Grasping God's Word - Assignment Example

?Interpretive Exercise Table of Contents Assignment 16 3 Assignment 17 5 Interpretation of the Word ‘GRACE’ 6 References 8 Assignment 16 1. Grasp the text in their town. What did the text mean to the biblical audience? ‘Grasping God’s Word’, a book written by Duvall assists students and other readers to get a grip on God’s word. God’s word allows people to pass through the challenging and uncertain slopes of life. God’s word was formerly provided to a specific group of people living in particular places. In literal term, the text was meant for biblical audience to care for themselves by providing mutual assistance in any kind of situation1. 2. Measure the width of the river to cross. What are the differences between the biblical audience and us? Bible has been segregated into two segments which are ‘Old Testament’ and ‘New Testament’. Old Testament describes the story of God’s treaty with Hebrew people. On the other hand, New Testament includes several versions of life, death and renaissance of Lord Jesus. ‘Measure the width of the river to cross’ is a New Testament passage relating to Bible. Here, river denotes something which can create differences in terms of diverse culture, customs, languages, time and power among others. Today, one obvious difference can be found between biblical audience and us. The difference is generational gap. Biblical audience was made up of first century and the present audience is made up of twenty first century who does not struggle with legalistic Judaism and traditional Gnosticism. The river which separates biblical audience and us is not wide, but these differences should be addressed in order to cross the river1. 3. Cross the Principlizing Bridge. What are the theological principles in this text? Theological principles are generally intended for understanding the principles of God. The objective is to overwhelm the current gap between different religions and to demonstrate the mutual obligations of every religious discipline. In order to identify theological principles, one should recall the differences and similarities between present day’s audience and biblical audience. The theological principle of the text is that in order to be operative in serving God, people should employ their strength and bravery. The theological principles affirm that Christ provide the believers of God a kind of power in order to remain happy in variety of circumstances1. 4. Consult the biblical map. How does the theological principle fit with the rest of the Bible? The theological principles of the text are used by every Christian nowadays in terms of worship and divinity on Lord Jesus. The texts in Bible are precise, real and provide universal realities. In Bible, a particular passage can only be applied to certain circumstances. However, the theological principles revealed in the text are fit to each people who always have faith in God. Theological principles have certain definite meaning and application to the olden biblical audience and to the Christians in present days. As the theological principles possess explicit application and can be used by the audiences, it operates as a link for wrapping the river of differences2. 5. Grasp the text in our town. How should individual Christians today apply the theological principles? Individual Christians cannot apply the theological principles without knowing its significance. However, they can understand the main philosophy of Bible without implementing it in practical life. In order to apply the theological principles, initially there exists the need for observing the world, examining the cultural background of people and exploring the meaning of God’s word. There pertains huge dissimilarity between understanding the method of applying the theological principles and logically implementing them1. Assignment 17-1 The ‘Book of Revelation’ is the last volume of New Testament. Chapter 1 of the book defines John’s (one of the twelve supporters of Lord Jesus) explanations on seven stars of angels. Chapter 2 & 3 describes John’s faithfulness and devotion towards God. Chapter 4 deals in the chosen beings that are provided authority by God to access the power of scroll. Chapter 5 describes the most worthy of chosen beings for using a scroll provided by God. Chapter 6 describes about the seven seals with unique characteristics. Chapter 10 defines about the seven angels who were provided with seven trumpets. Chapter 8 and 9 describes all the seven trumpets of God. Chapter 10 told about another scroll used by a mighty angel. Chapter 12 describes about the birth of a child by a women covered with the sun. Chapter 13 describes about a beast which has been arrived from sea and worshipped by people for several months. Chapter 14 describes about the warning given by angels of heaven for accepting the mark of beast. Chapter 15 describes the bowls of rage belonging to God over the people of earth. Chapter 17 defines about the Scarlet beast, the last among all six beasts. Chapter 18 and 19 describes about the victory of heaven over defeat of beasts. Chapter 20 describes about the first renaissance of Jesus. Chapter 21 describes about the resurgence of new heaven and earth. Ultimately chapter 22 describes about the sovereignty of God on Earth3. Interpretation of the Word ‘GRACE’ God’s ‘Grace’ denotes all the good favors which are enjoyed by living beings. There are several translations and different meanings through which the words ‘Grace’ have been used in biblical verses. One of such a well-defined and unique meaning of God’s ‘Grace’, as per the Ephesians 2:1-10 is life. For people, the ‘Grace’ of life comprise phenomenal gift of being human. ‘Grace’ has also been regarded as secondary gifts such as abilities and intelligence of human beings. Contextually, the ‘Grace’ of God has also been explained in the Bible in accordance with the meanings of redemption, rather than creation. Fatefully, freedom is itself the utmost exclusive ‘Grace’ provided to human beings by God when selecting their personal way in life4. In NIV Bible, the word ‘Grace’ has been translated in different ways. The verses corresponding to the Greek word and verse have been described below. 1. Revive of spirit – Greek word Nekros 2. Saved by God – Greek word Course 3. Mercy of God – Greek word Sarx4. In reference to Ephesians 2:1-10, it can be observed that the first translation of the word ‘Grace’, i.e. ‘revive of spirit’ is explained in verses 2 to 4. Similarly, the second translation of the word ‘Grace’ is elaborated as ‘saved by God’ in Ephesians verses 2 to 5. Similarly, the third translation of ‘Grace’ has been signified as the ‘mercy of God’ Ephesians verses 2 to 82. References Duvall, J. Scott & Hays, J. Daniel. Grasping God's Word: A Hands-On Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible. United States: Zondervan, 2012. Goodrick, Edward W. & Kohlenberger, John R. The Strongest NIV Exhaustive Concordance. United States: Zondervan, 2004. Larkin, Clarence. The Book of Revelation: A Study of the Last Prophetic Book of Holy Scripture. United States: Forgotten Books, 2007. Zondervan. NIV Bible. United States: Zondervan, 2009. Read More