OIA, Interpretation: Finding the Eternal Principle, and several plugs for Indiana Jones.

Have you ever read a story out of the Old Testament and wondered “How does this relate to me?” Does the context of the story, (sacrifices, camels, and people with beards), seem so disconnected from your world that you can’t see how it connects with you? What about passages in the New Testament that seem weird, like 1 Corinthians 8-10 that talks about food sacrificed to idols? Should you just skip those sections of the Bible altogether?

I’ll admit that sometimes it is really hard to see through the contexts and settings of the passages and not get confused. I wanted to try to make a point here that will help you in your study of the Word.

*The ETERNAL PRINCIPLE, or “What is True All the Time, both Then and Now”), is what you are looking for in a passage.*

The ETERNAL PRINCIPLE from a passage, (all caps required), is the principle, lesson, or truth that is applicable both 2,000 years ago when the event happened and today as well. You have to ask yourself, “What is true all the time?” “What is something that was true back then when the story was written and still true today?” The answer is the ETERNAL PRINCIPLE that we can apply to our lives from our study of the Bible.

Let’s look at a passage in the Old Testament and try to find the eternal principle or principles that may be present. 1 Samuel 5:1-5 tells the story of how God Almighty and the god of the Philistines hung out one time. The Philistines had captured the ark of the covenant, (think Indiana Jones), and had placed the ark, (a symbol of the presence of the Lord), in their temple with their god, Dagon. They thought to show the ark as a trophy of their conquests and a symbol of the superiority of their god above the God of Israel. Needless to say, God was not pleased. The next day the Philistines came in they found Dagon on the floor facing the ark. The day after that, the statue of Dagon had its face and hands broken off. The Philistines freaked out on a Biblical scale, (think Nazis in Indiana Jones).

Now what does this have to do with our lives? We are not Philistines. We don’t live in tents. We don’t have the ark anymore, (the government has it in a secret vault somewhere; remember Indiana Jones). We also don’t have little god statues in our homes, (most of us anyways). We live in a different time period and culture. But what would be a true principle from this passage that was true not only then, but now? How about this:

1. God is the supreme God above all other gods.
2. God will not play second fiddle to any idol.
3. Don’t mess with God Almighty.
4. Even when things seem bad, (the ark was captured by a godless nation), God is still supreme.

These things are true both then and now. They are ETERNAL PRINCIPLES that were true for the Philistines and are true for us today.

Next time we’ll talk about the final step of OIA, which is Application. (Observation, Interpretation, Application). Peace out…and remember Indiana Jones…just not the last movie, which was horrible.