As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“We all know generally how language ‘works,’ and for this reason communication is possible. In so arguing, I admit that my hermeneutical cues do not come immediately from the Bible itself, and this, my critic suggested, constituted a ‘direct assault on the sufficiency of Scripture.’” - Mark Snoeberger
From Theologically Driven. Read the series so far.
Having established two axiomatic principles of language that govern the intelligible use of words (the Univocal Nature of Language and the Jurisdiction of Authorial Intent), we need to pause, I think, to make an important qualification—not so much a third axiom of language, but an answer to a common observation that is often raised at this point, viz., that the Scriptures have two authors, divine and human.
As such, some non-dispensationalists maintain, God is able to use linguistic structures with a broad semantic/syntactical range to secretly but accurately communicate meanings additional to what the human author intended. This being the case, they reason, it is possible to affirm the two principles above but still find a loophole, unique to the Christian Scriptures, that allows two disparate streams of intentionality in a single text: the divine author intended more than or other than what the human author intended, and that’s OK in view of the inscrutable mystery of inspiration.
Discussion