Sermon Tone Analysis

Step 3 - Study / Interpretation

Having carefully done all the observations, you want to study and understand the meaning of the passage.

The skill for having a better understanding to the meaning of the passage is by asking (good) questions.

Although I am not suggesting you to be skeptical, you want to question everything that the passage is saying, even the ones that you presupposedly learned before.

The list of questions given in “step 3” is a good starting point, but the list is not exhaustive.

1.

What Is The Context Of The Passage And Bible?

There are three rules for studying the Bible.

Rule #1: Context

Rule #2: Context

Rule #3: Context

Although it is important to understand the immediate context of the text that you are currently studying, you want to be sure to understand the wider context of the Bible.

Studying the Bible is like looking at the viewfinder.

Studying the text is like zooming into the subject’s face.

Zooming out of the subject’s face will reveal to you the subject’s clothing.

Zooming out even more, you will see that the subject has others with him/her.

Zooming out even more, you will see the environment where the subject is having the picture taken.

The main point is

The principle of Biblical Interpretation is that Scripture interprets Scripture.

Because God inspired the Word of God, God never contradicts Himself; therefore, God’s Word never contradicts itself.

If the Bible does have contradictions, then we are to conclude that God contradicts Himself; thus, He errs.

When studying the Bible, you must be aware that the meaning of the passage to which you are interpreting does not contradict other parts of Scripture.

If there are apparent contradictions, then you would have to resolve the discrepancies.

Furthermore, understanding the text in its wider context helps you to understand how the text fits with the rest of the Bible.

False teachings, errors and bad theology happen when someone pulls verses out of context and make them say something that is different from the authorial intent.

Joseph Smith (Mormons) took out of context.

Liberation Theology took out of context.

is taken to mean any form of successes, achievements, and accomplishments.

Small Group Exercise (10 Minutes)

What is the context of the text?

How does knowing the context add to our understanding of the text?

- Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself.

But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.

2. What Is The Meaning Of Words?

a.

What do the words mean in their original usage?

Remember, the authors gave a normal meaning to the way they use their language.

So, the task is to determine the meaning of the words in their specific cultural / historical context.

b.

Words change over.

Therefore, we must be careful not to define the word only by our current definitions.

The way we understand the words in our culture may be different from what the word meant to the original audience.

c.

Understanding the original language is helpful because it provides nuances to the meaning of the word.

Get access to reliable sources and tools.

d.

For instance, what do people nowadays think of the word, “church?”

What did the original readers think of?

How might it be different?

e.

How is the word used in the rest of the book or how does the same author use the word in his books?

Tools:

e.

Tools

www.blueletterbible.org

https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/vot.html

https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/ved.html

3. Observe the sentences.

How are the words related?

(Grammar & Sentence Structure)

Words are words.

They do not somehow change magically.

A noun is a noun.

A verb is a verb.

Words are knit together to form sentences.

These sentences have rules of grammar that govern them.

What kind of sentence is it?

Is the sentence making a statement, asking a question, giving a command, or expressing a wish?

What is the verb (action), noun (person, place or thing), adverb (description of action) or adjective (description of noun)?

What is the preposition (by, at, with, through, under, over, beside)?

Is there a possessive case?

(e.g.

MY brothers, the death OF his Son, obedience OF faith)

What is the core or centre of the sentence?

How is the sentence related to the sentences around it?

Look at the connective words that you have observed.

Tense: Past, present or future.

4. What was the intent of the author?

Why was this text included?

The goal is to understand the purpose of the author.

Why did he write?

What is his overall theme?

How does this text help develop that theme?

What would this theme mean to the original audience?

A text cannot mean what it never would have meant to its authors or his original audience.

While this doesn’t always help us understand what the text means, it will help us know what it does not mean.

Small Group Exercise (15 Minutes)

Sometimes, the authors would explicitly explain the purpose of the writing.

Other books do not always explicitly tell us why the authors wrote the book, but reading the entire book should help us understand the theme.

What do the authors indicate about their purpose?

How should it help us understand the theme of the book?

- Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life ain his name.

v

w

x See ch.

11:27

- Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.

y See

z ch.

3:15, 16; 5:40; 6:53; 10:10

a [; ]; See

- I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.