 Okay, once again, good morning, everyone. Welcome to our course, BC 106 on Interpreting Scripture. Let's take a moment to pray and then we will get started. All right, let's pray. Father, we thank you for this day. Thank you that we could come together and spend some time learning, studying. We invite, Lord, the work of your Holy Spirit to be our teacher, to be our guide and to give us revelation, to give us wisdom, to give us understanding, knowledge and skill in handling the Word of God. So, Father, we will handle the Word of God rightly, correctly. And as we teach and preach, maybe bring your truth and your heart to people. Thank you, Father, in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, we have maybe just, I'm reviewing one lesson which is the Old Testament, the New Testament today. So, we cover that. And then after that, we have two lessons. One lesson that we will talk about is on literary styles and how do we look at the texts from a literary perspective, how to handle that. Then the last lesson will be on application. That is, how do we, when we interpret the Word, how do we focus on helping people apply the Word? Because that's the whole objective. When you are interpreting Scripture, ultimately you want to be able to help people apply the Word correctly in their lives. So with that, we will have a framework. We will say, okay, this is how we are going to interpret the Scriptures. And then we go to the last lesson after that, which is mainly handling difficult passages. So what we're going to do in that last lesson, that will be a very long lesson because we will take many difficult passages and we will say, okay, how to do it, right? And so by that time, I will give this whole book to, I will give the whole PDF, full PDF to you. So you'll have from lesson one to lesson whatever, 15 or something. You'll have the whole PDF and I'll tell Diana also to get a photocopy. So you'll have the full PDF as full notes as I've updated it this time. Each time around, I kind of keep changing it, updating it a bit so that we keep the content current so you can have that and you can use that for your exam and preparation and so on. So let's quickly review part of the lesson that we were doing last week and we were talking about how do we interpret the Old Testament in the New Testament, right? So what we said was as we study the scriptures, we know that there are Old Testament passages that are referenced in the New Testament, right? So there could be quotations, meaning scriptures that are quoted. There could be illustrations, meaning stories that are mentioned and a lot of them, a lot of them throughout from Matthew to Revelation, you find the New Testament pointing back to the Old Testament. So we said that, you know, when we are looking at this, we need to go back to the Old Testament, understand what is being said in the Old Testament, but don't transfer what we see in the New Testament, don't transfer it back there because the people or the writer or the prophet at that time didn't understand, didn't know what we know in the New Testament. So New Testament, we have more understanding, more revelation, but at that time they didn't have that. So we shouldn't transfer this revelation back there because they didn't know it, but understand the Old Testament in its original context, what do you see there? And then take that story into the New and you see what is the truth God is unveiling in the New Testament, right, from that Old Testament passage. What is the truth God wants us to learn? And usually there will be something that is pointing to Jesus. Now in the Old Testament they would not have known, example the Passover lamb, right? In the Old Testament when Moses said, every one of you take a lamb, one lamb for every house, the lamps will be perfect, no blemish, you kill it, collect the blood, you put it on the doorpost of your house and you all be ready to leave immediately. They just followed instructions, they didn't know, oh this lamb is pointing to Jesus, they didn't know that, oh this blood is the blood of Jesus, no, they didn't know all that, right, they were just following instructions. Moses said, do this, we will do it, we will be ready to go. And, but they expected protection, they expected something to happen because of applying the blood to the house. So that much we know. But when you come into the New Testament, Paul is pointing back and saying Christ is our Passover lamb. So this is New Revelation, right, which the people in the Old Testament didn't know, right? So this is New Revelation, that is for us, oh Christ is our Passover lamb. Then you go back, you read the story, you take the lessons, oh it was a perfect lamb, Christ is a perfect lamb. The blood had to be applied, otherwise they would not be protected. So we have to apply the blood, it means we have to make use of the blood of Jesus Christ in our lives. So that is the point we can take. But for us, the revelation is Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb. That's the revelation, that's a new thing which they didn't know, which we must understand in the New. So examples like that. So we went through these guidelines and we looked at one example, which is Matthew chapter 8 verses 16 and 17, that is pointing back to Isaiah chapter 53 verse 4. So there is a New Testament passage, Matthew 8, 16 and 17, that is pointing back to Isaiah. So when you read Matthew 8, 16 and 17, what was the record? The record was Jesus was in Caepernum, he was in somebody's house and in the evening they brought to him all the sick people, they brought to him those who were demon possessed and the Bible says he cast out the spirits with a word and he healed all who were sick. So there was deliverance, there was healing and then Matthew is quoting from Isaiah and he's saying Jesus did this to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy, Matthew 8 verse 17. Jesus did this to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy and he's pointing back and then when you go to Isaiah 53 and you see which verse he's pointing, he's quoting Isaiah 53 verse 4. So now we have to stop and think about this. Isaiah prophesied, surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. That part is being quoted by Matthew in Matthew chapter 8 verse 17. But it is being quoted in the context of deliverance and healing. That's where he's, that's the context he's quoting in the New Testament. Isaiah's context is the cross. Isaiah 53, he's talking about the cross, the death of Christ on the cross. Matthew is talking about the ministry of Jesus, of healing and deliverance, ministry of Jesus. But he's saying what Jesus did in his ministry was done to fulfill what Isaiah spoke about the cross. So now you put these two passages side by side. Looking back at Isaiah, we can better understand Isaiah now. What happens? You say Isaiah 53, 4, healing and deliverance. Is it there? It must be there because New Testament is using it in that context. So he can't be misquoting it. So then you go look at Isaiah 53, 4 and if you actually look at the Hebrew, it is there because it says surely he has borne our griefs. Old English word griefs. Hebrew choli meaning sickness. Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our English word sorrows. Hebrew word makob meaning pains, pain. So the literal rendering of Isaiah 53, 4 surely he has borne our sickness and carried our pain. That is what Matthew is quoting. He's quoting from the Hebrew and he's saying Isaiah actually said Jesus will bear our sickness and carry our pains. So now we can better understand Isaiah that there is healing, there is deliverance in the atonement, in the cross of Jesus Christ. We are not reading anything into the Old Testament. We are only understanding it better because it's already there. We're not adding words. We are only understanding the words because when we read it in English, they have translated as griefs and sorrows. For us in English, grief and sorrow doesn't always mean sickness and pain. It could be just emotional grief and sorrow. But because Matthew has said it in the context of healing and deliverance, we go and investigate. Is it correct? You investigate and then you say, yeah, that is what it is. Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our pains. So here's an example where the New Testament has helped us understand the Old Testament better. Now come the other way. You come in here to Matthew 8, 16 and 17 and you say, well, Isaiah was speaking about the cross but Jesus is doing ministry. He hasn't gone to the cross yet. So how can it be a fulfillment of, because he said, verse 17, Matthew 8, 17, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet. Surely he has borne our sickness and carried our pains or infirmities. So you're saying Isaiah's prophecy is being fulfilled. It's happening. So how can it be? Because Isaiah speaking about the cross, Jesus has not yet gone to the cross. He's just doing ministry. Oh, then we can understand. And as you read the Gospels, you'll find many times that Jesus healed the people and he forgave their sins even before he died on the cross. So many people, he said, your sins are forgiven you. So then we understand that Jesus was able to heal people, deliver people and forgive their sins before the cross because he was doing it as an advance payment because he was going to go and do it on the cross. So he could do it in advance because anywhere he was going to pay for it. So he could forgive, he could heal, he could deliver on the basis of what he was going to do on the cross. So we can say that the ministry of Jesus as healing, his deliverance, his forgiveness was all on the basis of the cross. So here's an example where the Old Testament is helping us understand the New Testament better. Did you get it? Yes or no? Okay, how the New Testament helps us understand Old Testament better and how Old Testament is helping us understand the New Testament better. It's throwing light both directions. So like this, there are many, many examples. You know, read Paul's letters to the Romans or we read the book of Hebrews. There's a lot of scripture we can see, you know, connected back to the Old Testament. So we look at both, we get better understanding, more revelation. Now I want us to do one exercise, Galatians chapter 4. So Galatians 4, again, is another interesting passage because he is quoting as well as illustrating from the Old Testament. So he's doing both. Galatians 4, 22 to 31. It is actually a little difficult passage. So purposely picked it. It's a little difficult passage because he's dealing with a difficult subject about the law. He's doing two things in this passage. He is quoting scripture from the Old Testament. And secondly, he's also pointing to an event, an illustration from the Old Testament. So you look at it. Galatians 4, 22 to 31. Let me just pause and see if there are any questions from the class. So for any questions from online students, any questions so far? Any questions? Okay, small doubts, big doubts, fine. I think your mic is not on. Just check your mic. Okay, fine. So possibly it can also mean the same thing as griefs and sorrows, but it does not have to mean only pain and sickness. Yes, it can mean only the emotional part as well. I mean, the emotional part is also included in the cross because when you read further down in verse 5, it says, the chastisement for our peace was upon him. That word peace is shalom, which means total well-being, includes emotional well-being. So even emotional wholeness is included in the cross of Jesus Christ and what he did. So there's nothing wrong if you take it as what it means literally in English, griefs and sorrows, which is an emotional thing, mainly in English, because that is also correct. But the literal Hebrew means sicknesses and pains, which is what Isaiah was talking about, which is what Jesus was demonstrating in Matthew 8. Any other questions? Okay, so let's go to this second passage, Galatians chapter 4, verses 22 to 31. And let's look at it. Could somebody read it with the mic so everyone can hear? Galatians 4, 22 to 31 please. For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one wife, one woman, that the other wife, free woman. But he who was of the one woman was one according to the place and he of the free woman, through promise, which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage, which is hagar. For this hagar is Mount Sinai in Abraham and corresponds to Jerusalem, which now is in bondage with her children. But the Jerusalem is always free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice O Baran, you who do not wear, break forth and shout you, who do not travel for the desolate, has many more children than she who has a husband. Now we brethren, as he saw, watch our children of promise, but as he who was born according to the place, then persecuted him who was born according to the spirit, even so it is now never place what the scripture says, cast out the bond woman and her son for the son of the bond woman, shall not be here with the son of free woman. So then brethren, we are not children of the bond woman, but of the free. So in this passage, like I said, let me sit earlier, Paul is doing two things. One is pointing to something that happened in the Old Testament as an illustration. So here, the Holy Spirit is using that as an illustration. Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, Isaac. So what happened in that situation? He's using that as an illustration. He's also quoting scripture. He is quoting from Isaiah 54. That's here in Galatians 4, 27. He is quoting from Isaiah 54. But the context is he's trying to convince the Jews who have become Christians that they don't need to keep the law. That is the context. That is the big picture. So the book of Galatians, in the book, in the book of Galatians or the letter to the Galatians, what is Paul's main objective? He's trying to convince the Jews who have become believers that they don't have to live under the law, the law of Moses. That is the thing. He's trying to convince them about that. But in order to convince them about that, he's using the Old Testament and he's using this illustration and he's also quoting scripture. So see how he uses the Old Testament, how he's using the illustration. So he says, see, Abraham, when he mentions Abraham, they will all listen because they all say Abraham is our father. We all are descendants of Abraham. So he accepts that. So he's not pointing to Moses. He's going even beyond. He's going to Abraham. We are all descendants of Abraham. Yeah, we agree. But then he says, see, Abraham, there was Sarah, there was Hagar. Abraham had a son through Hagar, Ishmael. Abraham had a son through Sarah, Isaac. So he says, see what happened there. God told Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael out. He said, send them out. I mean, he says cast out, cast verse 30, Galatians 4 30, he's quoting from Genesis, cast out the born woman. And then he says, see, Hagar was a born woman. I mean, she was a slave. She was a servant. Sarah was his wife. So he says, representing promise, not a servant representing promise. She was a born woman. And so he said, send Hagar and Ishmael out, send them away. But you keep Sarah and Isaac. So that story also they all understand. In their minds, it's very clear. Yeah, Abraham sent Hagar and Ishmael out. He kept Sarah and Isaac. And we are all descendants of Isaac. They all agree. Then he says, that is what the law and the law, the old covenant and the new covenant is. The old covenant is what put us as slaves and it is gone. We are children of the promise. We are children of the new covenant. He doesn't use the word covenant in Galatians. He talks about the law and he talks about being descendants of Abraham through Christ, descendants of Christ. So he's trying to get into their minds. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac through Isaac. So Isaac is his natural seed, but Christ is a spiritual seed. And now that you believe in Christ, you are still descendants of Abraham, but of the promise. So that is how he is explaining it to them. Abraham, Sarah had Isaac. Abraham, descendant is Christ. If you believe in Christ, you're still a descendant of Abraham, but you are Christ's descendant of promise, not of Hagar and Ishmael. That represents the law. And another picture he paints in their minds is about cities. He talks about Mount Sinai where the law was given and Jerusalem. And he says there are two Jeruselms. One is the earthly Jerusalem and one is a heavenly Jerusalem. So he says Hagar, Ishmael, they are like Mount Sinai because Mount Sinai was where the law was given and earthly Jerusalem is still in bondage. But we are from the heavenly Jerusalem. So he contrasts. Mount Sinai is like Hagar and Ishmael. The law was given there. Heavenly Jerusalem is like Abraham, Isaac through promise. So what is he doing? He's using illustration, two illustrations. One is about the family. One is about the cities of Mount Sinai and Jerusalem. And he is quoting scripture. He quotes two scriptures here, Isaiah 54 and then also from Genesis. In order to communicate to the hearers, we are no longer under the law. The law can be cast out and you are a descendant of Abraham, but through Christ, through promise. So how is the Old Testament used in the New Testament? It is being used in the New Testament right now to communicate to the Jewish people the difference between the law and being in Christ, between being in bondage and being in freedom. So it's being used to communicate to them. And so what can you and I take away from this? This leads us into Galatians 5. He then talks to all of us as believers. He's saying we are all under the law, we're not under the curse of the law, but now we are walking in the Spirit. So this life of promise is a life in the Spirit. Whether you're a Jew or a Gentile, if you're a believer in Jesus, then that's how you must walk, walk in the Spirit. You understand? So it's very beautiful, it's very powerful how he uses the full culture to communicate to us. Being no longer under the law, no longer under our Mount Sinai, we are a part of the heavenly Jerusalem, we are descendants of Jesus Christ. Okay, any questions? Any questions? Okay, let's go now to our next lesson. Lesson number 13. I'm going to just share this screen so those who are online can also see it. So when we are studying Old Testament, New Testament, look at it both ways. How sometimes Old Testament is used in the New Testament to clarify truths. Sometimes we understand it both ways. So there are different things that we have mentioned in that chapter. Let's go to chapter 13 where this is more of a, what to say, a literary chapter. Not so much, I'm not necessarily going to go into a lot of examples, but I just want us to be aware of it. So when we are reading scripture, when we are reading scripture, broadly speaking, the text, the scripture text can be divided in one of three categories. It comes in one of three categories. It could be narrative. Narrative means I'm telling a story. I'm telling what happens. So a lot of the Old Testament is a narrative or the Gospels. Jesus went from Jerusalem, he went to Jericho and he went to, oh yeah, what is it? It's a narrative. It's telling what happens. It's like a story. This is what took place. So almost 50%, almost half the Bible is stories, narrative, record of events that happens. Then about a third is poetry or poetry slash wisdom. That means some is poetry, some is what we call as Proverbs or wisdom statements, poetry or wisdom statements. And then about 25% is what we would refer to as prose or some people call it discourse, meaning a presentation of a lecture or a talk or an essay. I'll explain these three. But these are the three big categories. So when you're reading the scriptures, at any point in time, you're either reading a narrative or you're reading a poetry or you're reading a prose. And you have to process. You have to understand these or use it differently. If it's a narrative, that means it's a recording of an event, a story, something happened. Then what you have to look for is, what is the meaning and the purpose of the story? Yeah, he defended, yes, he defended Israel and the Philistines got scared and they all ran away. Story ended, finished. Oh, that's a story recorded there. But what do you do when you read a story? You try to think, what is the meaning? What is, what can I learn from this story? So as you read the stories in the Old Testament, New Testament stories, there are lots of stories, meaning lots of events, historical events, actual events that are recorded. Yeah, you read the story, but what must we do with that kind of text? We want to get the meaning. We want to get the purpose. God, why did you put this story in the Bible? What do you want me to learn from this story? The meaning and the purpose. God didn't just put, okay, I need to fill one more page. What story can I get? Come on, put one story. No, everything has purpose. God put it there for a reason. Correct. So whatever story you're reading, we must think. What is the meaning? What's the purpose? What can I get? What can I learn from this story about God, about how he works, about life, how I'm supposed to live? You know, what can I learn from this story? And stories are very powerful because it captures our imagination, and then we think about the story. So that's one portion of scripture text, right? The narratives, the stories, you think about it, but then there's another part, and so we understand that. And the different types of, you know, stories, it could be historical, it could be somebody's life story, you read Abraham, Joseph, Moses, their life stories, so different stories, kinds of stories are there, but generally they're still narratives, their stories about somebody or something. Then there is poetry. So stories are very easy to understand. You read the story, you understand. Poetry wisdom a little bit more difficult. The next one is even more difficult, prose is even more, but poetry is a little bit tricky, because poetry or poems, which a lot of the Psalms and Proverbs are, they're using creative language. They don't speak straight. They speak in pictures. They speak in metaphors. They speak in figurative language. So a little bit more difficult to understand poetry. You will be like a tree. I am going to be like a tree. I'm human being. No, no, no. He's using language. That's all he is saying. Correct. So a little more difficult to understand poetry or wisdom, because he's not saying things straight. Story is saying, okay, story is very simple, easy to understand. Poetry slightly more difficult. Poetry of wisdom, right? Because they're using metaphors. But it is also very powerful, because now you can use your imagination. You have to use your imagines. Oh, I'm like a tree. Tree. Tree. Imagine a tree. Then you can imagine a tree. It is planted by the rivers of water. Oh, now you use your imagination. Tree planted by rivers of water. What does it mean? It's strong. It's very healthy. It's very fruitful. It's very happy. So using imagination. Poetry. So that is the power of poetry. Like in a lot of most of the Psalms, some of the prophetic text, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hebrew, the prophets, you will find these kinds of things, right? Figures, metaphors, pictures used. So it is a little bit more difficult, but you have to use your imagination. That is the beauty of it, right? In interpreting or understanding poetic scriptures. Now in poetry, I just want to highlight one thing. There's a lot that we can say about poetry, but this is one very, very important part of poetic text in the Bible. See, in English poetry, right? We usually have rhyming words, rhyming lines, sorry, not words. Rhyming lines, right? The cat in the hat ran on the mat and fell on the bat and sat. We use like, we use lines like that in English. And we say that's a poem because there is a rhyme. It's rhyming. Or there is a rhythm, you know, the sentences, there's a rhythm. So in English poetry, there is rhyme and rhythm. Then we say that's a poem. But in scripture, the poetry in scripture does not have rhyme or rhythm. So for us, hey, we're looking cat, mat, bat, no, no rhyme, no rhythm. It's strange. But in the poetic text in scripture, it uses a different style, which is called parallelism. So this is important because it is very different. It is, it is what this poetry in scripture has. Parallelism simply means you say the same thing two times. You say the same thing two times in one sentence. In English, we will, we will try to rhyme it. End of the same syllable. We try to rhyme it. But in, in scripture, you say the same thing two times, parallelism. And this repeat, you're repeating the same idea twice. Keep the mic close to you. But how it is done can vary three ways. It could be a repetition, meaning the same thought is repeated both times. It could be a contrast. You say the positive, you say the negative contrasts. But you're saying the same thing. For example, if you say, oh, it's very hot. And then you say, it's not very cold. You're saying the same thing, but you're saying it in different opposite ways. One, you're saying very hot, saying not very cold. Opposite ways. So that's contrast. Or you can amplify. You say it once and you say it louder. Amplify. You're saying the same thing two times. So that's called parallelism. But you can do, you can play with it, meaning not you can, but the scriptures, the way it's written in the scripture. It's either just repeated, or it is contrasted, or it is amplified. Example, you could see there. I mean, just some examples, Joel 1.5. Awake your drunkards and weep. Howl all your drinkers of wine. So he's repeating the same thing two times. Wake up and cry. You're drunkards. Then he's saying, cry all your drinkers of wine. He's saying the same thing two times. Contrast. A soft answer turns away anger, but grievous words will stir up stress. He's saying the same thing, but he's saying it opposite. He's saying, if you say softly, it'll calm down. If you say harshly, temperature will go up. He's saying the same thing, but it's a contrast. Are you getting it? Or amplify. The Lord makes the earth empty and waste. And turn it upside down scattered abroad, the inhabitants, they're off. So one, he's making it empty and waste, empty waste. Then he's saying it literally like, okay, let me tell you exactly what. He drives everybody out and he turns it upside down. So same thing, but he's amplifying, making it literally like, saying this in a very, very bigger way. So you'll find this in the poetic texts, poetry, wisdom. So what must we do? How do we handle this? So when we are studying poetry, so very simple, very simple. That's how it complicates us. Very simple. When you're studying poetry, keep this in mind that here, in many of these proverb, sounds, he's saying the same thing. Don't complicate it. He's saying the same thing. He's repeating it. That is the style of that poetry. He's saying the same thing two times. That is the style. So the meaning is the same. Even though it is stated two times, sometimes it may be stated as a repetition. Sometimes it may be stated as a contrast. Sometimes it might be stated as an amplify, but the same thing. Meaning is the same. So we should be aware and view the passage as one thought, is trying to convey one thought. And so you examine what is that meaning, main meaning he wants to convey in that verse. Because the verse, it may have two parts to it, but both parts are talking about the same thing. It's conveying the same meaning. Like a soft answer turns away anger, but grievous words stir up strife. He's trying to teach us the same thing, but he's put it in different ways. He says, speak gently. Don't get angry. Speak calm. He's teaching us the same thing, but he's saying it in two different ways. Contrast. So when you're reading through Psalms or Proverbs or some of the prophetic statements, you look for this. Oh, same thing. What is the main meaning, main point he wants me to take? So that's poetry. Okay, we'll pause here and then we'll just go for a break and we'll come back and do the prose part. It takes it up a little bit higher in terms of understanding. Let me see if there are any questions soon. Okay, a couple of questions here. Okay. So we'll come back. I just see the questions on the chat. We'll come back after the break and we'll just go through these questions. Is that okay? Yep. So let's go for a 10 minute break. We'll be right back and we will take up these questions. Thank you.