More recently, attention has shifted to the hermeneutical task, or the question of the meaning of the Bible. Third, Kaiser emphasizes that the intention of the human author and that of the divine author coincide.
Another problem with the single-meaning approach to Scripture is the relevance of a biblical passage for those coming
If it is meant, is it meant in addition to the first (which seems to give the text a double meaning), or is it, rather than the first, what the author actually intended. In many cases, the author's original writing also includes the meaning for the original hearers or readers.
Another problem is the tendency to equate meaning with then and significance with now. This analysis is inadequate,
What did the author (Matthew) intend to communicate and for that matter, what did Jesus intend. Is the “big idea” the only idea in the passage that could be the subject of a sermon?35 Could we use this passage as the basis for a message on animal rights, or ecology, or divine providence as it applies to human beings? .
The hermeneutic developed here also seems to break down when it is confronted by certain types of biblical material, most
Hirsch formulates no doctrine about the Holy Spirit, for he deals with generic literature, not necessarily the Bible. The author of the writings he deals with is exclusively the human author.
Needed Modifications and Correctives
The problem here, however, is that God apparently has a knowledge of the future that far exceeds that of the author or any other human. There is really no indication that the writer had this kind of extensive disclosure, which would have apparently produced some sense of overload.
The Role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical Interpretation
- Fuller assumes that there is a disjunctive relationship be- tween the use of methods of scientific exegesis to get at the his-
- Another of Fuller’s assumptions is that the different as- pects of human personality, or different faculties, to use the tra-
- Fuller also assumes that there is basically one level of understanding of biblical meaning. The level of knowledge is
- Fuller’s view also involves an epistemological difficulty
Fuller seems to believe that the unbeliever is capable of grasping the meaning of the text. After all, there is a very clear supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in the believer.
At the next level there is cognition, where the eyes and ears represent the organs of the soul. However, there is also another level, beyond hearing and seeing with the senses and seeing and hearing with the mind. Finally, the Bible also mentions the products of the activities of these spiritual organs, such as thoughts, meditations, and words.
Ramm summarizes: “there is a power, ability, or faculty within man that is deeper than ordinary cognitive powers. This is why Scripture can speak of a hearing that does not hear and a sight that does not see.
So the role of the Holy Spirit in enlightenment is to convey insight into the meaning of the text. Enlightenment does not involve the communication of new information, but a deeper understanding of the meaning that is there. It is an experience as described by Ramsey, in which "the ice breaks and the penny drops."'.
In a sense, the Holy Spirit is able to work more effectively the more objectively we learn the meaning of the vocabulary and syntax of the text, because he works through this information, not independently of it. It should be noted, however, that the basic and most crucial dimensions of Christian truth are significantly more direct and obvious on the surface of the text, so that even honest and objective unbelievers can see them.
Getting from There to Here
It is the flash of understanding, which may come suddenly and dramatically or more gradually and quietly, but in which we come to see what we did not understand before. It is first in a deeper sense and with that deeper level of perception that the Bible speaks as first to the heart. Those who have seen the structure and solution of an algebra problem know that they have indeed come to the right understanding.
However, the second reaction is related to the fact that different schools of thought see different enlightened meanings. As important as the deeper dimensions of understanding that come only through the enlightenment or illumination given by the Holy Spirit, they are not essential to salvation or to Christian fellowship.
The Problem of Contemporization
- The first of these is the simple fact that there are a number of biblical statements regarding situations for which no parallel
- A second type of consideration is present-day situations on which the Bible apparently makes no statements. How to
- Another type of issue presenting difficulty is when the bib- lical writer addresses a specific situation superficially similar
- A further indication of some difficulty with unmodified application is where there is contradiction between this partic-
- Finally, there are passages that seem to conflict with gen- eral revelation, A prime example was the church’s idea that the
It is essential for a conservative to maintain the integrity of the Christian worldview and life. This view simply states the biblical message in the same language and mindset of the bible. The knight is one square to the right of where the pawn was.” The meaning of the statement has changed, because the referent of the statement was not just an object, but a relation in a real sense.
Also, this is not necessarily a matter of shift or change on the receptor side. However, it also had meaning for the early readers, the readers at the time of writing.
Two-Step and Three-Step Hermeneutics
For example, to someone who lived in the time of one of the prophets, a prophecy about the captivity of the nation of Israel would have the meaning: "Israel will be carried away into captivity." However, it certainly does not have that meaning for us today. Berkeley Mickelsen, for example, talks about the difference between exegesis and interpretation, citing with apparent approval James Smart's view on the subject. The meaning seems to be the same for the people at the time of writing as it is for us: God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son.
The same would apply to the idea that God would provide a substitute sacrifice as He did for Abraham. This is one of the problems with using the King James or Authorized Version of the Bible today.
Criteria for Identifying Principles
- Examining a statement in the light of comparable ones where the principle may be more overt
- Universal setting
- A recognized permanent factor as a base
- Indissoluble link with an experience regarded as essential
- Final position within progressive revelation.‘”
Often the problem is to determine what is part of the doctrine and what is a metaphor intended to clarify the doctrinal truth.lg. Here there is sometimes a difference between the meaning of the time of writing and the present (or any other time according to the biblical setting). On the other hand, we do not want to dismiss a belief or practice that is part of the permanent being of Christianity as culturally displaced.
Was it simply part of the Old Testament way, or is it of permanent applicability. Since they are found in all parts of the Bible, we can conclude that we are dealing here with a universal or absolute factor.
Treatment of Apparent Contradictions
In Matthew 4 we have an account of Satan's temptations at the beginning of Jesus' public ministry. But if this is the case, then we have some justification for making the atonement in Christ absolute. If we cannot, how can we be sure that we have not simply absolutized another doctrine for which we have no later versions of the principle.
Even with regard to the meaning of a statement, it will be necessary to make an inductive study of the whole of Scripture to ensure that we have not unnecessarily absolutized a certain kind of understanding. We will need to engage in as careful and thorough exegesis of the contemporary situation as we do of the biblical context.
The Need for Principlizing the Present Situation
The Gospel writers did exactly what we're talking about here: contextualizing the message to the audience to which they each wrote. What we want to preach to our listeners, then, will not be the message of Matthew, Mark or Luke, but the message of Jesus that lay behind each of these Gospels, applied to the situation of our own audience. First, we need to be sure that we clearly distance ourselves from the biblical situation before we try to apply it to our own situation.
Only in this way will we be able to find an appropriate parallel to the text we are trying to apply in the present. I said, "Lord, I promise you that I will never do anything that could put anybody in the state that this man is in."
The Contributions of Church History, Theology,
- Its first function is to identify the historical variations of expression or application. Sometimes when we approach a
- Finally, the historical discipline should enable us better to evaluate a view by helping us see the implications of similar
- First, theology provides the abiding or permanent element from biblical statements-the essence that we accordingly carry
- Systematic theology also serves the function of analyzing the real meaning of the concepts asserted and discussed in the
This is not to say that the message of the passage should be different from what is affirmed there. We should strive to match the aspect of truth in a passage to the situation. It also parallels the use of various kinds of critical methodology to discover the meaning of the biblical text.
It is not easily possible to judge the truth of the interpretation because the logic cannot be tested. In the parable of the talents, the master promised no reward at all.
The Hermeneutical Contributions of Cross-Cultural Studies
The other way this effort works is to bring the implications of the interpretations we are considering into contact with other teachings supported by the Bible. It allows us to see facets of the truth that we are blind to due to our cultural limitations. Cross-cultural dialogue can make us aware of some of these presuppositions, simply because the other person does not see what we see in the text.
The inability to see may, of course, simply be the result of the kind of cultural blindness we talked about above. Part of what enables us to discover the meaning of the passage is the questions we ask the passage.
A New Paradigm?
- Together with these concepts and binding them together was the idea of nature as dynamic, and as the sole and sufficient
- A growing conception was that of determinism or the ab- solute causation within the whole of the universe. As science
- There was basically a belief in metaphysical realism. Phys- ical objects were believed to have a real existence apart from our
- This hermeneutic will examine closely what language signs signify. The modern view has been that they correspond
- A postmodern hermeneutic will also need to take into ac- count the fact that meaningfulness (as contrasted with meaning)
Therefore, in literary criticism and in theology it is intended to "deconstruct" traditional objects of thought and traditional methods of discipline. Acceptance of the idea that the modern period is passing has become increasingly widespread. In response, there must be two incidental but distinct parts to the hermeneutical task.
It has often been thought that the meaning of language is to be found in the meaning of the individual units or words. The rest of the texts will have their meaningfulness by virtue of their coherent participation in the whole. We can therefore hold on to the meaningfulness of these biblical passages based on the "slope of the evi-.
We believe in one group based on the other and the tendency of validation.
