lesson two
Rules for the correct interpretation of Sacred Scripture

• read the narration column first
• then do the exercises

1. The danger of getting the meaning wrong

The question of whether the full participation of women in church leadership can found in Sacred Scripture or not, depends crucially on what method of interpretation we follow.

Christians in past centuries have committed flagrant acts of injustice, justifying their actions with biblical texts. They kept other human beings as slaves. They denied Jews their full rights. They favoured the rich above the poor. They colonised other races. This slide back into pagan practices is sad indeed, but even more scandalous was their claim to be following God’s will. Christians have often justified their unChristian behaviour with quotes from Scripture!

There is a well known saying among theologians that even the devil can quote Scripture (from Matthew 4,6). History confirms the danger. Hundreds of heresies have been proclaimed and thousands of blunders committed on the strength of Scripture texts that have been wrongly understood.

The inspired text needs to be read carefully. God speaks through human authors and what they say in his name follows all the rules of ordinary human language. God does not say more than the human author intended to say.

‘You are a teacher in Israel and still so ignorant!’, Jesus said to Nicodemus during a midnight session (John 3,9-10)

In the course of the centuries, Christian exegesis [exegesis = the art of scriptural interpretation], often with the approval of Church authorities, has formulated some important rules that help us to understand the inspired message more accurately. Only by following these rules will we avoid the pitfalls so many have tumbled into.

Exercise 1.

Were our discussions about the meaning of scriptural texts new to you? Can you reformulate the rules in your own words?

Exercise 2.

Consider the Creation story in Genesis 1 in the light of these rules.
And could you give other examples of biblical passages that require the application of these principles?

Exercise 3.

How do you interpret the warning in Deuteronomy and Revelations that we should not add anything to, or subtract anything from, the inspired Word ( Deuteronomy 4,2; Revelation 22, 18-19)?

2. Exegetical Rules

The word ‘exegesis’ comes from the Greek and means ‘drawing out’. In the course of the centuries Scripture scholars have worked out how the correct meaning of Scripture can be ‘drawn out’ of the inspired text.

Why do we need rules at all? Well, consider a newspaper. To correctly understand it, we have to know the difference between news items, editorials, letters by readers, comic strips and advertisements. What would happen if you interpret an ad as a reliable piece of news?

Study the following four rules in detail:

1. We must know what the human author wanted to say before we can come to any conclusions as to what God is telling us.

This is known as the rule of the “literal sense” (not the “literalist sense”!!). It has been endorsed by the Second Vatican Council*.

2. In many texts we have to discern the teaching by analysing the literary form the scriptural author is using..

This rule, which follows from rule one, is known as the rule of the “literary form” . This too has been endorsed by the Second Vatican Council.

3. We may not ascribe statements or assertions to a biblical author which lie outside his intended scope.

The rule of the author’s intended scope follows from the previous rules.

4. We have to distinguish substantial statements by the author from rationalizations and popular reasonings in which he expresses his own human opinions.

Failing to recognise rationalizations has often been the source of serious misunderstandings regarding the intention of scriptural authors.

* = The Second Vatican Council was a General Council of all the Catholic Bishops (1960-1965). A General Council, when in session with the Pope, is the highest teaching authority in the Catholic Church.

Reading

The following famous document is recommended for reading:

• Biblical Commission Report 'Can Women Be Priests?' (1976)