The Bible has been interpreted differently by numerous sects and religious groups who claims to be the true religion. While there has been no actually proof or evidence on the authenticity of these claims made by these groups, the Bible remains to be the most translated book in history. In fact, a total of 2,817 translations of the Bible is available. 513 of these translations is accounted for the whole Bible while the New Testament has been translated to over 1,294 languages . The process of translating the Bible can perhaps be credited for the different interpretation. Misrepresentation and misinterpretation has been a limitation of the process of translating a literary content into another language. The insufficient available words as well as the inconsistency in the meaning of a lot of words to represent the original term are just among the numerous reasons for this problem. Since the bible is also one of the most influential book in history, second to Charles Darwin’s The Origin of the Species , it is only necessary to ensure that the right meaning of the passages are put across to the readers. In lieu with this, an exegesis of the passage Luke 11:2-4 is performed to account for the scientific process of interpreting a biblical text.
Exegesis: An Approach to Interpreting Biblical Text
Exegesis is a process that many theologians used to interpret a religious text. Originally, exegesis was used to provide explanation and interpretation of a passage lifted from the Bible it has been adapted to provide for a more critical interpretation and explanation of religious materials (Elwell). However, exegesis should not be used interchangeably with hermeneutics, the theory of interpreting religious text either in written or verbal presentation (Oevermann).
The scientific approach to the interpretation of the biblical text through exegesis utilizes the process of critical criticism and theological analysis. Under critical criticism, the structure, forms and the use of language and text are evaluated and analyzed to draw insights for a contextual interpretation of the text or passage. On the other hand, a theological analysis approaches the interpretation from a spiritual perspective that is drawing out insights of what it says about the readers’ personal relationship with the Lord.
Literary Criticism
For literary criticism, this paper will consider five elements: (a) context, (b) form, (c) structure, (d) reduction process, and (e) keywords . These five elements will be used to literary criticize Luke 11:2-4. According to King James Version of the Bible, Luke 11: 2-4 reads,
“2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
Context. The passage was preceded by one of the apostles requesting Jesus to teach them how to pray. According the apostle, the prophet John taught his disciples how to pray. This is the reason that it could be perceived that anyone who is preaching the word of God should rightfully teach his students the proper way of praying. Praying is an act that is commonly associated with the practice of a religious or spiritual belief. Jesus, being a prophet to many and a Son of God to a lot of believers must have the proper formula for praying. In Luke 11:5-8, Jesus tried to present a story from which the apostles would understand the succeeding messages that he wants to impart regarding the essence of committing one's self in praying religiously. Jesus narrates a story of two friends, in which one is asking a favor from the other.
Form Criticism. The Bible uses several literary forms like poetry, prose, allegory and parables. In the case of the Lord’s Prayer, it adapts a poetic structure as explained by Berkeley Mickelsen. According to Mickelsen, the Lord’s Prayer follows the Semitic structure of poetry while still maintaining the elegant parallelism typically seen in Hebrew poems (Mickelsen 328). The paired poetic lines were also evident in Matthew’s presentation of the Lord’s Prayer. This can be seen in the passages, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil” (Matthew 6:13, KJV). From this account, it is clear that Luke 11: 2-4 is not the only source for the Lord’s Prayer. The Gospel of Matthew also narrates a different presentation of the prayer. This can be seen in Matthew 6: 9-13. However, Matthew delivered it from this presentation, hello,
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Structure. Evaluating structural parallelism in content that uses the Old English Language can be quite excruciating. However, from the structural review of the Lord’s Prayer as presented in Luke 11:2-4 there is parallelism in structure. This can be observed in the following presentation of the passages, “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Luke 11:4). Nevertheless, there is faulty parallelism with the use of the word “which” in the line “Our Father, which art in heaven” (Luke 11:2). The word “which” has been used interchangeably with “who” in Luke 11:2.
Reduction Process. The latest version of the Bible from the source of King James Version used for this paper is the New King James Version. The King James Version first came around 1611 after King James I of England ordered for the translation of the New Testament in English in 1604 (Bible Gateway). However, the New King James Version began the updating process in 1975 after it was commissioned by Thomas Nelson Publisher with the help of 130 respected church leaders, lay Christians and Bible scholars (Bible Gateway). The need to subject the Bible to an editorial process is presented in an article written by Raymond Cottrell in his article entitled The Untold Story of Bible Commentary (Cottrell). Cottrell even furthered his explanation that the editorial process is not intended to distort the meaning of the biblical text, but to assist in the process of exegesis. The author noted about quality of the manuscript that needed typesetting (Cottrell 39). The necessity to subject the Bible to an editorial process is for the purpose of creating an informed consensus for the purpose of interpretation. In addition, for ease of interpretation and to fit the organizational and structural presentation the reduction process should necessarily be applied.
Keywords. The word “hallowed” has been changed quite a number of times from the first time it appeared in the earliest version of the Bible. The word “hallowed” was used to give a word or an object a holy or sacred characteristic. The Old English language define hallow to represent a holy man. Thus, it was used in the Lord’s Prayer to give emphasis that the Lord is a holy man deserving of the highest form of praise. However, the term “hallow” has been assigned a different from when it was used in the title of a popular literary masterpiece of the author J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow. In the book, the use of the word hallow has been in association with the three magical, yet mythical objects that must be obtained in the story. Nevertheless, despite the supernatural association of how Rowling used the word “hallow” it did not present any sacred or holy characteristic of the objects worthy of being consecrated or venerated.
Theological Analysis
The purpose of a theological analysis is to know the meaning of the passages as a whole as it was directed to the reader by the author. Regardless of the co-authorship of the Bible, the source of the inspiration for writing it is believed to the Lord. Therefore, the message of the Bible is the revelation of what God wants to tell the people. The theological analysis of the Lord’s Prayer has been something that many theologians and Bible scholars attempted to explain.
Luke 11: 2-4 and Man’s Relationship with the Lord. In 1992, David Lanier offered a thematic and semantic-structural analysis of the Lord’s Prayer. In the article, Lanier detailed that the Lord’s Prayer was a perfect model prayer that Jesus himself taught the apostles (Lanier 57). The author was trying to express that the Lord’s Prayer should be utilized as a pattern for how people should prayer. Although it is a recited prayer, a prayer that is memorized, it is still considered one of the most sacred of all the recited prayers. The reason to this argument is the fact that the Lord’s Prayer is given to mankind by no other but the Son of God.
Lanier was trying to express that Jesus enumerated what should rightfully be contained in a prayer. Jesus himself provided that a prayer must rightfully begin with a proclamation of praise, as emphasized in Luke 11:2, “Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth” (Nelson). This is followed by petitions, intentions and favors that people are requesting from the Lord. The petitions are represented by the use of the word “bread” that accounts for what people needs. However, Nicholas Ayo’s book the author noted that bread can also represent for our spiritual nourishment (Ayo 53-69). If this was the case, then the use of the term “bread” can be interpreted from the context of symbolizing for the Word of God.
Message to the Apostle. During the time the passage was written, Jesus was being questioned about the proper way of praying. It was a period that can closely be identified with today, where a lot of the leaders of the Church assume to be religious. Majority of them spend their times in prayer and have memorized even the Scriptures in verbatim. However, the message that Jesus wanted to impart when he gave the apostle’s the wordings to the Lord’s Prayer was not have it memorized. Instead, Jesus wanted to inform them that one does not need to devout his life in memorizing the scripture. The Lord in fact, favors a prayer that comes from the heart. It is in the sincerity and the truthfulness of one's intention that gives joy to the Lord.
Works Cited
Ayo, Nicholas. The Lord's Prayer: A Survey Theological and Literary. Washington DC: Rowman & Littlefield Publishing, 2002. Print.
Bible Gateway. Bible Gateway Website. 3 September 2008. Web. 10 October 2014.
Cottrell, Raymond. "The Untold Story of Bible Commentary ." Spectrum: Journal of the Association of Adventist Forum (1985): 35-47. Print.
Elwell, Walter. Evangelical Dictionary of Theology. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1984. Print.
Goodreads Contributor. Most Influential Book in History. 15 November 2008. Web. 10 October 2014. <http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1083.The_Most_Influential_Books_in_History>.
Lanier, Robert. "The Lord's Prayer: Matthew 6: 9-13 A Thematic and Sematic-Structural Analysis." Criswell Theological Review (1992): 57-72. Print.
Mickelsen, Berkeley. Interpreting the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1972. Print.
Nelson, Thomas. The Holy Bible: King James Version. Hunlock Creek, PA: World Publishing, 2005. Print.
Oevermann, Ulrich. "Structures of meaning and objective Hermeneutics." Meja, Volker and Dieter Misgeld. Modern German Sociology. New York: Columbia University Press, 1987. 436-447. Print.
Stein, Robert. A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2011. Print.
Wycliffe Bible Translators. About Us: Wycliffe Organization. 19 June 2014. Web. 10 October 2014. <http://wycliffe.org.uk/wycliffe/about/vision-whatwedo.html#>.
