One of the most important subjects within the orbit of Christianity is the science and art of Biblical interpretation or hermeneutics. The word “hermeneutics” is ultimately derived from Hermes, the Greek god who was supposed to bring the messages of the gods to mortals, and was the god of science, speech, writing and art. It has a connection with the Greek word hermeneia, interpretation, and its verbal forms: diermeneuo to interpret, or explain; methermeneuomai to interpret, to translate; dusermeneutos difficult to interpret; diermeneutes interpreter.
God has spoken to men through the Holy Scriptures, but what has He said? What is the meaning of His Words? If we cannot be sure of His meaning, of what practical use are the Scriptures to us? How can we receive Divine understanding unless the meaning of theWord of God is clear to us? It is the aim of hermeneutics to ascertain what God has said in His Word and to determine its meaning. This is a high and holy task and needs to be approached in deep humility. Upon the correct interpretation of the Bible rests our doctrine of salvation, sanctification, Christian living and future hope, and it is our solemn responsibility to get to know what God has said with reference to each of these, and in fact all His Truth as far as we are able to receive it. Not only this, but if we do not know the correct method of Biblical interpretation, we shall confuse the voice of God with the voice of man. In every placewhere our interpretation is at fault, we have substituted the voice of man for the voice of God, and are getting error instead of truth. Most of the doctrinal variations and disagreements in Christendom are due to differences in interpretation. Thus it is practically impossible to over-estimate the importance of correct hermeneutics, for from this flows correct understanding.
After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus and in Luke xxiv. 27 we read:
“. . . . . beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded (interpreted, diermeneuo) unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
And later on, to the eleven He said:
“. . . . . all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luke xxiv. 44, 45).
It is helpful to see the important place that understanding has in the parables of the kingdom of heaven. Israel’s unbelief and failure inevitably led to a non-understanding heart (Matt. xiii. 15), and in such a condition the human mind is especially open to the devil’s activity (verse 19). He that received seed into the good ground is he that heard the word and understood it (verse 23).
At the end of His discourse, the Lord asks: “Have ye understood all these things?” and the favoured disciples were able to answer: “Yea Lord” (verse 51). In the Acts of the Apostles we find Philip asking the Ethiopian eunuch:
“Understandest thou what thou readest?”
and his reply was: “How can I, except some man should guide me?” (Acts viii. 30, 31). There is no doubt that Divine understanding is the need of us all, but we are not in a position to receive this if our method of Biblical interpretation is at fault. We are prompted to ask the question, “Is there some way of interpreting the Word of God so that human opinion is ruled out and Divine understanding given?” We believe there is, hence the supreme importance of this study.
Someone may object and say that anything can be proved from the Bible. We have to face the fact that the most extraordinary ideas and fantastic notions are backed up by quotations from the Scriptures. Edward White writes:
“There is no folly, no iniquity, no God-dishonouring theology for which chapter and verse may not be cited by an enslaved intelligence. Under these circumstance, it is impossible to express in adequate terms the importance of a correct estimate and exposition of the Bible” (Inspiration, p. 153).
There is no need to list the many vagaries that the Bible has been used to bolster up, but in each case these have been due to a distorted exposition and understanding of the passages concerned. No apology then need be given for a consideration of the science of correct interpretation of the Scriptures. To begin with we shall need to give attention to the following points:
(2) No one is in a position to interpret the Word of God (no matter how educated or scholarly they may be) until they are saved and regenerate. The Lord Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John iii. 3). In other words he is spiritually blind and is not in a position to understand or interpret the holy Scriptures whose context is spiritual. One reason why Christ continually gave physical sight to the blind was because this condition is illustrative of man spiritually, and what the Lord cando for men in the natural sphere, He can surely do in the spiritual.
The apostle Paul wrote:
“The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor. ii. 14).
A regenerate mind then is an absolute essential to understand the Bible.
(3) There must be a passion to know God’s Word. A lukewarm heart will never discover Scriptural truth. The searcher must be in dead earnest; the search for Truth must be priority number one.
(4) There must be a reverence for God and His Word and an unquestioned faith in both. The Scriptures are called holy, and must be treated as such (II Tim. iii. 15).
(5) There must also be absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit to enlighten. He is the Author of the Word and the only One Who can give opened eyes and an understanding mind. We should be careful not to confuse inspiration and illumination or enlightenment. We talk about works of art and beauty being inspired, but this is not the way the Bible uses the term. In the Biblical sense, inspiration finished when the canon ofScripture closed and the New Testament was complete. No other writings since this time are “God-breathed” or inspired in this way. What we need now is not inspiration but illumination, and this is what the Holy Spirit is prepared to give to those of the redeemed who honestly and painstakingly search the Word. This is something that education and cleverness, by themselves, cannot command. The profound scholar has no monopoly of enlightenment. In fact his scholarship and education may be a bar to the discovery of truth if he is not a humble believer in Christ, and willing to give his education second place to the revealing power of the Spirit of God. There is one further thing that must be stressed here and that is that Divine illumination goes as far as Scripture reveals, not beyond it. Angus and Green write:
“The Spirit of God does not communicate to the human mind any doctrine or meaning of Scripture which is not contained already in Scripture itself. He makes men wise up to what is written, not beyond it.”
(6) To be a sound interpreter of the Scriptures a knowledge of the original languages God used is invaluable. Basic doctrine cannot be settled from translations, however good they are, if only for the reason that no translation can fully represent all that the original contains. We should be surprised if one who claimed to be a specialist in the interpretation of Greek tragedy could not read Greek. This may stimulate some who readthese words to commence the study of Greek and Hebrew, which would be a good thing. Such however should bear in mind that it takes more than a few months study to be in a position to lay down the law in the translation and interpretation of the Greek or Hebrew Scriptures. No one can be proficient in a language until they can write it as well as read it, and that is why composition plays such an important part in learning a language. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and we have seen bad slips in doctrine made by amateur Greek students.
(7) If there is one statement that is fundamental to the understanding of the Bible it is this: God means what He says and has a meaning for everything He says in His Word. If this is not so, then all search is useless and we can never be sure of what He wishes to convey to us. To put it another way, we must approach the Bible from the literal stand-point. This word “literal” can be ambiguous. What do we mean by it? We can define it in this way: the customary, socially-acknowledged designation of a word is the literal meaning of that word. If we were to put our own special meaning on words, no one could understand us. This is surely obvious. But it does not mean that figures of speech, symbols, allegory and type are to be ignored or taken literally. These are a study in themselves and will be considered later on. But let it be said here that behind all figures of speech is literality, otherwise they could convey no certain meaning to us at all. The literal meaning of a word is the basic, customary meaning of that word, and therefore to interpret literally is nothing more or less than interpreting words in their normal customary and proper designation, and only in this way can divergences of opinion be eliminated, and the authority of Scripture honoured.
When we read a book, we presume the sense is literal, for this is the only conceivable method ofcommunication. If we had to weigh over every word of a book to find some other meaning than the literal, we should soon be forced to give it up in despair. If God wishes to communicate with man, He will do it in words whose meaning men can understand and accept, otherwise His message would never reach the human mind. Therefore we must ever keep before us this great guiding principle: that we approach the Scriptures literally, using that Word in the sense already explained. This cannot be overstressed and failure to do this is largely the cause of so much division that we see all around us in Christendom.
A large part of the Bible makes significant sense when literally interpreted. All the great basic doctrines of God’s Word rest clearly on literal exposition. The historical books make sense only when so interpreted, and geographical terms likewise. The opposite of this is spiritualizing or the allegorical treatment of Scripture. This is not the same as making a spiritual application of a passage of Scripture or recognizing real allegories therein. This is legitimate. Rather is it treating the majority or the whole of the Bible in this way which is quite another matter. We shall have more to say about this later on. Meanwhile, let us thank the Lord that He has been pleased to stoop down to reveal His Truth to us in human words that we can receive and understand under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and in consequence rejoice in the eternal riches contained therein.
----------------
----------------
No comments:
Post a Comment