How Do Protestants Study the Bible

[amills]

It would appear many Protestants read the bible in much the same manner that Catholics do. They use exegisis and discern the truth in very much the same manner. It is interesting to note that Protestants who do this also submit in some manner to Tradition for their interpretation. Many of their beliefs are thus very similar to the interpretation as given through the authority of the Catholic Church.

I would submit that these denominations are also very similar to the beliefs in the Catholic Church in that they submit that church guidance is necessary to interpret scripture. They are also very similar to the Catholics in that they adhere to some form of Tradition to interpret scripture. In other words their beliefs come not only from scripture but also from Tradition and this is in accordance with their understanding of the term “Sola Scriptura”.

Where there seems to be a difference is not that they don’t recognize that some form of authority is necessary to interpret scripture but they differ on where their authority comes from. Catholics would say that the authority comes from the Magisterium. Protestants would say the authority comes from their particular church.

So then to follow this line of thinking my question would be to Protestants - why do you submit to the authority of your church versus the authority of the Catholic church?

The term “sola scriptura” seems to have various meanings among different Protestant denominations. Some reject the above ideas completely and believe that they can individually discern scripture but not in the manner described by our brethern as in this thread. Therefore, this follow up question does not pertain to these believers.

 

[JoeyWarren]

All my answers are based on how I did as a Cradle Protestant.

How do Protestants study the bible?

I studied the Bible based on what I had already been taught…already prejudiced and biased deeply set in.

What tools do you use for interpretation?

Whatever was imparted to me during the Sunday School programming. Later in life I used books written by Protestants. Mostly those written by Anti-catholics.

Do you look at historical context?

Never. Is there a Historical context? Never was taught the historical context in Sunday School or at the actual Service.

Does your particular denomination give guidance?

I think the answer to question 1 covered this adequately.

What emphasis is put in Old vs New Testaments?

None as far as I can remember.

Are you encouraged to read verses within Context?

Never. Everything that was covered was covered in the most literal of senses. This also presented a problem. A lot of NT scripture was never covered during my first 37 years as a Protestant. I would later find out why. The most literal sense of some scripture was very Catholic hence why most of my Pastors I had never covered them.

Some phrases I never heard as a Protestant?

Breaking of the Bread.

Whose sins you remit…

I will build my Church…

I am crucified with Christ…

We preach Christ Crucified…

Is this cup not…

Is this bread not…

John 6:66 and just about all of the last half of John 6.
Confess your sins to one another…

Faith without works is dead…

There is sin unto death…there is sin not unto death…

etc, etc, etc

 

[Syele]

Wow, Joey Warren. This post plus others I have seen from you make me wonder what denomination you were a member of?? I want to make sure I stay far away from it. Either that or you weren’t paying very good attention to the Church leaders. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt though… so are you willing to state your previous denomination?

 

[Verita]

Joey’s experience sounds very similar to my experience at my old Protestant church. I went to a small independent non-denominational church my uncle started without any sort of seminary experience. Everything was basically the Bible as he saw it. There was hardly ever any historial context or even context from the rest of the Bible. The Old Testament was hardly mentioned outside sunday school. Most of the time he would select and isolated passage and try to apply it to everything. He also favored the Message Bible. (Shudder.)

My last sunday at his church strongly confirmed my decision to become Catholic. As he prepared us for communion he said of it, “Jesus said ‘Think of this as my body’ or ’ This means my body.’” I wanted to stand up and scream, “No he didn’t! Don’t you dare misrepresent his words!”

 

[JoeyWarren]

Wow, Joey Warren. This post plus others I have seen from you make me wonder what denomination you were a member of?? I want to make sure I stay far away from it. Either that or you weren’t paying very good attention to the Church leaders. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt though… so are you willing to state your previous denomination?

Congregational Holiness. The derogatory name for them was/is “Holy Rollers”.

The type where woman don’t wear pants, makeup and men don’t wear any facial hair.

While I was only in the 4th grade, dad remarried a woman that had 8 brothers where 6 were either Pastors or guest Pastors. Zero Theological Training or Schooling. Everything they learned prior to becoming a Preacher was either handed down via that nasty thing called Oral Tradition and from the Bible itself.

Currently I have a brother that is an Ordained Bishop(if you really want to call him that) of the Church Of God denomination. He also has Zero Theological Training. He was ordained a Bishop because he made high enough score(matter of fact his score is a record breaking high) on the Pastoric Test administered to warrant being ordained a Bishop. So on his ordination he was ordained Pastor and Bishop. Even 3 years later, he still does not have his own Bishopric.

 

[JoeyWarren]

I did not even know what communion was until I got kicked out of my Dad’s house and went to live with my Grandparents where they attended a Methodist church.

My internal thoughts were:

“What in hell is this Baked Bread(it was not even un-leavend) and the Grape Juice in these little glasses( did not realized later that they were glorified shot glasses)”

 

[JoeyWarren]

“Jesus said ‘Think of this as my body’ or ’ This means my body.’” I wanted to stand up and scream, “No he didn’t! Don’t you dare misrepresent his words!”

I had similar experience except it was this from Luke:

Luk 24:35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them when He opened their mind to the scriptures.

verses what it really says:

Luk 24:35 And they told what things were done in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.

Most Pastors I encountered skip over verses. I actually had one read the scripture like this:

25 Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:
26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
27 And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
31 And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.
32 And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?

Ignoring those verses that are Catholic.

BTW, this type of mentality is what makes me the way I am. So if I tend to be harsh at times, you know why.

 

[jAlex]

I said everything necessary is clearly presented in the Bible. There is no need for any outside interpreter for these things.

Not everything in the Bible is clear though, but the things that aren’t clear are things about which we have liberty to grow in knowledge and about which the guidance of the church is necessary.

Well… that’s a bummer. The Trinity is not clearly taugth from scripture alone, does that mean that we should just drop it from our beliefs ? This concept alone was significant enough to make many leave the Church in the past - Arianism comes to my mind -and heresies were spread by people who knew the Scriptures from inside out…

Alex.

 

[Steadfast]

Well… that’s a bummer. The Trinity is not clearly taugth from scripture alone, does that mean that we should just drop it from our beliefs ? This concept alone was significant enough to make many leave the Church in the past - Arianism comes to my mind -and heresies were spread by people who knew the Scriptures from inside out…

Alex.

The Trinity is not explicitly stated but it can be clearly seen in Scripture. This is the Church’s job, to wring truth from Scripture where Scripture is not absolutely clear.

In the case of the Trinity, the “proof” i.e. biblical testimony is light years ahead of anything similar for, say, the immaculate conception of the BVM.

A proponent of Solo or Nuda Scriptura would deny the Trinity because it is not explicitly stated.

Sola Scripturists however accept it because a complete reading of the Word of God makes it clear that any other view of God is deficient and fails to do justice to that picture of Him the Bible does, in fact, present.

 

[Verita]

The Trinity is not explicitly stated but it can be clearly seen in Scripture. This is the Church’s job, to wring truth from Scripture where Scripture is not absolutely clear.

In the case of the Trinity, the “proof” i.e. biblical testimony is light years ahead of anything similar for, say, the immaculate conception of the BVM.

A proponent of Solo or Nuda Scriptura would deny the Trinity because it is not explicitly stated.

Sola Scripturists however accept it because a complete reading of the Word of God makes it clear that any other view of God is deficient and fails to do justice to that picture of Him the Bible does, in fact, present.

Give me a break, Protestants only have the doctrine of the Trinity because the Catholics had already thought it out. They never would have figured it out on their own.

And the Trinity cannot “clearly” be seen in scripture. In fact, there are several quotes from Jesus himself which seems to indicate he is not on the same level as the Father. There was plenty of Biblical basis for Arianism and if it hadn’t been for the Catholic Church we would probably all be Arian today.

 

[Syele]

Joey’s experience sounds very similar to my experience at my old Protestant church. I went to a small independent non-denominational church my uncle started without any sort of seminary experience. Everything was basically the Bible as he saw it. There was hardly ever any historial context or even context from the rest of the Bible. The Old Testament was hardly mentioned outside sunday school. Most of the time he would select and isolated passage and try to apply it to everything. He also favored the Message Bible. (Shudder.)

My last sunday at his church strongly confirmed my decision to become Catholic. As he prepared us for communion he said of it, “Jesus said ‘Think of this as my body’ or ’ This means my body.’” I wanted to stand up and scream, “No he didn’t! Don’t you dare misrepresent his words!”

I would have freaked out too! :bigyikes: That message bible also makes me mad, it is Soooo off.

 

[Syele]

I did not even know what communion was until I got kicked out of my Dad’s house and went to live with my Grandparents where they attended a Methodist church.

My internal thoughts were:

“What in hell is this Baked Bread(it was not even un-leavend) and the Grape Juice in these little glasses( did not realized later that they were glorified shot glasses)”

Thanks for answering about the denomination. It sounds absoultely awful!

 

[Steadfast]

Give me a break, Protestants only have the doctrine of the Trinity because the Catholics had already thought it out. They never would have figured it out on their own.

And the Trinity cannot “clearly” be seen in scripture. In fact, there are several quotes from Jesus himself which seems to indicate he is not on the same level as the Father. There was plenty of Biblical basis for Arianism and if it hadn’t been for the Catholic Church we would probably all be Arian today.

Verita,

You have me confused with someone who would disagree.

Absolutely the doctrine of the Trinity was formulated within the context of the teaching authority of the Church and is currently adhered to as dogma for the fact.

But it remains that it is consonant with Scripture.

Other dogmas your church teaches are not.

 

[jAlex]

The Trinity is not explicitly stated but it can be clearly seen in Scripture. This is the Church’s job, to wring truth from Scripture where Scripture is not absolutely clear.

For you and me - yes it’s clearly (but indirectly) stated. What I am getting at is this: what is plain and clear for you and me it migth not be so for others.

And I agree with you here - it’s the Church’s job to clarify these things… now for Protestant here comes the dillema : whose church clarifications?.. Because I bet I can find two churches with totally different views on the same issue, both of them claiming that are led by the Holy Spirit…

If this things are distorted for clearly stated dogmas, imagine what happens for the rest of the Scripture.

A proponent of Solo or Nuda Scriptura would deny the Trinity because it is not explicitly stated.

Sola Scripturists however accept it because a complete reading of the Word of God makes it clear that any other view of God is deficient and fails to do justice to that picture of Him the Bible does, in fact, present.

Well, let’s tell it to the Jehova’s Witnesses, because for them there is no such thing as Trinity altough they are not “quite” literal in their intrepretations either. Yet they see it very differently…

Alex.

 

[Cardinalsong]

The Trinity is not explicitly stated but it can be clearly seen in Scripture. This is the Church’s job, to wring truth from Scripture where Scripture is not absolutely clear.

I agree that it is the Church’s job to wring truth from scripture. However how is this different from the Catholic Church?

 

[JoeyWarren]

Originally Posted by Steadfast
The Trinity is not explicitly stated but it can be clearly seen in Scripture. This is the Church’s job, to wring truth from Scripture where Scripture is not absolutely clear.

And they wrung Purgatory out of scripture as well, Except they did not have to wring so hard as they did with the Trinity.

 

[jonfan]

For you and me - yes it’s clearly (but indirectly) stated. What I am getting at is this: what is plain and clear for you and me it migth not be so for others.

And I agree with you here - it’s the Church’s job to clarify these things… now for Protestant here comes the dillema : whose church clarifications?.. Because I bet I can find two churches with totally different views on the same issue, both of them claiming that are led by the Holy Spirit…

If this things are distorted for clearly stated dogmas, imagine what happens for the rest of the Scripture.

Well, let’s tell it to the Jehova’s Witnesses, because for them there is no such thing as Trinity altough they are not “quite” literal in their intrepretations either. Yet they see it very differently…

Alex.

True. The Muslims have their own interpretation as well of Scripture as we see in the Qu’ran of both the old and new testament.

 

[Jennifer_G]

I’ve been to one or two Bible Studies at my Lutheran Church. The emphasis was more on the Old Testament, but it was maybe one or two passages, or paragraphs at most.

 

[amills]

I’ve been to one or two Bible Studies at my Lutheran Church. The emphasis was more on the Old Testament, but it was maybe one or two passages, or paragraphs at most.

I assume that your going to the Bible Study indicates that you accept your church’s authority in interpreting scripture. My question to you then is how did you determine that your church has such authority?

I am just curious as to how people come to accept certain religious theologies.

Thanks.

 

[Jennifer_G]

I assume that your going to the Bible Study indicates that you accept your church’s authority in interpreting scripture. My question to you then is how did you determine that your church has such authority?

I am just curious as to how people come to accept certain religious theologies.

Thanks.

This was years ago (maybe a decade ago), so I’m just writing it from memory. I know we had someone (not the pastor) in charge of the Bible Study. I’m not sure how they determine it though, never asked.