I’m going to keep this week’s contribution to the “Fallacy Fridays” series simple. We’ve been pointing out a few of the exegetical and logical fallacies that are related to biblical interpretation and the broader category of hermeneutics. In other words, we’ve been saying, “This is what not to do.”
So let’s take a quick scan of what you should do when considering how words work in the Old and New Testaments. Dr. Mounce, author of the world famous Basics of Biblical Greek, has also written what is in my opinion the best introductory Bible dictionary on the market – Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. Seriously, you need to get this if you don’t already own it. Inside this helpful resource Mounce gives four simple steps that will help people do good word studies. Now remember, these are simple and not fully fleshed out, so calm down all of you exegetical giants! The steps are:
- Choose the English Word
- Identify the Greek Word
- Discover Its Semantic Range
- Context (as in, consider the context)
There. That’s a good place to begin.
How would you explain these steps?