02.  Importance of Hermeneutics

2. Importance of Hermeneutics 2.1 The Definition of Hermeneutics 2.2 The Purpose of Hermeneutics 2.3 The Methods of Hermeneutics 2.4 The Relationship of Hermeneutics to the Other Sciences (Text 20).

2.4.1 Criticism 2.4.1.1 Historical or higher criticism - origination style, age, authorship, vocabulary, genuiness, authority 2.4.1.2 Textual or lower criticism - determination text 2.4.2 Hermeneutics - interpretation 2.4.3 Exegesis - explanation and application of hermeneutics 2.4.4 Systematic Theology - systerilization 2.4.5 Homiletics - organization- science of preaching 2.4.6 Exposition - proclamation - teaching the truth 2.5 The Value of Hermeneutics 2.5.1 To build the Christian life 2.5.2 To bridge the gap in culture 2.5.3 To bypass the errors of the past and present 2.6 The Preparation for Hermeneutics 2.6.1 Certain Requirements 2.6.1.1 Spiritual] 2.6.1.2 Intellectual 2.6.1.3 Education 2.6.2 Certain Research Tools

Hermeneutics is the science & art of interpretation (Text 19).

Science = principles of interpretation Art = practice (application) Greek word - hermeneuo - to interpret or explain; hermeneia - interpretation; ultimately derived from Hermes Greek - message god.

Biblical usage Old Testament - primarily in interpretation of dreams;

New Testament - Joh 1:42; John 9:7; John 1:38; Heb 7:2; Act 9:36; 1Co 12:10; 1Co 14:26; Luk 24:27, Act 14:12; 1Co 12:30; 1Co 14:5, 1Co 14:13, 1Co 14:27; Heb 5:11; 1Co 14:1-40 & 28

Positively to find the meaning of the text (Text 64).

“The true object of interpretation is to apprehend the exact thought of the author...The interpreter is not responsible for the thought...His only province is to apprehend the precise thought imparted by the author’s words, and leave the author responsible for the character of his thought.” R. Chafer Which author? Small “a” or capital “A”.

It is important to realize the difference between interpretation and application.

“Perhaps a still more important distinction exists between interpretation and application. It was that great Biblical scholar Delitzsch who said: “Interpretation is one; application is manifold.” In studying the Bible, as with any other book, the objective is to find out the exact meaning of the text at hand. After this has been ascertained, it can be applied to the life of an individual or a group. Much confusion has been the result of using the Scriptures practically wholly by way of application. For instance, it is true, and eminently so, that for every trusting and believing heart the eternal God is a refuge, and His arms can be depended upon to uphold and sustain. But Deu 33:27 has a specific meaning in the context, which refers it directly to Israel. Such is the case with the Psalms and the prophecies. Isa 53:1-12 may be applied to all sinners, but its interpretation shows us that it is speaking of the confession of the nation of Israel in a coming day. The Gospels have suffered in this respect probably as much as any portion of the Word with the result that the primary meaning is foreign to most people. True interpretation demands of us to ascertain to the best of our ability with the help of the Spirit exactly what a text means and to whom it is addressed.” Charles L. Feinberg, Premillennialism or Amillennialism?, p.14.

“A passage of Scripture has one meaning and if it had several hermeneutics would be indeterminate.” Ramm

“The best teacher is the one who does not bring his meaning into the Scripture, but brings it out of the Scripture.” Luther

There are two possible methods used in finding the meaning of an author, the literal and the allegorical. The literal takes the customary meaning of the words used while the allegorical method seeks for hidden meanings beyond the literal.

Negative

“It is not the privilege of any interpreter to impose his own thought upon the words of an author, nor in any way to modify the author’s meaning. The moment that one allows oneself this privilege one ceases to be an interpreter and becomes a collaborator with the author. To essay this role with the Spirit Author of the Scriptures should give pause to a larger number of careless interpreters than is daily evident.” R.Chafer

Systematic and Biblical - philosophical

Interpretation, doctrine, application = manner of life 2Ti 2:15, 2Ti 3:15, Tit 2:11-12, Joh 17:17, Act 17:11, Jas 3:1

“The necessity of a science of interpretation is apparent from the diversities of mind and culture among men...This science assumes that there are divers modes of thought and ambiguities of expression among men, and, accordingly, it aims to remove the supposable differences between a writer and his readers, so that the meaning of the one may be truly and accurately apprehended by the others.” Terry

“In religion, what damned error but some sober brow will bless it, and approve it with a text, hiding the grossness with fair ornament.” Ramm, The Merchant of Venice, p.3 The following quotes are from Fredric W. Farrar, History of Interpretation, pp.38-43.

“...let us not fall into the common error of fancying that such mistaken inferences are of little practical importance. If they be harmless in some instances, they may be very fatal in others. ‘The true sense of Scripture is Scripture;’ but ‘giving it a wrong sense,’ says Bishop Wordsworth, ‘men make God’s Word become their non-word, or even the Tempter’s word and then Scripture is used for our destruction, instead of making us wise unto Salvation.’ The misinterpretation of Scripture must be reckoned among the gravest calamities of Christendom. It has been the source of crimes and errors which have tended to loosen the hold of the sacred writings upon the affection and veneration of mankind. Recall but for a moment the extent and the deadliness of the evils for which texts of the Bible have been made the command and the excuse. Wild fanaticism, dark superstition, abject bondage, antinomian license, the burning hatred and unbending obstinacy of party spirit - have they not each in turn perverted the Scriptures to which they appealed?”

“How often have the supporters of mistaken purposes defended their outrages by the injunctions of the Pentateuch?”

“The Crusaders, thinking that they did God service by wading bridle deep in the blood of infidels who were often morally superior to themselves, justified their massacres by the exterminating wars in the Book of Judges...”

“A crime so atrocious as the massacre of St. Bartholomew was hailed by Pope Gregory XIII. with acclamation, and paralleled by the zeal for God of ancient heroes. Texts were used to crush the efforts of national liberty, and to buttress the tyrannies of immoral despotism. The murder of kings and passive obedience to them were alike defended by texts. The colossal usurpations of the Papacy in the days of its haughtiest audacity were maintained not only by spurious donations and forged decretals, but by Boniface VIII. on the ground that the two swords of Peter meant the possession by Popes of temporal and spiritual dominion; and a century earlier, by Innocent III., on the ground that the Pope was intended by the sun to rule the day, and the Emperor only by the moon to rule the night.”

“Even the Spanish Inquisition - that infamy of Christendom - appealed to Scriptural warrant for the right to immolate its holocausts of victims.” “...the axes, the stakes, the gibbets ( form of hanging), the thumbscrews, the racks, and all the instruments of torture kept in the dungeons of priests to deprave the heart of nations, and to horrify the world, were defended by scraps of texts and shreds of metaphor from the mercy-breathing parables of Christ. Texts have been used a thousand times to bar the progress of science, to beat down the sword of freedom, to destroy the benefactors of humanity, to silence the voice of truth. The gospel of peace, the gospel of knowledge, the gospel of progress, has been desecrated into the armory of fanaticism, and the stumblingblock of philosophy. The gospel of light and love has been used to glorify the madness of the self-torturer, to kindle the faggot of the inquisitor, and to rivet the fetters of the slave. Who can deny these things unless he thinks to please God by going before Him with a lie in his right hand?”

“How then is it possible better to maintain the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures than by pointing out, and by forsaking, the errors whereby men have so often wrested them alike to their own destruction and to the ruin and misery of their fellow men? How can we better prove their sacredness and majesty than by showing that in spite of such long centuries of grievous misinterpretation they still remain when rightly used, a light unto our feet and a lamp unto paths?”, to deliver the Holy Places from