Principles of Scripture Interpretation

You will simply read the passage of scripture and then follow the template provided. In this assignment, you will be going back to your work in Chapter 6 to apply the principles of interpretation to some of the observations and questions you had about Galatians 4:21-31. Your assignment is to think of 1 or more questions for each category: who, what, when, where. Next, study through the steps of content, context, comparison, and consultation to come to conclusions regarding Galatians 4:21-31. Lastly, you will seek to answer the final question: why? You must approach the question of “why” somewhat differently than the questions of “who,” “what,” “when,” and “where.” When you ask “why,” you must make conclusions about the meaning of the passage based on your study up to that point. Using the template provided for you in the Assignment Instructions folder, answer the following questions about Galatians 4:21-31 based on your findings and additional research. • Who? (The Characters) Description: Find out all you can about the author and the recipients, including their identities and situations. If specific people or groups are mentioned, now is the time to learn more about them. You will need to identify at least 5 “who” questions. You are not composing a detailed biography of their lives. You simply want to note what Galatians 4:21-31 says about each of them and how that aligns with other Scripture passages. • What? (The Key Truths or Events) Description: This is the time to investigate important words and ideas in the passage. What is the tone of the passage—joy, sorrow, disappointment, delight? If it is an action passage, what do the main actions represent? What are the key truths, events, or relationships mentioned in Galatians 4:21-31? Explore these first as they appear in this passage and then throughout Scripture. Identify at least 5 “what” questions. • Where? (The Geography and Location) Description: Where are the author and readers at the time of the writing? Are there places in the passage that need to be identified in geographic placement? Can anything be learned from the location of the events? Explore these places as they appear in this passage before considering their significance outside of Galatians 4:21-31. Identify at least 2 “where” question. • When? (The Time Factors) Description: Determine if there is anything critical related to the element of time in this passage. Does the message depend at all on certain aspects of the era in the church’s history in which it was written? Are there lesson to be learned based on the timing of the events? How is this presented first in Galatians 4:21-31 and then throughout Scripture? Identify at least 1 “when” question.