitc, right?
Boy, you would ask the tough questions, wouldn't you, Pat? :)
Let me address your last question first. I think that the Bible is, on one level, a book about life. My life, though, isn't simplistic--it's complex, I never quite know where I am going or what I am doing or how I am doing it. It's a big mess most of the time, right? So if the Bible talks about life and uses people's lives as examples, I would expect to see the same thing. And I do--there's always a need to study Scripture, to sharpen your soul and mind continually. Sometimes you have to dig really deep into the text to figure out what is really going on, and sometimes you just make your best guess. It's a lot like life in that regard, much like a football playbook resembles...football.
As far as your former question, parts of the message of God are easy to understand--stuff like, don't murder people, don't steal from people, that kind of thing. And we still can't get those right. What hope do we have about the difficult passages, then? Good question...good question.
1 Corinthians 2:6-16
6 We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7 No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"-- 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment: 16 "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?"
in regards to many having out of control lives and the bible reflecting that i would agree jon. it shows those who have journeyed through life have been subjected to what we ourselves are... humanity.....(so much for evolution)... this is where the bibles message should be easy.... dealing with our humaness as it were. now the message could address the problem with man because of who they are as beings, or because we do not follow a law... a debatable topic...
Jon, love the blog. There is some serious verbage going on here. Keep it up man; and happy Thanksgiving! (Get a run or two in while you have days off work).
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