What? Why? And How? An overview of methodology

[Reading time: 4 minutes]

As we plan to post many, many word studies in the coming months and, Deo volente, coming years, it may be good to first give you an idea of the format and approach, answering the questions of:

What we’re seeking to do?

Why we’re doing it in this way; and

How we plan to carry this out?

1. What?

Our goal is to provide a continually updated resource on the vocabulary of Scripture. Rather than offering simply a definition of each particular word, our objective is to develop a conceptual framework in which we can begin to grasp the meaning as we trace its usage throughout the Scriptures. Some of the words (due to the high number of occurrences in either Testament) will first be understood in terms of the framework of that particular chapter or book (See the first post on Imrah for an example). Over time, we hope to then trace the development of its meaning throughout the entirety of both Testaments with the end goal of being able to approach the Words of Scripture on the terms that have been given to us.

2. Why?

Very simply, we believe that the words of Scripture are distinct from mere language, writing and communication. They are given to us by our Eternal God and are, in a very true yet profoundly mysterious way “living” (ζῶν) and indeed, “active” (ἐνεργὴς, Heb 4:12). That is to say, they are not like our typical words. Because of this we cannot understand them in either a static or merely historical, literary or academic way. They must be understood in light of the Eternal Self-Revelation of the Godhead.

The noted historical, literary, etc. approaches may certainly be elucidating in regards to certain aspects of Scripture but they cannot fully account for the entirety of the text. Furthermore, and more to the point, each of these ways will necessarily be limited by our own imposition of meaning onto the words we’re reading. And this will happen when we allow the limitations or distortions of whatever particular era we happen to be living in to “prime” our understanding of the Truth rather than allowing the Truth to reveal itself to us on its own terms.

There is the story that Thomas F. Torrance often used to tell in his lectures that well demonstrates this point. Growing up as the son of China Inland Missionaries in the early parts of the 20th century, with his parents posted in Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan province), his father sought to translate the Scriptures into the local language. Having completed the NT first, he found that the people could not grasp its major foundational concepts.

Why was this the case? Was the Word itself somehow not enough? If we translated the Scriptures were they insufficient? Were they not in and of themselves able to make the hearers “wise unto salvation”? The answer was simple but took him time to realize. What the people needed was to enter into the conceptual framework given by the self-revelation of the Word. To begin to grasp it, according to Torrance, they could not project onto the Word their own cultural concepts that were foreign to Scripture. If so, the meaning would always be conditioned and distorted. He realized, then, that the New Testamental doctrines of Sin, Redemption, Atonement, Salvation, etc. etc. could not be grasped if they were abstracted from their Old Testamental base.

Coming to this understanding, Mr. Torrance then set himself to translate key sections of the OT. And in this way, he was able to open them up through the life of the people of Israel, whose history became a “womb”, so to speak, in which these words could grow up into greater fullness. They could then approach the Word not by their own cultural conceptions, but rather through the Life of Scripture revealed on its own terms.

[For other examples of this see the Torrance excerpts in Tacit Knowledge on the work of social anthropologists, Evans-Pritchard , in the Azande culture in Africa, and Clyde Kluckhohn on the culture of the Navaho Indians.]

3. How

With these and many more examples in mind, we we are undertaking these OT and NT Word studies, with the goal of tracing these concepts through the entirety of each Testament and in some cases, when possible, showing the development across the entirety of Scripture. We will begin with Hebrew posts on terms such as the word, mercy, righteousness, judgment, blessedness, prosperity, glory, meditation, etc. combined with NT terms such as life, humility, compassion, reconciliation, vigilance, etc. We won’t say much more here but only bring to your attention that as we begin tracing the meaning of these words through the texts, we will see that there is, in almost every case, a twofold division. There is an application that comes through the Light of God in Christ and there is another that comes from the distortions of fallen humanity.

4. Technical Layout

As you’ll see from the current posts, the layout of each word study will be as follows:

Word in the original language (be it Hebrew or Greek) with its pronunciation in English in parenthesis;

The dictionary definition as understood primarily through the etymological components of that particular word;

The meaning as understood by tracing the usage through its progressive revelation in Scripture. As this may be quite long, we offer a “Summary Synthesis” of 1-2 sentences in length followed by a “Detailed Analysis” if you are interested in reading further.

An End Goal:

Ultimately, what we would like to be a part of developing is an interactive platform of the Scriptures where essentially each work is hyperlinked to a word study that traces its meaning throughout the Scriptures. Very slow, lengthy process of what some have called “reclaiming the meaning of Scriptural words.” What follows is only a start.