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I recall having an interveiw a number of years ago for an internship at a youth group in which the youth group pastor told me he had about 5 passages of the Bible that he used as a hermeneutic to interpret the Bible. At the time I thought it was kind of a strange idea. But now, several years later, I would like to revise that opinion, for I have arrived at such a position myself.

A hermeneutic is a way of interpreting or explaing (in this case) the Bible. It is not so much a method as a framework or grid or point(s) of reference against which to interpret a specific passage. Everybody has a heremenutic, whether or not they know it, so it’s a good idea to be consious of what one’s hermeneutic is. Here’s mine…

• Luke 24:27 - And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
  This passages teaches that the purpose of all of Scripture is to point us to Christ, not to teach behavioural principles, etc. Scripture is the story of God’s work in redeeming his fallen creation, and central to this story is the redemptive work of Jesus.
• Galatians 2:14 - But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
  This passage teaches that the real problem in our lives is our failure to believe the gospel. When Peter was being a racist, Paul doesn’t tell him to stop breaking the no-racism rule; Paul tells him he is not living in line with the gospel. This means that underlying every sin is the deeper sin of failure to live in line with the gospel. The implication is that the way to deal with sin in our lives is not to try harder to do what is right, but to come to a deeper understanding of the gospel.
• Jeremiah 17:9 - The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
  This passage tells me that I will always try to trick myself into believing that I can be my own saviour. Because of this, it is not enough to simply explain what a passage of Scripture means; it also has to be applied to the experiential issues of identity and self-perception.
• 1 Corinthians 1:18 - For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
  Here we see the radical antithesis between a gospel-centred worldview and the worldview of the unbeliever. This means that as Christians live lives in response to the gospel, they do so in a distinctly Christian way. This also means that there is no neutral ground between Christians and non-Christians from which we can reason about the existence of God and the truth of the Bible.
• 2 Corinthians 5:21 - God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
  I can never get enough of this verse. It teaches that the entirety of Christ’s life and death were substitutionary. He lived the life I can’t, and died the death I deserve, and I receive the credit. Righteousness is not a word that is used much today, at least not in positive terms. But the concept of righteousness in Scripture is all about acceptance. Everyone today is looking for acceptance. This verse teaches that we are accepted by the God of the universe, not because of anything we have done, but because of Christ. This means that our acceptance is deeper than anything we could have earned ourselves, and, because Christ’s work is done, it means our acceptance will not erode or pass away.

Taken as a whole, these passages provide a framework for interpreting any passage of Scripture. Every passage is pointing to the redemptive work of God in Christ. Every passage uncovers some area of sin in my life, and points me to the gospel to find healing and acceptance with God. Because my heart is deceitful, I will often devise ways to obey the Bible which rest upon my own pride, not on God’s grace, and being aware of this deep-rooted tendency makes me even more aware of my need for a Saviour. When I respond in obedience to God’s grace I should not be proud of what I have managed to accomplish, because I know that change is a gradual process by which God’s grace wears away at the areas of my life that have not been fully redeemed.

Obviously, this is not an exhaustive account of what these five verses teach, nor is it a complete disclosure of all the background I bring to the task of interpreting a passage of Scripture. However, what this framework provides is, 1) a pretty good idea of what a particular passage of the Bible is saying as I begin to study it, and 2) a safety net, so that if my interpretation and application is not in line with what I have said here, I know I have veered off course, and need to take another look.

This entry was posted by Bryce on Friday, April 21st, 2006 at 6:08 pm. This entry was tagged with Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.