Martin Luther believed that “The entire Old Testament refers to Christ and agrees with Him.” Sidney Greidanus, in Preaching Christ from the Old Testament, wrote that in spite of his warnings against allegorical interpretation, Luther continued using this arbitrary method of interpretation. Ironically, while Luther left some limited room for allegorical interpretation, he apparently had no use of typological interpretation, for, as David Dockery puts it, typology with its foreshadowing “annulled the historical presence of Christ in the Old Testament.” The Antioch School “saw shadowy anticipation of what was to come. This meant nothing to Luther. To him, the Old Testament was not a figure of what would be, but a testimony to what always holds true between humankind and God” (Dockery, GTJ I4/2 (1983) 193.[19]
Read moreThe Historical/Grammatical Hermeneutic, Part One
It is becoming common to hear preachers “finding Jesus” in every text of Scripture. Many name recognized Bible Scholars and popular writers advocate a Christological hermeneutic that forces Christ onto every text. Albert Mohler in He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World wrote:
Every single text of Scripture points to Christ. He is the Lord of all, and therefore He is the Lord of the Scriptures too. From Moses to the prophets, He is the focus of every single word of the Bible. Every verse of Scripture finds its fulfillment in Him, and every story in the Bible ends with Him.[1]
Read moreWhat is Progressive Revelation?
A. J. Jacobs gave what is now a well-known TED talk on My Year of Living the Bible in December 2007. He turned that speech into a book entitled: The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. This book was on the NYT bestseller’s list for three months.
A. J. Jacobs, who is an agnostic, did this experiment for one year. Here is the reason for his experiment: “I'm concerned about the rise of religious fundamentalism, and people who say they take the Bible literally, which is, according to some polls, as high as 45 or 50 percent of America. So, I decided, what if you really did take the Bible literally? I decided to take it to its logical conclusion and take everything in the Bible literally, without picking and choosing.”
Here is his first takeaway from one year of seeking to prove the Bible cannot be taken literally: “The first is, thou shalt not take the Bible literally. This became very, very clear, early on. Because if you do, then you end up acting like a crazy person and stoning adulterers.” God’s chosen people in the OT was the nation of Israel. When Jesus came and offered the kingdom and himself as king to the nation, Israel rejected him. In response, Jesus postponed the kingdom and set aside Israel temporarily. The church today is the people of God not the nation of Israel. While God commanded capital punishment for certain sins in the OT with the nation of Israel, God does not command the church to put to death its members for any sin. God takes sin just as seriously today as He did in the Old Testament. According to 1 Corinthians 5, the church does not stone adulterers in this age but rather the church disciplines them.
Read moreNEW Review of Paul Scott Wilson's "Law-Gospel View" of Preaching
In Scott M. Gibson’s and Matthew D. Kim’s Homiletics and Hermeneutics (Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition, 2018) Paul Scott Wilson presents his view of interpreting and preaching called the Law-Gospel view. Wilson’s one text, one theme, one doctrine, one need, one image, and one mission is just another way of saying what many homileticians describe as one preaching unit or the text (one text), one MPS (one theme), Argumentation (one doctrine), Interest Step in the Introduction (one need), Illustration (one image), and Application (one mission).
Read moreWhat is the Historical/Grammatical Method of Interpretation?
Roy Zuck in Basic Bible Interpretation noted that “In the Middle Ages words, phrases, and sentences in the bible had taken on multiple meanings, losing all sense of objectivity.”[1] All of the multiple meanings could not be correct. In chapter three, Zuck asked, “Whose view is valid?” All of the views are not valid.
Read moreHow are Salvation history and the Redemptive-Historical Method of Interpretation connected?
Salvation history is a theological history of God saving fallen humanity that includes creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. The Redemptive-Historical Method converts that view of biblical theology into a method of interpretation, which requires each text be interpreted through the hermeneutic grid of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.
Read moreNEW Review of Abraham Kuruvilla’s “Christiconic View” of Preaching
This is a review of Abraham Kuruvilla’s “Chisticonic View” in Hermeneutics and Homiletics: Four Views of Preaching. Kuruvilla brings some important corrections to the Christocentric view, but he agrees with the Christocentric on some points. This review will highlight these differences.
Read moreNEW Review of Bryan Chapell's "Redemptive-Historical View" of Preaching
This post is a review of “Redemptive-Historic View” by Bryan Chapell in Scott M. Gibson’s and Matthew D. Kim’s Homiletics and Hermeneutics: Four Views on Preaching Today.
I agree with Byran Chapell when he warns that the redemptive-historical view of forcing Christ into every text has “been abused, in ways that are now obvious to us, by ancient allegorism that sought to make Jesus ‘magically’ appear in every Bible passage through exegetical acrobatics that stretched logic, imagination, and credulity.”[1] This is a candid admission.
Read moreWhat is the letter from the Laodicans?
The possibility of Ephesians being an encyclical letter which therefore could argue for the epistle from the Laodicea being, in reality, the Ephesians epistle has been mentioned several times with good arguments. Dr. Robert Gromacki provides the other view that Ephesians was not an encyclical letter in his introduction to Ephesians.
Read moreTwo Contrasting Hermeneutics
Allegorical Method of Interpretation
There are two conflicting methods of interpreting Scripture: The grammatical-historical method and the allegorical method. The grammatical-historical method is the method Roy Zuck is teaching in the book of our review “Basic Bible Interpretation.” This method interprets Scripture in the normal sense of language.
Read moreIs Exemplary Preaching Subpar or even Demonic?
Is using examples from the Old Testament wrong in preaching, in forming beliefs, or using in ministry? There are two schools of hermeneutics on this subject. I have copied from another one of my blog posts (with my permission) to contrast these two views.
Read moreThe Bible Interpretation Principle of Progressive Revelation
A. J. Jacobs gave what is now a well-known TED talk on My Year of Living the Bible in December 2007. He turned the speech into a book entitled: The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible. This book was on the NYT bestseller’s list for three months.
Read moreThe Influence of Augustine’s hermeneutic on contemporary evangelical theology
John Walvoord writes: “Augustine is, then, the first theologian of solid influence who adopted amillennialism.”[1] Walvoord also acknowledges the negative influence of Augustine, when he notes that Augustine “in fact, occasioned the shelving of premillennialism by most of the organized church.”[2]
Read moreNEW: The Historical/Grammatical Hermeneutic, Part One
It is becoming common to hear preachers “finding Jesus” in every text of Scripture. Many name recognized Bible Scholars and popular writers advocate a Christological hermeneutic that forces Christ onto every text. Albert Mohler in He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World wrote:
Every single text of Scripture points to Christ. He is the Lord of all, and therefore He is the Lord of the Scriptures too. From Moses to the prophets, He is the focus of every single word of the Bible. Every verse of Scripture finds its fulfillment in Him, and every story in the Bible ends with Him.[1]
Read moreText-Driven (Grammatical-Historical Hermeneutic) Preaching
It is becoming common to hear preachers “finding Jesus” in every text of Scripture. Many name recognized Bible Scholars and popular writers advocate a Christological hermeneutic that forces Christ onto every text. Albert Mohler in He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World wrote:
Every single text of Scripture points to Christ. He is the Lord of all, and therefore He is the Lord of the Scriptures too. From Moses to the prophets, He is the focus of every single word of the Bible. Every verse of Scripture finds its fulfillment in Him, and every story in the Bible ends with Him.[1]
Read moreFIVE PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION
Philip asks the Ethiopian eunuch a hermeneutic question, “Do you understand what you are reading?” The eunuch’s response, “How can I…unless some man explain it to me” (Acts 8:31)?
John in 1 John 2:27 does not contradict: “The anointing which you have received of him abides in you, and you need not that any man teach you.”
Wayne Grudem: "The clarity of Scripture means that the Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who will read it" (Systematic Theology, p. 108).
Read more