Grasping God's Word - J. Scott Duvall & J. Daniel Hays

The Bible. It sits enshrined above all the rest of ancient literature. Crafted over the course of millennia in different language, by many authors of varying societies, covering many genres – prophecy, poetry, practical advice, biography, didactic teaching, even romance! – threatened with destruction, but always rising up to outlive its pallbearers, most read, most quoted, most defamed, most translated, most paraphrased, most abused, Most Holy Word of God.

How do we even begin to approach a book that with much a vibrant history? How does one interpret such an ancient text? How can we unlock the mysteries that lie upon the fragile onion-skin pages? Is it really the Word of God? If so, what does that mean? How do we read it? How do we interpret it? And perhaps more importantly, how do we apply it?

In Grasping God’s Word, J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays tackle this monumental task of explaining how to have a hands-on approach to reading, interpreting, and applying the Scriptures. First, they teach you to read the Bible critically. This isn’t your momma’s devotional reading! Sit down with pen and paper and carefully take the text through the Interpretive Journey. Answer these questions: What did the text mean to the original audience? What are the differences between that audience and a contemporary audience? What is the abstract theological principle the text is teaching? How should Christians apply that abstraction in a concrete way today?

After teaching you to read the text, they move on to an interpretation of the text. The basic premise here is that a text without context in a pretext for a proof text. They will teach you how to see the Biblical passages in the light of historical, cultural, and literary contexts, as well as help as see past the cultural and other biases we might impose upon the text. The third section teaches us to interpret specific portions of Scripture. For instance, OT prophecy cannot be interpreted in the same way the proverbs can, or the way Jesus’ parables can.

Perhaps the most important thing this book teaches is that the Bible is not a systematic theology. Rather it is compilation of history in which God manifested theological principles. These abstract principles are timeless even if their cultural specific application in the Bible is not. We must take these abstract principles and integrate them into our own culture in order to accurately apply the Bible’s teaching.

For any person wanting to learn how to seriously study the Bible, Grasping God’s Word is an indispensible resource. It’s a must-have for any Christian, because it strives to correct one of the most troubling aspects of today’s Christianity – a populace ignorant of and misinterpreting and misapplying the Word of God.  To Duvall and Hays, I thank you for your study on this topic. It is a much-needed resource for today’s Christian.

Grasping God's Word - J. Scott Duvall & J. Daniel Hays