Word of the Week

Word of the Week: Hermeneutics

Today’s post is a transitional post. Recent word of the week posts have concentrated on various aspects of the doctrine of Revelation (Scripture). In the coming weeks, our posts will focus on the Doctrine of God and terms that further reveal the glory and wonder of God to us.

Hermeneutics is the scholarly term for interpretation. Hermeneutics is the science and art of biblical interpretation. Because we believe the Bible is inerrant and authoritative for our Christian faith and practice, it is important that we interpret the Bible accurately.

“For the classic Protestant, though the individual believer has the right to the private interpretation of Scripture, he is capable of misinterpreting the Bible. But while he has the ability to misinterpret Scripture, he does not have the right to do it. That is, with the right of private interpretation comes the responsibility of making an accurate interpretation.”

R. C. Sproul, “The Establishment of Scripture” in Sola Scriptura, 42.

One of the most important aspects of my ministry as a pastor is interpreting Scripture accurately. It is not my job to share my opinions or even primarily my convictions from the pulpit. Rather, I am tasked to proclaim “thus says the Lord.” Preaching authoritatively requires that I interpret Scripture accurately.

Following are some principles that will help us interpret Scripture as accurately as possible.

  1. Interpret Scripture in context. Often, interpretive errors happen because we pull a Scripture out of its immediate, book, or literary context. For example, we could be inaccurate interpreters if quoted a verse as true from one of Job’s three friends. Asserting one of their affirmations without considering that the book of Job understands their affirmations to be in error could lead us to be inaccurate in our interpretations.
  2. Interpret Scripture with Scripture. The clear teaching of Scripture should inform and illuminate the more difficult passages. See for example the question of eternal security raised in Hebrews 6 with a counterpart in John 10 (John 10:27-30 vs. Hebrews 6:4-6)
  3. Interpret Scripture in light of its literary genre. Narrative, Didactic, Law, Poetry, Prophetic, Apocalyptic, and Epistolary each have unique interpretive principles for determining meaning. For an example of this in an upcoming sermon, I will be preaching on Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Many have taken that proverb as a promise. But the book of Proverbs is not a book of promises, but rather general observations about life.
  4. Right interpretation derives from a recognition of biblical authority. The author, not the reader determines the meaning. Meaning then is discovered by the interpreter, not determined. In contrast, when we interpret Scripture through an interpretive lens (whether theological as in dispensationalism or personal as in our own experiences), we can read our own preconceived notions or ourselves into the text. This is a reader-response interpretive strategy that may have benefit for some kinds of literature, but has no bearing on the meaning of the biblical text. The text means today what it has always meant (what it meant to its original readers).
  5. Remember the two guardrails for correct interpretation: the Holy Spirit (John 16:13) and the church (historical orthodoxy). In order to interpret Scripture well, we need the Holy Spirit and church history. Depending on the Holy Spirit and leaning on orthodoxy will keep us from interpreting texts (difficult or clear) inaccurately. Robert Letham reminds us, “Moreover, it is impossible to come to the Bible with a blank mind, unaffected by philosophical or cultural presuppositions, or previously received teaching” (Systematic Theology, 228).
  6. Scriptural application is built upon good interpretation. Certainly, the applications we can derive from Scripture are culturally conditioned. For example, when Moses tells us to number our days (Psalm 90:12) or Paul tells us to make the best use of our time (Eph. 5:16), we can apply those admonitions to scrolling through social media apps or binge-watching tv shows. But the application must flow out of the clear meaning of Scripture. Scripture means today what it meant when it was written. To misunderstand what the Scripture originally meant can lead to serious misapplications. 

When I interpret passages of Scripture for preaching, I find word studies, commentaries, and theologies to be helpful. When I compare my own study and insights with those of commentaries and theologians, I am more likely to interpret Scripture accurately.

So, in your reading and study of the Bible, trust that it’s God’s Word, study the Bible deeply, and trust the Holy Spirit to guide your interpretations.

Photo by Jonny Swales on Unsplash

Word of the Week: Authority

The Bible is our authority for Christian life. As a professor of Western history, I’ve often used the theme of authority to describe historical eras.

Under the Roman Empire, Rome had authority.

During the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church had authority.

The Reformation occurred precisely because of the issue of authority. Roman Catholics equated church tradition and Scripture as equally authoritative while the Reformers understood the Scripture to be their sole authority.

The Enlightenment Era shifted the authority from revelation (Scripture) to reason (science and philosophy).

In postmodern thought, authority has shifted toward individualism and personal freedom.

The idea of authority, who or what gets to determine what is right, true, or moral, is tremendously important for human experience.

To see the importance of biblical authority, we can look at the story of Charles Templeton and Billy Graham. Templeton and Graham both served as traveling evangelists with Youth for Christ in the 1950s. While Billy Graham was simple, clear, and direct, he was also genuinely productive when he preached. Charles Templeton was a young evangelist who had charisma, eloquence, and vigor in his preaching. In many ways, Templeton was superior to Graham as a communicator. Templeton ended up leaving Youth for Christ in order to go to Princeton to receive theological training. Several times he argued with Billy Graham and challenged him to head to seminary as well to develop his theological perspectives. At Princeton, Templeton was taught that the supernatural events of the Bible were made up stories to give credibility to early Christianity rather than accounts of what actually happened. He (as so many theologians of the era) developed a bias—that modern thinkers know more than and think about theology better than the original authors.  Templeton challenged Billy Graham on these matters, and Graham didn’t have answers to the theological questions Templeton was raising. Templeton and Graham differed on the issue of biblical authority. Templeton shifted his view of authority from revelation to reason due to the theologically liberal education he received. Graham was understandably troubled. The story goes that Graham went to spend some time in the woods praying and seeking God. Upon his return, Graham concluded that he was going to trust that the Bible was God’s Word (that it represented God’s authority) and preach it as such. God immensely blessed Graham’s evangelistic ministry as a result.

Billy Graham made famous the phrase, “the Bible says.” But you may never have heard of Charles Templeton. Graham’s ministry was built on biblical authority, while Templeton’s theological drift led him away from Biblical preaching. (You can read more about this story in William Martin’s book, A Prophet with Honor: The Billy Graham Story, pages 110-112). 

But we must not hold to biblical authority simply because of pragmatics (the apparent blessings of Graham’s ministry compared with Templeton’s shift in ministry). The issue of authority is ultimately about God.

Consider Jesus’ claim when he gave the Great Commission:

18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 (emphasis mine)

Jesus has authority. So the word of Jesus, the Bible, has authority because it is from God. Our previous posts about canon, inspiration, manuscripts, inerrancy, sufficiency, and clarity underscore the following truth: if God is the author of Scripture, then we must submit to God as the ultimate authority in our lives and obey what Scripture teaches.

N.T. Wright argued in his book Scripture and the Authority of God, that God exercises his authority through Scripture. In essence, Scripture is authoritative because God has ultimate authority.

Here are some implications for this doctrine of authority:

  • If the Bible is authoritative, then salvation is exclusively through Jesus Christ (see Acts 4:12). This is the reason we believe in the mission of the gospel to our neighbors and the nations. If they do not hear of Christ and follow Christ, then they are apart from salvation.
  • If the Bible is authoritative, then followers of Jesus must share the gospel. See the previous point. If we really believe in the doctrines of the Bible as inspired, inerrant, sufficient, clear, and authoritative, then the only hope for dying world is the life-giving message of the gospel (John 10:10). We must be witnesses of this news.
  • If the Bible is authoritative, then followers of Jesus must submit to the Scripture. The primary reason we must read, learn, study, apply, and memorize the Bible is because it is God’s message to us. If God is our ultimate authority, then Scripture is how he exercises and communicates his authority to us (2 Timothy 3:16).
  • If the Bible is authoritative, then cultural mores will often be at odds with biblical ethical commands. For example contemporary views of human sexuality contradict Biblical sexual ethics (see Romans 1:18 ff). It is at these places where Biblical authority and cultural values intersect. If God has authority, then Christians will live and look differently than the world around them.

During my ministry, I have tried to operate under the authority of God through Scripture. When we bend our hearts and wills to God through obedience to his word, we have the opportunity to experience the blessings of relationship with God.

Today’s cultural expressions of individualism, personhood theory, and personal truth are at odds with biblical truth specifically in the arena of authority. If I am the authority in my life, then I don’t have to submit to another authority.

But when we find ourselves at odds with biblical authority, ask yourself this question, “Who knows more, us or God?”

Since God knows all, then we can trust his Word. Since we can trust his Word, we can obey it.