Worlds of Biblical Text

Worlds of Biblical Text
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Introduction
Christians use the Bible as the scriptural source of their faith. The Bible is a
compilation of different books that were written by different authors. It is also important to
note that the different books were written at different times. Christians believe that the
authors of the Bible were inspired by the holy spirit when writing the bible. Due to this, the
Bible is holy and contains the word of God. When reading the bible, it is common for
Christians to take the general meaning of the text. It is also common for people to take verses
of the Bible in isolation and apply them to a particular aspect or event. There is also a
category of the Christians that take the bible to literary mean everything that is written. In
light of this, it is true to conclude that the interpretation of the bible is an important factor in
the journey of a Christian. This paper is going to focus on the aspects that are important to
understanding in order to interpret the bible correctly. These aspects are categorized as three
worlds, that in front of the biblical text, the one behind and the world of the text.
The World Behind
As observed above, different Christians may have different interpretations of the
bible. In order to understand the Bible well, it is important to understand the social and
cultural factors that existed when the bible was being written. Since there are different books
and different authors, it would be important to consider looking at the social and cultural
factors that revolve around the author of the bible. This social and cultural perspective of the
bible is the one that is referred to like the world that is behind the text1. It is very important to
have an understanding of this world. Most authors were affected by the social and cultural
environments that they were in at the time of writing the bible. Extensive evidence reveals
that these factors almost always influence authors, be it in the historical or contemporary
times. Therefore, an author of a novel in contemporary society is likely to be influenced
1 Wright, The Genesis of Fiction, 14

by their sociocultural environment. There is one main reason for this. The reason is that
people tend to relate more with what they have already interacted with. This was not different
for the writers of the bible. Although they were influenced by the holy spirit, their culture
influenced some of their views/ writings. It is therefore important to understand the
sociocultural background of the author of a biblical text in order to interpret it well. Let us
take an example with Paul’s first letter to Timothy chapter 2. In the letter, Paul commands
women to dress modestly and to be silent in churches. An understanding of the Jewish culture
would help understand this command.
When we read the bible while putting into consideration the sociocultural background
of the author, we are likely to have a better understanding of the biblical text (the world of the
text)2. An example in the contemporary world would help us understand the significance of
the world in front of the text. Suppose one’s culture prohibits eating certain animals, say pig.
If such a person authors a book and indicates severally that they visited a hotel and never
ordered pork, we would understand the reason if we are aware of the person's cultural
background. The authors of the bible came from different cultural and social backgrounds3.
This influenced their views on such factors as gender roles and sacrifices. The following
section is going to discuss the world that is considered to be behind biblical text.
The World of the Text
The world of the text simply refers to the literary devices that are used in the scriptures. In
order to understand the bible, it is important to view every sentence as having been
influenced by the preceding ones and influencing the following ones. Let us take an example
2. Hjelm, Ingrid and Thomas, Biblical Interpretation, 21
3. Oeming, Contemporary biblical hermeneutics, 14