Biblical interpretation involves three (and only three) steps. They are
- Observation
- Interpretation
- Application
These govern everything.
This means you'll be asking lots of questions about the text. What exactly do I see here? What are the facts? What does the text mean? What's the main verb? What's it literary form? What does it have to say to me?
For example, this morning I was in Philippians. I've begun a fresh translation of that magnificent letter by Paul. Even the very first verse of the letter requires that we ask certain questions of the text:
- Is it "slaves," "bondsmen," "bondservants," or "servants"?
- Is it "slaves who belong to Christ Jesus" or "slaves who serve Christ Jesus"?
- Is it "to all the saints" or "to all God's people"?
- Is it "bishops and deacons" (that is, titles) or "those who oversee and serve" (that is, descriptions)?
It's amazing to me how people so easily ignore such questions! But each one is important for exegesis. Remember: The Bible isn't embarrassed when we ask it questions. Of course, this doesn't mean that there will always be answers. But we still need to ask them to determine if they can be answered or not.
Finally -- and please don't skip this step! -- try to produce your own translation of the text the best you can. Try to bring out what you believe to be the correct answers to the questions you've been asking. For what it's worth, this is how I ended up translating Phil. 1:1 this morning at the end of my Bible time:
This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves owned by Christ Jesus. We are writing to all God's people in union with Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, including those who oversee and serve.
Am I absolutely sure that I've answered all of my questions correctly? Absolutely not! But we must still make the effort. Inerrancy means that the Bible is completely trustworthy, reliable, and without error. As we study it, we can eagerly anticipate answers to the questions we ask!