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Step 1: Establishing Context
Whenever approaching a passage of scripture, it is imperative to remember the three golden rules of the bible: context, context, context. Without a proper understanding of these things, it can be difficult to accurately identify the main point of the text.
Original Context
The most common mistake most bible readers make is working backwards in terms of context -- rather than beginning in the original context, we begin in our own. This happens when we immediately focus on how the text applies to us directly, ignoring how it applied to its original audience. Rather, we must always begin with the original, historical context of the scripture, its audience, it's author, and the circumstances surrounding it's writing.
Contextual Gap
When we rightly approach scripture, we begin in the original context. However, before we can reach our own modern context, we must first acknowledge the contextual gap. The scriptures were written by authors to audiences who experienced vastly different cultures, worldviews, and contextual circumstances than we do today. After making this acknowledgement, it then becomes much more difficult to fall into the blunder of overcontextualizing scripture to our modern culture and risk missing the main point entirely.
Contextual Bridge
After identifying the contextual gap, which separates our own experiences from that of the original audience's, we are then tasked with the duty of understanding how it is that scripture actually applies to us. The way we do this is by identifying the underlying principles driving the text. For example, both Paul and Peter discourage women from wearing fine jewelry and braided hair in each of their letters (1 Timothy 2:9) (1 Peter 3:3). The improper, overcontextualized interpretation of this scripture might suggest that this applies to all Christian women in all places, at all times. However, considering the context of the passage, we discover a far deeper underlying principle -- that Christians should not be preoccupied with walking, talking, and looking like the secular culture around them. Rather, their adorning should be with internal, spiritual fruits of love, self-control, modesty, and good works (1 Timothy 2:10, 1 Peter 3:3-4). This then obtains for us application that affects not only Christian women, but all Christians in all places, at all times. To put it into simple words, the "contextual bridge" can be understood as discovering the "underlying principle."
Modern Context
At last, we have arrived to our final destination: the here and now. After (1) identifying the original context of the passage, (2) acknowledging the contextual differences between the original audience and ourselves, and (3) identifying the underlying principles of the text, we can now (4) establish a tangible application to ourselves. One thing we must always remember regarding scripture is that it ALWAYS drives us to application. If scripture has no impact on the way we live our lives day to day, then it is apparent that we are not reading it correctly. The only stipulation, however, is that we need to go about finding application in a way that doesn't abandon the context of the passage, thus draining the Word of all its power.
Step 2: Getting to The Point
Once we have established the historical and literary context of the passage, we are then tasked with yet another daunting feat -- getting to the point. When fallible people come into contact with the infallible Word, we must understand the pitfalls surrounding us in terms of our own interpretations. What one man gleans from a text may not be what another gleans, and at times this is appropriate -- but not always. Here are some tips which follow the illustration above to help you in your task of interpreting scripture.
One Main Point
Hermeneutics is a big word, one which can typically be defined as the art of interpreting Biblical texts and scriptures. When wrestling with the question of how to accomplish good hermeneutics, consider the following -- two dance partners on a ballroom floor. One is typically male and the other female, both with distinct roles to play. A fundamental aspect of choreographed dancing is communication, understanding not only one's own role, but their partner's role and intentions. It is typical that the male partner leads in the dance, but how can the woman follow if she doesn't understand what it is her partner is trying to do? Likewise, if hermeneutics is a dance, the Bible must take the lead and we must follow. The same question still applies -- how can we effectively follow if we don't know what it is that the Bible is saying? When we identify the main point of a text, it becomes much easier to obtain application points that actually fall in line with the scripture. In short, we must wrap our interpretation around the Word, not the Word around our interpretation.
Free Floating Application vs. Connected Application
If you notice from the study tool illustration, you will see two different camps of thought -- one with a red X, one with a green check. This is in regard to how we glean application from scripture. On the left, we see a cloud of free-floating application bubbles, some bigger and some smaller. The important thing to see, however, is that they are connected to nothing! This is an illustration of how many Christians interpret scripture -- we read a text without identifying the main point in light of context, and thus misinterpret certain words/phrases based on our own limited perspective. While it is true that God may use a scriptural truth to speak to different people in different areas, it becomes problematic when two different people are gleaning things from a passage that have nothing to do with not only each other, but nothing to do with the text itself! There can be many themes and applications of a passage, but they will always be connected to one main point.