Category: Theology
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The Importance of Accuracy in Interpreting the Word
Victory in this battle begins with understanding the truth of God, and this can only happen as we properly interpret and understand God’s word. Indeed the devil’s most subtle and often most effective strategy is to deceive us through the use of God’s own Word, as he attempted to do when he tempted the Lord…
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Foundational Guidelines for Interpretation
The goal of interpretation is to understand the meaning of the passage as the author intended it to be understood by the audience he was writing to. The Bible is to be interpreted by the same rules as other books and other communication. God has communicated to us in human language and in a manner…
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Guidelines for Interpreting Literary Forms
The Epistles: 1) Recognize the customary letter form: 1) name of writer, 2) name of recipient, 3) greeting, 4) prayer or thanksgiving, 5) body 6) final greeting and farewell. 2) The epistles are occasional in nature, so it is essential to try to understand the historical situation that was being addressed. A good procedure might…
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Procedures for Understanding and Interpreting a Biblical Text
Begin by asking God for wisdom. Ask for God’s understanding of the book. Ask God to reveal any cultural or theological biases I may have. Read the book and identify portions that may be threatening to my current theology or lifestyle. Ask God for grace to receive anything these passages may be saying in contradiction…
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History of Interpretation
This is Dave Bovenmyer’s summary of Chapter two of Hermeneutics, Principles and Processes of Biblical Interpretation, by Henry A. Virkler
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God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility to Choose
The purposes of this paper are: 1. My goal is that pastors in our movement will emphasize in their teachings both biblical truths–that God is sovereign and that man has responsibility to respond to Him. 2. My second goal is to help build unity. There are a number of different views in our movement on,…
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Grace, Works, and Lordship
In this paper I establish the scriptural teaching of salvation by grace apart from works and then discuss several issues concerning “lordship salvation”) 1) does a person have to acknowledge Jesus as his personal Lord, or can he first accept Jesus as Savior and later as Lord? 2) Is it necessary to “repent” to be…
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Is Faith the “gift” in Ephesians 2:8?
Many Christians believe that the word “that” in Ephesians 2:8 refers to the word “faith” as its antecedent. The following comments from various commentaries on the passage show that the Greek language does not allow this. Rather, the word “that” modifies the previously presented concept of “salvation.”