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| Inductive Studies
in Galatians with Chris Lang |
previous page |
Spring 2000
Considerations for future class: Work from general to specific. Allow the students to develop the general concept
working with less specific and defined categories. As the class moves along help them to
refine their technique while becoming more specific and accounting for each verse, etc. Why study the Bible? The Word is power:
If we are going to use this powerful tool, let’s learn to use it properly,
"as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of
truth." This is what we’re doing here. Intro to Inductive Method: Art vs. Science
People want a cut and dry method to extract meaning from God’s word as though they
were following a manual for building a deck. The problem is God’s word is not
designed this way. There is no manual; there are only guidelines. This is because
interpretation is not a science. There are methods we can follow to help us come to right
conclusions but methods will only get us part of the way there. There is an art to interpreting the Bible. It requires skill, finesse, insight, and the
power of the Holy Spirit.
Approaching a book for study
Preliminary assessment: What kind of book is this?
Biblical interpretation really begins with a thorough understanding of the Bible as a whole. But we gain that understanding bit by bit. No one starts out interpreting the Bible with a full-blown knowledge of all its parts. While it is true that the Bible builds upon itself and that later revelation often refers to what was written earlier, much of the New Testament was written to those who were not entirely biblically literate. Much of the NT is simplified and explained for us because it is largely written with a Gentile audience in mind.
You have already answered a few questions as you begin to use this worksheet. You have decided that this book is a letter or an epistle. What’s the difference? An epistle is a type of letter, but whereas a letter is usually written to a specific individual, such as Timothy, an epistle is written to a wider audience, such as the church in Galatia. But the most important thing to understand is that this kind of writing is occasional; there were specific circumstances which brought about its writing. An epistle is written by an individual at a certain time and place, usually in response to some event, question, or occasion that has presented itself. For instance, the epistle to the Galatians is written in response to pressing concerns about harmful influences in the church. If we discern what situation occasioned the writing of the epistle we are studying, we have gone a long way toward understanding the meaning of the book we’re studying.
Because this book is an epistle you have answered another question as to where it is situated within God’s redemptive plan. It is clearly after the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and is written to help us understand more fully the meaning of those events and apply them to daily life.
Epistles:
Unique challenges/characteristics
Terse:
As opposed to narrative
Occasional:
What's the occasion?
Audience Specific:
Inductive Study Worksheet: EpistlesIt was not written to us directly. That does not mean that it does not apply to us or that Paul didn’t have in mind the universal church when he wrote.
Overview Summary
Summarize situation
Author, Audience, Third Party
Themes
Summary
General Overview.
Read through the book completely. (read in class; divide into paragraphs)
Logic of beginning with overview:
The purpose of beginning by reading the entire book is that it gives you an understanding of where the author is heading. Once you know where the author is going, you will have a better understanding of how he builds his argument. Without getting a sense of the whole, we tend to misuse the parts. We cannot really understand the parts of a text in isolation from each other. This is the error of proof-texting or wrenching a passage out of its context and applying it to a situation. (Example: James 2:14,24 "What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has not works? Can that faith save him? …You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone." Luther's response. Passage hinges on "justification.") If we have not taken the time to understand the context, we will be guilty of this error by default. However, if we have taken the time to attempt to understand the whole, our ability to understand the parts will be greatly enhanced.
In order to understand a specific passage of scripture we need to see the broader context. We call this the inductive-deductive approach to understand scripture. It is really just a reflection of how understanding occurs in general, that is, we tend to see the parts in terms of the whole. And we understand the whole as made up of various parts. When we approach the biblical interpretation in this way it allows us to have a system of checks and balances. The way this works is that we read a passage, say 1 John 3:6. "No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him." This passage has been used by those who want to prove that Christians no longer sin. When we read this passage we may immediately question our salvation in Christ because our experience does not conform to this passage. We may waste a lot of time attempting to interpret this passage out of its context. It is only when we are able to see the entire scope of John's epistle and attempt to harmonize this passage with the rest of his letter that we gain any clarity on what he is saying. So what has happened is that we have reasoned from the bottom up (what does this passage say) and from the top down (what does the rest of the book say). We put together the whole in terms of the parts and the parts in terms of the whole.
Historical context: Author, audience, and third party.
Read the book, noting every time the author is mentioned, every time the audience or readers are mentioned, and every time anyone else is mentioned—we call them the third party. This third party is not who the letter is directed towards but they often figure prominently in why the letter was written. We identify parties in the letter in order to understand what historical circumstances motivated the author’s communication. Behind this method is an assumption about the nature of epistles which we have already mentioned, that is that epistles are occasional documents, they were written to address a specific situation on a specific occasion.
Who is the third party in Galatians?
Hint:
Ask questions of the epistle as you read. The secret of good interpretation comes by asking questions of the text, such as: What concerned the author as he wrote? What sorts of error had the readers fallen into? Are there any other groups or people being mentioned by the author to whom the letter is not specifically addressed? Why does the author take the tone or approach that he does? What is motivating the author and what does he want to see changed in his audience?
Galatians
Author
Audience
Third Party
1:1 Paul sent from God, not men :2 churches of Galatia brothers with Paul greet :6 amazed :7 deserting Christ some disturbing/distorting :9 distorters be cursed! :10 not man-pleasing :11 my gospel not from men :12 received from Christ :13 former church destroyer :14 zealous Jew :15 God called me :16 revealed from Christ; not consult men :17 left for Arabia :18 3 yrs. later--> Jerusalem visited Peter 15 days :19 not lying :20 saw only James :21 went to Syria; Cililcia :22 unknown in Judea 2:1 14 yrs. later--> Jerusalem :2 submitted my gospel to apostles :3 Titus not need circumcised :4 false brothers into legalism :5 fought for gospel :6 Apostles added nothing (i.e. circumcision) :7,8 Apostles approve Gentile mission :10 Apostles consider the poor :11 rebuked Peter in Antioch :12 Peter fears circumcisers & and men warned from James :13 Peter, Jews, Barnabas aloof; hypocrites :14 publically rebuke Peter :16 Justification by faith, not works
Conclude by stating the major themes of letter including the author’s primary reasons for writing.
What are the major themes of this letter and how is it organized? Identify words or ideas that are repeated or emphasized by the author. This will be an important guiding principle for further interpretation. It will serve as a guidepost and key to help you understand passages in the letter that may be obscure.
Notice that we built our controlling theme based on our understanding of the individual passages of the book. And we will use this theme to better understand parts of the book that are more difficult. But we may find as we begin to take a closer look at specific passages that our understanding of a word or concept was incorrect and our new understanding may lead us to have to reformulate what we have identified as the controlling theme of the book. This kind of back-and-forth approach from the parts to the whole and vice versa is healthy and it allows us to have a dynamic understanding of the book that can be challenged by new information. This allows us to have a growing understanding about the meaning of a book and keeps us from being blinded by our preconceived ideas.
Themes:
Paul's Authority. Salvation through faith alone. True Christian liberty.
Why was this letter written?
The point of this overview is to understand why the letter was written, who wrote it and to whom. Write a paragraph summarizing your understanding of the historical circumstances to this point. Leave space in your workbook to add to or modify this material as your understanding of the book grows.
Paragraph Study
Who makes the paragraphs? Unfortunately, paragraphs are not a part of the original manuscripts. The Greeks wrote without paragraph breaks, without sentence breaks and even without word breaks! Translators have added these divisions for us and because of that, the paragraph divisions and even the sentence divisions within your Bibles are not infallible.
In order to save time, for this class we will use my paragraph divisions. As you go through my paragraph divisions to do your inductive studies, you may disagree with how I have divided up the book. That’s fine. You can use your own as long as you can make a convincing argument that your way is right.
A word of caution to the hair-splitters.
(Paragraph divisions are on the syllabus.)
Paragraph Study:
Carefully read the paragraph in an attempt to understand the following points. This part of the study is always done in reference to the larger understanding of the book.
Structure: Skeleton.
The goal here is to clarify the development of the author's thoughts or argument. The structure of an author’s writing functions like a body’s skeleton. It is unseen when you look at the surface. And yet, it provides the framework that in large part determines the shape and size of the body. Of course, it’s not the only determining factor in the way a person looks. Attached to the skeleton is muscle tissue—content—that drives the movement of the structure. Covering both the skeleton and muscular tissue is the skin—application—that gives final shape to the body. The skin is what gives final form to the biblical structure and content and it is what we see of a person day-to-day and yet it is only a reflection of the underlying content/musculature and skeletal structure.
The structure of a book or a paragraph is generally
unseen by the reader until he or she begins to look carefully at what is being said. The
importance in this is that once you begin to recognize the structure, you will better
understand how things fit together. How does the author organize what he wants to
communicate? The way he organizes his statements will emphasize certain points while
subordinating others. This is important for us because we want to emphasize what the
writer emphasizes. This usually becomes clear as we see how an author puts together his thoughts.
A. Context: literary & theological
What are the ideas or themes communicated before and after your paragraph? From where is the author coming and to where is he going? How does this passage fit into the broader context and argument of the book you are studying?
Where is the author going with the point that is being made in the passage you are studying? Is there a break in thought between what occurred previously and what occurs afterward? If so, why? Becoming a good interpreter means being able to see the flow or logic of the text. To use the analogy of the structure of a passage as a skeletal framework, this means being able to see how the bones connect within your passage and which bones they connect to before and after your passage.
B. Main Point: What is the central claim of this passage?
In order to understand a paragraph we need to know what is the central idea or theme of the paragraph. What does the author want his readers to understand or to do? Write out the central claim in your own words. Is there one verse that most succinctly states the main point? We determine this by considering the following clues the author uses to make his point clear.
Read 1:6-10
Hints:
Identify Conclusions:
Conclusions are generally indicated by words like: thus, therefore, so, so that, hence, then, consequently. "Therefore" or "for this reason" often indicates the author’s main point. Circle these kinds of words which indicate that the author is drawing a conclusion.
Identify Imperatives:
An imperative is a command. Often, but not always, in the epistles the main point of a passage is found in the imperative statements. The author is instructing his readers to do a certain activity or to think in a specific way. What is the author telling his audience to do?
Identify a controlling idea:
Sometimes a passage doesn’t include an imperative or doesn’t have a conclusion indicator. Ask yourself what is the controlling idea of the passage. What universal truth or overarching idea accounts for all of the elements of the passage?
Identify independent clauses:
Generally speaking the main point will be contained in the part of the sentence which can stand on its own. It may not be a full sentence as it is written but it could be. A dependent clause is one that cannot stand alone as a sentence. It is by definition a modifying statement put there to give support or give clarification to the main clause.
(Review the sentences in 1:6-10 to identify dependent versus independent clauses.)
Before continuing, you will want to write down the thesis statement of the passage (identify a verse). It may also be helpful to underline this in your Bible for future reference. Before continuing you should summarize the main point in your own words.
C. Supporting points. How is the main point supported?
In other words, why is the claim true and why should the readers do what the author says?
You’ve already discerned what the main point of the passage is, now you want to identify how the author backs up that point. What theological basis or principles are given by the author to support his claim? Or what illustrations does he use to support his point? In this section we are mostly asking questions about why. Why does he want them to do what he tells them to do? Why do they need to understand this information? Why is it important to their Christian lives?
List out the supporting points.
Hints:
Identify indicatives:
Indicatives are statements that claim to be true. They are often the basis for an imperative.
Identify connective words:
Connective words link a supporting idea to a main idea. They tell us the reason behind the central claim of a passage. Connective words are words such as: because, for, since, as, for this purpose, so that, in order that(1Pet4:6). Indicate indicatives in your text by placing a box around these kinds of words and underlining the statement they are linked to. These connective words connect to one of two kinds of statements: indicative statements or result clauses.
Identify result statements:
These statements indicate the kind of results the author wants to see or wants to warn us about. It is not necessarily an indicative but it is the outcome sought or hoped for. In Galatians 3:24, Paul concludes a section on the purpose of the law with, "Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ. . ." He finishes this statement with the result that the Law is intended to bring about, namely, "so that we may be justified by faith." Again, in Galatians 5:16-24 Paul tells his audience to "walk by the Spirit," which is his main point. He backs up his claim by showing his readers the results of walking in the spirit as well as showing them the antithesis, which is walking according to the flesh. The desired outcome, or its antithesis, helps answer the question of why we should do what the author is telling us.
Identify Illustrations/Examples:
Sometimes the author gives an illustration or example to support his main point. Paul does this in Galatians by using Abraham as an example of the principle that righteousness is by faith. In 3:6 he tells the Galatians, "Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness." Paul uses Abraham as an example of the principle he’s trying tocommunicate. Whenever the author quotes Scriptures, he is citing an illustration or example. (Rhetorical questions.)
Content/ Theology: Muscle
In this section we are not as concerned with how something is said as we are with what
is said. This is what we normally think of as interpretation. Think again of the
passage as a body. The structure or the way the body is put together is the skeletal
framework. The muscle that hangs on the skeleton is its content. As we’ve gone
through identifying the structure of the passage, we have also done some of the work in
examining the content. In identifying connective words and supporting ideas, we are
examining the structure. When we ask what or to whom those ideas or words refer and what
they mean we are examining the content.
Hints:
Identify important words and phrases.
In this part of our study, we will want to gain clarity on exactly what is being said and what it means. One way that we do this is by clarifying important or unfamiliar words. It is easy to get bogged down in word studies because nearly every word seems interesting. Be selective in the words you choose to study, usually one to three words in any passage is sufficient.
Unfamiliar words:
If you’re unfamiliar with a word, maybe you have never seen the word before or maybe you’ve just never heard a good definition for it, take the time to look it up in a good Bible dictionary. You may be surprised at the rewards you reap by clarifying unfamiliar words.
Example: If you're studying Galatians chapter three you may wonder what exactly Paul means by the word "blessed." This is a word that Paul draws from the Old Testament text but it is also a word that Jesus uses. With a relatively small amount of work you can discover that when Paul says "So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer" he is referring to much more than an emotional state. The word is used of the gift that would come to the Gentiles through Abraham's willingness to be used by God. It is a theologically loaded term that finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Paul is saying that faith produces the righteousness of Abraham.)
Strategically important words:
One way to determine if a word is important is if it’s emphasized or repeated by the author. In studying the book of Romans the word justification appears numerous times and in many different forms. If we are to understand the meaning of the book of Romans, justification would be an important concept to understand.
Another way that we decide the importance of a word is based on the role it plays in the author’s thought. Does the paragraph or sentence we’re studying somehow hinge on an understanding of this word?
After you’ve studied the important or unfamiliar words, how does your new-found appreciation for this word contribute to your understanding of the passage. Eventually we will also want to ask how it affects our understanding of the book?
Example: "Deserting" in 1:6 is a word that means to transfer allegiance from one party to another, or literally to change teachers or to desert your fellow soldiers (metatithami).
Identify theological/historical contexts
As you think about theological or historical contexts, think about the big picture. What other passages talk about these issues? What other passages might be relevant to the passage you're studying? Do other scriptures speak to the same issues to which your passage speaks?
Does the author quote from Scripture or refer to an historical event? If so, for what purpose does he use the quote? It is important to always look up the passage being quoted in its original context.
This is the place to clarify or research historical or geographic references that are unfamiliar to you. A good Bible dictionary is helpful in this regard and will often provide insights into the text that you would otherwise miss.Why does the author say what he does? If the author gives an imperative without providing a theological reason, it is important to ask what is the theological or cultural basis for the command. We have looked at how he says it and what he says but it also important to ask why he says it. The "why" is often rooted in the nature of God.
Application: Skin
How is the argument of the passage intended to affect the original audience in terms of actions, attitudes and convictions?
Let's recall the main point of the passage. If there is an imperative in the passage, what is the author calling on his audience to do? The desired effects may be spelled out plainly by the author but it is important to pause and ask how the application relates to the historical situation of the audience. If the author is telling them to do something is it because they weren't doing it at the time? How would their circumstances relate to what they were or were not doing?
What similarities exist between the original audience and myself or my audience?
Before we can move to asking how this passage applies to myself or my audience we need to examine the similarities between our situation and that of the original audience. (The analogy of skin is appropriate here because as circumstances and cultures change the application of a biblical principle, it will take on different manifestations. However, what does not change is the underlying structure of the author's argument--skeleton--and theological content--musculature. In fact, this underlying framework will determine the shape that our application takes in a given context. To carry this analogy further, what we want to avoid is introducing a layer of fat that distorts the theological shape and results in a culturally misappropriate application.)
Is the passage directly applicable to my audience because we are in the same situation as the original audience or is it only applicable in principle?
The reason we ask this question is because epistles are occasional documents, the writers are in the process of applying truths to specific life circumstances. Because our circumstances may differ from the original audience’s, we cannot necessarily make a one-to-one correlation. Epistles can be considered "case studies" which apply biblical principles to specific situations (Ericson, LMS, p 250) in as much as our current situation mirrors that of the original audience, we can apply the passage directly. But when our circumstances differ significantly, we often need to work from the principle being given in order to apply it to our situation.
Ephesians 5:18: Drunk with wine or the headcovering example
Why is it that most women do not wear headcoverings in the church today even though Paul explicitly commands it? The reason has to do with cultural relevance. Paul was giving a practical expression of a spiritual truth, namely that we should—in this case women should—respect authority. The principle of authority (1 Cor. 11:3) is tied to a spiritual truth but the way that this respect is shown is in keeping with the cultural norms. In 1 Cor.11:5,14 Paul is telling the church specifically not to go against cultural norms in expressing this principle of submission to authority. However, outward expression of this principle in dress or manner is no longer relevant today because it is not something our culture practices and yet the biblical principle remains true and should find expression in the attitudes and interactions between a husband and a wife.
What is Paul’s attitude toward those who add anything to the gospel? Should we treat distorters (Catholics?) in the way Paul is referring to them here? Paul is not addressing them directly. Persuade first. We need to recognize that those who preach false gospels are opposing Christ. Judaizers were well informed; Paul had run into them before. They were operating from corrupt motives.
How is the intent of this passage relevant to my audience or to me?
Recall what the main point of the passage is. It is important to apply what the text meant to apply, often this is found in an imperative statement. To what life issues does the passage speak ? Think of specific situations in which this passage or its principle would apply in your life and be as specific as possible. We often limit our thinking to theological truths contained in the passage and then fail to apply the obvious imperatives contained in God’s word.
Those who dare to oppose the gospel are opposing Christ! You cannot change the gospel or preach contrary to the gospel without preaching against Christ. What the false teachers in Galatia were doing was adding to Christ’s work. Paul is irate because this takes away from Christ’s finished work and consequently it takes away from God’s glory.
Isn’t this the way it always is? The greatest threat to the gospel comes not from those who are on the outside, but those on the inside. Historically, those within the church have caused the greatest damage to the church. The way to serve God is to preach the gospel and be faithful to the gospel.
There is only one gospel.
Assignment:
Read Acts 13-15
Paragraph Study:
1:11-2:10 What is going on in this section?
2:11-21
Background Reading:
How much historical background info should they read? What is the historical situation? Audience: where is Galatia? When was it written?
For Further Reading:
Norman R. Ericson, "Interpreting the Petrine Literature" in The Literature and Meaning of Scripture, edited by Morris Inch and Hassell Bullock.
Fee and Stuart, "Learning to Think Contextually" and "The Hermeneutical Questions," in How to Read the Bible for All It’s Worth, pp.43-71.
Stein, "The Game of Correspondence—Epistles," in Playing By the Rules, pp.169-186.
