Module 1 · Getting Started · Week 2

What Does the Bible Actually Mean? — Meaning & Authorial Intent

When we ask what a Bible verse means, we are really asking what the original author intended to communicate. Meaning is not whatever feels right to you — it is what God, through the human author, put into the text.

~20 min watch + read Video + podcast companion PDF handout included Taught by Andrew Ramirez Completed

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Section 01

Key Terms

Meaning — What the original author intended to communicate — the message baked into the text itself.

Significance — What a text means TO YOU personally — your response, your application, your feelings about it.

Authorial Intent — The idea that the author's intended message determines what a text means — not the reader's preferences.

Verbal Plenary Inspiration — The belief that God inspired every word of Scripture through human authors — making the Bible both fully divine and fully human.

Section 02

Key Concepts

01Meaning vs.

Meaning vs. significance.

What the author meant vs. what it means to you. Both matter — but they are not the same thing, and mixing them up creates chaos.

02Authority

Authorial intent determines meaning.

The text doesn't mean whatever resonates with you today. It means what the author put there — and that meaning is fixed.

03Application

One meaning, many applications.

A passage has a single meaning, but can touch countless lives in countless situations. That flexibility is faithful, not loose.

Section 03

Scripture Focus

Anchor passages for this lesson.

2 Timothy 3:16–172 Peter 1:20–21Romans 4:23–241 Corinthians 10:11

Section 04

By the End, You Will…

Explain the difference between what a text means (the author's message) and what it means to you (your personal response).

Defend why the original author's intention — not our feelings or traditions — determines a text's meaning.

Understand that a passage has one meaning but can have many faithful applications across different situations.

Section 05

Take It With You

Lesson Handout (PDF)

Key terms, concepts, and review prompts for offline study

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Up Next · Week 3

The Grammatical-Historical Method — Your Most Important Tool

Module 2 begins. Time to pick up the actual toolkit.

Start Week 3