This series is designed to help people better understand the Bible and how it speaks to us. Read the series Introduction post to learn how this series is designed to help you.

This post begins the second segment of this series where we will focus on how we understand the meaning of the Biblical text. There is no better place to start than ‘authorial intent’.

So let’s gooooo!

Meaning

Have you ever thought about who determines the meaning of words? The way you answer this question will have profound impact on how you interpret the Bible.

Meaning is determined by the author. I bolded and italicized that sentence because it is profoundly significant. 

Think for a moment. Have you ever sent a text message that literally meant nothing? The point of communication is to convey meaning. Everything we say and write has an intended meaning behind it, a meaning we wish to convey to the recipient(s). Our communication, therefore, whether written or spoken, is tailored to maximize and match that intended meaning.

Where Does Meaning Come From?

Let’s look at a basic (and possibly silly) example:

Bob texts: “I’d like Pizza for dinner tonight.”

Sarah comes home with Taco Bell

Bob: “Why did you get Taco Bell? I said I wanted Pizza.”

Sarah: “Well, I saw that you said you wanted Pizza, but I figured that by ‘pizza’ you meant any kind of food that is simple and lacks nutrition.”

Bob: “No… I meant Pizza.”

Bob meant something when he wrote that he wanted Pizza. “Pizza” meant Pizza. He didn’t intend for Sarah to interpret that creatively. Sarah, however, assumed she could interpret “Pizza” however she wanted. Thus, there is a communication breakdown. 

This basic principle of communication applies to the Bible as well. The meaning of the text is determined by the author. God is the divine author, and He inspired the human Biblical writers to communicate exactly what He wanted.

The Biblical writers, therefore, had an intended meaning they wished readers to understand. Paul meant something when he wrote:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’”

Romans 1:16-17 ESV

Our job as readers, then, is to discover that intended meaning, understanding that it originates with God and flows to us through the Biblical writers.

So…..how do we determine the original writer’s intended meaning? There are many tools that we can access to help us with this task, but one of the easiest and most helpful is to consider context (the subject of our next post in this series). Submitting to the discipline of context will help you narrow down the writer’s intended meaning.

Happy Bibleing!