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The Need for Interpretation · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to the Deep Dive and thank you for joining us for
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another session and Reform thinking.
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Today we are tackling well a truly fundamental subject.
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We are separated from the authors of Scripture by
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millennia, by language barriers, and by these vast cultural
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differences. So the single critical question
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we really have to address is this.
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How do we, as modern readers, correctly understand the message
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written in the Bible without, you know, imposing our own world
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onto the ancient texts? That is absolutely the right
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starting point, because if we get the method wrong, we risk
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hearing our own voices instead of gods.
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Exactly. We've gathered sources focused
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squarely on hermeneutics, which is the systematic principles
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required for interpretation. And this isn't just theoretical
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window dressing, This is the core strategy that lets us
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recover the original authors intended communication.
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I mean, when we discuss God speaking through specific human
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authors in specific historical context, we need a reliable
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process to make sure we are hearing his voice clearly.
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So our mission today is to provide you with the tools
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needed to engage in that process deliberately.
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We need to unpack why this field of study is considered both an
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art and a science. We also want to introduce the
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linguistic framework that defines meaning, which the
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source is called speech Act theory, and maybe most
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critically, identify the massive distances of time, culture, and
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language we have to bridge to grasp God's Word accurately
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today. Yeah, we're really looking for
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the method that takes reading from just a casual intuition to
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an accurate, rigorous understanding.
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Let's begin with the term itself, then hermeneutics.
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Simply put, it's the task of explaining the meaning of the
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Scriptures. It's the set of guiding
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principles we use to understand what any message, whether it's
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written or oral or even visual, was trying to convey to its
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original audience. I always find the origin of a
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term so insightful. This one comes from the Greek
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verb her money you, which means to explain, interpret, or
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translate. And we actually see that
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interpretive action reflected right there in the Bible itself,
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don't we? Oh absolutely.
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The need for interpretation is an internal biblical concern.
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I mean just look at Luke chapter 24.
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After the resurrection, Jesus meets 2 disciples on the road to
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Emmaus and the text says that he explained that's our word,
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hermano, the things concerning himself and all the.
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Scriptures. He was clarifying the Old
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Testament for them. He was, and similarly, Paul uses
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the related noun hermania, which is interpretation or
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translation, when he's discussing the gifts of the
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Spirit in First Corinthians 12. He's stressing the need for
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clarity in public communication. So this confirms that the act of
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bringing clarity and shared meaning has always been
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necessary for God's people. OK, so if that process has
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always been required, why do our sources insist that this task is
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simultaneously an art in a science?
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That sounds a little contradictory.
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You know science implies fixed rules while art implies
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subjective skill. That dual nature is essential
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because communication itself is both structured and, well,
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highly nuanced. We need the science to handle
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the fixed elements, and we need the art to handle the fluidity
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of human expression. Let's define the science
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component first then. Sure.
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The science component relies on a systematic set of rules,
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principles, methods and tactics to decode the message.
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Think of language itself. Communication uses predictable
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structures. Grammar, syntax, spelling,
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agreed upon definitions. These are the fixed codes.
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So if you write CAT, the rules of English demand that I decode
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that as cat. That's the science at work, yes.
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That sounds like basic grammar school analysis.
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So how does that translate to a systematic biblical
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interpretation? It translates to establishing a
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deliberate procedure. We didn't have a systematic set
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of agreed upon principles like, say, always defining words based
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on their historical use, or always reading a sentence
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according to its grammatical structure.
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Then understanding would only happen randomly.
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It'd be a game of chance A. Complete game of chance.
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So hermeneutics as a science provides a fixed, repeatable
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methodology. It provides the standards for
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analyzing the grammatical and historical structures of the
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text, so that if two competent interpreters apply the same
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rules, they should arrive at the same basic understanding of what
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the words mean. And that's critical for
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maintaining the objectivity of Scripture.
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But if we rely only on the rules, we fall into the trap of
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thinking language is purely mathematical and we risk missing
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the spirit behind the text. So that must be where the art
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takes over. Precisely.
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Interpretation functions as an art because human communication,
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even communication within fixed rules, can't be reduced solely
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to precise, quantifiable measures.
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The art accounts for the nuances, the implications and
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the subjective factors that govern how we use language.
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So we're talking about context and intention here, aren't we?
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We are. Consider the illustration from
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the outline, the simple phrase I love you.
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The mechanical rules about the definitions of those 3 words are
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static, but a mechanical rule set can't correctly distinguish
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the depth or the obligation or the implications of those words
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when they're spoken by, say, a newlywed husband versus a
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distant colleague. Or a friend who is just
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expressing affection. Exactly.
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The art is the skill required to perceive the unwritten context.
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It demands a sensitivity to the social landscape surrounding the
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words. So the art requires the
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interpreter to understand the specific cultural codes.
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Yes, for us to read an ancient text, the art must bridge the
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immense linguistic, historical, social, and cultural gaps that
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separate the biblical world from our own.
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If you fail to grasp that saying you are the salt of the earth in
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Matthew 5 relates not just a flavor but also to preservation
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and value in that agrarian economy, you miss the full force
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of the statement. So the science defines the
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words. And the art applies historical
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skill and contextual awareness to determine the force of those
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words. The interpreter has to possess
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the skill and insight needed to grasp the message fully without
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distorting it by imposing a modern or personal framework.
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So the science gives us the methodology and the fixed
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standards for analysis, which ensures stability and
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objectivity, and the art requires the human skill and the
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acquired contextual awareness to bring the text to life and
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prevent it from just being a collection of dead rules.
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And we absolutely need both. All right, now that we have the
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Art and science framework, let's unpack how a message actually
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works. Our sources use the triad of
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speech act theory to analyze communication, and they break it
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down into 3 distinct layers, locution, ilocution, and
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erlocution. I find this framework incredibly
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useful because it forces us to separate the word from the
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intention and from the effect. This is a powerful tool.
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It helps us understand that interpretation isn't just about
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reading words, it's about discerning acts.
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We always have to distinguish between the act of saying
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something, the mechanical utterance, and the intention
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behind that act. The purpose?
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Let's start with the most basic element, then locution.
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Locution refers simply to what is spoken or written.
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It is the string of words, the sentences, or the complete
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discourse that makes up the statement.
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In biblical terms, the locution is the written text itself, the
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words on the page, the collection of nouns, verbs,
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conjunctions. And crucially, this is the fixed
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anchor we have left, right? Yeah, this is all we've got.
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Yes, and this cannot be overstated.
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The locution is the only part of the original communication that
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modern interpreters still possess in its original form.
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The authors are inaccessible, the original hearers are gone.
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All we have are the words they used.
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So when Jesus asserts in Matthew 5.14 you are the light of the
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world, that sentence fixed on the page, that is the locution.
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That's it. And that leads us to the second
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element Ilocution, which is where interpretation really
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starts to happen. And Ilocution identifies the
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intention the speaker or writer had in using those specific
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words, and so the author was trying to do for or to the
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readers. It gets at the real purpose
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behind the words. Yes, this is the content, the
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meaning we're trying to recover. When a preacher stands up, he
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isn't just reciting sounds. That's locution he intends to
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instruct or encourage or admonish.
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That's elocution. OK.
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Following our biblical example, if the locution is you are the
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light of the world, what was Jesus's elocution?
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Jesus's elocution was likely to encourage and charge his
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disciples to live distinctive lives, you know, to brighten up
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their world by doing good deeds, or maybe to inform them of their
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new corporate identity as his representatives.
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He wasn't giving them a geographical fact, He was giving
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them a moral and communal mandate.
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We can see this even clearer in a non biblical example when a
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judge says I sentence you to 10 years, the locution is just a
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simple sentence. The elocution is the legal act
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of imposing illegally binding punishment.
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That's a perfect distinction. Now the final layer is
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perlocution. This addresses the desired
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outcome. So perlocution refers to what
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the speaker or writer envisioned the outcome or results to be for
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the listener or reader. It's the effect that
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communication was designed to achieve.
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That's it. So while Jesus intended to
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charge and inform the disciples, that's the elocution.
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He envisioned the perlocution being that they would engage in
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good works that displayed their devotion to God's Kingdom.
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The perlocution is the implementation of the message in
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the world. And back to the judge example,
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yeah, the perlocution is the prisoner actually being
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incarcerated and completing that 10 year term.
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Correct. The triad is essential because
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interpretation of Scripture hinges on using the locution,
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the written fixed text, to reconstruct the author's most
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likely elocution and perlocution.
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We have to spend our time trying to reverse engineer the intent
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and the intended result from the words we have on the page.
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And this framework already suggests the immense difficulty
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of biblical study. It means we can't just stop at
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defining the words. We have to figure out what John
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or Paul or Moses was actually doing when he wrote those words
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and what he wanted the original recipients to do in response.
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That's absolutely right. And before we can even begin the
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challenging work of reconstructing ancient
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elocution, we have to grasp the basic meaning of the words
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within the locution itself. I mean, words are not simple
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transparent labels, they're complex tools.
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Our sources identify 4 crucial types of word meaning that help
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us analyze the locution accurately and systematically.
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This is where we make sure we aren't confusing a literal
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object with its spiritual or cultural weight.
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Let's start with the easiest one, pillar one referential
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meaning. Referential meaning specifies
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what a word refers to. It points to the actual object
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or entity in the external observable world.
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If I use the word tree, it's referential meaning is the
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specific physical large plant outside your window.
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It's pointing to a singular object.
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So it's the physical, tangible thing being referenced.
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Color 2 denotative meaning seems very similar, but it's subtly
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different, isn't it? It is a slight but vital shift.
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Denotative meaning is the precise or direct meaning of the
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word. It's the specific standard
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definition that defines its class or category.
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The word tree denotes a woody perennial plant with an erect
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main stem and branches. And crucially, a word can have
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multiple denotative meanings across different contexts, like
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the difference between a botanical tree and a family
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tree, or a tree diagram in computer science.
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That's the dictionary definition basically, often covering a set
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of characteristics. Now where things get colorful is
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pillar 3. Connotative meaning ah.
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Yes, connotative meaning is where the cultural and emotional
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freight comes in. It is the suggestive sense that
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grows out of of the denotative meaning, including emotional
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overtones or cultural associations that go far beyond
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the strict definition. Give us a biblical example
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again. OK, so when Peter says Jesus
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died on a tree in first Peter 2.24, the word has a physical
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referent woody object and a denotative meaning a large
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plant. But the context demands a highly
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charged connotative meaning, the crucifixion, the cross, or the
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curse that's spoken of in Deuteronomy.
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The word instantly evokes suffering, sacrifice and
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theological weight that far exceeds the simple botanical
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term. We see that everywhere in
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language. The word home denotes a physical
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structure, but it connotes warmth or safety or family.
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If a biblical writer uses a word with a strong connotation,
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ignoring that emotional layer means you miss a huge part of
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the message. Absolutely.
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The interpreter has to be sensitive to the emotional and
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cultural resonance a word carried for the original
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audience. And finally, we arrive at biller
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for contextual meaning. This seems to be the highest
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priority for the interpreter as it, you know, limits the
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possibilities. It is the ultimate decision
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maker. Contextual meaning is the
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specific sense suggested by the words used in a particular
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context that limits it to one of the other three meanings.
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The surrounding text acts like a filtration system.
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So if the locution is I planted an apple tree, the context of
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planted an apple dictates that we have to use the denotative,
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meaning the woody perennial. Correct, but if the location is
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Paul saying Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by
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becoming a curse for us, for it is written cursed is everyone
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who hangs on a tree in Galatians 3.
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Well, the surrounding text forces the connotative meaning
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of cross or execution device. The four pillars force us to
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treat every word as a variable that must be fixed by the system
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of grammatical and literary structures.
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The sentence, the paragraph, the entire book in which it appears.
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OK, we've defined the tools, but we have to address the most
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pivotal question in all of hermeneutics Where does the
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meaning reside? If we don't fix the anchor of
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meaning, all subsequent interpretation can just float
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away into subjectivity. That's right, our sources look
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at 4 primary candidates for the residents of Meaning and this
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choice, well, it determines everything about how one reads
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the Bible. We have four options.
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Meaning resides in the author's intention, in the text itself,
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in the reader's perception, or in a kind of complex combination
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of all three. The first one and the one we
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prefer states that the only correct meaning is the single
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meaning the original author intended.
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The author encoded the message the illocution and determined
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the hoped for result, the perlocution.
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The second option suggests the text is autonomous.
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Once it's written, the meaning resides independently in the
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words, regardless of what the author originally intended or
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how the reader understands it. The third is the most difficult
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for theological stability readers perception.
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This leads to the reader response school of thought,
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which argues that meaning is a function of the reader.
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Readers literally create meaning during the reading process based
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on their own experiences. And the fourth tries to
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synthesize these a dynamic dialogue between the reader and
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the text. For those adhering to Reformed
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thinking and the principles of Sola, Scripture or Scripture
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alone is the final authority. The sources maintain that
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meaning is absolutely anchored in the intended communication
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established by the author. Why is that non negotiable for
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scripture? Why must we reject the idea that
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the reader creates the meaning? Because if we believe God is
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communicating stable, objective truth, then that truth must be
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discernible and fixed. If meaning resides in the
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reader, then the text becomes infinitely fluid.
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It changes with every person who picks it up.
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A scripture would have no authority external to the
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subjective experience of the reader.
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Exactly. It would essentially elevate
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human experience over the divine Word.
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To affirm that the text is divinely inspired means we must
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affirm that the author's elocution, what he intended to
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convey, is the meaning we seek. But, a critic might argue, since
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we're thousands of years removed and since the author is
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inaccessible, isn't insisting on authorial intention a kind of
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optimistic fantasy? Isn't it easier to argue that
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the meaning must reside primarily in the fixed text
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itself? That's a fair challenge.
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If we insist that meaning is anchored in the author's intent,
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we must then acknowledge that our entire task is 1 of
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reconstruction. Since we can't interview the
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ancient human authors, we have to rely solely on the written
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text, the locution in its context, to reconstruct the
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author's most likely elocution and perlocution.
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We assume the words they chose are the perfect vehicle for
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their intended meaning. So we're not saying the author's
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personal secret thoughts are the meaning.
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We're saying the meaning is the message the author encoded in
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the written words for his original, specific audience.
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Exactly, and this also provides the strongest possible warning
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against subjectivity. If we allow later interpreters,
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even respected church councils are highly influential figures
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to dictate the meaning rather than the original textual
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intent. We risk putting the authority
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back into the hands of a community or a tradition, rather
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than in the divinely inspired locution itself.
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Our goal has to be to hear the voice of the original author,
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not the whispers of later readers.
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This brings us to the necessity of hermeneutics.
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I mean, if the meaning is fixed by an ancient author's
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intention, and we are modern readers, we have to recognize
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that reading the Bible is not like reading a familiar book in
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our own language. We need a rigorous strategy
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because God's message came through complex human means
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across colossal gaps. The analogy of the archaeologist
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is a good one. Here we're trying to understand
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an instruction manual written by ancient engineers.
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The manual contains a perfect true message, but it uses a dead
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language, it references lost technology, and it assumes
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cultural knowledge we simply don't have.
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Hermeneutics gives us the decoding keys, the methodology
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to cross these chasms. Let's start with the most
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obvious barrier distance one time.
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We're talking about a gap of 1900 years since the last words
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of the New Testament were written, and thousands more for
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the Old Testament. That time gap means we are
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constantly encountering references that are functionally
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meaningless without specialized historical knowledge.
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Think of the Old Testament prophets, Hosea 10 for example.
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It refers to the devastation of Beth Arbell by a Shalman.
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If you read that today, it's just meaningless noise.
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But for Hosea's original audience, that reference would
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have been instantly recognizable.
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A recent traumatic military defeat they all understood.
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Precisely without historical research, we can't recover the
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elocution, which was likely a warning or an historical
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parallel the author used to stir his audience to repentance.
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And we also need to remember the historical transmission, oral
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messages, the sayings of Jesus in Aramaic, the oracles of the
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prophets were often preserved, translated, compiled and written
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down decades later in Greek or Hebrew.
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That process, though guided by inspiration, was still a human
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historical process influenced by the final authors or editors
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purpose their elocutions. And a major danger related to
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time is imposing our accumulated modern knowledge onto ancient
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texts. That sounds like a violation of
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the authorial intention we just established.
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It is a critical interpretive mistake.
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We have to resist the temptation to impose modern knowledge,
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scientific, sociological or theological, onto the ancient
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writers. A powerful example is Isaiah
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40.22, which mentions that God sits above the circle of the
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earth. A modern reader, knowing our
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spherical cosmology may cheer and claim this is an early
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scientific endorsement of around Earth.
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But why would that distort the meaning?
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Because Isaiah was writing within an ancient cosmological
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frame of reference for the original audience, the phrase
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most likely referred to the visible circular horizon as seen
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from a high point, or maybe the traditional idea of a flat round
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disk of earth surrounded by water.
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To hear Isaiah on his own terms, we must avoid reading scientific
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spherical cosmology into the text.
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The author's elocution was not to convey modern astronomy, but
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to convey God's transcendent control over the known world.
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We must let the text speak using the author's terms, not ours.
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Moving to the second barrier, we have distance to cultural
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distance. The ancient world operated under
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assumptions that are fundamentally different from her
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own. That's right, it was largely an
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agrarian, honor, shame based world dominated by collective
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identity, often relying on oral culture for transmission and
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memory. We live in a literate,
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individualistic digital world. That gulf leads to serious
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misreadings. The Bible is just full of
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customs that seem bizarre without that context.
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Take the sandal custom in Ruth chapter 4 for transferring
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property and seems completely arbitrary to us.
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Or the complex Levitical purity laws, like the prohibition
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against clothing woven of two kinds of material in Leviticus
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19. For the original audience, those
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prohibitions were crucial markers of ritual and social
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separation. Today, without hermeneutics,
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they are easily dismissed as just outdated.
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And the danger is that we flatten the texts original
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impact because we don't feel the cultural shock the original
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audience felt. The prime example is a parable
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of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.
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Modern readers have sanitized the story.
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We call the Samaritan good instinctively, but the original
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Jewish lawyer listening to Jesus would have been absolutely
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scandalized. He despised Samaritans because
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of generations of schism, historical rivalry and religious
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differences dating back to Mount Jerusalem.
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So Jesus's elocution was deliberately provocative.
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He chose the most despised outsider to be the hero, forcing
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the lawyer to define neighbor expansively and, well,
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painfully. Exactly.
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If we read that story and simply nod and say of course the
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Samaritan was good, we missed the entire point, the
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deliberate, shocking jolt Jesus intended to challenge cultural
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prejudice. We have to work to feel the
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shock intended for the first years.
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Another key cultural difference you mentioned is the move from a
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corporate mindset to Western individualism.
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How does that distort our reading?
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It often leads us to personalized texts intended to
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be corporate. We read the story of David and
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Goliath as a simple story of individual faith triumphing over
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great odds. And while it is true, we lose
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the central historical context that this was an act of
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representative combat, David wasn't just fighting for
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himself. He was fighting as the
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representative champion of Israel, deciding the outcome for
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the entire army. That corporate dimension changes
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how we apply the text. It isn't just about my personal
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battle with a giant. It's about the victory of God's
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chosen people through their appointed representative.
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Our third barrier is distance three language.
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Since the Bible is written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Hellenistic
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Greek, we rely heavily on translations.
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And all translations are well, they're necessarily
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interpretive. Translation is inherently
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reductive. We lose grammatical information.
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A common but crucial detail is the English pronoun you.
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It hides whether the original word was singular or plural,
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which can be critical for commands or blessings.
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If the text commands you to do something, is it a corporate
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command to the church or an individual command to a person?
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We lose that structural information that was vital to
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the locution. And the problem of euphemisms is
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fascinating. These are culturally understood
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ways of referring to sensitive topics.
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They create massive ambiguity for us today.
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Take First Corinthians 7.1. Paul writes about the
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desirability of a man touching a woman.
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The Greek verb used haptus tie, was a common euphemism for
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sexual intercourse in that Hellenistic context.
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If you read it literally, you get the translation It is good
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for a man not to touch a woman, suggesting extreme physical
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separation. But if you read it contextually,
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recognizing the euphemism, you get the translation it is good
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for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.
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A systematic approach is required to decipher the
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culturally correct meaning distinguishing between physical
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contact and sexual activity. And finally, distance 4
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Geographical distance presents a barrier that affects our mental
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visualization and comprehension. That's right, the landscape
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informed the message. Why did Luke say people went up
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to Jerusalem from Caesarea in Acts 21?
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If you look at a map, Caesarea is on the coast, but Jerusalem
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sits on a massive Ridge. The elevation difference is
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huge. We often miss the significance
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of common phrases like this that reflect the difficult reality of
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travel. Or understanding the phrase
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gathered to his people fathers, which appears frequently in the
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Old Testament upon someone's death.
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That phrase might relate to specific ancient burial
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practices like the use of ossuwares or bone boxes, where
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the body decomposed and the bones are collected and placed
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with the bones of the ancestors. It suggests unity, family
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continuity, and a specific ritual that is completely
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foreign to modern practice. These geographical and physical
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details inform the author's perlocution how the message
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lands on the original recipients.
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So we've established that interpretation is a deliberate,
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difficult process of reconstruction across vast
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distances. But even with the best methods,
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we bring ourselves to the text. We have biases, presuppositions,
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pre understandings. How do we control that bias?
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And what is the role of the Holy Spirit in this necessarily human
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scholarly process? It is unavoidable that all
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interpreters bring their unique history, their location, their
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theological assumptions to the task.
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Our goal isn't to pretend we're blank slates, that's impossible,
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but to identify and account for our biases so they don't distort
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the message. The sources make a great point
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about the danger of reading one's own mail.
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That phrase captures it perfectly, A sincere Christian
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reader affirms. The Bible is God's word for me.
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But they must remember that Ephesians was written to the
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Ephesians in the 1st century. They're reading someone else's
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mail. A message went to ancient
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specific recipients. We have to seek to determine
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what the text meant to them before we determine its
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application to us. And if you fail to do that, you
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get the kind of arbitrary readings we sometimes see.
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Yes, the text mentions the woman preoccupied with marital
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problems who read Paul's command, put on the new man in
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Ephesians 4 and decided it was a directive to marry a new
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husband. Hermeneutics, by insisting on
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context and authorial elocution, acts as a necessary safeguard
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against such self-serving distortion.
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It demands we allow the text to speak on its own terms, defined
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by its original intent, not our current psychological state.
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This leads us to the indispensable divine factor, the
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role of the Holy Spirit, often called illumination.
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Where does the Spirit fit into this systematic analytical
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process? The Spirit's role is crucial,
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but it's distinct from the human task of interpretation.
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The Spirit's primary function is pastoral and relational.
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The Spirit convinces God's people of the truth of the
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message they have read, leads to conviction that enables the
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reader to embrace the message, and enables them to live
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consistently with that truth. The application.
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The Spirit gives us the ability to apprehend the messages.
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Spiritual weight. So the Spirit ensures we accept
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the truth and act on it. But does the Spirit aid in the
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grammar? And that's the crucial
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distinction. The Spirit typically does not
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inform readers of Scriptures, grammatical or historical
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meaning, apart from rare, extraordinary circumstances.
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The Spirit's illumination ensures we accept the truth, but
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it doesn't replace the need to discover the meaning through
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human labor. I often hear the objection, why
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study Greek? I just read the text and God
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shows me the meaning. That simplistic understanding
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ignores everything we've just discussed about the distances of
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time and language. If that were true, the Spirit
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would be telling us whether the word you is singular or plural,
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or whether the verb tense implies a completed action or an
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ongoing activity. If people have correctly
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understood God's Word through the centuries, it is because
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they implode proper principles and methods of interpretation.
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Hermeneutics, not solely because of spiritual intuition.
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Divorce from intellectual effort.
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The spirit helps us see the truth of what the author
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intended, but that intention is hidden in human language, which
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requires careful human analysis to unlock.
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The spiritual application flows from the scholarly meaning.
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So, if we successfully execute this art and science, bridging
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the distances and honoring the author's intent, what are the
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two outcomes we seek? Hermeneutics aims for two
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critical outcomes, first, determining what the text meant,
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then, and 2nd, determining what its significance is today.
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The first goal, determining meaning, is achieved through
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exegesis, the process of drawing the meaning out of the text.
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That's the historical analysis. It requires sound methodology to
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decipher the elocution and perlocution, what the text meant
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to its first audience. It means standing alongside the
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original recipient, acknowledging their culture and
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time, and hearing the author's voice.
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This is the hard work of historical and grammatical
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analysis. And once we know what it meant,
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we determine its significance, which addresses its impact on
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contemporary life. This is where faithful readers
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ask, So what? What difference should this
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eternal truth make in my life today?
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Since we affirm the Bible has eternal relevance, its message
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must connect to us. We call this application, and
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this transfer of meaning often works analogically.
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We identify the principle intended for the first audience,
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and we transpose it to a modern context.
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Can you walk us through that transposition process using our
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earlier example? Certainly when Jesus told the
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disciples you are the light of the world, the first step
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meaning or exegesis is understanding that for the 1st
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century disciples this meant they were to live visibly good
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lives that reflected God's holiness and attracted attention
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to the Kingdom. The transposition or significant
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applicants and application involves asking what does light
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or good deeds mean in a 21st century secular environment?
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It applies to modern ethical situations in a parallel way to
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the original mandate. We're fulfilling the original
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perlocution, displaying devotion to God's Kingdom, but through
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contemporary means. Ultimately, A systematic
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approach like this safeguards the Scriptures against human
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misuse and distortion. The sources cite A fascinating
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case study where sound hermeneutics was used
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offensively against the spiritual attack.
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That's the temptation narrative in Matthew 4 where Jesus
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counters Satan. Satan tried to persuade Jesus to
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jump from the temple, and he quoted Psalm 91, which promised
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divine protection. Satan used the locution of a
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promise, but applied it outside of its intended elocution and
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perlocution. And Jesus countered by a citing
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the principle of not putting God to the test from Deuteronomy
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6.16. That's systematic hermeneutics
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and action. Jesus argued that the promise of
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protection in Psalm 91 should not be interpreted or applied
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outside the moral command, not to test God's faithfulness
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capriciously. Jesus used context and principle
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to define the limits of application.
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This ensures that interpreters hear God's voice, the author's
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intended message accurately, rather than falling prey to
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distortion or manipulation. So we've covered the dual nature
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of interpretation as an art and science, the communication
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framework of locution, elocution and perlocution, 4 dimensions of
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word meaning, and the critical need to bridge the massive
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distances of time, culture, language, and geography.
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Hermeneutics as a deliberate procedure based on sensible
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principles of language communication, is the best
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guarantee for accurate interpretation.
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The objective is to combine historical analysis, discovering
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the original meaning with a careful grappling of its impact,
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determining its significance so that we may believe and act
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correctly as people devoted to God's Word today.
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And here is a final thought for you to consider, considering the
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colossal distances we discussed time, language, culture, and
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geography. If we find a biblical
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application straightforward and instantly comfortable, shouldn't
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we pause and ask whether we might be missing the original,
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culturally shocking message intended for the first readers?
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If the parable of the Good Samaritan doesn't make us
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uncomfortable in some way, what ancient prejudice are we failing
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to recognize and challenge within ourselves?
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That is the perennial challenge of the Christian reader.
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Thank you for joining us for the Deep Dive.