It was the most shocking experience of my
life when I stepped into the BI class on the first day – it suddenly dawned on
me that I was the “most mature” student in the class, and I do mean, “most
mature” in every sense of the word! At that moment I was totally intimidated!
Would I be able to cope? How about IT? How about group work?...on and on my
mind went into a whirl! It was very daunting! And true enough, even at the
first lesson, I had problems logging onto the eduencounter site set up for the
class, when everyone else found it a breeze! Anyway, I decided to face up to the
challenge ahead. With some help from the
other more IT- savy students, like Alvin, I got through my first day with much
relief! It’s a boon for having helpful course-mates! Well, I
suppose studying at a mature age can pose many different challenges, but I
learn that if one were to press on with determination, and not allow small setbacks
to get in the way, then learning God’s Word really becomes a joy, at any age –
sixteen, or sixty!
To more
serious thoughts - the passage for our study in this Bible Interpretation Module,
1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 proved to be very exciting and aptly chosen. I feel that
it is a topic well chosen as parts of the passage are thought-provoking, and calls
for much debate. It forces me to dig deep into the meaning of many significant
words and phrases. During the process of working on EGP1 through to EGP3, my
group members and I discovered new meanings and understanding of the words that
we would normally interpret at face value like “control your own body”, ‘sexual
immorality’ and others. Little did I realise that after checking and further
examination of the work of various commentators, there was even some contention
among these well-known scholars, especially to the real meaning of what Paul
meant by to ‘control your own body’. It was really an eye-opener – something I
had never thought of before. Thanks to the search on the ‘literary context’ in
EGP2, I realised what he meant to say. This simple exercise, although
demanding, taught me never to take God’s word literally without checking the
meaning and usage in context.
In the same
vein, the lesson on historical context proved very useful. The research and
reading of the book by Williams uncovered the fact that sexual immorality was
the ‘cultural norm’ of the Greco Roman period of that time, and marriage was
for producing legal heirs while mistresses was for pleasure! Hence I can now
understand the fear and anxiety that Paul showed each time he wrote to the new
converts in the different churches. He was afraid that they could easily fall
back to the immoral way of life that was so prevalent in their society at that
time. This understanding changed my perspective of why Paul always included the
exhortation to the churches to be “holy” and to be “pure”. The importance of
historical context cannot be dismissed, and the Bible cannot be interpreted
with our modern 21st century mind! That aside, I now have a clearer
understanding of this. And the significance of theological implications cannot
be taken lightly either. I realise that this is a very important aspect of
Bible Interpretation as well. This has helped me to learn to compare our
cultural context with that of Paul’s time, then proceed to explore further the
local church setting, the problems that are relevant and how to apply possible
solutions to the problems. My perspective of just looking at one aspect has
changed. Now with the integrated approach, interpretation is more complete and
meaningful.
When attempting
to apply what I have learnt in Paul’s message to the modern day context in the
small city of Singapore, I find that the state of morality in today’s society is
no different from the time of Paul. The world view and practices of so called
sexual morality leaves much to be desired. Premarital sex, adultery, prostitution
and homosexuality have been degraded to almost an everyday piece of news that would
no longer cause anyone to bat an eyelid. These issues are becoming so rampant even
in other parts of the world, so much so that even ‘gay marriages’ have been legalised
in a particular state in the USA. This has challenged me to look at specific issues
in my church and to see if there is anything further that can be done,
especially in the area of divorce among brothers and sisters that I know, to
help them to take God’s word for marriage seriously and to work towards
reconciliation. Another issue is the one on premarital sex, for our church has
quite a large number of youths, and it would be worthwhile for the youth
ministers to examine if there is any further need for talks that are suitable
to drive home the message of purity, holiness and abstinence before marriage.
The topics in
this module proved to be very comprehensive and I learnt so much by way of how
to do a proper and complete exegesis. This would prove very useful in my future
modules at AGBC. (Assembly of God bible College). Not only that, it will benefit
me greatly as I continue to study God’s word at both study and personal level. It
will also be of great help to me during my small group meetings as we meet to
deliberate the Word, and during ministry trips too, when I deliver the Word to
those I minister to in the various places that I visit. Being able to interact
with my course-mates and group members also brought new insights, especially in
their understanding, their effort and willingness to assist at all times, and
the resourcefulness in the group assignments. I have thoroughly enjoyed the
module, the lectures, the interactions, the reflection and the purposeful assignments,
albeit a bit stretched for time. Thank you Rev Casey. God bless.
