Introduction
HERMENEUTICS
INTRODUCTION
What Does “Hermeneutics” Mean?
When people hear that you’re studying “hermeneutics” they might be impressed. It may sound like a very complex literary science, but hermeneutics is just a big word with a simple meaning. It comes from a Greek word meaning “to interpret.” So, a simple definition of biblical hermeneutics is: the science and art of biblical interpretation. Biblical interpretation is a science because it’s guided by systematic rules or principles. It’s also an art, because the application of these principles requires skill. In this course you’ll discover principles and skills that will help you interpret the Bible correctly.
We should never come up with our own meanings for Scripture. The goal of hermeneutics is to obtain the author/Author’s intended meaning. The Bible is a complex book written by men who were divinely inspired by God. We look for the human author’s intended meaning, because ultimately, we want to know what the divine Author, the Holy Spirit of God, meant.
In order to understand the Author’s meaning, we must accept these three statements as true:
1. The Bible is the inerrant Word of God.
Inerrant means “no error.” We believe that the Bible was inspired by God. Since God is perfect and infallible, His Word is without error.
2. There is one correct interpretation.
A Scripture passage may have many applications, and the interpretation of a passage may be deep and multi-faceted. However, by using hermeneutics, we seek to discover the one correct interpretation.
3. Most Scripture is easy to interpret.
Most Scripture is easy to interpret and does not require a course in biblical interpretation. However, even the apostle Peter admits that some passages in Paul’s writings are hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16)! Knowing the principles of hermeneutics can be very helpful for correctly interpreting these more difficult passages, so some difficult passages are included as examples on this course. But remember, most Scripture is straightforward. Look at John 3:16, for example: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” This beautiful truth is simple enough for a child to understand.
Why Study Principles of Biblical Interpretation?
To answer this question, we need to understand the function of hermeneutics. Interpreting the Bible is like drawing water out of a well. The water symbolizes the Word of God. Just as we draw out water from a well by using a rope and bucket, so we draw out the meaning of Scripture by a process called exegesis, and by applying our principles of hermeneutics.
In our diagram, let’s look closely at the water, the pure Word of God. We can define the Bible as the Word of God, written in the words of man, in history and culture. The Bible is not the words of man about God. It’s the words of God to man (see Matthew 4:4 and Luke 4:4).
Next, notice the walls of the well and the ground in which the well was dug. The Bible was written in human language, in human history, and in human culture, so how did God protect it from the error of the surrounding cultures? Just as the well water is protected from the surrounding dirt by the walls of the well, so God protected His Word from error. These walls of protection are: Inspiration, Canonization, and Textual Criticism.
Inspiration is the process by which the Holy Spirit superintended the writers and writings of Scripture (see 2 Timothy 3:16 and 2 Peter 1:20-21). Imagine you picked up a pen and wrote your name. The pen actually made the marks on the paper, but you superintended the words that the pen wrote. In the same way, God “picked up” a Moses, Paul, or Luke and used them to write His Word. You can see the characteristics of which “pen” God used in the writings, but all the written words were superintended by God. In this way, God protected His Word from any surrounding errors of human culture.
A second wall, canonization, is about what writings are included in the Bible. Canonization is the process by which the people of God recognized the Scripture as the Word of God. We believe God controlled this process as a way to protect His Word from error. All sixty-six books of the Bible are Scripture. No books of Holy Scripture were left out of the Bible, and no extra books that were not Scripture got into the Bible. What about the apocryphal books that are included in some Bibles at the end of the Old Testament? Romans 3:2 says that the Jews were entrusted with God’s Word in Old Testament times, and they never accepted the apocryphal books as Scripture.
A third way God protected His Word from the surrounding error of history and culture is through textual criticism. This is the method used to ensure that our Bibles match the original biblical manuscripts as closely as possible. It’s done by examining all the available manuscripts. Unfortunately the original manuscripts, written in Hebrew and Greek, no longer exist. The original manuscripts were were copied repeatedly over thousands of years, and these hand-written copies contain some minor variations. Textual critics analyze these copied manuscripts. They delete the obvious scribal errors and bring our texts today as close as possible to the original writings.
Look now at the bucket, labeled Exegesis. Ex means “out from.” We want to draw the meaning out from Scripture. By using exegesis we draw out the meaning of a biblical text in its original setting. We practice good exegesis by applying the principles of hermeneutics. Exegesis is the opposite of eisegesis (eis means “into”). Eisegesis is reading your own meaning into Scripture, and it’s bad hermeneutics.
The many-stranded rope, labeled Hermeneutics, draws the bucket with the water out of the well. In the same way, the many principles of hermeneutics draw the meaning of various texts out of Scripture. In this course we will study thirty principles of hermeneutics.
The rope is secured to the winch labeled Inductive Method. The inductive method of studying Scripture means that we arrive at a conclusion after studying the specific Scriptures. We never want to use the opposite, deductive method. That is, we don’t want to start with our own preconceived idea or premise, and then search around to find Scripture to support it. That would be eisegesis, and that’s bad hermeneutics!
Notice in the picture that the inductive method is supported by a Rational Base. This inductive method is based on reason and the laws of logic. We don’t use irrational or illogical methods to understand God’s Word, such as using imagination or chanting a passage of Scripture to determine the interpretation!
The final piece in our illustration is what we will call the Spiritual Handle. Non-Christians can practice the proper principles of hermeneutics, but they don’t have the advantage of the spiritual handle. Christians have the spiritual handle because the Holy Spirit helps us understand the texts we’re studying. (See John 16:13-15 and 1 Corinthians 2:14-16).
Over the next twelve chapters we’ll look at 30 principles of biblical hermeneutics. There’s nothing special or sacred about the order of these principles. All of them are important, but some will be more important when interpreting certain texts of Scripture. These 30 principles were not just dreamed up by Dr. Dave for this course. They’ve been used throughout history by students of the Bible. Many of them can be shown from Scripture itself. For example, we see how New Testament authors used various principles when they interpreted Old Testament Scriptures.
As Scriptures are mentioned throughout this course, be sure to look up the passages in your Bible. Don’t just take someone else’s word for it! Be like the Bereans, and make sure the Bible backs up the teaching Acts 17:11)!
Our prayer is that you will learn and apply these principles to gain great insight into God’s Word. This will also allow you to recognize and reject false doctrine.