One very important step about scriptural exigesis is audience relevance. Simply put: when reading scripture please put yourself in the shoes of primary recipients of the message.
One particular formula I use is to apply the 5Ws.
1. Who is speaking
2. Why
3. When
4. Where
5. To Whom.
This becomes necessary for one to get to the root of the issue and to get the proper dimension of interpretation.
For example, a letter written to an American telling the recipients to get mandarins is understood by the American to mean to get tangerines. Let’s assume a Ghanaian chances on that same letter, he will think the originator of the letter wants him to get some Chinese people unless he knows who the letter is meant for and applies the 5Ws. Let’s apply the principle to an original text of scripture.
Paul wrote a letter to the church in Corinth and informed them about a specific issue peculiar to them. Let’s take a look at the text
1Co 11:13-15 ISV 13 Decide for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Nature itself teaches you neither that it is disgraceful for a man to have long hair 15 nor that hair is a woman’s glory since hair is given as a substitute for coverings.
One can read from v 3 to 16 to get the whole gist
1. Who is speaking: Paul, a Jew (Pharisee) with Roman citizenship who is a teacher of Jewish Law
2. What was he talking about? Covering of the head and hair in general.
4. When was the letter written?
The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians, probably written about 53–54 ce at Ephesus, Asia Minor, deals with problems that arose in the early years after Paul’s initial missionary visit (c. 50–51) to Corinth and his establishment there of a Christian community.
Letters of Paul to the Corinthians – Encyclopedia Britannica
3. Which folks does he tell to judge for themselves and how nature teaches them that long hair is disgraceful?
Members of the church in Corinth.
Now one has to ask himself this simple question: Who are these folks?
These folks were largely cosmopolitan with a judeo-hellenistic and Roman heritage.
The new city was a Roman colony; and its inhabitants were Romans, both veterans and freedmen. Greeks had been slow to return, but by the time of Paul’s contact with the city they were present in large numbers. Commercial prosperity had attracted Orientals in considerable numbers, and the city was truly cosmopolitan. Enough Jews were present to justify a synagogue. A. M. Hunter has described the city as “a compound of Newmarket, Chicago and Paris with perhaps a bit of Port Said thrown in.”[2] The exact population cannot be determined; estimates run from 100,000 to 600,000. It was a teeming city made up of permanent residents of many nationalities; in addition, there were always present large numbers of sailors and merchants from all over the Roman Empire.
So it is important to note that the audience were not Ghanaians, Egyptians, Native Americans et al. Their nature was limited to their environment.
Direct application of the recommendation to a native American would seem odd and strange.
Should Paul ask Native Americans whether Nature doesn’t teach them that Men having long hair is disgraceful, their answer will most probably be No.
What will be the response of the Masai to vs 15? Your guess is surely as good as mine.
Quite unfortunately, in our quest as 21st century Christians to make scripture a standard guide for our daily life of worship, we might have lost the plot.
Who defines what is modest and according to whose exposure to nature?
Who then defines what amounts to long hair should one seek to directly apply the text without proper exigesis.
With hindsight to Leopold’s letter, this improper exigesis has been used to mentally enslave the 21st century African Christian hence he or she shirks his heritage and sees it as evil.
No wonder In 1931 after Amu preached wearing his African attire on a Sunday, he was summoned to appear before the church court. The Rev. Peter Hall told Amu, “We were taken aback to see you conduct Sunday service in a native cloth. We hope you will not do this again.”[citation needed] Amu therefore in his polite manner took leave of the church session but decided in his heart to continue to work in the church as a catechist and music teacher rather than to become a minister of the Gospel to accept wearing unsuitable European dress.
I am forcing myself to stop here before I am carried away by the spirit of Pan-Africanism.
When you enter into the church auditorium on Sunday or whatever day, watch how you watch others per their hair, head covering, apparel and whatever they adorn themselves with.
Be contextual.
