Hermenuetics: 10 Ways NOT to read your bible Flashcards
Are the Old Testament and the new Testament equally applicable?
No
They are equally true, but they are not equally applicable
The old covenant is obsolete and has been superseded by the new covenant
Heb 8:13
By calling this covenant “new”, he has made the first on obsolete, and what is obsolete and aging will soon disappear.”
Only the parts of the old testament, which is repeated in the new testament applies to us today
Old testament laws and promises like Jeremiah 29:11 is true, but not applicable to us today
Descriptions are not prescriptions
The bible contains a lot of descriptions, in that it describes what happened. Like describing the fact that King Solomon and others practiced polygamy
Just because the Bible describes something doesn’t mean that it is prescribing it. The bible does not prescribe polygamy, in facts it forbids it by saying “Do not multiply wives” -Deuteronomy
Personalizing Biblical Text
Reading the bible and personalizing it
The Bible is NOT ABOUT YOU. It’s not a book of personal fortunes, blessings, or mystical hints and clues designed to help you get whatever you want.
How NOT to Interpret the Bible
- Reading one verse and ignoring the Context
- Thinking the OT and NT are equally applicable
- Treating descriptions as prescriptions
- Personalizing every text
- Moralizing the Text
- Allegorizing the literal
- Treating the figurative as the Literal
8 Allowing the unclear to overrule the clear
9, Treating proverbs as promises - Forgetting that ALL Scripture is inspired by God
Moralizing Historical Text: Slay the Giant in Your Life
The story of David and Goliath - Slay the Giants in Your Life! (A boss you don’t like, A disease, Poverty, etc.)
YOU ARE NOT DAVID, AND YOUR PROBLEMS ARE NOT GOLIATH.
The old testament traces one blood line, the blood line of the messiah, and the story of David is in there because it is an account of history. The purpose of the text is not to encourage you to SLAY the giants in your life
Moralizing Historical Text: Be a donkey for Jesus
Jesus riding into town on a donkey
Would you be a donkey for Jesus? Would you bring Jesus to the people?
Even though it is true that we should bring Jesus to people, It is not what the text teaches. The text itself is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Zachariah
Moralizing Historical Text: Jesus Calms the storm of your life!
Jesus calming the storm on the boat. Is NOT a promise that Jesus is going to calm the storms in your life
Many times Jesus won’t calm the storms in your life, but put you in one, where you might be persecuted or martyred
It is in the bible because it is a historical event. Jesus performed the miracle to show the disciples that He is the Messiah
Jesus’ miracles were to done to confirm him as the messiah, by demonstrating his power over the four core categories of human problems: Sin, Nature, Sickness, Death
Allegorizing the literal:
Treating literal events as if they were figurative
Allegorizing the literal: The resurrection
The resurrection is a metaphor: If you have problems in your life, don’t worry Jesus can resurrect you out of it
Paul says “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins” (1 or. 15:17)
The apostles creed was formulated within a year or two of the historical event.
Jesus’ Death and Resurrection is a historical event, NOT a metaphor
Taking the Figurative Literally: The Face of the Lord
“For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” - 1 Peter 3:12
Some people take this figurative speech literally and think that God has a face, with eyes and ears
God does not have a literal face. It is meant to convey that God sees and hears everything
Physical beings or objects are composed (put together by something outside of themselves) God is not composed, He is the uncreated creator that composes things. He is immaterial , not a physical being.
Being created in God’s image also doesn’t mean that God is a physical being because we are physical, it means that we are a thinking persons with a will and emotions, just as God is and that we have the potential to reflect God’s character and nature. That we are moral creatures that can create
Taking the Figurative Literally: The Sun revolves around the earth
“The Mighty One, God, the Lord, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to the place where it sets.” Psalm 50:1
Some people take this laterally to mean that the bible teaches that the sun rotates around the earth
This is not what this passage teaches, This passage is poetry and is using observational language, in the same way that a person giving a weather forecast, using observational language would say that “tomorrow the sun will rise in the east and set in the west”. He doesn’t say that “tomorrow the earth will rotate 360 degrees around the sun”
Taking the figuratively Literally: Moses changed God’s Mind
Exodus 32:9-14
The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation” Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people…” [Moses pleads with God not to destroy them]
So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people
People misinterpret this passage to mean that God literally changed his mind.
This text uses observational language. From the perspective of Moses and the People, it seems like God changed his mind, when in reality God never changes. God always knew that Moses would come and pray, and God always knew what He was going to do
It was Moses and the People who changed not God. If you ride your bicycle into the wind, you say the wind is against you, if you turn around and ride the other way you say, the wind is for me. Who changed? You or the Wind?
Don’t you take the Bible literally?
Not literally,but literarily
In the places where it is literal , I take it literally, but in the places it is not I don’t
When you say that “This laptop has cost me an arm and a leg” does that mean that you are a double amputee?
When Jesus says “I am the door” Does that mean Jesus has a door knob and hinges? No it means that He is the way to salvation.
Using the unclear to interpret the clear: Saved by works
Christ saves by Grace through Faith
Rom 3:23-24 Eph 2:8 Gal 2:21 Eph 1:7 2 Thes 2:16 Titus 3:4-7 Gal 5:4 Rom 5:1-2 John 3:16 Mark 10:45
James 2:24 “You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.”
The context:
James 2:14-18
James is talking about demonstrating your faith through works
James 19-23
Even the demons believe, but their faith is not evidenced in their works, as contrasted by Abraham’s faith that was evidenced in his works
Jesus, Paul and the other apostles are talking about the means of justification, Whereas James is talking about the evidence of justification
Faith = Salvation + works
NOT
faith + works = Salvation
In other words: We are saved by faith alone, but faith is never alone
Treating proverbs as promises
“Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.” Prov 22:6
Proverbs are good advice, but they are not guarantees or promises
Proverbs can increase your chances, but we live in a fallen world and things often go wrong.
