Principle 14

HERMENEUTICS

PRINCIPLE 14

Determine the Teaching Intention of the Author

The goal of hermeneutics is to determine the intended meaning of the author/Author. The divine Author, God the Holy Spirit, wants to communicate with us through the writings of the human authors. So whenever we interpret Scripture we should ask ourselves, “What did the author/Author intend to teach?” The Lord Jesus, Himself, used this principle when He interpreted Old Testament Scriptures.

Matthew 5:43-48

In this passage, Jesus was instructing His listeners on the correct way to interpret Leviticus 19:18. Over the years, the Jewish people had ignored the intent of the law to “love your neighbor as yourself.” In fact, they actually used this law as a justification to hate anyone they didn’t consider to be their neighbor! When the Lord corrected their twisted interpretation, He essentially told them that they were ignoring what the Author intended to teach. The intent of “love your neighbor as yourself” was certainly not a free pass to despise anyone and everyone who isn’t a literal next-door neighbor! The intent was to teach that we should show love to everyone with whom we come into contact - even people we may not naturally like!

If we follow this principle of interpretation, as the Lord did, we’ll be protected from many incorrect, self-serving interpretations.

Applying this principle is a two-step approach. The first step is to determine whether the inspired human author was making a teaching point or simply writing a record or narrative about an event that happened (see Principle #6). If we determine that it’s a teaching passage, we then ask, “What did the author/Author intend to teach?” Let’s look at some further examples.

Mark 14:37

“Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. He said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour?”

This verse has actually been misused to claim that all worship services should be one hour in length! Was this Jesus’ point when He chastised Peter for sleeping? Not at all. In fact, this isn’t even a teaching passage. This is a narrative passage of Scripture - a record of what happened. It’s not a teaching guide for coordinating modern-day worship services.

Now let’s look at some examples of true teaching passages and ask the question, “What did the author intend to teach?”

Hebrews 9:27

“And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment.”

Based on Hebrews 9:27, some Christians have stated that this conflicts with the idea of the rapture. According to this verse, they reason, everyone, including Christians, must die. Therefore, they say, there can be no rapture. Is that the teaching intent of the author of Hebrews? Of course not. These Christians failed to study the context. The author was teaching that without the saving work of Christ, people would die in their sins and be judged. There’s no second chance to escape judgment, because it’s appointed for humans to die.

Furthermore, these Christians failed to look at the rest of Scripture. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 clearly teaches that some Christians will not die. And Scripture tells us that at least two Old Testament believers did not die (Genesis 5:24 and 2 Kings 2:11).

James 4:14

“How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog - it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.”

A preacher, using James 4:14, once said, “Yes, we may all be like fog - like water vapor. But just think what water vapor can do in the right place - like in a steam engine! Enormous power is generated by that invisible vapor. In the same way, we can be powerful for the Lord, even though we’re only like vapor!”

Although this might sound nice, and it’s true that we can be powerful for the Lord, it’s not the interpretation of James 4:14. It’s not even a good application of the verse, because it ignores the author’s teaching intention. The teaching intent of this passage is obvious from the context: Life is short and unpredictable.

2 Peter 3:8

“But you must not forget this one thing, dear friends: A day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day.”

What was the intent of the author when he wrote that verse? Did he intend to teach his readers that every time we read the word “day” in the Bible, we can understand it to mean a thousand years? Likewise, every time we read “a thousand years” we can substitute one day? Of course not. That would make nonsense of most of the events recorded in Scripture. Yet some Christians ignore the intent of the author and try to use the equation of “1 day = 1,000 years” when interpreting events of the end times. Others attempt to justify progressive creation by saying every “day” mentioned in the Genesis Creation account is actually a geologic age - based on 2 Peter 3:8. This is absolutely bad hermeneutics!

In this verse the author, Peter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, intended to teach that God is not bound by time. God created time, and He is therefore beyond its limits. In one day, God can accomplish what we might think would require vast amounts of time. Moreover, a thousand years is not a long waiting period for God, as it is for us (see Psalm 90:4).

It’s very important to determine the teaching intent of the author.