HGB-04 Approaches to Meaning

At one time or another, we’ve all overheard people disagreeing about the meaning of a passage in the Bible. Often, these conversations end in a similar way. One person says, “Well, your interpretation is just your opinion.” But the other person responds, “No, it’s not just my opinion. It’s a fact.” These remarks reflect one of the most fundamental questions in biblical interpretation: When we read a passage in the Bible and come to a conclusion about what it means, is our conclusion an objective fact, a subjective opinion, or is it something in between?

This is the fourth lesson in our series He Gave Us Scripture: Foundations of Interpretation, and we’ve entitled it “Approaches to Meaning.” In this lesson, we’ll look at some of the major ways interpreters have identified and described the meaning of Scripture.

As we begin to ask questions about the meaning of passages we find in the Bible, it will help to begin by making a basic distinction between objects of knowledge and subjects of knowledge. Objects of knowledge are the things that we try to understand. And these objects can be either abstract, like ideas, or concrete, like people or places.

For example, biologists study objects like animals and plants. And musicians study objects like music or musical instruments. By contrast, subjects of knowledge are the people that do the studying. In the field of biology, biologists themselves are the subjects of knowledge. And in the field of music, musicians are the subjects of knowledge. So, when we interpret the Bible, we’re the subjects, because we’re the ones doing the interpretation. And the object of our study is the Bible, because that’s what we’re trying to interpret.

Now, it’s easy to see that human understanding of every sort involves both objects and subjects of knowledge. But how do objects and subjects work together in the pursuit of knowledge? Well, it’s often helpful to talk about three major approaches toward the objects and subjects of human knowledge. First, some people tend toward an approach we call objectivism. Objectivists believe that under the right circumstances, it’s possible to arrive at impartial or objective knowledge. Second, other people tend toward an approach called subjectivism. Subjectivists believe that our knowledge is always influenced by our personal biases, making impartial objectivity impossible. And third, some people have found a middle ground that we might call dialogism. This approach emphasizes the constant “dialog” or interplay between objective reality and our subjective perspectives.