One of Jesus’ favorite teaching methods was the parable. A parable is a simple story drawn from everyday life that illustrates a spiritual truth. Many Bible teachers make the mistake of assigning spiritual meaning to every detail of a parable. Generally, parables communicate

Understanding why God gave prophecy helps us interpret it correctly. The prophetic books were written to accomplish several important purposes. To Call God’s People Back to Covenant Faithfulness Now that we know the purpose of prophecy, it serves as a filter to differentiate

Many Christians approach prophecy primarily to discover future events or identify current world happenings in the Bible. As a result, prophetic books are often read through the lens of today’s headlines rather than through the historical and biblical context in which they were

As a Sunday school teacher, I have often had to answer difficult questions arising from the book of Proverbs and other Wisdom literature. Many times, students would point to a proverb and ask, “But isn’t this verse always true?” Looking back, I realize

One of the most important principles for interpreting biblical narratives is learning the difference between description and prescription. A narrative often describes what happened. It does not always prescribe what ought to happen. This distinction protects us from many serious interpretive errors. For

How to Interpret Historical narratives A greater portion of Scripture from Genesis to Esther, the Gospels and the book of Acts are entirely historical narratives. A historical narrative is a story that recounts real people, real events, and real places in history. Unlike

Suppose you read Psalm 98:8, which says, “Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy.” No responsible reader concludes that rivers literally possess hands or that mountains have vocal cords to sing. Why? Because we immediately recognize poetic

What Truths flow from the Meaning? After discovering the author’s intended meaning, we ask another important question: What truths naturally flow from this meaning? These truths are called implications. An implication is a truth that arises logically and naturally from the meaning of

Imagine reading a letter that was addressed to someone else but that has a profound lesson in it for you. To understand the conversation in that letter, you will have to understand the relationship between the author and the receiver. Likewise, every book