2007 Issue 3 - Hermeneutics Matters - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/11/2019 2007 Issue 3 - Hermeneutics Matters - Counsel of Chalcedon

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ermeneutics

Matters

Rev Ohris St1evel

In the United States, millions of

Bibles are purchased every year,

thousands of Bible conferences

occur, and tens of thousands

of churches conduct a variety

of services and activities. Why,

then, is

the church

divided

in doctrine, polity, worship,

and worldview? Why

is the

church unwilling to discipline

disobedient l11embers, confront

false teachers,

and

read serious

works of Chris tian theology

and litetature? Why is the

church

1110rally

compromised,

disobedient to God s

law and

disinterested

in

seriously

confronting this apostatizing

nation with

the clait11s

of the

risen, ru ling Lord? Why is the

ubiquitous Bible not taken

nlOre

seriously, applied more

comprehensively, obeyed nlore

devotedly? Grappling with

these

and

related questions

is challenging

but

necessary,

for

if we

hope to disciple

our nation to Jesus Christ,

enjoy trustworthy, principled

leadership in church and state,

and witness

the

tevival of the

church across denonlinational

lines, answers

and

solutions

111ust

be putsued.

the

N : .tions

Ohdst s

Diseiples

Answering these questions

requires us to face the issue

of hermeneutics. Broadly

speaking, hermeneutics

is the science or study of

interpretation.

t

deals with

issues of nleaning, historical

context, grammar,

and

horizons of interp retation

and

application. Hef111eneutic

principles are often assumed

rather than

stated. A

text

is approached;

certain

assumptions are

l11ade about

its genre (literatu re type),

authority (authorship), and

context (history). This p rocess

is done by people

in hundreds

of ways every day

in ordinary

affairs, from telephone bills

and newspaper advertisel11ents

to serious

worl{S

of literature.

Hermeneutics is what enables

us to nlake sense of

the

plethora of infornlation with

which we are daily confronted.

We

know not to

tteat

au electric

bill like a

C0111ic

strip.

We

do

not

read Dickens as we would

an

advertisement.

Hef111eneutics is the rage in

the

acadenlic world, the

queen

of the sciences. Across the

intellectual landscape, leaders

in

all disciplines are engaged

in

a systenlatic attempt to

synthesize cont radictory

statements, religions, and

worldviews

in order to

locate

common thenles upon which

world

unity

may be established.

Postmodernistic

hernleneutics

is conu11itted

to

the idea

that

we

are

all basically saying

the

same thing, just

in

different

ways based

upon our

different

horizons of interpretation, i.e.,

cultural and language contexts.

The goal is to establish

parauleters of consensus and

rid the world of dogl11atism,

whether religious, historical,

political,

or

philosophical, for

absolutisnl is the great

ene111Y

of hU1uanity and the new world

order of universal tolerance.

Dognlatism creates divisions

for which there is no longer a

referee, i.e., faith

in

God and

the reliability of the Bible. nd

we all know

what

happens

when

there is no referee chaos

ensues. When 1uen run out

of words, they reach for

their

swords (or

their

attorneys).

But chaos and its

counterbalancing dogmatisnl

are exactly

what

we

are

23


2/5

24

ermeneutics Matters

experiencing. across

the

cultural

spectrum. The

secularists in Europe and

the United States blithely

dismiss

the

real ideological

differences between people,

religions, and. worldviews

with their

linguistic slight

of

hand but

knowledgeable

students of philosophy and

world religions, as well as

their ardent defenders, know

that

fundamenta l differences

exist and

consider

i t their

duty

to expose

and

defeat

interlopers who tell

them

otherwise. They want

no part

of secularism's goals

and are

vigilant to destroy it evils fruits.

Simplistic linguistic tricks

that attempt to

deny

these

differences are just that, tricks.

From

a Christian perspective,

the

skeptics

and

agnostics

that

practice such tricks,

are

seeking to hide, from God, from

responsibility, from judgment.

They

would replace

the

old

religious dogmatism with the

new secu larist dogmatism,

in

which they become the self

anointed

determiners of truth

(or non-truth)

and

morality

(or non-morality). Leaving

the blind to fall into their pit,

the issue of hermeneut ics

must be

squarely faced by the

church . With respect to the

Bible, hermeneutics forces us

to

ask

a variety of questions:

does a biblical text contain a

single meaning

or

is

it

capable

of expressing multiple, even

contrad ictory meanings? Is

the original author's

meaning

determinative

or

is the reader's

horizon of interpretation

the

basis of a text's meaning?

Should the meaning of a text

be determined

primarily by

grammatical and historical

considerations,

or

does a

biblical

text

have multiple

layers of meaning, i.e., literal,

allegorical, etc.? Can texts

be

interpreted in

isolation from the

entire

testimony of Scripture,

or

should

we

cont inue to follow

the analogy of Scripture, the

principle that says Scriptu re

must

interpret

Scripture? What

roles do personal feeling,

the

different cultural context of

the church, then one would

expect that their official

pract ice defines biblical

church

government. Should a biblical

church be governed by a group

of elders? The practice of the

apostles requires an affirmative

answer. Should the people have

a say

in the

selection of their

elders?

the original authors,

and

the Again,

we must

answer

findings of

modern

science affirmatively, for not only does

play in the interpretation of the verb indicate congregational

Scripture? These are only a

few

nomination but this is

the

of

the

hermeneut ic questions consistent practice of the

raised when studying and

New Testament churches

interpreting the Bible.

The

under

the

authority of

the

important

thing to remember is apostles. Despite this eVidence,

that

every believer, whether

or

significant segments of the

not he realizes or can articulate church deny the necessity of

the process, is forced to give church government by elders,

answers to these questions do

not

allow congregations

every time he reads God's word. to choose their elders and

However, are those answers pastors,

and

generally

biblical? disregard the normative

Consider one example

that

actions of the apostles

in the

demonstrates the importance establishment and organization

of hermeneutics: Acts 14:23. of

the ew

Testament

And when they

had

ordained church. Hermeneutics plays

them elders in every City .. a significant role in these

They refers to Paul,

the

decisions. In fact, hermeneutics

apostle to

the

Gentiles, separates Presbyterian

and Barnabas, his ordained Church government

assistant. Ordained is

an

old from Congregational and

Greek polity verb which means Episcopalian forms. This isnot

to extend

the

hand

and

was a small issue; the very

nature

used in reference to the civic of

the

church, its organization

assembly's selection of their and discipline, and the function

leaders. Elders can mean and authori ty of the apostolic

older men,

but the context

office,' each of these combine to

implies

an

organizational produce

an

interpretation of a

structure

i.e., elders as litt le verse like Acts 14:23.

overseers of the life and t would

be

impossible to

doctrine of the congregation. provide

an

exhaustive list of the

Many issues of

church

polity prinCiples that should direct

hinge upon the interpretation our interpretation of the Bible,

of this verse.

What

authority. but a

few

of

the

most neglected

does

the

practice of

the

apostles . ones

must be

recovered by

exert upon the subsequent all Christians, even if doing

organization of the church? so means

our

particular

f

they

are the

foundation of interp retation of a verse

or

The Cotl nsel of Ohalcedon


3/5

dootrinal system built upon

our

particular

interpretation of

a collection of verses requires

1110difioation. First,

we must

be persuaded that

there

is

one divine mind behind

the

entirety

of Soripture. The Bible

teaohes every Soripture is

God-breathed

2

Tim. 3:16),

that the

prophets spoke by

the

Spirit of Christ

1

Pet. 1:11),

that the Soriptures are

the

Spirit's thoughts

in the

Spirit's

words

(1

Cor.

2:10-14),

and

that what the

apostles wrote

were

the

oommandnlents of

the

Lord 1 Cor.

14:37).

The

unity

of Scripture

under the

Holy Spirit's inspirational

oversight

and

providential

direotion of

the

hUl11an writers

is a basio prinoiple of biblioal

hernleneutios. This principle

has several implioations.

(1)

The

Bible

is

internally

coherent, consistent, i.e.,

without contradiction.

f the

interpretat ion of one verse

contradiots other verses

that

speak to

the

sal11e

subjeot,

the

interpretat ion is inoorreot.

2)

The Spiri t progressively reveals

the will of God as

the

history of

redel11ption unfolds, fr0111 the

Garden of Eden to

the

cross,

from Moses to

the

apostles,

frol11

the hovering Spirit to the

incarnate

Word. 3) Soripture

is

the

only authoritative

interpreter

of Scripture, for

the

Holy Spirit is his

best and

only infallible COnll11entator.

4) HUl11ble,

personal,

and

den0111inational submission

to

the

Holy Spirit speaking

through

Soripture is

the

only

guarantee

of understanding

the revealed truth of God.

(5) Proof-texting nlus t

be

undertaken

oautiously, for

it

can

reluove single verses and

passages from the broader

the ations Christ s Diseiples

soriptural

context

in which

they

nlust

be

grounded.

To

the underlying unity of

Scripture should be added

the

neoessity of

interpreting

111

ore diffioult portions of

Soripture

in

light of clearer

ones. False dootrines

and

cults

generally operate baokwards;

they oonstruot

entire

systenls

of dootrine

fr01u

obsoure

or

difficult passages, whioh are

then

luade

the standard

of

truth.

A biblically isolated

interpretation of John's

Revelation, for eXaIuple, is

the

basis of the

errors

of

the

Jehovah's Witnesses

and

Dispensationalisnl. Both of

these suffer from interpretive

nlyopia. They fixate

upon

one

tree,

and

ignore the forest;

the

tree then loses its lueaning, and

the

existenoe of the forest is

denied. Everything in Scripture

is forced to comply with

their

particular

reading of

this

book

even

when

olearer passages

of Scripture

pertaining

to eschatology oontradiot

their

interpretation.

When

Revelation is

used

to

support

the rebuilding of the Temple in

Jerusalenl,

the

clear

statenlent

in

Aots 15 that

the

Amos 3:9

propheoy

has

been fulfilled

in

the

establisllluent of

the

Christian ohuroh

c0111posed

of

Jews

and

Gentiles is o01upletely

ignored, even

though

it is the

clearer text. A

recent

article

in

the

Westnlinster Theologioal

Journal

argues

that

Paul's

conlnlent in

Corinthians

11:11,12, that

nlan

is of

the

W01uan, should negate his

strong oonuuents

that W01uen

should keep silenoe

in the

church and

not be allowed to

teaoh luen. This is baokwards.

Paul's plain statel11ents

oannot

be trunlped by luore obsoure

Herrneneu.tics M atte1 S

texts, the lueanings of

which

are less clear.

A

third

prinoiple is

that

Soripture

nlust

interpret

Scripture. This deserves

special consideration

because

it

is

perhaps

the

nlost

neglected practioal

aspeot

of

biblical

hernleneutics

and a

leading oause of the

current

fragl11entation of Protestantisnl.

John

3:16, for exanlple, is

conlnlonly

used

to

justify

the position that

God

loves

everyone

the

sanle, gives

everyone the

sanle

opportunity

to

be

saved, and sent

Jesus

to die for everyone. But how

do

these

clahus oomport with

John's

statenlent that

Jesus

laid down his life for the sheep,

and

in the SaIue passage

individuals

are

speCifically

designated as

not

of

my

sheep

cf.

John

10:15, 26).

And

how do

they

agree with several plaoes

in

Scripture where

God

is said

to

hate

the wioked (Psalm

7:11; 11:5; Ronlans 9:13),

has

ordained

S01ue

nlen unto

destruction

cf. ROITI. 9:22;

Pet.

2:8),

and

intentionally

acts

toward sonle nlen so that

they

will

not OO1ue

to

the truth cf.

2

Chron.

18:22; 2

Luke

8:10;

Thess.

2:11)?

And how can

John

3:16

be used to

view the

cross as offering the

potential

of salvation to whoever

when

the

Scripture

speaks

of

Jesus'

death

as obtaining redeluption

and

providing propitiat ion

of.

Heb. 9:12; 1

John

2:1)?

The

typioal response is

to

negleot

these

passages, downplay thenl ,

deny

their

existence.

f

pressed,

the fallbaok response is, Well,

those passages nlean

something

else to nle. However,

this

is not

allOWing Scripture

to

interpret

Soripture but forcing

Scripture

to agree with

our

perceived

25


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6

IIermeneutics lIatters

understanding of God's

relations to men. Examples.

could be multiplied ad

infinitum, but this one example

is sufficient to demonstrate the

great

evil of interpreting single

verses of Scripture in isolation

from the

entire testimony of

Scripture, with the result being

fatal.for

our

understanding of

God's love, mercy, and justice,

of the particular saving love

and

efficacy of

the

cross, and of

man's fallen condition.

A four th principle is that each

text of Scripture contains

only one sense or meaning.

t

is increasingly common

to hear a professing believer

say, Well, this verse means

something different to me

than

it does to you. This is

nonsense, a tac tic to escape

an

undesirable conclusion

or

personal confrontation.

t cannot be supported by

Scripture, denies the coherency

of the Holy Spirit, and impugns

the

character of God, who

cannot

lie cf. Heb. 6:18).

Every text of Scripture has one

meaning, regardless of what

you or I think it means, even

if

it

means that both of us are

incorrect. n determining

the

single meaning of a text, it is

necessary to understand the

grammatical constructions in

which

it

is expressed (subjects,

verbs, objects), the type of

genre it represents (poetry,

narrative, doctrinal, prophetic),

and the context in which it

appears. Some verses require

basic knowledge of historical

or cultural context

in

order

to apprehend a reference to a

particular historical event or a

prevailing custom with which

the

author is interacting. n

some New Testament verses,

there is a specific allusion to

an

Old Testament text,

the

meaning of which is being made

clearer by

the

Holy Spirit. We

cannot forget the relationship

between the Old and

New

Testaments is promise

and fulfillment. The full

significance of many prophetic

sections could

not be fully

known until the Messiah to

which they appointed arrived.

This does

not

indicate a double

meaning

or

fulfillment, but a

more specific meaning that

the progress of redemption

makes clear.

t

is important to

distingUish the meaning of a

verse, which is one,

or

singular,

from its applications, which

may be manifold. This is where

many Christians stumble.

When they say, This verse

means something different

to me, they really mean

that

they do not agree with the use

or application being made of a

verse.

Applications of verses are

certainly not limited to the

understanding of

the

original

author, though they must be

tied to his singular meaning.

Moreover, all our applications

must

be consistent with

the analogy of Scripture,

i.e., are they consistent

with Scripture's overall and

specific teaching or do they

evidence the eccentricity of

the

interpreter? Christians

may differ On applications

of verses,

but

they

must

be

unified in their commitment to

the Singular meaning of every

verse. To these a fifth

and

more fundamental principle

of biblical interpretation must

be added. The Bible is

not

primarily to be interpreted

as a handbook of personal

spirituality. This occurs when

the Old Testament is utilized

in a purely devotional fashion,

to find principles from the

lives of heroes for present

need. t occurs when

we

fail

to realize that the Bible is

fundamentally the revelation

of the triune God - his glory,

his grace,

his sovereignty, his

faithfulness, his truth. t occurs

when

we

ignore the progress of

redemptive history, the climax

of redemption in the first

coming of Jesus Christ into the

world, and the glory of the age

of Christ's reign

in

which

we

live. t occurs when

we

use the

Bible to find principles, slogans,

prayer formulas, and hidden

insights. Treating the Bible

as a spir itual fortune cookie

inevitably refuses to recognize

that law is, well, law; we must

obey God's commandments

regardless of how

we

feel.

t leads to ignorance of the

Bible except for a few favorite

passages that appear on

t-shirts and bumper stickers.

t leads to stage plays in place

of preaching, for coloring

books are always preferred by

children that have not learned

to read. The Bible is God's

revelation of his character, of

his grace and mercy through

Jesus Christ, of the promise

of his transforming Spirit to

those who believe his promise.

The Bible contains history that

must be taken seriously, poetry

that must elevate the soul,

theology

that

must

be learned,

songs that must be sung, gospel

that must be believed, and

commandments that must be

obeyed. Too many, however,

look for only one thing in the

Bible - what works, what will

help them, what will make

them feel good. ,

When the Bible is read in

The Counsel

o

Chalcedon


5/5

this fashion, it becomes a

fortune cookie rather

than

the

revelation of the holy God for

his oreatures. And for a few

generations now, the church

has

shut

down the lighthouse

of

truth

in

favor of shaky candles

that

cannot withstand the

hurricane winds

of

secularisl11.

We need teachers of the Bible

l i l ~ Paul and students like

the Ephesians, who yearn to

proolainl

and

learn the whole

counsel of God, the whole of

it,

frol11

God s sovereignty and

providence in the historical

sections, to

the

duties of

obedience

in

the

law,

to the

glories of divine grace in the

gospel, to

the

depth

of

piety

in

the songs, proverbs, and

parables. Personal principles

of piety

cannot

be learned

from the Bible by treating

it

in

a piecenleal fashion.

Mature Christian living COl11es

fronl inlnlersion in the total

l11essage

of Scripture, in every

way God s

nature

and will are

revealed, with all seen

in

their

relationship to Jesus Christ, the

only King and Savior.

Hen11eneutics addresses

l11any

inlportant principles of biblical

interpretation, but nl0re

fundanlentally, it el11phasizes a

solenl11

duty. God has spoken.

His word is clear cf. Ps.

119:154).

t

is

our

responsibility

to dedicate ourselves carefully

to the study of his word,

in

hunlble subnlission to what

is written, dependence upon

the illunlinating, sanctifying

work of the Holy Spirit, without

pride, arrogance, or prejudice.

Paul conlmended the Bereans

for testing everything by

Scripture. This nlust be our

practice, with regard to

our

revered doctr inal systel11s, our

favorite passages, our preacher s

weekly sernlon. f all believers

will

conl111it

to

this

study,

prayerfully seeking God s light

in

Scripture,

earnestly

desiring

to subnlit to his revealed will,

he will cause us to grow in

grace

and

knowledge. He will

hear his Son s prayer - the

church will be unified

in the

truth.

n

his

great

work of world

discipleship,

henneneutics

matters.

Ch1 is

Strevel

is Pastor at

ovenant

Presbyterian

Church, BtI/m d,

Ga., RPCUS

With Liberty & Justice or ll

By Dr. Joe Morecrajt, III with and Introduction by Dr. Rousas John Rushdoony

Joo

M )lWrq i,

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Nations Christ's Disciples

27

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2007 Issue 3 - Hermeneutics Matters - Counsel of Chalcedon