From Sentence Flow to the Cell Group

1. Creating a Sentence Flow
2. Comparing Translations
3. Studying the Text within Its Context
4. Checking the Marginal Notes and Footnotes of our Translations
5. Looking for additional information from Concordances, Dictionaries, Atlases and Commentaries
6. Checking the Biblical index of the Catechism

From Sentence Flow to Research

The question now is, how do we combine all these methods together? To answer the question, I’ll first describe the activities we’ve been learning by way of review and then explain how these are combined

1. Creating a Sentence Flow. This is the first step to our study of the text. By creating a sentence flow, we lay the grounds for further analysis of the text. In this step, we take stock of the humanity of the biblical text as we try to grasp relationships of the elements that make it up: nouns, verbs, clauses, etc.

2. Comparing Translations. We compare translations knowing that no one translation can capture the meaning that the original text had. This part is especially important since we encounter the sacred author through a translation made for us and for our time. The translation that we have helps us to approach the intention of the sacred author; but because it is a translation we also become aware of the distance that separates us from the sacred author and reminds us that we will not be able to completely grasp the meaning he wants to communicate to us. By comparing translations, we do our best to get as close as possible to the sacred author so that we can understand him better.

3. Studying the Text within Its Context. The biblical passage we read often comes to us detached from its original context. This is true especially when we listen to the biblical text as read from the lectionary. After analysing the text as to the elements that make it up, we now put it right back into its environment and understand it within the section of the biblical book where it appears. Modern translations now have sub-titles to help us in this endeavor, but it also helps if we have a grasp of its context borne from a personal reading of the whole book.

4. Checking the Marginal Notes and Footnotes of our Translations. The marginal notes and footnotes of translations like that of the New American Bible and Jerusalem Bible, together with the subsidia they give help us to better understand the original meaning of a word or how a particular phrase is used throughout the Scriptures. By checking the notes given by competent translators and interpreters of the Scriptures as found in our modern Bibles, we are actually helped to enter into the world of the sacred author and grasp what he is trying to communicate to us through the sacred page, albeit translated.

5. Looking for Additional Information. Until step 4, we have been relying on the translations available to us. The next step, though advanced for the ordinary reader, would be of great help to those who are so called “professional readers of the Bible” such as catechists, religion teachers and cell group leaders. There are four other main resources that one should check for studying any passage of the Scriptures. These are the concordances, dictionaries, atlases and commentaries.

A concordance provides us with a list of the words used in the Bible and its frequencies. Good concordances give us the frequency of a word by book, chapter and verse. A concordance helps one make a word study of a particular text. The word “kingdom” for example, depending on the way it is used can mean “reign” (the act by which a king rules) or “kingdom” (the limits of a king’s jurisdiction; the place where he rules)

A biblical dictionary, gives one the meaning of a particular as it is used in the books of Scriptures. When one reads John 3:16 for example and encounters the word “love”, the meaning will be different from the way the same word is used in a phrase like the Beatles’ some “Love Me Do”. A bible dictionary will provide the information that the “love” we find in John 3:16 is the self-sacrificing, unselfish and life-giving love of one who has died on the cross on our behalf. The practise of certain fundamentalist preachers who consult Webster’s dictionary to bring out the meaning of a biblical word is exposing the meaning of Scriptures to distortion.

A bible atlas not only gives us maps of the world of the Bible but also added information regarding demography and history. This last resource allows us to see how particular situations described in Scriptures happened in their setting two thousand years ago.

Commentaries properly speaking are written by biblical exegetes. These are explanations of a biblical passages using the different methods currently used in exegesis.

6. Checking the Biblical Index of the CCC. The work of modern exegetes bring the biblical passage close to us. The Catechism of the Catholic Church allows us to see a biblical passage as understood by the Church.

Bringing It All Together

How do we combine all these steps?

Step 1. For us, the first step is always the “Sentence Flow”. Without it we won’t be able to fix the objective foundations for the way we understand a text. Most often there are people who deviate from a text’s meaning precisely because they have not understood the “point” of a text. The “Sentence Flow” allows us to determine the elements of the text that leads to its “point”.

Step 2. Study the text in its context. The “sentence flow” that we have created would reveal to us if there are connections to preceding and following passages.

Step 3. Check the marginal notes and footnotes of a text. There may be explanations of geographical locations, of a similar passage appearing in a different book, etc. For a passage like Matthew 22:15-22, for example, it would be useful to know what a “Herodian” is or how much a “denarius” costs, if these are explained in footnotes. If you are just reading Scriptures for devotional purposes, then what I’ve written in this article holds. If you are a professional reader of the Scriptures, go to the next step.

Step 4. Where these are available, consult a Biblical Dictionary and an Atlas at least. Check for key words and concepts that may help you understand a text. A good rule is check for such key words or concepts where they are not explained in the footnotes or marginal notes of your modern translation. If a commentary is also available, use it for this step.

At this stage one has gone through the steps that would allow one to have a more “objective” understanding of the text. The interpretation of a biblical passage cannot stop at this stage, for it must inform one’s present understanding of the world and its needs. After all, it is the present world that needs the Word of God. The next step helps one bridge the gap between an ancient text and one’s contemporaries and the questions that concern them.

Step 5. Check the Biblical index of the Catechism. The Scriptures was made in the Church for the Church. The biblical index of the Catechism allows one to see how a biblical passage has been understood by the Church. One can also understand a text through the help of certain magisterial pronouncements, e.g. an encyclical like “Deus caritas est” or a homily like this one.

Summary

What we have described above are the steps for combining the lessons learned in our workshops. We give importance to the text (Steps 1-4) in its objectivity because we know that the meaning of the Scriptures does not come from feelings no matter how sublime these may be. We also give importance to the Church and how she understands the Scriptures (Step 5) because these were, after all, made for her. By exerting our effort not only to understand the Bible as text but also as the Church’s “family album”, we begin to recognize what Paul meant when he wrote to Timothy:

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for refutation, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that one who belongs to God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)