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Imagine you were reading Paul's first letter to Corinthians, chapter
two, and you came to verse nine and the text said,
"But, as it is written:
'What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the
human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him.'"
In this verse
alone the words "as it is written" is a sign for you to understand that
somewhere else in the Bible someone else had conveyed the same sentiments as
St. Paul. Search around your text, you should find some type of marker
indicating that in the Old Testament Isaiah proclaimed these words, which
are similar to St. Paul's words, "…such as they had not heard of old, no ear
has ever heard, no eye ever seen any God but you doing such deeds for those
who wait for him" (Is. 64:3). This Scripture verse helps to give revelation
to what St. Paul was telling the Corinthians' community. Isaiah focused on
people not seeing a God do the deeds He has done for those who wait on Him.
Conversely, St. Paul focused on the Corinthians' community learning to love
God. There are many more differences and similarities. The main idea in this
stage is to integrate one passage with another. The markers show which
Scripture is speaking to Scripture.
The fourth stage, Interpretation, is where we
practice what the psalmist heard from God, "Be still and confess that I am
God!" (Ps. 46:10). Your interpretation of the scripture should include the
facts gathered from your investigation (dates, identity of audience, the
outline, author's intent and type of writing), any evidence of other
scholarly interpretations from commentaries, and your personal experiences.
Here you listen to questions from within, mediate or do some journaling as
God reveals truth to you.
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