One of the main areas of study I did in college was HERMENEUTICS. That big word simply means “the science and art of interpretation”. You use it every time you read something, such as this blog, a newspaper, technical manual, a textbook or whatever. Since your head is already into what you’re reading in a newspaper, you really don’t have to work at understanding it because you already know the CONTEXT.
CONTEXT is the key when trying to understand anything you read. So when you’re reading ancient documents like the Bible, there’s a bit more involved that has to do with KNOWING THE ANCIENT CONTEXT, so you have to dig into the history, language, customs, etc. It’s kind of like detective work.
For most of us, doing that historical detective work is difficult because we don’t have the resources and tools at our fingertips. So we have to rely on experts or scholars to do it for us. Regardless of the authorities or sources you use, THE KEY IS TO GET THE CORRECT FACTS ABOUT THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT in order to get your head into what the ancient writers are saying.
Even after many years of studying the Bible, I still have difficulty interpreting the texts, especially the New Testament. There are two reasons for that:
- I have PRECONCEIVED IDEAS about the context, having been told what the words mean from my profs in college, which, for the most part, caused me to attach the wrong meanings to the words (this is called COGNITIVE DISSONANCE).
- I really don’t know much about the historical context.
In college, they basically told us WHAT to think, not HOW to think. Basically, colleges are PROPAGANDA MILLS. Bible college failed to teach me adequate historical facts about the Bible, but instead substituted RELIGIOUS PROPAGANDA. They teach you WHAT TO BELIEVE. And every DENOMINATION has a different DOGMA of BELIEFS. That, combined with EGO, is what DIVIDES the churches today. The churches do the same thing to their parishioners. And why not? It’s what the ministers learned in college and seminary, so what else can you expect? It’s a simple computer phenomena: GIGO … Garbage in, Garbage out! That’s why there are so many divisions among the churches today. Technically, it’s called ‘denominationalism’. Is Christ divided? Is that kind of church the real thing? I’ll leave that for you to decide. Meanwhile, here’s what the apostle Paul says about it:
10 Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized [i]in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one would say you were baptized [k]in my name. 16 Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. (1 Corinthians 1)
Paul gives the antidote to this: BE OF THE SAME MIND/JUDGMENT. The antidote has to do with YOUR MENTAL CONTENT (“mind”) and your WORLD-VIEW (“judgment”). THAT is what the colleges and seminaries are supposed to teach us, IF they’re obeying the Bible. Instead, the kind of thinking (mind and judgment) I learned in college is called theology. I’m not much into theology any longer. Theology really doesn’t do justice to the Biblical text. In fact, it detracts from it. I found theology to be one of the curses of the churches. Theology surely doesn’t help you understand what you’re reading in the Bible. It causes you to be blinded to what the Bible actually says! It’s a simple matter of human mental tradition overriding Biblical reality. Like I said: PROPAGANDA.
So after many years of trying to figure out how to properly interpret the Bible texts, it finally dawned on me:
YOU HAVE TO KNOW THE LEGAL AND POLITICAL ISSUES OF THE DAY, AND COMBINE THAT INFORMATION WITH THE LITERARY MEANING OF THE TEXT IN ORDER TO ARRIVE AT AN ACCURATE INTERPRETATION. KNOWING THE LANGUAGES IS ALSO IMPORTANT.
Once I learned that, things began making sense. This method works so well, it actually became easy to see how the Bible directly applies to life today. The reason: HUMAN NATURE DOESN’T CHANGE, so neither does politics and law. Not bad for 30+ years of fiddling around in the Bible. Took me long enough!
Believe me when I tell you that I knew very well how to STUDY the Bible, but I really didn’t have a clue how to INTERPRET the Bible. Hopefully you will learn from my mistakes!
More on hermeneutics in another post …
Reality Bible 