Hermeneutics – What Does This Mean?

Rule #6: Location, Location, Location

Encore Post: For sale: Three Bedroom home, Two Bathrooms, Ranch, $78,000 — or is that $150,000 — or is that $250,000? What is the difference? One is in Fort Wayne, Indiana, another in St. Louis, Missouri and the third in Peekskill, New York. In Real Estate, the price of a home is mostly set by location, location, location.

In literature, the meaning of a word or phrase depends upon the words around it, what kind of writing it is found in, and many other factors. To know what the author means depends very much on what else he or she has to say.

The same rule applies to understanding a verse in the Bible. For example, someone about to eat too much food might claim: “God said, “eat and drink.” (1 Corinthians 15:32)” But when we know the passage ends, “for tomorrow we die,” the passage doesn’t seem so positive about overeating! Obviously this Bible passage doesn’t intend to recommend eating everything you can. It is quoting a pagan philosopher.

And there is even more to the passage. It begins: “If the dead are not raised…” Since even that is written in 1 Corinthians 15, when Paul argues that the dead are indeed raised. In its context, then, the passage means the opposite of what it seems to say. The rule about context means that you should read more than just one verse. It will tell you what the words actually mean.

Reading more than just a passage quoted to you often bears rich rewards, even when it doesn’t change what you thought the words mean. For example, Lutherans like Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” But try verse 10: “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Not only does God give us salvation as a gift of his grace, but he views us as his masterpiece and sets things up in our lives so that we will do good works!

So, when you want to know what a Bible passage means, read more than just a quote. Read the words around it as well.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Rule #7: Respect the Original Languages

Encore Post: The Bible, it’s stories, phrases, poetry and images are so woven into our culture we don’t even notice it. Even more so, it is a part of our worship, prayers and teaching that it is a natural part of our faith. So it is easy to forget that God’s word was not originally spoken and written in English, but in two or three eras of the Hebrew language, Aramaic, and the everyday Greek of the Roman empire. The King James Version was so well done that it had a staying power of nearly 500 years and influences all of our modern translations. Yet even it loses some of the meaning moving across languages, culture and time period. That is why Lutheran pastors have been traditionally taught to read the Hebrew and Greek of the original texts.

One way to see that is to try to translate from English to English. Think of the word “Excellent.” What word would you use in its place if you could not use the word “Excellent?” Does the word you picked mean exactly “excellent?” Not really. Some shades of meaning are lost — like when you see a picture in black-and-white instead of color.

So, when you are trying to understand a passage, consider the original language. If you never learned them, there are tools you can use to get at the original. With the advice of your pastor, select two to four different translations for your study. Pick ones that are somewhat different in approach. When you study, read them together. If they say virtually the same thing, you know the original is not difficult to translate. If they are very different, check the notes of a study Bible or ask your pastor what is going on behind the translations.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Rule #5: Look for the Intended Meaning

Encore Post: In the Middle Ages, the most popular way of understanding a Bible passage was to look for four meanings in the text — the one that author intended for his readers to find there and other, “deeper” meanings. The problem Martin Luther and the Lutheran reformers found with this method is it allowed a person to find anything they wish in the Bible. So they insisted a principle summed up in the sentence: sensus literalis unus est — “there is one intended meaning [in each passage].”

What they observed is that God used human beings, using human language to speak to his people. To understand what God wants us to believe, then, we find that original message, paying attention to the words, sentences, paragraphs, grammar and figures of speech the author uses. We look the kind of literature it is (is it intended as history? Poetry? Is it a letter? A sermon? What were the customs of that time and place?) Most of the time we do this out of habit. When we do serious study of a passage, however, a good study Bible is very helpful with these efforts.

When most Christians talk about interpreting the Bible literally, they do not mean that we should always take it at face value. It means to understand it according to the words — what the author intended it to say to his readers. So, no one thinks that, when Isaiah said, “the trees clapped their hands” (Isaiah 55:12) that cedars grew limbs to clap. They understand it to be poetry to describe how they move in the wind. When we read the Bible, then, we understand what it says as normal speech when the book it is written in is a letter or a history. We understand it figuratively when the kind of literature it is poetry, parable or similar kinds of writing.

So, this rule tells us to work to find the meaning the author intended to send. It is that message that God wants us to hear and believe. We assume that the passage has only one of these meanings, unless the text tells us otherwise.

Rev. Robert E. Smith
Fort Wayne, Indiana

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Rule #4: Use the Bible to Understand the Bible

Encore Post: Many beloved passages in the Bible are as clear as mountain streams fed by melting snow. “In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth.” (Genesis 1:1). “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son (John 3:16). “God is Love.” (1 John 4:8) These and dozens like them are so clear, we teach them to small children. Yet others are not so clear. Some, like the detailed laws God gave to Israel we suspect that God no longer wants us to observe. Others don’t seem to make sense to us at all. How can we be sure what they mean for us?

The answer is actually a part of Rule #1: since the Bible is God’s word, we can use one passage to explain others. We can be sure of the interpretation we discover this way, because the words we are using are God’s own words.

Let’s look at a few passages to see how this works. We know that most of the national law God gave to the Kingdom of Israel does not bind us, because St. Paul tells us not to allow anyone to judge us on the basis of them. (Colossians 2:16-23) We know, however, that the Two Great Commandments do, because Jesus tells us to observe them. (Luke 10:26-28) In another place, when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, we wonder what he was thinking. The author of the Book of Hebrews tells us. Hebrews 11:17-19)

So, when you wonder if there’s more to a passage, look elsewhere in the Bible. God will often give you more insight when you do this.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Rule #3: Two Main Teachings of the Bible

Encore Post: When you read the Bible as a story, the main plot, salvation history, is all about Jesus (See Rule #2). Yet the Bible is not only a story, it is God’s message to his children. In it, he explains in great detail how he made the world, how it works and what he wants us to do, what happens when we do not do it and how he intends to restore it to its original condition. It gets kind of complicated. That is why God sums it up in two main teachings. Luther and Lutheran theologians call these teachings The Law and The Gospel.

These teachings help us organize all that the God teaches us in his word. The Law is about God’s will for our lives and how he wants us to live it, what happens when we disobey his commandments, what the likelihood is of us doing his will on our own, what the punishment is for rebelling against him and everything associated with the governing authorities he has appointed to keep at least some order in this life. (The Three Uses of the Law)

The Gospel is the good news that God, in his mercy, sent his Son, Jesus, to be born in the womb of the Virgin Mary, suffer, die, rise from the grave on the third day and ascend into heaven for our sakes. It tells us how the death of Christ has destroyed death, earned for us the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation and all of this is given to us by grace alone, received by faith alone for Christ’s sake alone. It contains all the precious things which God promises us because of what Jesus did for us. (See It’s His Story)

The rule teaches us to keep these two teachings straight. When we say the law saves us, we encourage sinners to try to save themselves; we deny them the comfort of the gospel. When we say that forgiveness comes with conditions, we place barriers between Jesus, his Means of Grace and the grace that is his free gift. So, we do what Luther described as the most difficult art — we allow the law to be the law — requiring perfect obedience, condemning us for our inevitable violation of it and pointing us to the gospel. We allow the gospel to be all the precious promises of God’s free grace and encourage his people to rely on it.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Rule #2: The Bible is All About Jesus

Encore Post: When you see a good friend reading a book, so taken by it that they shut the whole world out, you ask them, “what’s it all about?” Your friend will sum it up in a few sentences. Of course, there is a lot more detail to the tale, but all of the words, images it creates set the mood and move the plot along. Yet no really good story holds our interest if there is not a single, central story that we care about.

The Bible is the most important book in the world, because it is God telling the story. This story is more than an enjoyable yarn. It is the story about how God saved us and how he will make the creation new again. Theologians call that Salvation History. So, if someone asks, “What is the Bible all about?” The best answer is “It is all about Jesus.” Jesus himself tells us this. (John 5:39)

Knowing that the Bible is all about Jesus helps us to understand its message and the place of each verse in that message. On the surface, the Bible is a small library of sixty-six books with different messages. They can seem disconnected and at odds from time to time. By this rule, we come to see the Bible has one story with a beginning, middle, climax and end, all tied to what Jesus did and will do to save us. It helps us to see that we are actually a part of this story. Unlike good fiction, this story is real news, not fake news. It is actually has a two-part message for us — which we’ll take up in the next post.

So, by knowing that the Bible is all about Jesus, or said in more formal language, all theology is Christology, we can unlock the treasures of the Holy Scriptures. The Bible is not all about how to live a happy life in this world, although it can help us with that. It is not about predicting the future, like some giant puzzle or math problem. It is not the key to success and riches, or even about what we should do to be good people. In fact, it is not so much about what we do, but what God has done: In Christ, he made the world, sorrowed over its sin, set out to save the world, was made man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, lived a perfect life in our place, suffered, died, rose again, ascended into heaven and one day will return to raise us from the dead to live with God forever. As you read the Bible, then, ask yourself: what does this have to do with Jesus? You’ll be surprised how much it helps to hear what God is saying to you in his word.

Rule #1| Rule #3 | Rule #4 | Rule #5 | Blog Post Series

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Rule #1 for Reading the Bible

Encore Post: For most Christians, the first rule for understanding the Bible seems obvious. The Bible is God’s Word. Yet believing that God speaks to us in his own words and is the author of the Bible affects the way we look at the Scriptures, how we approach it, what we expect from it and the assumptions that we make about what it says.

Because the Bible is God’s message to us, we believe that it is not fiction, a myth made up by people to explain the world, or something that it just very well written words to inspire us or make us feel good — like a great movie, a catchy song, or an absorbing novel written by our favorite author. After they make us feel good and escape the world for awhile, nothing changes and life goes on. The Word of God, however, comes with the power of God to change our lives, brought to us by God’s own Holy Spirit. (see Romans 1:16-17, 2 Peter 1:16-21) It creates faith in hearts which do not believe and strengthens faith where it exists.

So, the clear teachings of the Bible are the final authority on everything it speaks about. When it says that all people are evil, not good, at heart, we believe that, even though our mind and culture tells us everyone is basically good. When it tells us God made the world in six days, we believe that, too, even if the world’s myth tells us the universe has always existed and developed over millions of years into what we now see. When the Bible tells us both that God decided to save us before he made the world, but if we reject him, we can loose our faith, we believe that too, even though it doesn’t make sense to us.

So, this rule is that we assume that what the Bible teaches is true and use those things which are perfectly clear in it to understand things that are not so clear.

Rule #2| Rule #3 | Rule #4 | Rule #5 | Blog Post Series

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Digging into the Old Testament: The Theological Schools of Alexandria and Antioch

Encore Post: You might remember the Ebionites and those who followed Marcion from earlier posts. In this post I want to introduce the two theological schools that ruled the day and effectively have left marks on the way we interpret the Bible still today.

But why are they called schools? Don’t think of them so much as buildings but the way of thinking. The first is Alexandria. The other is Antioch. Both cities were centers of Christian thought. Paul and other apostles spent time in Antioch, and Alexandria was known throughout the world as another great center of learning.

So what was the difference between Antioch and Alexandria? Well, let’s look at Alexandria first. Alexandria was the melting pot of cultures. Greek philosophy was alive and well. Many theologians, Origen, for example, had a background in philosophy. If you were to read Origen’s writings that we have at our disposal you would see him interpreting the text not just literally but also philosophically or in an allegorical fashion. Words meant more than just the literal word for him and others that came after him in the Alexandria School. Now this is not always a bad thing, but we need to always be careful to always consider the literal text.

Antioch and the theologians there were of a different style. They interpreted scripture in a literal, historical sense. Antioch generally steered clear of the allegorical approach to interpreting Scripture. That being said, they did not always have a lot of opportunities to find Christ in the Old Testament.

Both schools had men fall of either side of the the proverbial horse. Origen allowed his mind to go too far. Some men in Antioch did not go far enough to find Christ in the text, and questioned some of the Old Testament’s use for the Christian. Again, we should be looking back to what Jesus says. The Scriptures are all about him. He fulfills what was said in the Law, Prophets, and Psalms. If we keep that in mind, we ought to be able to see Christ not only in the New Testament but also the Old.

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO

Digging into the Old Testament

Encore Post: This is the beginning of some wandering deeper into the Old Testament. As I stated before I love the Old Testament, so much I earned my Master’s of Sacred Theology in Old Testament Exegesis.

In my reading for such a degree, I was always confronted in one way or another with the question: “What is the Old Testament? And how are Christians supposed to read it?”

Many a theologian has asked those questions. Especially since the Old Testament is the sacred text for the Jewish religion as well as Christianity. How can the same books be read and people come to a different conclusion? How ought the Old Testament be understood? The obvious answer to that question for us is to follow in the way of Jesus, and how He read and understood the Old Testament.

But we humans and our sinful nature try to do it on our own, and that leads us into trouble. We will try to highlight some of those along the way as we see and learn how the greatest exegete, Jesus, explains and interprets the Old Testament showing us that He is the fulfillment of it (John 5:37-40; John 6:44-48; John 8:48-59; Luke 24:26-27; Luke 24:44-48).

Rev. Jacob Hercamp
St. Peter’s Lutheran Church
La Grange, MO

Read, Mark, Learn and Take God’s Word to Heart

Encore Post: So, you want to study God’s word, but you’re kind of afraid to do so. You remember all those “begats” and difficult words, long, boring lists of names and places you only half understand. It doesn’t help that you haven’t much cracked the book open since college or even confirmation class. Then the pastor pours on the good old Lutheran guilt. So… you go to the store and see rows and rows of Bibles of all sizes, shapes, colors, translations and types. Makes you think you really can’t do it, doesn’t it?

Well, you’re not alone. Many people find it hard to approach the Bible, even though they know it is good for them. There are lots of barriers to understanding the Scriptures. But there also is much that even the smallest child can understand. After all, God knows you and knows you need help. That is why he takes the initiative and spoke to us though first prophets, and then, in these last days, though his Son.(Hebrews 1:1-2) God’s nature is impossible for us to understand in the end, but a man — just like us — now that we can understand.

One classic analogy tells us the Bible is like an ocean. At the shore, it is shallow and inviting, a place even a toddler can enjoy. Yet it is so deep and challenging that the most experienced diver cannot exhaust its mysteries. The great fathers and theologians have spent a lifetime exploring it, and yet always found more to challenge them.

So, don’t be afraid of it. Wade in — the water is fine! To help you find your way, we’ll explore some rules you can use and strategies you can take to learn much. You may be pleased to discover that most of them are common sense.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana