ELIZABETH INRIG
Tonight 2021 will pass into eternity, and 2022 will arrive. Today, New Year’s Eve, many of us will look back and ponder the events of the year, recalling important ones and reminding ourselves of what we learned. One habit I practiced during my years as a seminary professor was to use the last class to do just that: review what the students had learned. Going over the “big picture” of a significant subject offers an ideal way to remember what was learned.
Over this past year, I have written about the subject of hermeneutics for Proclamation!. It is a most important topic because it refers to the guidelines we need to follow to read and understand the Bible. It is an ancient topic because virtually everyone in the world who reads any written document, be it a newspaper, letters, books, or any other form of written language, relies on sound hermeneutical principles to understand what someone has written.
Nevertheless, I suspect you’ve had a similar experience to ones I’ve had: you’ve said or written something important and true only to find out it was misrepresented, misconstrued, or misunderstood. Perhaps your reader or listener chose to focus on a minor point of what you said instead of the main point, and you thought to yourself: “They missed the most important thing I was saying!”
Or to put it another way, misunderstanding happens even when people who respect the Bible read it with careless hermeneutics.
That type of misunderstanding happens often with the Bible when those who deny the truthfulness, authority, reliability, eternal nature, and transforming power of God’s Word attempt to interpret it. Yet this “missing the point” can also happen when people who claim to honor the authority of the Bible read it in a careless or undisciplined way. Or to put it another way, misunderstanding happens even when people who respect the Bible read it with careless hermeneutics.
In 2 Timothy 2:15, Paul confronts this problem by urging a young preacher to handle God’s Word of truth carefully, so he (and we) won’t misrepresent or misunderstand Scripture by ignoring the normal, grammatical, historical, guidelines to Scripture. Paul reminds the same preacher in 2 Timothy 3:15-17 that God’s Word is sacred and inspired, and it provides wisdom about salvation in Christ Jesus and equips us for living righteous lives. We must read and study it in a way that submits to God’s intended message.
The Importance of the Word
In 1963, I met the man whom I would marry. We began to date and enjoyed being together. After one-and-a-half months, Gary left Vancouver with a friend to drive to Word of Life Camp in Schroon Lake, NY.
We were just friends, so Gary shook my hand good-by. Three days later, in White River, Ontario, their car broke down. As he and his friend waited for the vehicle to be fixed, Gary wrote me a letter. I’ve included a portion of that letter to illustrate how naturally we apply normal grammatical guidelines to anything we read.
As you read this page written in Gary’s handwriting, you will see that context really matters (we had been dating less than two months and were now separated for a while). Understanding the context, it is clear that the exact words Gary used mattered greatly. We see, then, that both the context and the words of this letter reveal important data: the history, the biographical details, the genre, the geography, the purpose of author (Gary), the document’s meaning to first reader (me), and even any lessons for later readers (you who are reading it now).
In this way, reading through the lens of the normal rules of grammar, vocabulary, and context, we glean meaning from words and sentences enabling us to make sense of the written page.
We learn to read the Bible in the same way, looking first for the normal meaning. When we apply the same normal, grammatical, literary, and historical principles to the Bible and understand the earthly, temporal meaning of its words, we safely move to the spiritual truths we need to learn. This method was how Jesus taught Nicodemus the need for him to be “born again” in John 3. I encourage you to read that chapter and see how skillfully Jesus taught the “teacher of Israel”.
What I learn
Gary’s letter was important to me; his words told me things I never knew about him, and they drew me into a relationship only God could have worked together for good. After 58 years, I have read it repeatedly, looked closely at the details, and pondered the context and the words and cherished their meaning. However, as wonderful as Gary’s letter was for me then, God’s revealed Word, written and preserved for all who desire to know Him, surpasses even the most tender and valuable relationships I have on earth.
God gives us an eternal context about an eternal relationship with Him. He captures our hearts in ways with which no human relationship can compare. The big picture for understanding God’s truth is still important as we enter 2022. Let’s together commit to reading Scripture repeatedly, listening to God’s heart for sinners, and pondering the marvelous truths of grace He shares about His love for us now and forever.
You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of] unscrupulous people and lose your own firm commitment, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
2 Peter 3:17, 18
- In Hermeneutics, Even Little Words Matter - August 11, 2022
- Reviewing Bible Knowledge: A Schematic Map for Words - April 7, 2022
- Lips that Honor God - January 20, 2022