BS501 BIBLE STUDY & INTERPRETATION

UNDERSTANDING THE HERMENEUTICAL PROCESS

This document was written to help you understand the hermeneutical process through the simulated
assignment. This is not meant to be a solution-guide to the assignment. Eventually, you should work
towards thinking through all these elements subconsciously when interpreting any Bible text.

1) General Historical Context of the Book

The purpose of getting an overview of the historical context of the book (including the author,
audience, occasion for the writing and the intended purpose of the author) is so that it will shape
the general impression and thrust of the book. The assumption is that when an author writes a
piece of communication to his hearers, he has primarily only a few key thrusts that he is hoping
that the hearers will understand and thus respond to. We should not see the content of the book as
being made up of independent units of thought stringed together randomly.

In the case of Ephesians, knowing that the intended audience is probably churches in the Asia
Minor region (and not just in Ephesus) will shape the global feel of the book, i.e. that the content
is addressing issues that probably applies to all believers. In terms of the occasion, this letter is
written about 5-7 years after his 3-year stay at Ephesus, and this is a time when external threats in
terms of heresies are starting to affect the churches in this region, and thus the core purpose of the
letter is to lay a deeper foundation concerning the full significance of the Gospel.

2) Specific Historical Context of Passage

The purpose here is to research and record historical or cultural items that may have an impact on
the interpretation of the text, and not to interpret the text now. Here is where bible commentaries
or background commentaries will come in handy. Good study Bible (like NIV Study Bible) will
often include relevant historical-cultural elements in the footnotes.

In the case of Ephesians 6:14-17, the obvious historical-cultural elements that most would have
picked up would be the individual items in the armour of God. Other than the Roman armour,
one could have also picked up the allusion of these armour items to similar OT descriptions. In
addition, one should also research on the methods of warfare or conduct of battles in the Greco-
Roman times, as the emphasis in the text is the verbs (i.e. the actions), and not really the items.

It is so important that I will repeat myself here: This is not the time to offer any interpretation
of the text, though it is very tempting to do so because you might have been very excited about
finding out some possibly relevant specific background info. You should only step back to
consider the interpretation of the text after you have researched and studies all three worlds.
What you should do now is just record your research. You will decide what specific background
information would have more significance to your text after considering also the literary and
grammatical contexts.

3) Overall Literary Context

Understanding the genre of the text allows you to take note of special considerations when
interpreting the text. It will also shape the way you break up the text into units. After this, you
should determine (usually based on a credible resource will do) the overall structure of the whole
book into its main units. Each Bible book has key thrusts that it is addressing, and it is
communicated through the way the units are related and built upon one another.

BS501 Bible Study & Interpretation Page Credit-HP-1

 In the case of Ephesians, knowing this is a Pauline epistle means that it is important to determine
when and why the letter was written in the first place, since Paul often writes only if his immediate
presence at the church would not be possible. For its structure, Ephesians is broken up neatly in
two halves: the first (Chap 1-3) dealing with a fuller understanding of God’s universal redemptive
plans, and the second (Chap 4-6) flowing from it to discuss the implications for our corporate and
personal lives. The final segment on Ephesians 6:10-20 focuses on the attitude or stance we should
adopt as we go on in our “regular” lives.

4) Specific Literary Context

The purpose of determining the specific literary context is meant to help us decide what the author
is trying to drive at with one particular point, which must be read in the totality of the whole unit
for the author’s full intention to be understood. For this, the best practice is to first isolate the
entire unit of thought (from your research in the general literary context), and then to break down
the flow of thought within that unit, before finally determining how the particular passage fits into
the whole scheme of ideas.

In the case of Ephesians 6:14-17, we would first need to isolate the entire unit of Ephesians 6:10-
20, which we have earlier discovered to be speaking about how we should view and live out our
earthly lives in the context of the spiritual war that we are now already in. Within this whole unit,
the ideas can be broken into 6:10-13, 6:14-16 and 6:17-20 (or 6:14-17 and 6:18-20). The first
segment of 6:10-13 seeks to exhort the readers to be alert in the way they live by reminding them
they are already at war although this is not always apparent. The nature of the warfare requires
them to live in a state of dependence on God’s power. The later segment of 6:18-20 speaks of the
need to saturate their lives with prayers, with special emphasis on praying for others.

AGAIN, This is not the time to offer any interpretation of the text, though again it is very
tempting to do so because you might have made some new discoveries. You should only step back
to consider the interpretation of the text after you have researched and studies all three worlds.

5) Grammatical Analysis
The purpose of grammatical analysis is to breakdown the thrust of the sentence, and this is
especially important for long and complex sentences (such as those by Paul). The key objective of
this analysis is thus to determine the main clauses, which are usually (but not always) the main
points of the text. One simple way to do this (though not foolproof) is to determine the key verbs
in the sentences or paragraphs. Most of us do such analysis of a text almost subconsciously when
we read and it often works fine for shorter sentences and paragraphs, but a visual analysis becomes
necessary when you deal with long complex paragraphs with multiple subordinating clauses

In the case of Ephesians 6:14-17, breaking down the text based on main and subordinating clauses
will automatically yield the two key verbs of “Stand Firm!” and “Take!” (or “Receive!”). The rest of
the verbs (and thus clauses) are all subordinate to these two main statements. This thus gives a
good indication what the key exhortations are in the text. Beyond just keeping our armour on, the
text is actually exhorting believers to learn to stand firm in the midst of battles, and to receive the
helmet and sword from God to engage the enemy.

6) Word Studies
The purpose this is to clarify the meaning difficult or meaningful words that may yield deeper
significance of the text. As such, this is not always necessary. Judgment has to be exercised to
determine whether there are any meaningful words that should be studied in greater detail in order
for you to be able to grasp a more complete understanding of the text.

BS501 Bible Study & Interpretation Page Credit-HP-2

 In the case of Ephesians 6:14-17, some possible words that could have been studied include: stand
firm, righteousness, take, evil (one), etc.

7) Interpretation
This is where you should take a step back with all the information researched and gathered in front
of you as you attempt to synthesize all that you have discovered. This is also where you have to
decide how the “three worlds” fit together into a coherent picture of the message intended by the
author. In the process, you will have to determine the significance of whatever you have found,
and whether they exert any influence over the meaning of the text. Don’t force your discovery
unto the text just because you spent a lot of time researching on it. At the end of the day, be
willing to discard parts of your research if they are merely peripheral to the main points.

For the text Ephesians 6:14-17, although the individual pieces of armour each carry rich
symbolism and are legitimate points of significance, this is probably not the main point of the text.
The emphasis of the whole segment of Ephesians 6:10-20 is to urge believers to live their lives
with alertness and spiritual sensitivity because they are already at war. Hence what they are exhorted
to do is to: (1) keep the Armour on constantly, (2) stand firm when engaged and (3) receive God’s
helmet and sword to fight, (4) all the while maintaining a prayerful spirit. The emphasis of 6:14-17
is thus the need for believers to hold their ground as an individual and as a community, and to
receive God’s weapons to fight against the enemy.

8) Application
It is important that when we draw the intended application from the text, we need to first ask
ourselves what did the author intend the original hearers to do. There are probably many specific
application points we can draw from this rich text, but some of these are probably peripheral to
Paul’s primary intention for the believers during his time. The best applications that you can draw
from the Bible text should be directly parallel to the originally intended application for the original
hearers of the text.

In the case of Ephesians 6:14-17, although it is definitely legitimate to draw applications from the
individual pieces of armour, this would probably be a peripheral point for Paul, considering that he
did not even bother to elaborate much on them, but instead keep on mentioning for the believers
to “stand firm.”

In conclusion, these are the various tasks you should be doing whenever you attempt to interpret a
Bible text. At the beginning, the process will feel very tedious and cumbersome, and will often appear
to be overly “academic” or “technical”. But this is inevitable primarily because most of us are more
used to the devotional way of reading the Bible. The good news is that as you practice these over time,
the entire process of interpretation should eventually become second nature (much like driving or
swimming), such that whenever you look at a Bible text, your mind will instinctively run through the
process of asking you questions about the three worlds of the text.

BS501 Bible Study & Interpretation Page Credit-HP-3