1. The Importance of Our Study

2. The Bible Under Attack Atheists are attacking the Bible Some claiming a desire to pursue God’s will are attacking the Bible –Among them are those who try to explain role of women in the leadership and public worship of the church by saying Paul’s words were directed to people living in a different culture and cannot be applied in the same way to our culture –Paul actually reasoned from principles God laid down in the creation of the world

3. The New Hermeneutic Intended to destroy the old hermeneutic Rooted in subjectivity and relativism, attributing subjectivity to the Holy Spirit May have arisen out of Postmodernism –Most institutions of higher education do not believe there is logically certain truth –Truth is viewed as being in a constant state of flux –However, God delivered a law he expected man to keep (John 14:15; 1 John 5:3; 1 Samuel 15:22; Ecclesiastes 12:13; Hebrews 5:9)

4. Important Definitions Hermeneutics is “the science of interpretation” (Dungan) The Holy Spirit revealed the mind of God to man and guided him into all truth (1 Corinthians 2:9-11; John 16:12-13) Philology—the study of words Exegesis—drawing everything out of a given passage that God placed there for us

5. Our Purpose Like Ezra, we need to prepare our hearts to seek God’s law, do it and teach others to do the same (Ezra 7:10) Scripture is not the product of man’s imagination, but is the spoken word of God as revealed by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17) We should carefully and respectfully study God’s word, with the goal of being blessed (2 Timothy 2:15; Nehemiah 8:1-8; Psalm 1:1-2)

6. The Importance of Knowing and Obeying God’s Will Luke 16 The rich man learned the importance of hearing and obeying God’s word –When Abraham told him his 5 brothers had Moses and the Prophets, he said they would listen to one come back from the dead. –Abraham said, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.” We must realize God speaks only through his word

7. Healing Religious Division Healing religious division could be achieved through a proper interpretation of the Bible Sadducees, not believing in the resurrection, tried to place Jesus on the horns of a dilemma by telling of a woman who married a man with 6 brothers Jesus answered, “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:23-29)

8. Necessary for Salvation It is impossible to please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6) Faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17) Truth sets men free (John 8:32) and is found in God’s word (John 17:17) John wrote that Christians might know they have eternal life (1 John 5:13) and Peter said those who developed the virtues he listed would never fall (2 Peter 1:3-10)