BT501 - Hermeneutics 1 Flashcards
What is the Difference between General and Special Revelation.
The difference is in Scope and Substance: Gen revelation is what is revealed about God in His creation. It is sufficient enough to hold people accountable for their rejection of God, but not sufficient to show them how to be forgiven from sin.
Special Revelation: words/actions directly from God – sufficient to explain the gospel, but not efficacious to save on its own. (can be encounters, propositional revelation, mighty acts, incarnation)
5 Steps of Special Revelation
- Inspiration
- Transmission
- Translation
- Interpretation
- Application
1 Tim 3:15-16
All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
1 Corinthians 2:12-13
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God, And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
*inspiration is revelation from God
What is Inspiration?
The concurrent act between the Holy Spirit and a (fallen) human author whereby the Holy Spirit so moves the human author that God gets exactly what He wants without destroying or overwhelming the personality of the human author. The result is a text that is simultaneously and fully both divine and human.
What is Transmission?
The writing down of the Holy Spirits prompting into words by the biblical authors.
What is Translation?
The reconveyance of a text’s meaning, message, and act in one language into a different language.
What is Interpretation?
The quest to discover the meaning that has been conveyed by the authors in a text.
What is Application?
Being a doer of the word!!!
What is Hermeneutics?
The science and art of biblical interpretation.
Science because there are rules and an orderly system, and it takes skill.
Art because it is not an exact science, and it’s a contested science.
What is a hermeneutical realist?
meaning is prior to, and independent of interpretation. Fixed.
What is the assault on contemporary hermeneutics on the concept of the author?
The authors represent authority. Authority is always authoritarian and coercive and must be denied.
The author doesn’t determine the meaning, it is the reader who determines it.
Difference between formal equivalence and dynamic equivalence?
Formal: word-for-word (more word accurate, harder to read) NASB
Dynamic: thought-for-thought (easier to read, less word accurate) NIV
What are the qualities of a good translation? (8)
- Should be based on the best hebrew/greek manuscripts
- Should be based on the latest knowledge of language and culture
- Should be accurate
- Should be Understandable
- Should be Contemporary (not shakesperian)
- Should be Universal (not limited to narrow dialect – use general words? Grain instead of wheat/corn)
- Should be dignified (shouldnt use crude language for shock effect)
- Should avoid theological bias
What are the 3 components of Speech-Act Theory
Locution: The saying of the word
Illocution: The intended effect of the word
Prelocution: The response to the word.
What is Biblical Theology?
Looking at one particular event in relation to the total picture. It allows us to relate any Bible story to the whole message of the bible, and therefore to ourselves.
We cannot interpret the bible without understanding the bible.
Explain the centrality of Jesus Christ in the story of scripture – how does his role fit into the proper interpretation of scripture?
The bible is the story of God’s redemptive plan for His creation, and that plan is Jesus. The whole bible points to Him, and this fact should play a major role in interpreting scripture.
Why is Historical-Cultural context important?
We are situated in a specific place in time, reading words written by people situated in a different culture.
What is Accommodation?
God is God and we are not.. God uses things in human language to explain things about God in order to help us understand him
Anthropomorphism, Zoomorphism, Anthropopathism
Anthropomorphism: assigning human features to God (arms, hands…)
Zoomorphism: assigning animal features to God (wings…)
Anthropopathism: assigning human passions/emotions to God (jealousy, anger…) [fake news]
What is canonicity? who determines it? by what factors is it recognized?
Canonicity is the inclusion of a particular text in the canon of scripture.
The church doesn’t decide what is canon - it recognizes what God has given as canon.
Recognized by: Authorship, Truth, Consistency with OT and NT, Agreement from other churches
Deuteronomy 29:29
The secret things belong to God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children, that we ma do all the words of this law.
*So there is a separation between the mind of God and the mind of man. But this is overcome by revelation.
Joshua 1:8
This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
1) The angel of the lord to Joshua before he enters the promised land to conquer it.
2) Gods word should be desired, focused on. he is our strength and source
Nehemiah 8:7-8
Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin.. the Levites, helped the people to understand the Law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God clearly, and they gave the sense so that the people understood the reading.
Post exile Judah doesn’t know how to read Hebrew – or much about their God/story. These people do the work of clearly reading, then “giving the sense,” interpreting what the scripture means.
Isaiah 55:10-11
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which i purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
1) God accomplishes things with His speech
2) That accomplishment is certain
Luke 24: 26-27, 44-47
Road to Emmaus. all scripture points to jesus
2 Peter 1:20-21
Knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Axiom 1: Your Hermeneutics will flow directly from your convictions on inspiration
how we interpret the bible depends on where we think it’s origin is. is it just human words, or words from God?
Axiom 2: Hermeneutics is, first and foremost, a theological endeavor
Theology dictates how we interpret (see axiom 1), and how we interpret dictates our theology – if we want to interpret scripture correctly, we must have a correct understanding of who God is and who we are
Axiom 3: The Bible is God’s speech to us where God engauges us
God wants to communicate with us – to deliver special revelation to us. The bible is the primary vehicle for that communication. Not just info about God – engaging with Him.
Axiom 4: One of the first questions of interpretation is “What is God doing in this text?”
Based on what we believe about inspiration, and our position on hermeneutical realism, we believe ALL scripture has meaning – something God wants communicating to His people. We are searching for that meaning when we interpret (not “what does this mean to me?”
Axiom 5: We cannot interpret the Bible correctly unless we understand the story of Scripture as a whole
Understanding that the bible is God redemptive plan, and that all scripture points towards that plan in Christ, gives us our foundation for interpretation. (the question becomes “how?”)
Axiom 6: Hermeneutics is intuitive and not complicated. We are not Gnostics!!!
Everything we need is in the bible, and speaks to the HS within us. (1 Cor 2:12-13)
Axiom 7: Faithful Bible interpreters must be fervent Bible readers
SPEND TIME IN HIS WORD – make it your hobby
Axiom 8: The three most important things in hermeneutics are context, context, and context
we interpret the bible by looking at context
Axiom 9: There is a progress to revelation and redemptive history. Pay attention to it!
Ask “where am i in the story? what covenant? what section?”
Axiom 10: For the interpretation of a biblical text to be valid, it must be consistent with the historical-cultural context.
we can’t interpret something via our histo-cultural context.. it would have had to make sense to the original audience.
Axiom 11: The first and best place to look for the historical-cultural context is in scripture itself.
we interpret scripture first with scripture. Inside before outside
Axiom 12: Words have meanings, not meaning. But they have meaning in context.
the same word can mean different things – so we have to figure out what the word means in its setting.
[semantic range]
How was the OT canon recognized? (originally and confirmed)
Jesus seems to affirm the canon extends from Gen-chronicles (first recorded murder to last) Luke 11:50-51
The Jewish Tanakh
written by prophet or someone recognized as having divine authority
How was the NT canon recognized?
Books in circulation for a while.
Muratorian list (2nd century):
Luke (listed as 3rd gospel), John, Acts, 13 Paul, 2 Johannine epistles, 2 Peter epistles, revelation, and jude
Eusebuis modern list (paul author of heb)
written by apostle/associate
