Questions to Aid Textual Interpretation

Taken from James W. Cox in Preaching

1. What is the text about? Worship, God, the church, etc.
2. What does the text mean to you? Your first impression is likely to be the understanding of the average reader of the text, so it is a good place to begin.
3. What is the significance of the text in relation to Jesus Christ and the history of redemption?
4. What has the text meant to other interpreters? What do some commentaries say about the meaning of the text? Just because something is written in a commentary doesn’t make it so! However, you may gain insights you would not have otherwise gained.
5. What is the point of immediacy? Where does the text strike closest to home in your life?
6. Can the truth in the text stand alone, or does it need to be seen in relation to a counterbalancing truth? For example, Paul and Silas told the Philippian jailer, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31). Obviously he needed to do more than that. There are other passages we need to examine to understand Acts 16:31.
7. What are some of the causes of the condition or situation discussed or suggested in the text? What is the historical situation? What seems to be taking place in the history of Israel, in the life of Jesus, in the local congregation to which the apostle is writing?
8. What do you learn about doctrine or what practical duties grow out of the truth of the text?
9. What would be the results of knowing or failing to know, believing or failing to believe, or doing or failing to do what the text suggests?