Romans Tangent #1 - Hermeneutics

“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.” II Tim. 2:15

Definition of hermeneutics is “a method or theory of interpretation and understanding of texts”.

I’ve been studying Scriptures for many years and over that time I’ve become opinionated about various approaches to interpreting Scripture. At this point in Romans, I would like to interject several opinions on Bible study in general.

Opinion #1: The original texts of Paul’s letter to the Romans, Galatians, Ephesians etc. are understandable to the common believer with an average level of education. They are not necessarily only understood by scholars who in turn explain them to us in terms easier to understand. Think of whom these letters were written to….ordinary people, tanners, carpenters, farmers, slaves, masters etc. There is no indication that these believers needed a scholar accompanying each of Paul’s letters. Why do I consider this important? I think we avoid engaging our own brain in understanding the text and immediately rely on the brain of someone else through a written commentary or by not studying at all. When you engage your brain in a text, it does 2 things. It gives you a greater confidence in the meaning of a passage and it works it deeper into your brain.

Opinion #2: Language scholars who are profound experts in Greek, Hebrew and English developed our modern English texts of the Bible. Knowing all the nuances of the ancient languages and knowing the English language, they selected the very best English words for the text. I’m always a bit troubled when I hear someone read a passage of Scripture and declare that an English word should have been translated thus and thus which results in a completely different meaning of the passage. I’ll trust the scholars that gave the English word in the text. Bottom-line, you don’t need a Greek and Hebrew lexicon to have a meaningful study of the Scripture. There’s plenty written in plain English to grapple with.

Opinion #3: Generally, there is a flow of thought throughout a Pauline epistle. The words that build on previous words are important. In our Scripture studies, we tend to migrate to isolated verses and have no sense of how these verses fit into the flow of thought of the author. What if my mother wrote me a long, hand-written letter and I ignore 95% of it and took some scissors and cut out a sentence that made a good stand alone sentence and put it on the refrigerator? What would my mother think if she came to town for a visit and saw the sentence? She would probably ask, what did you think of the rest of the letter? Do you know the context of that sentence you cut out? I’m trying to emphasize here the systematic study of the Pauline letters in particular.

The gist of what I’m sharing could be construed to mean that I am anti-scholarship and anti-teaching. If one arrives at that conclusion, they’ve arrived at the wrong conclusion. The gist of what I’m saying is that ordinary Christians do not engage their brains to the degree possible. Commentaries, lexicons and the study of isolated verses are highly important but I wouldn’t exclude poking your nose directly into the Word of God and engaging your brain on the flow of thought and meaning of large passages.