BACK TO BASICS Hermeneutics 101: Bible Interpretation

Guiding Principle Who makes the rules for interpretation? KEY QUESTION: Where do we get the principles that govern the process of interpreting the Scriptures the way God intended them to be interpreted? But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation. 2 Peter 1:20

Guiding Principle: Dual Authorship 1. There is the human authorship 2. There is the Divine Authorship (2 Sam 23:2; 1 Kings 14:18; 16:12; 16:34; 2 Kings 9:36; 14:25; 1 Chron 17:3; Jeremiah 1:9; 37:2; Zech 7:7; 7:12; Luke 1:70; Acts 1:16; 2:16-17; 3:18; 3:21; 4:25; 28:25; Rom 1:1-2; 1 Cor 9:8-10; 14:37; Gal 1:11-12; 1 Thess 2:13; 4:8; 4:15; Heb 1:1; 1 Pet 1:10-12; 2 Pet 3:2; Rev 1:1-3).

Guiding Principle: Dual Authorship 2 Peter 1:21

Guiding Principle: Dual Authorship Conclusion: 1. Because the Bible was given to reveal truth and not obscure it, God’s intention must be that His Word is understandable. 2. It must be interpreted according to the normal laws that govern practical communication. 3. The divine intention of Scripture is to be clear, comprehensible, and understandable, or it wouldn’t be called, “revelation.”

Guiding Principle: Exegetical DON’TS

Guiding Principle: Exegetical Don’ts 3 Ways of Getting the Interpretation Wrong: 1. Mis-interpretation: attributing the wrong meaning to a passage. 2. Sub-interpretation: failing to ascertain the complete meaning of a passage. 3. Supra-interpretation: attributing more to a passage than actually exists.

Guiding Principles: Exegetical Don’ts DON’T: Ignore the Context  Ruth 1:16 – Where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my god.  James 5:14 – Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  Vss …and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed…

Guiding Principles: Exegetical Don’ts DON’T: Personalize the Passage  Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  Zechariah 9:9 – Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Guiding Principles: Exegetical Don’ts DON’T: Personalize the Passage The chief danger of relying on subjective impressions stimulated by Scripture is not to contradict Scripture. Rather, it is to go beyond Scripture, finding meanings never intended by the author, especially in regard to personal guidance, and then to invest that impression with divine authority as if it were an infallible word from God. (Robertson McQuilkin)

Guiding Principles: Exegetical Don’ts DON’T: Read Your Theological System into a Passage 1. They impose a right theological system into a text when it’s not present within the text. 2. They reinterpret a text to conform to their theological system.  Matthew 25:37 – The righteous will answer Him saying, “Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirst, and give You drink?” POINT: Let the text inform your theology, not vice versa.

Guiding Principles: Exegetical Don’ts Don’t: Allow Experience to Interpret the Passage When a person’s experience contradicts the teaching of God’s Word, it’s not the experience itself that’s in question. Rather, it is the interpretation of that experience. The experience should be interpreted (or reinterpreted) in light of the Bible, rather than the Bible in light of one’s experience. - Larry Pettegrew DANGER: When you allow experience to interpret the passage, you reverse the authority of the Bible. In so doing, the Bible will not refine your thinking, and you will not understand your experiences biblically.

Guiding Principles: Exegetical Don’ts Don’t: Allegorize the Passage (including “Christological” interpretations in the OT) If your hermeneutic requires you to use the NT in order to understand the OT, then you have a bad hermeneutic. -John MacArthur Justin Martyr (AD ) – In the book of Genesis, Leah is representative of the Jews, Rachel is representative of the church, and Jacob is a type of Jesus who serves them both.

Guiding Principle: Exegetical Dos DO: Let the Word of God speak for itself in accordance with its naturally understood meaning. In other words… “When the common sense makes plain sense, seek no other sense!”

Guiding Principles: Exegetical Dos DO: Identify the Context of the Passage 1. The Historical Context 2. The Cultural Context 3. The Literary Context DO: Interpret the Content of the Passage 1. Syntactical Analysis – relationship of words to sentences, sentences to paragraphs, etc. 2. Lexical Analysis – the meaning of words

Guiding Principle: Things to Remember The meaning of Scripture existed in the mind of God, not in the minds of men. The Scriptures were communicated by a human author in accordance with the normal rules of language. The meaning of Scripture is contained IN THE TEXT. The meaning of Scripture is fixed and unchanging. The right interpretation is timeless. The meaning of Scripture is objective, not subjective, intelligible, and understandable. The meaning of Scripture exists apart from the human interpreter. Your goal is to discover its intended meaning. FINAL NOTE: ANY APPLICATION MUST AND SHOULD BE DRIVEN FROM THE MEANING OF THE TEXT. 1. Dr. Matt Waymeyer, Hermeneutics Class Syllabus (The Master’s Seminary: Sun Valley, CA, Fall 2010), 7.