hermeneutics class

506 Pages·2017·1.83 MB·English

Principles Of Biblical Interpretation
by Craig Wesley Rench
INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL
INTERPRETATION
SOME PERSONAL NOTES FROM THE PROFESSOR:
I am incredibly excited about this class. I love teaching for the Anaheim District
Ministerial Training Center. And I love teaching God’s Word. I am so blessed and
so honored and so incredibly privileged to be teaching this particular class.
Accurate Biblical Interpretation is so vital to preaching and pastoring the way the
Lord wants us to … this is a foundational class that frames out everything we do as
we handle God’s Word in our ministry for our Lord Jesus.
This class is immeasurably important! Every sermon you will ever preach,
every theology you will ever believe in, every Bible study you ever lead, and every
Bible question you will ever attempt to answer will depend on your proper,
accurate application of the principles of Bible Interpretation.
What happens when a brain surgeon or a heart surgeon fails? … literally,
people can die! And many do actually die. Those precious, incredibly gifted and
unbelievably smart doctors better get it right. People’s lives literally depend on
their accurate application of medical principles, knowledge and skills.
Now, what happens when a pastor or Bible teacher fails? … people can die
eternally the “second death.” (also known according to Revelation 20:14-15 as
“the lake of fire.”) All false teaching … all heresies … all cults started with
inaccurate, false Biblical interpretation! Many of these false teachers are truly
sincere and they really are convinced that they interpreted the Bible correctly and
that God Almighty is pleased with how they have handled God’s Word. But, they
are sincerely … wrong! How many millions will spend eternity in the lake of fire
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because they followed false teachers, heretics and cult leaders who thought that
they knew what the Bible “really said?”
I love teaching. I love teaching God’s Word. God has given me the gift of a
tremendous passion for the Word of our Lord. I also know that whenever I teach a
course like this that I am going to have the joy and blessing of learning a whole lot
more than any student in the class! I have a lot to learn about interpreting God’s
Word more accurately. I want to live out this verse:
II Timothy 2:15
Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that doesn’t need to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
I want to rightly “divide” God’s Word. I want to handle it right. I want to teach it
well. I want the Lord to be pleased with how I reverently teach and preach His
Word.
Think about this, because we are teachers and preachers of God’s Word – you and I
face a much stricter judgment on Judgment Day – (See James 3:1) When I stand
before God I want to give a good account and I want to hear God say that I handled
and interpreted and taught His eternal Word — right! I want Him to be proud of
how I taught His Word to His precious people.
To do that I need to have the Holy Spirit’s supernatural help! And I will also have
to study just as II Timothy 2:15 says! I need the Spirit and I need to study! And I
need to study right! This course will give you tools on how to “rightly divide the
word of truth.”
Following that great admonition from the Apostle Paul, in II Timothy 2:15 I want
to:
• Be “approved unto God” on Judgment Day – don’t you?
• Be a faithful “workman” (that means that it will take “work” – doesn’t it?)
• Never be ashamed of how I misinterpreted, mishandled, or misused God’s
Word.
• “Rightly divide the word of truth.”
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More than any other class in the Ministerial Course of Study – this course will
help you and give you the tools to correctly, properly, powerfully understand and
declare the eternal truth of God’s Book.
We all need this class … and many experienced preachers I know and love … need
a refresher course that would remind them of these basic principles of Biblical
Interpretation. I know that I need this class. I am looking forward to learning and
re-learning these great principles.
My love for God’s Word
The Lord has blessed me with a great gift. And He will give you the same gift if
you want it. It is yours for the asking. God has given me a powerful,
overwhelming passion for His Word and a fervent desire to know it, understand it,
love it, delight in it, teach it, preach it, follow it and obey it. Everything we can
know about Jesus and His great gift of salvation comes to us through His Book –
the Bible!
I truly want to live out these verses spoken by our Lord Jesus:
John 8:31
If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
John 15:7
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it
shall be done for you.
I really want to abide in His Word and in Him and I want His Words to abide in
me.
Ask the Lord to give you a holy passion and a fervent desire and delight in His
Word. Keep asking for this. Ask for this every day. Every time you pick up God’s
Word tell the Lord that you delight in His Word and ask Him to help you delight in
it more today than you ever have! God will answer this prayer!
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Ask Him to give you an unquenchable thirst for His Word! Ask Him to help you
with the Holy Spirit’s supernatural enabling to understand His Word and to be a
“DO-ER” of His Word. (James 1:22-25)
Ask Him to help you understand, apply and meditate on His Word. Ask Him to
give you the daily blessings of prosperity (according to His terms) and success that
He promises to all who will meditate on His Word day and night. (See: Psalm
1:1-3; Joshua 1:8; James 1:25)
Determine to obey His Word as He breaks it open for you. Feed yourself daily on
His Word. Soak in His Word. Marinate in His Word. Love His Word. Ask God if
there is anything He wants to say to you today from His Word. Beg Him to help
you to accurately, rightly and spiritually understand and interpret His Words found
in His Book. God delights to answer this heart-felt, humble prayer.
My bias regarding God’s Word
Everybody has bias. Nobody is completely neutral and bias-free. The wise person
recognizes and admits their biases. I want you to know my bias about God’s Word
right up front. Here it is: I believe that God’s Word is totally true, accurate
and complete. It is all true. It is truly God’s Word. It doesn’t just “contain God’s
Word” … it is totally God’s Word. We don’t have to slice and dice God’s Word to
try and figure out what part of it is true and what isn’t … it is all true! God
supernaturally breathed His Word into the hearts of the writers of Scripture and
then He superintended every word that they wrote down. His Spirit literally was
concerned about every letter they wrote on their scrolls and parchments. Then,
miraculously, the Lord protected His Word down through the centuries – until you
and I could hold His Word in our hands.
I believe that the most precious inanimate object (and yet it is “living”) that I can
ever hold is a Bible! What an inestimable privilege it is to have our own personal
copy of the eternal, living Word of God! Countless millions of God’s people
never got to hold a copy of God’s Word in their own hands! Countless billions
more … could not have read God’s Book even if they had been able to hold it in
their hands – for they lived and died illiterate! What a blessing, what a gift, what a
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joy, what a privilege it is to be able to read and own on our personal copy of God’s
eternal Word!
I love God’s Word. I know that I could spend the rest of my life studying God’s
Word every waking moment – and I still would never fully understand it. I know
that the wisest, smartest people who have ever lived have not been able to plumb
it’s depths.
There are things in God’s Word that I know that I will never understand until the
Lord personally teaches those truths to us in His eternal Heaven.
There are things that I don’t like in God’s Word. There are things that I wish God
hadn’t taken credit for. (for example: Exodus 4:11; Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6)
There are things in God’s Word that His greatest lovers wish He had never said …
and because of our limited understanding … we will never “get it” at least on this
side of glory! But, my bias still stands: Even though I don’t understand it all,
even though I don’t like everything that is in this Book – I believe and I know
that it is all true! No one will ever be able to convince me that God’s Word is not
true. My limited perspective, my feeble brain, my ignorance, and my lack of
wisdom … is never going to add up enough for me to doubt God’s Word.
Think of the life and experience of Job in the Bible. He had no idea what was
going on. His theology and understanding of God was so limited. And God,
wasn’t telling His favorite man on earth … the most righteous man on our planet
(at that time) … what He was up to! God promises us that we won’t always
understand or “get it.” God often doesn’t make any sense! But, just because I
don’t understand what my God is up to – that is not enough for me to throw God’s
promises and truths out! His ways are not our ways! God said so!
It is all true! It is living! It is eternal! It will never fail! And it is
“knowable.” (through the help and blessing of the Holy Spirit!)
The Bible was inspired (God breathed) by the Holy Spirit and it is the greatest
gift that God has ever given us – next to the gift of His Son Jesus and His blessed
Holy Spirit!

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My reading of God’s Word
Since the age of 20 I have made daily Bible reading a high priority. I have read it
many, many times! Everything I am or have … I owe to my saturation reading of
God’s Word. For decades I have read the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs
through at least once a month. Many months I have read them twice a month. For
many decades I have read the Old Testament at least 3-4 times through every
month. Presently, I am attempting to read or listen to the Word of God – the whole
Bible – through from cover to cover – each and every month. I don’t always make
my goal … but, that is what I aim for each month.
Really, this is nothing. I know of people who read the entire Bible through each
week! I know of people who have memorized … word perfect … the entire Book
of God!
I love God’s Word and I want to understand and interpret it – better than I do now.
This class will help me and sharpen my tools so that I can rightly apply and divide
and explain and teach and preach His Word in a way that will make my Jesus
proud of me!
My capitalization of the following words: Bible, Scripture, God’s Word, Word
of God
In my writings, and in all my sermons, and in these notes I have chosen to
capitalize certain words that accurate English editors would not capitalize. I know
the principles and practices that they consider “proper English.” However, I have
chosen to show my love, veneration, and honor for certain things of God by
capitalizing them. So, these are some common spiritual words and words of honor
that I routinely capitalize out of worship … that my gracious English teacher and
Mother, Donna Rench, would mark me down for … if she were grading my papers,
as she used to grade the letters I wrote to her … that was fun! (in fact, she would
have marked me down for capitalizing the word “Mother” in that last sentence.
But, I don’t care … she is in heaven … and I love Her!) So, here are some words
that you will find commonly capitalized in my writings:
• God – and any pronouns relating to Him such as: Him, He, His
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• Abba
• Father
• Jesus – and again, any pronouns that speak of Him.
• Son of God
• Spirit – the Holy Spirit deserves to be honored
• Bible
• Scripture
• Book – when referring to the Bible
• God’s Word, Word of God, Holy Book, Book of God
• Heaven
• And there may be a few more that I can’t remember right now … you will
find them!
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KEY WORDS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Hermeneutics –This is study and application of the principles of Biblical
Interpretation. Let’s start with some irony. The word is derived from a
Greek, mythical god, “Hermes,” who was the messenger and herald of the
gods, and the interpreter of Jupiter. It is ironical to me, that our careful and
diligent study of interpreting God’s Holy Word of Truth … is named after a
false god of the Greeks! Mercy!
Homiletics – the study and art of sermon crafting and preaching. We want to do
good and accurate hermeneutics so that we can then do good and faithful
homiletics!
Exegesis – explanation of the meaning of a portion of Scripture. "Reading out of
the Scriptures." Line-by-line, verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter. The
student comes to Scripture with an open heart and an open mind, without
pre-conceived ideas, pet theories or theologies, and finds out what God’s
Word actually says and means. This is the best way to study and interpret
God’s Book. This is interpreting Scripture according to what the original
writer meant to say. What did it mean to the original authors and the original
listeners? This is what we want to find out.
Eisegesis – this is the practice of "Reading into the Scriptures". This sounds
terrible, but that is not the intent of the phrase "reading into". This merely
means you start with a subject, and look for Scriptures that pertain to it. If
this was done objectively, with the whole passage being studied and not just
the verse from the concordance, perhaps this would be one way to study
God’s Word. But, a student of God’s Word should study everything that the
Bible says about a given subject and study it in context. The only truly valid
way to study God's Word and interpret it accurately is through EXEGESIS.
Eisegesis inevitably leads to misinterpretation, proof-texting, erroneous
teaching and heresy. Eisegesis is interpreting a passage of Scripture
according to personal notions and ideas rather than according to the original
meaning. As careful, accurate students and teachers of God’s Word we want
to find out what the Lord meant for us to know and understand from each
passage.
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Exegetical Preaching – preaching based upon the explanation of a text of the
Bible with close attention to the context and some application to
contemporary life.
Exposition – explanation of the meaning of a writing, particularly of a portion of
Scripture.
Expository Preaching -- A type of preaching in which an extended passage of
Scripture is explained and applied.
Bible – Our English word “Bible” comes from the Greek words “Biblos” and “
Biblion” which mean “The Book.” God’s Word is called “The Book” in
Psalm 40:7, and Hebrews 10:7.
The Word of God – Of all the names given to the Bible this title is perhaps the
most significant and impressive. It signifies divine authority and is used
frequently in the Old Testament and about forty times in the New Testament.
Scriptures or “The Scripture” – The Bible is called “The Scripture” at least 52
times in the New Testament and once in the Old Testament (Daniel 10:21)
It comes from a Latin word meaning “writing.”
The Old and New Testament – The word “testament” means “covenant,” and by
this term God designated the relation that existed between Himself and His
people. Our God is a Covenant Making and a Covenant Keeping God!
Heresy – This is false teaching that deviates from the standard and true theology of
God’s Word.
Proof texting –This is the method by which a person appeals to a Biblical text to
prove or justify a theological position without regard for the context of the
passage they are citing. We don’t want to do this!
Inspiration – divine inbreathing (“God breathed”) that produces divine
revelations, particularly sacred Scripture.
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Illumination – reception of light or insight from the Lord that frees the spirit from
darkness and spiritual imprisonment that results in encouragement,
knowledge and wisdom from God.
Revelation – This is what God “reveals” or makes known to humans.
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