This is part 2 of his series in Hermeneutics on how to interpret the Bible. He gives precise information on how to take texts and keep them in context of the Scriptural meaning.

<p>This is part 2 of his series in Hermeneutics on how to interpret the Bible. He gives precise information on how to take texts and keep them in context of the Scriptural meaning.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Weimar University

Hermeneutics

Jim Howard

The Inspiration and Authority of Scripture - Part 1

Herman Who? An Introduction to Hermeneutics - Part 2

The New Hermeneutics: Whatever It Takes - Part 3

Sharing the Bible Truth is Not a Spiritual Gift - Part 4

Father in heaven, we're so grateful that you have given us your mercies again this morning.

Thank you, Father, for the gift of life and breath and all else.

We know that without you, we would be able to do nothing and we certainly would not be able to understand your Word.

We're praying for rain, Father, for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

We're praying for hearts that are open to be teachable and humble.

And so please, Lord, we just ask this morning that you would do a work in us by your word that will help each of us to know that we've been in the presence of Jesus.

Alright this morning, last night we talked about the inspiration of the Bible and the fact that the Bible is fully inspired and therefore the Bible is fully authoritative.

And that is essential, It's the foundation to any right interpretation of the Bible.

And we're going to talk about that eight-cylinder word, hermeneutics, that scholars use to describe the process of studying the Bible to come to a proper conclusion.

And I think it's worth us just looking for a moment at why this is significant for us.

So take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Timothy 2.

I said 1 Timothy and that's why I did it, because it's right there on my slide, Don, but I meant 2 Timothy.

2 Timothy 2, and we're going to look at v.

It says, Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

This tells us that there is a right way and there is a wrong way to interpret the Bible if it tells us anything.

And so we want to be those who are approved of God and who are rightly dividing, rightly interpreting what the Bible says.

There's a danger that we would wrongly interpret.

2 Peter 3 is where I briefly referenced last night the Apostle Peter speaks of the Apostle Paul and how in his writings there are some things hard to understand.

And specifically, if you look at 2 Peter 3, he says in verse 16, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to what?

To their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the scriptures.

So you twist the scriptures at your own peril.

And that is clearly taught by the Apostle.

There's no way we can say I'm safe as long as I'm in the Bible.

No, we're only safe if we rightly interpret the Bible.

And then of course there's 2 Timothy that we referenced last night that says that the last days, and this is in chapter 4 verses 3 and 4, are characterized by those who have itching ears and will not, what?

So you have this picture given in the Bible that there is a right way and a wrong way to interpret the Bible.

The scriptures can be twisted and in fact at the end of time there are people who will heap up teachers who are twisting the scripture because they have itching ears and are not able to endure the truth.

You see Jesus said that the world would hate us, that we would be set apart from the world by the truth and that the word is truth.

So rightly interpreting the Bible requires integrity.

1 of your favorite verses in the Bible, I know, is Revelation 14, 12, at the end of the third angel's message where the new King James says, here is the what?

Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

Of course the NASB says here is the perseverance of the saints.

And the NIV says this calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God.

These are the words used to describe those who must endure the frown of the culture at the end of time.

They must, in order to rightly interpret the Bible, have patient endurance.

They must be able to endure sound doctrine.

It's not something that comes wonderfully to us and makes us popular.

That's why there's so much distortion in terms of scripture is because it requires much endurance to accept what it says.

Now Ellen White endorsed a particular set of principles for interpreting the Bible and you can find this in Great Controversy page 320 where she talks about it, but she references William Miller and the way that he came to his conclusions in the Bible and she gave great approval to his method of interpretation.

Here from Review and Herald November 25, 1884 I'm showing you on the screen Father Miller's rules of interpreting the Bible.

He says, number 1, every word must have its proper bearing on the subject presented in the Bible.

You remember us, if you were here last night, talking about how all scripture is given by inspiration of God and how we are not to live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." So we have this emphasis.

On the road to Emmaus, they were foolish because they didn't believe in all that the prophets had spoken.

All scripture is necessary and may be understood by diligent application and study.

Number 3, nothing revealed in scripture can or will be hid from those who ask in faith, not wavering.

Number 4, to understand doctrine, bring all the scriptures together on the subject you wish to know, then let every word have its proper influence.

And if you can form your theory without a contradiction, you cannot be in error.

Number 5, Scripture must be its own expositor since it is a rule of itself.

If I depend on a teacher to expound it to me, and he should guess at its meaning, or desire to have it so on account of his sectarian creed, or to be thought wise, then his guessing, desire, creed, or wisdom is my rule, and not the Bible." So he's very clear.

We must let every word have its proper bearing.

All the scriptures must be brought together.

And this is the key to what he is saying.

When you bring all of the inspired evidence together, it narrows the possibilities of what the Bible is meaning.

You see, there are some people who they read, say, in the book of Revelation, and You know, they say, that beast, you know, represents such and such.

And they, you know, highlight something happening in the world today in modern news and what have you to try and identify the prophetic symbol.

But we as Seventh-day Adventists who take all scripture and have that in our heads as a hermeneutical principle, we will look to where it says that a beast represents a kingdom.

You know, we will not just take that verse by itself, but we will begin to look at other passages that help us to identify what it can or cannot be.

And the more texts that you have on any point, the more narrow your options of what the text meaning might be.

And that's the beauty of comparing Scripture with Scripture and that's the beauty for the Seventh-day Adventist Church of having identified and proven Ellen White as having prophetic authority is because we can now incorporate that into the inspired evidence and it makes it very helpful for us to come to a meaning and this is what Father Miller is describing in his Bible study method is bring everything together.

You can't let somebody else's view or opinion or your own ability to judge what's inspired or not inspired Determine the truth because if you do that, then the authority lies not with the Bible, but with you, that's his point.

So, let me just give you a few, 5 actually, simple steps to interpret the Bible.

And all I've done is written down the common sense that is in your head.

You know, we have these seminars and whatever, but this is just makes sense, okay?

Number 1, read the Bible for its plain or literal meaning.

And, oh yeah, I have a great controversy quote on this.

If men would take the Bible as it reads, if there were no false teachers to mislead and confuse their minds, a work would be accomplished that would make angels glad and would bring into the fold of Christ thousands upon thousands who are now wandering in error.

The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning unless what?

So as would make sense to any reasonable person, if it's speaking in obvious symbols, then there's going to be a symbolic meaning to the things in that passage.

If it's not symbolically written, then it's going to be taken literally.

And here's where the futurists fumble in their understanding of how to interpret the Bible.

You understand that Seventh-day Adventists, when we interpret prophecy, we take this principle that Ellen White just shared of if it's in a prophetic, clearly symbolic passage, then it should be looked at as a symbol.

But when it comes to interpreting these same passages, futurists interpret symbols that are in clearly prophetic passages to be literal.

And this causes all kinds of problems for them.

Such as has been recently spoken about taking the 1260 days literally even though it comes in a clearly symbolic passage.

Let me give you a reason why, for instance, you can't take the 2300 day prophecy literally.

The question was, how long is the vision in Daniel chapter 8?

Series

Hermeneutics

Herman Who? An Introduction to Hermeneutics - Part 2

Transcript

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Plenary

Sabbath School Q&A Panel

57m

Messengers of Love

59m

Mark Howard: Last Generation Theology

02 The Present Truth

44m

Revelation Today Crusade

19. The Testimony of Pastor Anil Kanda

46m

Sabbath School 2nd Quarter 2026: Growing in a Relationship With God

08 Having Faith

24m

Obey

40m

Continuing the Reformation

Reformation and the Sabbath

1h

Theism, Atheism, and Science

1h 34m

White Salmon

Part 4: Questions and Answers

37m

Hermeneutics - Why it's Important how we Interpret the Bible

Hermeneutics - Why it’s Important how we Interpret the Bible - Part 2

1h 10m

Why We Believe: Exploring the Fundamental Beliefs of the Bible

15 Unity in the Body of Christ

51m

The Future of Adventism: Will Our Biblical Foundation Give Way to Culture?

1. The Future of Adventist Biblical Interpretation

1h 20m

Sound Doctrine