Page 34 - Personal Spiritual Life Syllabus w videos

you don’t understand the culture at the time the Judaizers were moving into the Gentile
churches, you will find it difficult to understand the book of Galatians. If you don’t
understand the Jewish culture, you will miss the subtle undertones of the book of Matthew.
There must be cultural comprehension to fully understand the Bible. Knowing the culture
gives depth and broadens understanding.

Some books that would help you in this area are The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by
Alfred Edersheim (Eerdmans, 1974) and Barclay’s Daily Study Bible Series by William B.
Barclay (Westminster, 1975). Barclay’s insights into culture are very good even though his
theology is askew in some areas.

3. The geography
There are geography gaps that must also be bridged. When we read in
the Bible that they went down to Jericho, what does it mean to go
down to Jericho? Well, when you go into Jericho you go down in
elevation. Jericho is 258 meters or 846 feet below sea level. When it
says that they went up to Jerusalem it is because Jerusalem is definitely
up. It’s on a high plateau at 754 meters or 2,474 feet above sea level.
In 1 Thessalonians 1:8 it says, “For from you sounded out the word of
the Lord not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God is
spread abroad.” What’s amazing is that it was sounded out so fast. Paul had just been there,
and when he wrote the letter, very little time had passed. Paul had been with them for a
couple of weeks, but their testimony had already spread far. How could that happen so fast?
If you study the geography of the area you’ll find that the Ignatian Highway runs right
through the middle of Thessalonica. It was the main concourse between the East and West,
and whatever happened there was passed all the way down the line. Do you see how a little
bit of understanding of the geography enriches the comprehension?

4. The history
When you know the history behind a passage it will also help
your comprehension. In the gospel of John, the whole key to
understanding the interplay between Pilate and Jesus is based
on the knowledge of history. When Pilate came into the land
with his emperor worship, it literally infuriated the Jews and
their priests. So he was off to a bad start from the very
beginning. Then he tried to deceive the Jews. When they caught
him, they reported him to Rome, and he almost lost his job. Pilate was afraid of the Jews,
and that’s why he let Christ be crucified. Why was he afraid? Because he already had a
rotten track record, and his job was on the line.

This type of historical information is helpful in understanding the Bible. Good sources for
this type of information are: The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible (Zondervan,
1976) or a good Bible dictionary.

To interpret the Bible means closing the gaps. As you interpret the meaning of Scripture by using the
various sources, you will close the language gap, the culture gap, the geography gap, and the history
gap. But what are the principles you use?

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