God s Hermeneutic Introduction: Herman who? Hermeneutics: You know?...the study of HOW to interpret the Bible...the method used to arrive at the meaning of the Word of God. People can range all the way from ultra liberal to ultra conservative in their methodologies. Some extremely loose...giving almost no weight to anything the Scriptures say...some extremely legalistic, straining at a gnat, but swallowing a camel in their approach. -- Makes a person wish GOD would give us HIS hermeneutic. Well, He has...in the person of Jesus Christ. When we see how HE approached the handling of Scriptures, we see how WE ought to do the same. I) First, Jesus Attitudes Toward Scriptures...This is important, as it affects HOW He handled the Word. 1. Considered Scripture to be divinely inspired through human writers. A) He attributes David s words in Psalm 110:1 to the Holy Spirit in Mark 12:36. Jesus recognized Scripture as originating in the mind of God...inspired of God. We would do well to do the same. B) Jesus talks of Scripture as preserved from error and the Word of God in all of its parts...even those parts that stretch the credibility of the human mind...such as Jonah s fish experience (Matthew 12:40), Noah and the Flood (Luke 17:26-27), Lot and the destruction of Sodom as well as the fate of Lot s wife...a pillar of salt (Luke 17:29,32). The credibility of the inspired writers is never questioned -- We ought to believe the same way. C) He believed the Divine inspiration extended to the actual verbal and written expressions of the thoughts of the sacred writers. I say this because He based His
defense of the reality of the resurrection of the dead upon the tense of the grammar of Exodus 3:6. If God was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the very moment He was speaking to Moses, though the three had already died, then they must still exist beyond the grave (Matthew 22:32). The argument depends on God having worded His statement and Moses written it in a present tense. -- When Jesus challenged the Pharisees to explain their identity of the Messiah, He focused upon David s use of the single term Lord in Psalm 110:1 If David then calls Him Lord, how is He his son? (Matthew 22:45). His whole point depends upon verbal inspiration. --- On yet another occasion, Jesus was on the verge of being stoned by angry Jews because He identified Himself with deity. His defense was based upon a single word from Psalm 82:6 gods (John 10:34-35). -- Jesus allusion to the jot and tittle of the law in Matthew 5:18, indicates that Jesus not only believed the thought of Scripture, but also the words themselves and the letters that formed those words, were inspired. --- The same may be said of Jesus quotation of Genesis 2:24 in His discourse on divorce. Notice the wording: Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said... (Matthew 19:4-5). The verse to which Jesus alludes occurs immediately after a statement made by Adam. No indication is given in the text that the words are a direct quote of God. In fact, the words seem to be more a commentary by Moses, the author of Genesis; yet Jesus attributed the words to God. The Genesis passage is not a record of what God said; it is what God said. -- Jesus believed that...i do, too. 2. Jesus regarded Scripture as authoritative and men are obligated to follow its precepts. When He described Abraham s conversation with the rich man in Hades, He quotes Abraham as saying... They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them (Luke 16:29). Interesting: Abraham (who lived 1000 years before Moses) says that the rich man s brothers have Moses and the prophets...to whom they must
heed if they wish to avoid his torment. -- On another occasion Jesus declared, O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! (Luke 24:25). -- Many instances demonstrate Jesus recognition of the authority of Scripture. He would frequently say that something had to happen so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. -- But, perhaps the most striking proof that Jesus viewed Scripture as authoritative is the occasion when He ascribed legal authority to the entirety of Scripture by maintaining that the Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). Scripture s authority is final and irrevocable. It governs all of life and will be fulfilled, come what may. That is what Jesus thought...me, too. 3. Jesus also viewed Scripture as settling In Matt. 9:13, He prodded the Pharisees to consult Hosea 6:6 go and learn what this means. Like that should settle it. -- Listen to these quotes of Jesus...Matthew 21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; This was from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes?... Matthew 22:29 But Jesus answered and said unto them, You do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God...So ought we to see the Scriptures as proof...settling any debate. II) The HOW TO Part Of The Lesson ** Let us look at the mechanics of interpretation Jesus employed...many of you have gone through my lengthy study of this, but I wish to give you just the condensed version now...highlighting only that learned from observing how Jesus interpreted Scripture. 1. The Temptation Of Jesus In The Wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11) A) Stones to bread (3-4)...show verses on slides
Appeals to a general principle...stated in Deuteronomy 8:3. - We, too will need to realize that many issues of life and religion will need to be addressed through application of principles...not specific commandments. Also notice how Jesus uses his powers of logic to make a decision about this matter. He reasons from a principle how God would have him respond to this situation. We too are called upon by God to make discernment of good and evil from exercising our mental senses with the word. - See Hebrews 5:12-14 And third, he uses a passage dealing with matters not specifically like the one he is encountering, but with similarities. He sees that the example of things spoken to Moses and Israel as having a bearing on Him 1500 years later. Paul says this is so in I Cor. 10:11. We too read in the NT examples of things said to say, the seven churches of Asia in Revelation or to individuals such as Timothy and Titus, and we need to make application when similar circumstances occur today though not specifically addressed to us originally. B) Jump from the temple (5-7) First, observe how Jesus thinks even when Scripture is being used by someone...all Scripture must be harmonized. No interpretation of one verse must cause another to be broken. A cardinal rule of sound bible interpretation. Second, proper respect for context is a must. Though quoting the Psalm accurately, the circumstances are not the same, the intent is not being respected, etc. This shows once again how logic has to be applied to Bible study. Reasoning skills are meant to be applied. Context MUST always be considered...and that requires some thinking. He also employs deductive reasoning in response to the Devil s use of Scripture and even the use of his own verse...if I do what you say the Psalm permits me to do...then that amounts to testing God...and testing God is wrong.
The command not to put the Lord to the test is a straightforward statement and YES, the Bible does sometimes use that approach...but even those require understanding. Jesus once said, What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? (Lk. 10:26). C) Worshiping Satan (8-10) Once again an example of a past situation is being considered and applied to a modern one. What Moses said to Israel in the wilderness, Jesus sees as current to Him. On another occasion Jesus said, Well, did Isaiah prophesy of YOU (Matthew 15:7)...In Matthew 22:31 He says have you not read what was spoken to YOU by God. -- We too will have examples in the NT of things spoken to or about first century Christians that need to be considered in our time as spoken to US! Also notice Jesus respect of silence...what God did NOT say. -- When Jesus was tempted to fall down and worship the devil, he answers with a scripture saying, "You shall worship the Lord, your God, and Him only you shall serve" (NKJV). The scripture Jesus quotes is Deuteronomy 6:13, which actually reads this way... "You shall fear the Lord your God; and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name". It was not an explicit statement that prohibited the worship of the devil. It was a positive teaching stating who was to be worshiped. But, Jesus sees this as excluding all others, including the devil...unless some other scripture can be given. The word "only" is not in the text of Deuteronomy that Jesus quoted. Jesus adds it when he quotes it to the devil..for He understood the silence of Scriptures. It was not necessary for all of the gods that ever have been worshiped by men to be enumerated and specifically prohibited to make such wrong. Another instance of respect for God s silence...in Matthew 21:12-13, Jesus rids the temple of the merchandizing going on there by quoting Scripture that says, My house shall be called a house of prayer...but YOU have made it a den of thieves. I feel certain that the temple still had prayers...but the people had added buying
and selling, something God had been silent on. Scripture tells what is right, not necessarily everything that is wrong. 2. Consideration of Weight A. Read Matt 9:11-13...Was eating with sinners really forbidden by the Law? We know that not to be so, otherwise Jesus is sinning. But, notice how His mind works...jesus quotes Hosea 6:6 as His authority to eat with sinners...a passage dealing with mercy. B) In Matt 22:35-40 Jesus says that all commandments hang on two greater. C) We see in Matthew 23:23-24...straining at a gnat, but swallowing a camel is not at all how Scripture is to be handled. There are weightier matters of the Law. 3. Use of Implications and Inferences We have already noticed how every case of Jesus use of Old Testament Scripture to counter Satan s temptations required proper reasoning and drawing of correct conclusions implied by the explicit statements. Let s notice this more... Read Matthew 12:1-9... Jesus implied that if the Pharisees accepted David, who clearly violated Old Testament law in eating the holy showbread, and understood the priests can eat it without blame, then they should have no problem accepting the disciples, who did not violate Old Testament law in eating the heads of grain as they walked through the fields on the sabbath. -- In Matthew 22:23-32, Jesus draws an inference from the burning bush passage, that since God declared Himself to Moses to be presently the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, then they were still in existence. He also inferred that if they were still in existence after their physical deaths, then resurrection of the dead is factual. Further, in context,
the burning bush record is being spoken to identify who is sending Moses to Egypt to deliver the Israelites, not a statement of the truth of a resurrection. Implications galore! In Matthew 22:41-45, in response to Jesus question, the Pharisees identified the Christ as David s son, no doubt alluding to 2 Samuel 7:11-17. Jesus cited Psalm 110:1 in order to encourage the Pharisees to fit two distinct concepts together by reasoning correctly about them and inferring what they clearly implied. Notice also that in its original context, Psalm 110:1 referred to the supremacy and conquest of the Messiah over the world. But Jesus focused upon an implication of the passages that the Messiah would be both physically descended from David and yet Lord over David. In Matt. 19:6, when the Pharisees asked Him about divorce, he quoted Genesis 2:24 and concluded this by deductive reasoning... Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate. The Pharisees objected to His application of that passage and tried to circumvent it by appealing to what Moses permitted, but Jesus insisted that the statement of Genesis 2:24 revealed God s intention for men. CONCLUSION With diligent, rational study, we can arrive at the truth on any subject that is vital to our spiritual well-being. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, demonstrated hermeneutical principles in His own attitude toward and use of Scripture that we will do well to adopt and make our own. May God bless us in our efforts to conform ourselves to the hermeneutical principles of Jesus.