As part of my M.Div. program at Talbot, I was required to take a Hermeneutics and Bible Study Methods class, which required two main texts: “Playing with Fire: How the Bible Ignites Change in Your Soul” by Walter Russell, and “Introduction to Biblical Interpretation” by Klein, Blomberg, and Hubbard, Jr. Both books are excellent and complement each other, but Russell’s is more devotional in nature, while the other is more academic.
Book connects biblical interpretation and spiritual formation
“Playing with Fire,” emphasizes studying the Bible by connecting correct biblical interpretation to spiritual formation. It also addresses the problem of biblical and theological illiteracy in the church at a time of great advances in Bible study aids and resources. As Dr. Russell put it: “… we have had a lack of dynamic emphasis on the Word of God…in the midst of a lot of talk about the Bible and a lot of posturing around the Bible, there is still a meaningful lack of emphasis on reading and studying the Bible in an intelligent, informed manner that powerfully fuels our spiritual formation” (p. 6).
Playing with Fire is divided into two sections, “Part One: Inflaming the Soul,” and “Part Two: Igniting Change in Your Soul.” The book has thirteen chapters, a conclusion, and two helpful appendices on the nature of various translations and how to interpret the Bible. Part One deals mainly with the importance of context and genre to Bible interpretation, while Part Two goes through all the genres of literature in the Bible (narrative, poetry, law) explaining how they should be interpreted for spiritual formation. The appendix on how to interpret the Bible is especially helpful because it gives you five important steps to proper Bible interpretation.
Personal examples illustrates subject matter
This book was a delight to read for a number of reasons. First, the author gave examples from his own life of how the fire of God’s Word changed his life. The story of how he was convicted of his personal anger after leaving church he helped plant was very powerful and insightful.
Second, Dr. Russell included many helpful and easy-to-understand diagrams and illustrations to highlight significant points throughout the book. For example, with a slight edge of humor, the author illustrated the important principle of understanding truth “from the top down” in context when interpreting the Bible. He used the example of his wife asking him whether he would like chicken, beef, or pork to eat from leftovers. He replies, “Honey, I don’t care. I’ll eat anything.” Then Dr. Russell delivers a nice hermeneutical punch line that drives the point home: “Am I declaring that I’ll eat wood, concrete, nails, carpet, and so on? Of course not. Within the context of the unit of thought, the paragraph, it is overwhelmingly obvious that my use of ‘anything’ is limited to the kinds of foods we are discussing.”
Book corrects misguided Biblical interpretations
Third, the author debunks many of the misguided ways we may have learned to interpret the Bible using a number of specific passages like Matthew 18:15-20 (“Where two or three are gathered together”) and Mark 4:35-41 (Jesus calming the Sea of Galilee).
Christians have used Matthew 18:19-20 in a broad sense, believing that Jesus will be present when believers gather together agreeing in prayer over just about anything. But as Dr. Russell points out, the context (or unit of thought) is more specific and speaks properly of coming together in church discipline (p. 67).
In Mark 4:35-41, we are tempted to spiritualize the literal narrative and make the calming of the storm back then apply to problems (“storms”) in our lives today. But Dr. Russell points out in detail why this kind of interpretation is problematic and hinders our full understanding of Jesus as the “unmistakable authority over nature as the Messiah” (pp. 195-201).
While I agree with Dr. Russell in principle over the interpretation of Mark 4:35-41, I believe he may have set up a false “either/or” dichotomy. Isn’t it possible that the passage speaks to both our stormy problems of life and Jesus as the “unmistakable authority over nature as the Messiah”?
Overall, Dr. Russell has done us a great service with this book, helping us to more accurately understand and interpret the Bible so that it can truly ignite a fire in our souls and transform us as God intended it to.
