What is hermeneutics?
- Hermeneutics: Literally to explain or interpret.
- Hermenutics is the art and science of interpreting Scripture.
- Art because there are nuances, and you get better with practice.
- Science because there are definite rules.
- Hermenutics is the art and science of interpreting Scripture.
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Exegesis refers to the process of interpretation. Exegesis is applying the rules of hermeneutics. It is hermeneutics in practice. When you do Bible study, you are doing exegesis (more on this later).
Why is hermeneutics important?
- 2 Timothy 1:13-14, 2:15 ESV
- We are commanded to be diligent in interpreting Scripture.
- 2 Timothy 3:167 ESV
- Because it is God’s word.
- Titus 1:9 ESV
- We (specifically elders) are commanded to hold firm to the word as taught and correctly interpreted.
Authority of Scripture, Inspiration the Foundation
KEY Question: Where does authority lie?
- 2 Timothy 3:16
- “All Scripture is inspired by God”
- adequate - It is all that is necessary
- equipped - for every good work
- inspired - theopneustos - God (theo) breathed (pneustos)
- inspired - in breathed or breathed in
- exspired - out breathed or breathed out
- “All Scripture is inspired by God”
Inspiration
- Inspiration - is verbal (words) and plenary (all the words)
- What this means
Though the human writers of Scripture were active rather than passive in the process of writing Scripture, God the Holy Spirit superintended them so that, using their own individual personalities, thought processes, and vocabulary they composed and recorded without error the exact words God wanted written. The original copies of Scripture are therefore inspired, i.e., God-breathed and inerrant, i.e., without error.
(MacArthur Study Bible note from 2 Pt 1:21) - It is important to note that the words are inspired, not the human author.
- What this means
- Alternate Theories of Inspiration (Plummer)
- The Intuition Theory
- The Illumination Theory
- The Dynamic Theory
- The Dictation Theory
Inerrant and Sufficient
- Inerrant – The Doctrine of Inerrancy means that the Bible is completely truthful in all things that the biblical authors assert, whether in geographic, chronological, or theological details.
- Infallible - Infallible means incapable of error. The Bible is error-free in matters of theology and faith. Infallible is weaker in connotation and does not include within it the claim that this Bible is free from all error, intentional or unintentional, theological or non-theological.
- Sufficient - Scripture is the final authority for Christians for faith and godliness.
- Grudem's Defnition
We can define the sufficiency of Scripture as follows: The sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.
This definition emphasizes that it is in Scripture alone that we are to search for God’s words to us. It also reminds us that God considers what he has told us in the Bible to be enough for us, and that we should rejoice in the great revelation that he has given us and be content with it.
(Grudem, Bible Doctrine: Essential Teachings of the Christian Faith, p. 58)- Providence Articles of Faith
20. Final Authority for Matters of Belief and Conduct
The statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of Providence Baptist Church’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our council of elders is the church’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.
Protestant Method of Hermeneutics
Theological Perspectives
Fundamental principles that govern interpretation
- Clarity of Scripture
- Scripture is understandable.
- External Clarity - The words are understandable.
- Internal Clarity - The Holy Spirit illumines our understanding of Scripture.
- A Negative Example - Nostradamus
The Moon in the full of night over the high mountain,
The new sage with a lone brain sees it:
By his disciples invited to be immortal,
Eyes to the south. Hands in bosoms, bodies in the fire.
- Scripture is understandable.
- Revelation as Accommodated
- “Holy Scripture is the truth of God accommodated to the human mind so that the human mind can assimilate it.”, Ramm p. 99
- Examples
- Human Language - Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek
- Human Context - Metaphors, Figures of Speech, Analogies From Human Experience
- Revelation as Progressive
- God reveals the details of His plan progressively.
- Example
- Hints of a Savior are seen in Genesis 3:15.
- The Savior appears in the gospels.
- The Savior is fully unveiled in Revelation.
- Scripture Interprets Scripture
- Obscure passages are interpreted in light of clear passages.
- “The entire Holy Scripture is the context and guide for understanding the particular passages of Scripture.”, Ramm, p. 105
- All of Scripture is used to interpret individual passages of Scripture.
- Examples of Obscure Passages
- 1 Cor 15:29 - baptizing for the dead
- John 3:5 - What is “water”? We should not take this to build a theology of baptismal regeneration.
- The Analogy of Faith
- Theology is unified throughout Scripture.
- There is one system of truth or theology in Scripture, and therefore all doctrines must cohere or agree with each other.
- The truths of the Scripture are unified and do not contradict each other
- This is similar to Scripture Interprets Scripture and is often conflated with that principle.
- In practice this means that your interpretation of a passage, the doctrine or theology derived from it, must be consistent with the theology of the rest of Scripture.
- It also means that systematic theology is possible, there is a unity of theology in Scripture.
- The Unity of the Meaning of Scripture
- There is one true meaning of Scripture, one true interpretation.
- Exegesis means discovering that meaning.
- Definitions (Plummer p. 149)
- Meaning – The paradigm or principle that the author consciously willed to convey by the words he used.
- Implication – “Those sub-meanings of a text that legitimately fall within the paradigm or principle willed by the author, whether he or she was aware of them or not.”
- Significance – “How the reader responds to the willed meaning of the author.” Upon being confronted with these implications, the modern-day reader/hearer will then respond with acceptance (obedience) or rejection (disobedience).
“What it means to me.” - Subject Matter – “The content or ‘stuff’ talked about in the text” (that is, the textual details in and of themselves without reference to their use in conveying the author’s meaning).
- Plummer allows for the author to intend dual meaning.
- This principle becomes tricky with prophecy and typology.
- Interpretation and Application
- One interpretation, many applications
- The purpose of finding the interpretation is to lead to application.
- Great diligence must be exercised to prevent letting your desire for application influence your interpretation.