Basic Hermeneutics

Steven’s Scribbles
“Basic Hermeneutics”
Eph. 3:4
    
    There is no such thing as laity and clergy. There has been a divide in Christendom that teaches that only “clergy” can understand the Bible. “By referring to this, when you read you an understand my insight into the mystery of Christ” (Eph. 3:4). The bible was written so that people can understand it, but there are some basic rules we need to practice when studying anything, especially Scripture. Hermeneutics means, “the branch of knowledge that deals with interpretation, especially of the Bible or literary text.” When applying it to the Bible, it is the art and science of biblical interpretation. What are some basic hermeneutics that everyone should practice when opening Scripture? 1) Answer the standard questions: to whom, from whom, what is it about, when was it written, where is the audience located, where is the author located, and why was it written? A large amount of biblical misunderstanding can be curtailed by answering just those questions. The book that is most commonly ripped out of context is Revelation. If bible “scholars” would apply those questions/answers to the book, it would fix a lot of misunderstandings. 2) What is the immediate context and peripheral context of the verse in question. 3) Does my understanding of this scripture contradict other teachings plainly taught elsewhere? If, the answer is yes, then you are wrong. In 2 Peter 3, the apostle Peter wrote concerning Paul’s writings “just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15-16). People in the first century, and people now, were twisting the scriptures because they were untaught and unstable. In the coming weeks we are going to apply some of these basic hermeneutical principles to the Scriptures to help us come to a fuller understanding of God’s Word.


In His service,
Steven Hugley