Discussion Thread 3 – Question 5
List the 5 characteristics of words. Which one was new to you? Which one do you think is most
important? Why? Define “connotative” and “denotative” meanings. What are the steps for
performing a word study? How important are word studies in understanding Scripture? Why is it
important to do word studies in the original languages instead of in English alone?
When looking at the concept of words, Klein, Blomberg, and Hubbard provide five
characteristics of words. To sum these concepts up in a definition, using all five characteristics, it
can be said that words are arbitrary signs that have a range of overlapping meanings that can
change over time and can have both a precise meaning and figurative meaning.1 This rather
concise definition can make the concept of understanding words belies the difficult nature of
understanding the words we read, especially when reading translations. Of all the characteristics,
the one which was newest to my thought process is the changing meaning of words. For myself,
it is easy to forget that words can have fluctuating meanings over time as these changes are
usually not, from what I have seen, dramatic shifts in meanings; instead they are slowly changed
over time and usage. Most important, in my opinion, is understanding that words have a range of
meanings, and those meanings can vary across cultures and time. Richards and O’Brien give an
example of the use of the word ‘love’ in Western culture and how this one word is used to
express a range of meanings, from how we related to our parents and our spouses to friendships
with others.2
Beyond the range of meanings a word can have, there is a difference between what a word may
describe and what we are meaning when using a word. This is the difference between the
denotative meaning and the connotative meaning. The denotative meaning is the “precise or
direct meaning of a word.”3 In contrast, the connotative meaning is a “special suggestive sense
that grows out of its denotative meaning in some way.”4 Klein, Blomberg, and Hubbard, Jr.
explain this concept with the use of the word dog. In the denotative meaning, a dog refers to an
animal. However, in a connotative meaning, the use of the word dog when referring to a person
changes the meaning from an actual animal to describe a characteristic of a person and
comparing that behavior to that of an animal, or to even describe a “sense of disapproval.”5
With these varying meanings, possibilities to misinterpret, it is important that word studies be a
vital part of interpreting and understanding Scripture. When studying Scripture, we should take
words which should be analyzed, such as words that are “difficult to understand, crucial to the
1 William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard, Jr., Introduction to Biblical Interpretation
(Grand Rapids: MI, Zondervan Academic, 2017), 325.
2 E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes: Removing
Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2012), 73-74.
3 Klein, Blomberg, Hubbard, Jr., Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, 332.
4 Ibid., 332.
5 Ibid., 331.
text, theologically loaded, rare, or figurative.”6 Once those words are identified in the text being
studied, the interpreter should look for the various meanings of the word, utilizing tools such as
biblical encyclopedias, dictionaries, and concordances. Having that range of meanings now
available, not forgetting the possibility of the word being used in a connotative versus denotative
sense, the interpreter should select the most appropriate meaning for the context of the text being
studied.
Word studies should not be confined to the English word found in the Scripture, but also include
the study of the words used in the original language. If we only study the English wording, we
are relying on a translation and another interpretation. As expressed by Richards and O’Brien,
other languages may have multiple words, each with their own meaning, for which only one
word exists in English or may have words for which there is no English equivalent so translators
must find words which try to express an equivalent thought.7 To properly study and interpret
Scripture, we must be willing to study the wording in its original language as well as English to
avoid these misinterpretations.
Bibliography
Klein, William W., Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L Hubbard, Jr. Introduction to Biblical
Interpretation. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017.
Richards, E. Randolph and Brandon J. O'Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes:
Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible. Downers Grove, IL:
Intervarsity Press, 2012.
6 Ibid., 333.
7 Richards and O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes, 73-75.
