Hermeneutic: Key to Understanding Scripture,,By Rev. Charles Cooper
Gospel
can Christians read and study the same Bible, yet come away with
opposite conclusions?" Perhaps you too have been asked the very same
question. Every Christian should be able to study and gain a deeper
understanding of the Scriptures concerning salvation, grace, and the
second coming of Christ. These are fundamentals of the faith, yet many
believers struggle with these truths from Scripture for themselves. Why?
Hermeneutics!
The reason two people with similar backgrounds can read the same passage
of the Bible and develop two opposing conclusions is because of two
differing hermeneutics. That's a fancy word for interpretation. The
reason Time Magazine can publish three million copies of its weekly
magazine for people from every corner of the United States to read and
understand is because of a common hermeneutic. We understand the meaning
of words, the way words combine to communicate meaning, and the subtle
variations from normal usage that keep the language exciting and new.
Our method of understanding what we read and hear is developed through
usage. At an early age, we begin to learn the principles of
interpretation concerning the English language. We learn the meanings of
words, phrases, expressions, and jargon. But principles alone are not
enough to guarantee accurate interpretation. There is also the art of
interpretation. That is, after an interpreter learns the principles-the
black and white-he must then learn to finesse the process. Because human
beings have the ability to communicate in nonverbal ways, mere
principles are not enough to clearly understand all we hear, read and
see. There are subtle ways language, facial expression, sound, and
silence can vary word and contextual meaning. An interpreter must learn
to be aware of more possibilities than just a literal meaning. These
subtle variations require the art of interpretation.
If we learn both the principles and the art of interpretation through
usage and study, then why do we have such a hard time understanding the
Bible? Again the answer is in our hermeneutic. However, this time the
problem is the lack of a sufficient hermeneutic. For example, we have a
sufficient hermeneutic for reading and understanding the daily
newspaper. There are very few gaps in our understanding of events
happening today; people are up to date on most issues because the media
saturates us with information on anything and everything. How often do
you see someone reading the newspaper with a dictionary near by? Yet,
when it comes to the Bible, one can hardly read a complete paragraph
without having to stop to find out the meaning of a key word, phrase, or
thought. Essentially, it has been 2000 years since the last pages were
written in the New Testament. This causes us to lose the ability to
easily understand the teachings of the Scriptures. Secondly, our English
Bible is a translation of original Greek and Hebrew sources; this
further compounds the problem of understanding the original Author/author.
Therefore, in order to consistently understand the Bible, a student must
have a wholistic biblical method of interpretation. A wholistic
hermeneutic evaluates all aspects of the Scriptures before any
conclusion is drawn. By wholistic we mean all the components that
constitute the nature of Scripture. Scripture has literary,
supernatural, historical, grammatical, and theological natures. Seldom
will a correct understanding of a biblical passage be secured if any one
of these components is misapplied or absent from the process of
interpretation. Many of the contradictory conclusions reached in Bible
study can be traced back to this one fact: the interpreter did not
consider all the avenues available when trying to discover the
Author/author's intended meaning.
The Sign Ministries maintains a firm commitment to a literal
interpretation of Scripture. In both The Sign and The Rapture Question
Answered this standard is referred to in different ways- customary,
natural and normal sense; face-value hermeneutic; literal; and taking
Scripture exactly for what it says. By such terminology, The Sign
Ministries seeks to prevent the need to allegorize (read a foreign
meaning into the text) or spiritualize (take Scripture out of its
historical context). Scholars often use these methods because Scripture
contradicts their presuppositions.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are those who hold strongly to
the Word of God but who mishandle matters of interpretation. To an
interpreter unskilled in accurately examining God's Word, the idea of
taking Scripture for what it says is a bit deceptive. On the surface he
or she could think that the Bible is very simple to understand. One need
only read it and the meaning is clear. Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever." At face-value this verse
says that Jesus Christ has not, is not, and will never change. However,
the English Bible (King James Version, New American Standard Bible,
etc.) is a translation from Hebrew and Greek sources. Translations are
the fruit of a group of scholars' personal interpretations. Thus, the
original languages should be consulted before a person working with an
English Bible can definitively assert the meaning of a passage of
Scripture. There are two reasons for this conclusion. Sometimes an
English word translates more than one Greek word, and often Greek words
have more than one nuance and are difficult to express in English. The
scholars frequently have to choose between the different shades of
possible meanings. The process of discovering the correct meaning of a
text is the heart of the hermeneutical process. Hebrews 13:8 correctly
translated highlights the truth: "Jesus is the Christ, the same
yesterday, today and tomorrow." The point of the text is not that Jesus
Christ has never changed in any shape, form, or fashion. Rather, the
emphasis is that He is the Christ; He was, is, and always will be. This
second translation of the verse has no contradiction with the fact that
Jesus was not always incarnate or that He "increased in wisdom and
stature, and in favor with God and men." The first translation would
contradict these facts about Jesus' life. There is a world of difference
between the two conclusions.
To illustrate the delicacy and balance involved in using the face-value
hermeneutic, consider "the last trumpet" mentioned in I Corinthians
15:52. We received several phone calls from people who felt that we were
inconsistent with our hermeneutic. Their understanding of a "face-value
hermeneutic" demanded that the meaning of the phrase "the last trumpet"
must be the same event as "the trumpet of God" in
I Thessalonians 4:16 and the seventh and final trumpet of Revelation
11:15. One caller concluded, in light of these verses, that the rapture
is tied to the last trumpet of Revelation and that the rapture is to be
found in the harvest as described in Revelation 14:14-20. This person is
attempting to use a face-value hermeneutic by saying that the trumpet of
God, the last trumpet, and the seventh trumpet sequence of Revelation
must describe the same event. The caller's conclusion is based upon the
idea of taking Scripture exactly for what it says. From the caller's
questions, I detected a misunderstanding about the meaning of face-value
hermeneutic. Face-value hermeneutic does not intend that "trumpet" means
the exact same thing at every occurrence in the Bible. Or put another
way, literal interpretation does not mean ignoring the context. The
pressing of Scripture to the point of "wooden literalism" will not solve
the problems of interpretation.
At face-value the phrase "the last trumpet" (I Cor. 15:52) and the
seventh and final trumpet in Revelation (Rev. 11:15) could designate the
same event. The resurrection of the dead and transformation of the
living accompany the last trumpet of I Corinthians 15. Equally,
immediately following the seventh and final trumpet in Revelation, the
earth is harvested. These similarities would, at face-value, support the
contention that the same event is indicated. However, the face-value
hermeneutic requires more than similar words and circumstances as a
criteria for deciding if two texts are speaking about the same event.
Consider the following facts. The seventh and final trumpet of
Revelation is clearly a part of the wrath of God. Conversely, the
faithful Church is promised total deliverance and separation from the
wrath of God (I Thess. 1:10, 5:9). Also, the final trumpet of Revelation
is blown after the "mystery of God is finished," which refers to God's
eternal plan to save Israel (Romans 11:25). This is after the Seventieth
Week of Daniel ends, which is indicated by the death of the two
witnesses whose ministry lasts 1,260 days or the second half of the
Seventieth Week of Daniel (Rev. 11:1-10). This is also after the two
witnesses are raised from the dead (Rev. 11:11). The rapture of the
church, on the other hand, is not connected with the end of the
Seventieth Week of Daniel. Scripture specifically connects the rapture
of the church with the beginning of the Day of the Lord. Jesus in the
Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24:29-31), Paul in the clearest rapture passage
of the New Testament (I Thess. 4:13-5:11), and John in the Revelation of
Jesus Christ (Rev. 6:12-17) all point out this significant truth. The
sign that signals the beginning of the Day of the Lord is literally
depicted in the sixth seal. The Day of the Lord begins before the
Seventieth Week of Daniel ends. Therefore, the rapture of the church
cannot be connected to the final trumpet of Revelation. Lastly, the
seventh trumpet of the seven trumpet series of Revelation is not the
last trumpet predicted in Scripture. Isaiah 27:13 declares, "So it shall
be in that day that the great trumpet will be blown; they will come, who
are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts in
the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount of
Jerusalem." The phrase that day is consistently interpreted to refer to
the eschatological day of the Lord. A closer examination here reveals
that this predicted gathering to the mountain of God will occur after
the trumpet judgments of Revelation. It is after the judgment of God
that the Lord is worshiped from the holy mountain (Zech. 14). It is
after the judgment of God that Israel is saved (Rom. 11:25). It is after
the judgment of God that the new Jerusalem occupies the holy mount (Rev.
21:1-5). Sufficient to say, the last trumpet of the Revelation series is
not the last prophetic trumpet.
Face-value hermeneutic communicates perfectly our philosophy of biblical
interpretation. Once we have discovered the meaning of the text, we take
it for exactly what it says. Rather than trying to argue the meaning
away, we reconcile it to the rest of the Word of God and sit under its
judgment. On the other hand, face-value hermeneutic may not be the best
phrase to describe our method of biblical interpretation. A wholistic
biblical hermeneutic best describes it. The goal of a wholistic biblical
method of interpretation is "to discover the Author/author's intended
meaning."
By using "to discover" as the verbal description of the activity of the
interpreter, the presuppositional basis of a good hermeneutic is
divulged-the belief that God has communicated His will in the
Scriptures; that all that is necessary to live a godly life can be
learned from the Bible; and that the text has a specific meaning
determined at the time it was written by the Author/author. These are
the beginning truths of Bible study. The Author/author meant what he
wrote and wrote what he meant. The interpreter's job is to discover the
meaning not to determine the meaning. Where the meaning is not readily
apparent in the text, it must be discovered from what is written.
The representation of biblical authorship by the use of the dual term
"Author/author" helps us to understand that the Bible is more than just
a mere newspaper; both God and man had a part in the writing of
Scripture. God superintended the process to insure that truth was
recorded, but man expressed God's will in language and customs common to
the original audience. To be sure, the human authors of Scripture did
not always understand all the possible ways God would deepen the meaning
of a text or apply a certain passage of Scripture. Nevertheless, the end
result is a supernatural book composed by natural means.
"Intended meaning" is that understanding of a text which the
Author/author meant his original reader to know. Modern readers are
privileged to read the mail of Paul to the Philippians. It is important
to realize the primary recipients were directly addressed. We, on the
other hand, are indirectly addressed. Before any attempt is made to
apply the text, an interpreter must concern himself with the original
audience and what the text said to them. Determining application must
not happen until a proper literary, grammatical, historical, contextual,
and theological evaluation has occurred resulting in a proper
interpretation. Then the interpreter is free to attempt application of
the text, be it prescriptive or descriptive. Prescriptive passages set
forth a detailed pattern to follow concerning actions and/or thoughts.
Descriptive passages simply inform, describe instructions, give commands
to a specific person at the time of writing, or illustrate a biblical
principle. The interpreter must use the descriptive passage to support a
prescriptive passage that teaches the principle in an explicit manner.
The Living Personification of Evil
(Yet anoter idiot who thinks witches have never heard of Christianity.)
Baranduyn
naismith
Heh. These missionaries often mistake cooking pots for hot tubs.
T.N.
Rhyanon
"The Living Personification of Evil" <bara...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041001150747...@mb-m19.aol.com...
> YAIWTWHNHOC.*
>
> (Yet anoter idiot who thinks witches have never heard of Christianity.)
Heh. We rather wish we hadn't, though. I like your handle -- both of them.
--
" The gods of the Disc have never bothered much about judging the souls of
the dead, and so people only go to hell if that's where they believe, in
their deepest heart, that they deserve to go. Which they won't do if they
don't know about it. This explains why it is so important to shoot
missionaries on sight."
>
> Baranduyn
Rhyanon
"naismith" <t_nai...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:2s5vbdF...@uni-berlin.de...
"Send us more 'friars' !" hee hee hee! Get it?
>
> T.N.
>
>
naismith
> "naismith" snipped 'gospel's'
> > [evangelical pseudo-justification circular crap]:
> >
> > "The Living Personification of Evil" wrote:
> >
> > > YAIWTWHNHOC.*
> > >
> > > (Yet anoter idiot who thinks witches have never heard of
Christianity.)
> > >
> > > Baranduyn
> >
> > Heh. These missionaries often mistake cooking pots for hot tubs.
>
> "Send us more 'friars' !" hee hee hee! Get it?
Yep, an excellent entendre` which suits their witless witnessing perfectly.