1
There are four challenges for Bible interpretation: the distance of time, cultural distance,
geographical distance, and distance of language. The easiest challenge to overcome as Jesus
followers seek to accurately understand God’s Word is geographical distance. Knowing more
about geography, whether it is assumed or explicitly mentioned in the text, can help readers
grasp its meaning. “Unless we have had the opportunity to visit the places mentioned in the
Bible, we lack a mental, visual databank that would aid our understanding of certain events.”1
Introduction to Biblical Interpretation argues that “even if we could visit all the accessible sites
(and many Christians have), few of them retain the look (and none, the identical culture) they
had in biblical times.”2 The truth is, a personal visit to the Holy Land can offer tremendous
insight for Christians who want to properly interpret the Bible. Although much has changed,
there have been intense efforts to preserve much of Israel so that significant sights provide
foreigners with visuals that improve their biblical understanding. Even some of the landscape
remains true to the biblical descriptions provided in both the Old and New Testaments. Bible
readers who are able to travel to the geographical location of biblical events are reminded that
they should not “read Scripture in (their) own when and where, in a way that makes sense on
(their) terms.”3
The most difficult challenge is the distance of language. There is an obvious “language
gap between the biblical world and our own” that contributes to misunderstanding of the biblical
text.4 The writers used Hebrew, Aramaic, and Hellenistic Greek languages, which are
1 William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation
Third edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2017), 57.
2 Ibid.
3 E. Randolph Richards and Brandon J. O’Brien, Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes:
Removing Cultural Blinders to Better Understand the Bible (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2012), chapter 3.
4 William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard, Introduction to Biblical Interpretation
Third edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2017), 58.
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“inaccessible to most people today even though they may have their modern descendants.”5
These are complex languages and when translated into other complex languages the meaning can
be easily lost. “We are also relatively unfamiliar with the literary convention of the ancient
authors.”6 Trained biblical scholars offer translations, but “their work is necessarily
interpretive.”7 Beyond these obvious pitfalls, one could argue that the distance of language is the
most challenging because it involves several other challenges. Language is more than
vocabulary and is impacted by other factors, such as its cultural context and historical context.
Bibliography
Klein, William W. (William Wade), Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard. Introduction to
Biblical Interpretation Third edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2017.
Richards, E. Randolph, and Brandon J. O’Brien. Misreading Scripture with Western Eyes:
5 Ibid.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
