Understanding Biblical Text Through the Lens of Three Worlds

This essay explores the three worlds of biblical text interpretation: the world behind the text (historical context), the world of the text (literary context), and the world in front of the text (reader's perspective). It emphasizes the importance of understanding the historical and literary contexts to accurately interpret the Bible. The essay discusses how cultural, social, and literary factors influence the meaning of biblical texts and how readers' interpretations can be shaped by these contexts. It also provides examples from the scriptures to illustrate the significance of considering these three worlds for a comprehensive understanding of the Bible. Desklib provides various resources and solved assignments for students.

The Three Worlds of Biblical Text
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The Three World of Biblical Text
The bible is the principal text of the Christian faith. In the contemporary society, the
bible has been widely translated and numerous versions are available1. It is important for a
reader of the bible to interpret the text correctly. With the numerous translations, it has
become a hard task to interpret the bible correctly. The world that is considered to be behind
the text is the one that looks at the bible historically. The world that is seen as of the text is
the one that examines biblical literary context. The world that is considered to be in front of
the text is the one that provides a perspective for the bible reader. It is very important to
understand the first two worlds in order to understand the third one.
The World In front of the Text
The world that is considered to be in front of biblical text is the ine that provides a
perspective to the reader of the bible. Many modern readers of the bible read the bible as they
would read a novel. The danger that is associated with this kind of reading is that one may
not interpret the bible correctly. It is true to conclude that every reader of the bible makes
their own interpretations of the text. The bible has been greatly translated which has
contributed to loss of the original meaning. Anthropologists argue that information is lost
when literary text is translated from one language to another. The bible was written by
different authors and at different times. If an individual were to understand the true meaning
of biblical text, then they must understand the world behind the text and the literary world of
biblical text. The world that is considered to be behind the text refers to the historical context
of the biblical context. The bible was greatly influenced by the culture and way of life of the
authors. The literary world of biblical text refers to the literary context of the biblical text.
The following sections are going to focus on the world that is considered to be behind the text
1. Village, Andrew. The Bible and lay people, 14

and the world that is considered to be in front of biblical text. In addition, the sections will
explain why it is important to the understand the world that is considered to be behind the
text and the literary world of biblical text so as to understand the world that is considered to
be in front of biblical text.
The World Behind the Text
It is important to understand the historical context of the scripture. This understanding
is necessary and essential in interpreting the bible and getting the correct meaning2. In an
attempt to understand the word of God, it is important to have an understanding of what it
meant to the people it was written to. This is simply a historical context of the bible.
Therefore, it is important for a person to have knowledge of the original language that the
bible was written. This usually need the help of an expert since moss scriptures were
originally written in Greek. During translation, some important aspect of the text might have
been lost3. Therefore, it is necessary to have an understanding of what the original text meant
so that the reader will have the ability of understanding the world that is considered to be in
front of biblical text. The bible was written centuries ago. There have been great
technological and social transformations since then. If we were to understand the intended
meaning of the word of God, then we have to be aware of the cultural, social and other
practices that the people living at the time had. Authors are usually influenced by the world
that they are living in. They are likely to write about what they see or experience in their
daily lives. Having such as understanding would make reading the bible an exciting
experience. Failure to incorporate the historical context may make a person get interpret the
biblical text wrongly. Every Christian should endeavour to interpret the bible correctly.
2. Friedman, Richard. Who wrote the Bible, 7
3. Gentry, Peter J., and Stephen J. Wellum. Kingdom through Covenant, 9

Therefore, it is important to have a proper understanding of the world that is considered to be
behind the text. The bible is an anthology of different books. These books were written at
different times and by different authors. Therefore, the authors hailed from different cultural
and social backgrounds. While reading the bible, it is important to have this understanding.
For instance, the book of Isaiah was written wrong before Christ came to the world. The
letters of Paul on the other hand were written after Christ had ascended to heaven. Let us take
an example with the biblical text of Mathew 20: 1-16. The word penny or denarius is used to
describe the amount of money that was offered to the workers. In the modern day, a person
reading that text might be tempted to think that that was a very small amount of money.
However, a penny or denarius was equivalent the wage that a worker received for the whole
day. It follows that an understanding of the historical context of the bible is very important if
we are to understand the world that is considered to be in front of biblical text.
World of the Text
The literary world of biblical text refers to the literary context of the biblical text. Unlike the
historical context, this is something that a reader of the bible can do by themselves without
consulting an expert. This simply means that the biblical text can only be best understood if
someone can look at a sentence in relation to the preceding and succeeding sentences4. It is
common for readers of the bible to read and interpret certain verses of the bible in isolation.
Such a move does not consider the literary context of the bible. Therefore, a person who
reads and interprets a single or several verses in isolation may interpret the bible wrongly.
Putting biblical context into its literary context is essential in understanding the world that is
considered to be in front of biblical text. If we read the bible in its literary context, we
consider the writer’s train of thoughts and try to understand the point that they are making. If
4. Klein, William W., Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr.
Introduction to biblical interpretation, 21

we were to read the bible without considering the literary context, we would be like a person
who picks a novel, starts reading it halfway and expects to understand the storyline. It is
impossible to do so accurately.
Some books of the bible were written in prose, while others were written as poems5. There
are also some that were written as songs or comprise of songs. Most of the modern bibles
have the entire biblical text written in prose. If a reader of the bible is to truly understand the
world in front the text, they must consider the literary format that the text was originally
written in. For instance, the book of psalms contains songs of praise to God. Songs are
usually modified in a manner that allows the lyrics to match with the instruments. Words
might be formatted in a way that is not grammatically correct with the aim of achieving
synchrony and harmony. Such an understanding is important to a person reading the book of
psalms. Another main consideration that must be made in relation to the literary context, is
the meaning the author intended to put across. Often, it is possible for different people to get
different meanings of what is said by a person. However, every author had a message that
they intended to put across. It is important to have an understanding of this message. This
way, it will be possible to understand the world that is considered to be in front of biblical
text6. Let us take an example with a biblical text from 2nd Corinthians 5:16. Pauls says that
“although we have known Christ according to the flesh, we no longer know him as such”.
Paul intends to mean that we do not know Christ any longer from a worldly point of view. To
understand the intended message by the author, a person may need to seek help from an
expert. Here is an example from the scripture. Suppose a person reads the book of Hosea 6:1
in isolation. The verse reads this war, “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that
5. Wright, Terry R. The Genesis of Fiction, 23
6. Fee, Gordon D., and Douglas Stuart. How to read Bible, 14

he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.” Reading this verse in
isolation may make a person believe that the Israelites were truly repentant. However, if the
person reads the preceding and succeeding verses, they would discover that this was false
repentance.
Conclusion
The bible is the principal text of the Christians. It is the basis of their faith. It is
therefore important for Christians to have a good understanding of the bible. Christians can
only do so if they can interpret the bible correctly. The bible is an anthology of different
books. These books were written at different times and by different authors. It is important
for bible readers to understand the world that is considered to be behind the text and the
literary world of biblical text, so that they can understand the world that is considered to be in
front of biblical text. The world that is considered to be behind the text refers to the historical
perspective of the biblical text. An understanding of the culture and way of life of the author
would help in having a better understanding of the scriptures. The literary world of biblical
text refers to the literary context of the bible. A Christian should endeavour to understand the
meaning that was intended by the author. This way, they will interpret the bible correctly and
have a better understanding of the world that is considered to be in front of biblical text.

References
1 Fee, Gordon D., and Douglas Stuart. How to read the Bible for all its worth.
Zondervan, 2014.
2 Friedman, Richard. Who wrote the Bible? Simon & Schuster, 2019.
3 Gentry, Peter J., and Stephen J. Wellum. Kingdom through Covenant: A Biblical-
Theological Understanding of the Covenants. Crossway, 2018.
4 Klein, William W., Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard Jr. Introduction to
biblical interpretation. Zondervan, 2017.
5 Village, Andrew. The Bible and lay people: An empirical approach to ordinary
hermeneutics. Routledge, 2016.
6 Wright, Terry R. The Genesis of Fiction: Modern Novelists as Biblical
Interpreters. Routledge, 2016.