understanding the book of beginnings....

not so long ago, someone commented this to me : why do you read so much? why do you spend so much effort in understanding a passage? arent you putting your trust in commentaries , rather than in the holy spirit? cant you just let the holy spirit speak for itself thru the text? Ryan, do you worship commentaries or the God in the bible? i think i have been misunderstooded...

There is a need for correct interpretation of the text. without correct interpretation, one may take things out of context and start to apply them with dire consequence. Jesus warns many times : in the temptation in the wilderness; Matthew 4 - Satan knows the bible- he quotes verses to tempt jesus... another example : it happens to the 2nd half of matthew 5: the pharisees were limiting the commandments(eg. murder and lust) , and extending the permissions (eg. divorce and conduct towards 'aliens') - again jesus pointed to misinterpretation and application of the law. I think it is NOT just a scholar duty to study the scripture closely - it is everyone's duty....

by the way, i strongly DO NOT recommend anyone read commentaries unless one does his homework thru bible study techniques like IBS etc etc... doing an outline would be good...

allow me to quote from How to read genesis by tremper longman III :

"chapter 1

Genesis is not an easy book to understand. it takes hard work to come to grips with this ancient , enigmatic book. TO really get under the surface of Genesis we can benefit from the work of professionals, those whom God has called to devote their careers to the study of the scriptures.

As i make this statement, i anticipate resistance on the part of some readers. "no" they protest, "GOd speaks to us clearly in his Word. All we have to do is pick it up and read it. We dont need to spend a long time thinking about principles of interpretation. The work of scholars obsures rather than clarifies the simple , literal meaning of the bible."

i support much of the sentiment expressed in this hypothetical reaction. Even if they are not really aware of it, the protest is based on the important doctrines of the priesthood of all believers and the perspicuity and sufficiency of scripture.

the priesthood of all believers ( based most explicitly on passages like jer31: 33-35 and 1 Peter 2:9) telss us that we can all have a personal and intimate relationship with God without some kind of human intermediary . The Reformers, people like luther and calvin, asserted this truth over against traditional church doctrine that insisted on the necessity of professional clerics. Such a viewpoint also helps explain why for many years the Roman Catholic Church resisted translation of the Bible into everyday's language and kept it in Latin, which only the priests could read and understand. In the Catholic Church, a layperson's relationship with the Bible only changed in the 1960s at Vatican Council II. So it may be in defense of the important idea of the priesthood of all believers that some readers will be skeptical about my urging the help of professional interpreters.

the reformers argued strongly for the clarity of scripture. they rightly held that the bible was not written in a code. Further, they defended the view that the bible could be understood on its own terms (sufficiency of Scripture). We do not need the tradition of the church fathers to understand the Bible.

When rightly understood, these doctrines are fundamentally important and crucial to defend. The problem is that the priesthood of all believers as well as the perspicuity and sufficiency of scripture have been wrongly understood and applied inareas they were never intended to be applied. inshort, what the reformers understood the bible to teach was that the message of salvation in the the bible is clear and understandable to all without the need of a priestly mediator or scholarly input. That human beings are sinners in need of a Savior and that the Savior is none other than Jesus Christ is patently clear of scripture.

However not everthing is equally plain. ... a reading of Genesis will raise many questions in our minds that are not quickly and easily resolved. Indeed, a number of questions remain unanswered even after intensive study. One important principle of interpretation is to recognize that not all of our questions can be answered.

Very few people could read Genesis at all without scholarly intervention..... while some of you may protest, my guess is that most are well aware that there are questions of interpretation and the nature of Genesis is not always on the surface.... "