As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Interpretation is the process of understanding 1) what a Biblical text means and 2) how the text was meant to be applied. Once you have gathered the necessary information to discover what a passage is saying, you can then begin to understand its meaning through careful study of the book’s historical context, literary context, and actual content.
The first step in studying God’s Word is to carefully observe what the passage is saying. In the observation stage, we give our complete attention to the text to find out what’s there. We must investigate the passage in the same way that a detective investigates a crime scene. How do we do that? Get the “big picture” and then discover the little details. Ask questions… lots of them! Look for certain key clues to discover meaning. See how the little details relate to the big picture.
“words in isolation communicate a general broad concept (a semantic range)…. But when that word is placed in a context—voila!—that broad concept suddenly has been narrowed down by the context into a specific meaning that can be translated with a gloss.” - Word by Word
“Sure, a Bible may sell well if the celebrity whose name is on the cover has a large following. But I much prefer a study Bible with contributions from a team of scholars with diverse expertise.” - Word by Word
“TGC Council members, staff, and expert writers have worked together to compile an annotated list of the best commentaries on each Bible book.” - TGC
“I was reading some old sermons on Revelation and came across a note that there are 19 heptads (seven things) in the book. I wanted to check this. Here is what I came up with.” - Matt Postiff
“Nothing complicated: I take a notebook, open the Bible, and start copying God’s words. One by one. I focus on the book I’m studying at that time.” - TGC
“When we asked these four questions, we found a gaping hole on our shelf. Thus started the six-year project that resulted in The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary.” - TGC
“One reason God has given His people prophetic promises is that their dependence on God’s faithfulness in keeping His Word takes away their fear of the future so they will experience spiritual comfort and peace in present difficulties (Isa. 26:3–4).” - P&D
“I love the gospel of John. I am writing a commentary on Romans, and I love Romans. And I’ve written commentaries verse-by-verse through Psalms, Job, and Philippians—but John has my heart.” - Ligonier
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