What this is all about?...Part 1 - Hermeneutics

….You see from the young brother I am speaking to in the picture, we are having a deep intellectual conversation. What are we talking about? The bible, biblical canonicity and why scripture can be trusted. Is the young man a Christian? I don’t know, what does that have to do with what we were talking about? Anyways the young brother was asking me why we shouldn’t listen to all these fake preachers and teachers out here. I told him plainly, and I tell you what is needed to know as we learn the Word of God: Hermeneutics, Exegesis and Application of the Holy Scriptures. (For those of you who say people worship their bibles more than the God of the bible, I say I don’t agree. We worship the Christ of bible more, and we keep holding that bible high! Thing is some of us need to hold the application of truth just as high, that way our love for Christ is displayed well). All of these things can be found in the Lord Jesus Christ, or studying Christ (Christology) in God’s Word.

Hermeneutics

My friends simply put hermeneutics is the proper interpretation of the Scriptures. It is the art and science of interpreting the bible. Where in the scripture is this? I’ll show you (and note your leaders should be doing this to since the writers of the NT did so well)

And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. (Matthew 4:6-7)

The context and flow of thought with in the first eleven verses deals with Jesus Christ temptation by the devil. This aligns up with the contextual flow Matthew presents Jesus Christ as the King and Ruler of His Kingdom. Satan tempts Jesus Christ by a question “If thou be the Son of God!”, tempts Christ by challenging Him to jump, and then he throws a scripture out to try to prove his temptation (Many times the dialectic will use Eigesis, which we’ll get into later). But what does our Lord Jesus Christ do? He interprets scripture with scripture. This is the proper way to interpret the bible. Let the scripture interpret scripture. Wait a minute though Karsten, what about when I come to a difficult passage, I am to do the same? Yes, look at how Jesus Christ did this. He stayed within scriptural context. The devil is the one who went off the context. Remember Jesus Christ was being tempted right? The devil quoted this scripture:

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in [their] hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Psalms 91:11-12)

Now the scripture is true, but what is the context and flow of thought centering around? Temptation, “If thou be the Son of God, and here’s where Jesus Christ in the correct contextual aspect interpreted scripture with scripture:

Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted [him] in Massah. (Deuteronomy 6:16)

Ah ha! Jesus Christ stayed within the context. That’s why He fasted, that’s why He said it is written, using the proper interpretation within the context: temptation.

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (Matthew 4:1)

And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (Matthew 4:3-4)

Psalm 91 is in the context of safety provided by our Lord, not temptation. Now the correct contextual use of that is God providing safety through temptation. To make it easier to understand, the devil is saying “If You God’s Son, jump off and show me then, because it says in this verse…..”. Jesus responds “wait a minute, we are dealing with temptation here, and what you’re doing is tempting Me, God, so here is what the bible says about that”. Get it? And that’s exactly why we must use proper hermeneutics in a day and age like this one. From hermeneutics sprouts our theological position and doctrines that we follow. Like Jehovah witnesses interpret John 1:1 and transliterate it incorrectly, and off they go that Jesus is not God. Their doctrine and theology basically follows how they interpret the bible, which I may add they don’t believe is infallible.

Now before I go into exegesis next time, I’ll try to answer quickly why we go off onto different interpretations, doctrines and theologies. Listen, no human being can properly interpret the bible without Christ, they need the Holy Ghost to get what needs to be understood. We hold to so many different beliefs based on the fact of how we come to interpret the bible differently from one another. It is not the Scripture, it is the people. It is not the Spirit of God; it is the person that may have the Spirit of God in them. For example, there’s much fuss is over 1 Timothy 2. But if we approach the text with proper biblical hermeneutics, many will see what the truth of this scripture is. I have gone back and forth on scriptures until I really studied them (by God’s Spirit, and not my bias) in the correct contextual view, flow of thought and proper exegesis. I have believed what I was interpreting was correct? Yes, I, not the Spirit of Christ! Please do not let this discourage you beloved. Study the text of scripture. Hear what the bible is saying and not what you don’t like or understand fully. Don’t be discouraged because someone has applied a hermeneutic differently from you as well. You should look again and again at the text, looking towards the Lord Jesus Christ. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the truth of the scripture and trust, He will do it. Also never be to prideful if your hermeneutic is challenged by another. Hear what the brother or sister is saying. Don’t bash them down thinking that you have arrived with your knowledge. Sometimes the Spirit uses other people to help me see clearer the context of what is taking place in the text. It turn this has strengthened my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. John MacArthur holds to some interpretations I don’t agree with. I will say John MacArthur does an excellent job of proper biblical interpretation, even though I disagree with his interpretations. I have been able to see his interpretation, and study the scriptures more to see what is said is true. I tell my wife all the time, don’t just believe because I say it, investigate the scriptures for yourself and trust the Lord Jesus Christ.

Is it possible to arrive at the proper interpretation of scripture being people interpret differently? Yes, the Bereans were able to do it, and they had no NT text. So if it is shown that they can, so can we as a Body of believers today. BELIEVE, STUDY, APPLY! Part 2…..Coming soon

And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming [thither] went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. (Acts 17:10-12)