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Biblical Hermeneutics
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What is biblical
hermeneutics?
Got Questions Ministries
Biblical
hermeneutics is the study of the principles and methods of interpreting the
text of the Bible.
Second Timothy 2:15 commands
believers to be involved in hermeneutics: “Do your best to present yourself
to God as one approved, a worker who . . . correctly handles the word of
truth.”
The
most important law of biblical hermeneutics is that the Bible should be
interpreted literally.
We are
to understand the Bible in its normal or plain meaning, unless the passage is
obviously intended to be symbolic or if figures of speech are employed.
The
Bible says what it means and means what it says.
For
example, when Jesus speaks of having fed “the five thousand” in Mark 8:19, the
law of hermeneutics says we should understand five thousand literally
— there was a crowd of hungry people that numbered five thousand who were fed
with real bread and fish by a miracle-working Savior.
Some
interpreters make the mistake of trying to read between the lines of Scripture
to come up with esoteric meanings that are not truly in the text, as if every
passage has a hidden spiritual truth that we should seek to decrypt.
Biblical
hermeneutics keeps us faithful to the intended meaning of Scripture and away
from allegorizing Bible verses that should be understood literally.
A
second crucial law of biblical hermeneutics is that passages must be
interpreted historically, grammatically, and contextually.
For
example, in order to fully understand Jonah’s flight in Jonah 1:1–3, we should research the
history of the Assyrians as related to Israel.
Interpreting
a passage grammatically requires one to follow the rules of grammar and
recognize the nuances of Hebrew and Greek.
For
example, when Paul writes of “our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ”
in Titus 2:13, the rules of grammar
state that God and Savior are parallel terms
and they are both in apposition to Jesus Christ — in other words,
Paul clearly calls Jesus “our great God.”
The
context includes the verses immediately preceding and following, the chapter,
the book, and, most broadly, the entire Bible.
For
example, many puzzling statements in Ecclesiastes become clearer when kept in
context—the book of Ecclesiastes is written from the earthly perspective “under
the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:3).
In
fact, the phrase under the sun is repeated about thirty times
in the book, establishing the context for all that is “vanity” in this
world.
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A third law of biblical hermeneutics is that Scripture is always the best interpreter of Scripture.
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A third law of biblical hermeneutics is that Scripture is always the best interpreter of Scripture.
For
this reason, we always compare Scripture with Scripture when trying to
determine the meaning of a passage.
For
example, Isaiah’s condemnation of Judah’s desire to seek Egypt’s help and their
reliance on a strong cavalry (Isaiah 31:1) was
motivated, in part, by God’s explicit command that His people not go to Egypt
to seek horses (Deuteronomy 17:16).
Some
people avoid studying biblical hermeneutics because they mistakenly believe it
will limit their ability to learn new truths from God’s Word or stifle the Holy
Spirit’s illumination of Scripture.
Biblical
hermeneutics is all about finding the correct interpretation of the inspired
text.
The
purpose of biblical hermeneutics is to protect us from misapplying Scripture or
allowing bias to color our understanding of truth.
God’s
Word is truth (John 17:17).
We want
to see the truth, know the truth, and live the truth as best we can, and that’s
why biblical hermeneutics is vital.
Got
Questions Ministries
seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by providing biblical, applicable, and
timely answers to spiritually related questions through an internet
presence."
GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian, Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.
GotQuestions.org is a ministry of dedicated and trained servants who have a desire to assist others in their understanding of God, Scripture, salvation, and other spiritual topics. We are Christian, Protestant, evangelical, theologically conservative, and non-denominational. We view ourselves as a para-church ministry, coming alongside the church to help people find answers to their spiritually related questions.
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