readrevelation.org

Let's think about interpretation.

It seems to me that everything available to the current Bible reader is "interpretation." The original writing was used to its demise and many copies were made. The copies are in Greek and any translation necessarily involves interpretation. The mere copying of a text involves decisions about type face and page layout, which are products of interpretation as well as suggestions toward interpretation.

Any Bible reading you do involves your eyes and perspective and worldview, interpreting as you go. Any Bible reading you hear carries the inflections and tonal qualities of the reader, reflecting his or her own interpretations. Inevitably then, there is no pure, unadulterated, unbiased, uninterpreted access to the Bible. I believe this situation is used and even chosen by God, so that the very survival of God's words depends on the testimony of believers (Revelation 12:11).

For the Book of Revelation, there generally three methods of interpretation. Let's consider the word "method" for a moment.

When I hear the word "method," I think of steps and procedures, formalized or not, by which someone accomplishes a task. For Bible interpretation, this use of the word "method" might include rules like "Re-read" or "Get the context" or "Consider the first audience."

When scholars talk about the interpretation of Revelation, however, the word "method" takes on additional meaning. A method of interpretation in Revelation becomes a pre-decided over-arching paradigm which guides the interpretation of all the smaller pieces, a predetermined frame that is prerequisite for fitting in all the puzzle pieces, a system of presuppositions that guides subsequent interpretation.

There are three main methods of interpretation in the Book of Revelation.

The Preterist Method

The preterist method interprets everything in the book as referring to events or situations within the first three centuries after Christ, the time of the apostles and those most directly influenced by them. Using this method, the interpreter studies history to learn the historical setting, then looks in the Book of Revelation for obvious or even hidden, or encoded, references to the setting. Further, the interpreter may discover some intimation in the Book of Revelation that seems to shed light on how the first readers of the book would be feeling about and reacting to their current events and situations.

The preterist interpreter would not look to the future for "fulfillment" of "prophecy" in the Book of Revelation. He or she might look for spiritual lessons to be learned from how the early Christians interacted with their environment.

The Futurist Method

The futurist method interprets almost everything in the Book of Revelation (at least chapters 4-22) as referring to events in a future age, after the "rapture" of the "church." Using this method, the interpreter notices the order of appearances in Revelation, along with other Scripture passages that could have informed the Revelator's intentions. Then he or she seeks to imagine what the Revelator saw and match that picture with something technologically possible in a science fiction way.

The futurist interpreter would not look into the history from 300 to 2000 years after Christ for any clues to interpretation. He or she might spend some time the understand the historical setting of the apostles so as to teach the first three chapters of Revelation. The predominant spiritual lesson to be learned from a futurist interpretation seems to be, "Don't miss the rapture!"

The Historicist Method

The historicist method interprets a broad span of events from the historical setting of the apostles to the future denouement and much that lies between as having their part in the Book of Revelation. He or she notices many historical settings, many other Scripture passages echoed here, the chronology of the book, as well as other factors like poetry and repetitions. Martin Luther used this method, which is credited with igniting the great Reformation.

The historicist interpreter must consider all three settings, the original, the historical span, and the future, before he or she is through. History must inform understanding. Spiritual lessons abound in this method, so that the Book of Revelation becomes a vital, vibrant aid to one's walk with Jesus Christ.

After all, it is "the Revelation of Jesus Christ."

For my chosen controls on inductive reading of Revelation, click here.