The noun “hermeneutics”, comes from the Greek word “hermeneuo”, meaning to interpret, explain, or translate; thus, “hermeneutics” is NOT interpreting or explaining the Bible, but rather “the study of the method or principles of interpreting God’s word, the Bible, the Scriptures”.
The noun “method” means “a systematic plan followed in presenting material for instruction”, and the nouns“principle” and “principles” are “a fundamental law of fact or understanding”; therefore, by studying the method or principles of Scripture interpretation, we better understand what God’s word tells us, so we will not misinterpret Scripture as the Pharisees, in Luke 20:20-26, did when they tried to trick Jesus into misinterpreting Scripture, but He never did, which is what God, through the Apostle Paul, in 2 Timothy 2:14-16, commands of us—interpret Scripture correctly as biblically stated.
The Pharisees, in Luke 20:20-26, knew if Jesus said, “No, do not pay taxes to Caesar” it would infuriate the Romans and they would imprison Him, but if Jesus said, “Yes, pay taxes to Caesar”, it would infuriate the Jews who hated paying taxes to Rome and they would stone Him; thus, they were Jaw-dropping astonished at Jesus’ answer, to give Caesar his and God His, because they had failed to trap Him into giving a simple “Yes,” or “No” answer to what to them seemed the only obvious way to answer their question, but Jesus did not misinterpret Scripture—ever, and neither should Christians.
Since the noun “hermeneutics” means “the study of the method or principles of Scripture interpretation”; thus we learn; the Bible is God’s revelation of Himself to humanity; therefore, what is written in the Bible about those people’s lives, reveal how people responded to God’s revelation of Himself; however, there were untimely responses that were reserved for a future time; such as, Exodus 33:18, when Moses asked God to reveal (Jesus) His glory (2 Corinthians 3:7-18; 2 Corinthians 4:1-7, so Moses saw God’s goodness, who is also Jesus), and John 12:37-41, quoting Isaiah and saying (in verse 41), “These things Isaiah said when he saw His (Jesus’) glory and spoke of Him”.
Second Corinthians 4:6 says God’s glory (Jesus, goodness, highest in rank and value, or what God does best), is in the face of Jesus Christ, so Moses’ request was not for his time, for Christ IS God’s glory or what God does best, and Colossians 1:27-29, tells us Christ (God’s glory) is inside Christians, and how we are to respond to God’s glory—Christ, God’s best in us. The Bible is God’s revelation of Himself; thus, any other interpretation is incorrect.
We must know God’s attributes, character, and glory—know what makes God who He is—in order to know everything about God’s word, for every detail of God’s word must conform to His attributes, character, and glory, because Malachi 3:6 says, “For I am the LORD, I do not change….” And since God does not change, neither does His word change, for it is the same to every person in every generation, exactly as 2 Peter 1:17-21, says.
Studying the lives of the Bible characters is an important way to compare their lives—the way they responded to God’s revelation of Himself—to our lives today of how we are responding to God’s revelation of Himself, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit—take a daily checkup of this.
In most (but not all) cases, when we use certain Scriptures to illustrate a teaching fact, we try to include the entire paragraph of which that verse is part, so we will have the total meaning surrounding that particular verse; thus, we do not want to take Scriptures out of context (connection of words or thoughts); even though sometimes preachers do in order to quickly get our point across in the time allowed us, and in this writing it is done for that purpose.
Joshua 1:1-9 is the Lord’s instructions to Joshua on how to lead the children of Israel (“prince with God”, or Jacob before God changed his name to Israel in Genesis 32:22-29), now that Moses, the Lord’s servant, was dead, and buried (Genesis 34:1-12), whose grave is unknown; yet Michael the archangel and Satan argued over Moses’ body (Deuteronomy 34:1-12; Jude 1:5-11).
Joshua 24:29-31, shows how the children of Israel served the Lord God as long as Joshua and the leaders who outlived Joshua; however, Judges 2:7-19 reveals Israel’s roller coaster disobedience to God’s principles for successful living; Him raising up delivering judges to teach each new generation God’s principles for successful living; but only as long as that delivering judge lived, and then the Israelites served the gods of the people who lived among them, which is still the world-wide pattern of today (Joshua 2:7-19).
Judges 17:6; even though we use it out of context, is part of the explanation of Micah’s spiritual idolatry, yet it pretty much sums up the four hundred darkest years of Israel’s history, from the death of Joshua and the leaders that outlived Joshua, until the coming of Samuel the prophet and David the king, for in those four hundred years of everyone being their own god by doing their own thing; no one studied or lived by God’s principles for successful living.
We should study the method or principles not only for accurate Scripture interpretation, but for everyday living, because we study the principles of grammar, math, science, history, geometry, computers, writing, typing, and how to study, all the way through school, so the method or principles of Scripture interpretation are no different, but a necessity for living a consistent, close, intimate relationship with Christ, God’s method and principles for successful living.
Jim Nabors
