Posts Tagged ‘Hermeneutics’
That’s Just Your Interpretation, Part 2
In our previous article on this topic, we saw that the mistaken impression that the Bible’s meaning is beyond our grasp arises in part because we fail to apply the same rules of interpretation to Scripture that we do to every other communication. The result is an array of interpretive approaches with few objective parameters…
Read MoreThat’s Just Your Interpretation, Part I
Many mistakenly believe the Bible to be a hopelessly obscure book, the meaning of which can never be understood due to its antiquity. However, the primary reason varying interpretations of the Bible’s message exist is that all do not play by the same rules. The consistent application of the principles of normal interpretation will yield…
Read MoreThe Relevance of Scripture: A Hermeneutical History
In 1670 Baruch Spinoza anonymously published his Theological-Political Treatise. With this work he created modern Biblical criticism. Spinoza had a much larger goal in writing the treatise. He wanted to undermine the political establishment of his day by undermining their Bible. But Spinoza was seeking more than just religious freedom in a society that rigorously…
Read MoreCan You Do ALL Things?
How many times have you heard someone say this about the word all? “All means ‘all’ and that’s all that all means?” While this is true (the word all does mean “all”), the word all doesn’t always mean every possible thing all at once. While this may seem obvious, we don’t always apply this simple…
Read MoreRightly Dividing the Word
The Hermeneutics of Biblical Fundamentalism FrontLine January/February 2020 | VOLUME 30 | NUMBER 1 As many textbooks state, hermeneutics is the science and art of Bible interpretation. The desire to interpret the Bible correctly must be the focus of every preacher, parent, counselor, professor, and Sunday school teacher in all fundamental Baptist churches. But it…
Read More“Rightly Dividing” More Right Than Ever
Cutting Straight Conspicuously It has always been essential for preachers to ground their sermons in a text. But I’m persuaded that postmodernity necessitates our doing so far more conspicuously. That is, I believe that the nature of contemporary culture compels us to establish visibly and indubitably that our content is what texts are actually saying.…
Read MoreOn Allegorizing – Is there Biblical Precedent?
Galatians 4:21–31—An Allegory? Those who adopt an allegorical method of interpretation often appeal to Galatians 4:21–31. After all, Paul says these things “are an allegory” (v. 24). The question of whether this passage justifies adopting an allegorical hermeneutic, however, is best answered by examining what Paul is actually doing in this passage. Paul highlights Abraham’s…
Read MoreWhere Two or Three are Gathered
Sometimes we use phrases in ways that differ from their original meaning. For instance, you’ve heard the phrase, “Blood is thicker than water.” You probably think it means something like, “Family relationships are stronger than other relationships.” Indeed, that is how people commonly use the phrase today. You might be surprised to know that this…
Read MoreKilling Giants Sometimes
Thomas Overmiller Sometimes we draw the wrong lessons from Old Testament historical accounts, like David and Goliath for instance. Who hasn’t heard a sermon or a song about killing your giants? But is it really true that if you 1) obey your parents (1 Sam. 17:15), 2) see that there is a cause (1 Sam.…
Read MoreA helpful blog on Applying Narratives
posted by Don Johnson Today I’d like to highlight a blog post I ran across called: Implications or Applications?: Preaching Biblical Narratives Lest the average reader be put off (i.e. average reader = not a preacher) this article is helpful for personal application as well. When you read the narrative sections of Scripture, how do…
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