Hermeneutics

Read Part 2.

What Am I Supposed to Do with This?

“Why is our time in God’s Word not as life-transformative as it should be?”

When one is associating a belief with the text of Scripture it is never wise to choose texts from obscure, debated or overly figurative portions of the Bible. Why go to a vision of Zechariah when you can go to an epistle of Paul for the same doctrine?

When tying a doctrine concerning the Church to Scripture we find good men like F. Turretin running to the song of Solomon. Surely it is unwise to appeal to the Song of Solomon, since the assumption that the Song is actually speaking about the Church is a decided long shot.

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Interpretation is the process of understanding 1) what a Biblical text means and 2) how the text was meant to be applied. Once you have gathered the necessary information to discover what a passage is saying, you can then begin to understand its meaning through careful study of the book’s historical context, literary context, and actual content.

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For the sixth year in a row, I had the privilege of attending and exhibiting at the Shepherds 360 Church Leaders Conference, held at Shepherds Theological Seminary in Cary, N.C., on Monday through Wednesday of this week.

The theme of this year’s conference, which focused on dispensationalism, was “City of God—City of Man,” with the tagline: “Already? Not Yet? Let’s Get It Right!”

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I’ve mentioned analogies in this series, so let me give one of my own.

Suppose someone made you a promise concerning something of great importance to you. This person then went a step further and, to show his intent to make good his promise, entered in to some solemn ritual involving a self-maledictory oath. You could surely trust the promise right?

2 Timothy 3:16 reveals that all of Scripture is God-inspired and instructive. Taken with Romans 15:4, similar verses, and examples of NT use of OT passages, some have concluded that even incidental narrative details are potential sources of doctrine.

Since OT narrative details reference everything from clothing to cooking, tools, weapons, vehicles (carts, chariots), and so much more, there are, of course, references to music. There are even references to specific instruments, moods, and uses of music.

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Read the series.

A Plea for Plain Speaking

I am considering this matter of plain speaking in theological discourse, and have noted my dislike of those views which put something in a such way that it is easy to mistake the intentions. We are used to being given the run-around by the cults—for they deal in duplicity—but evangelical brothers and sisters can do this sort of thing too. I only wish to issue a plea for plain-speaking.