Category Archives: Hermeneutics

The application should be obvious by now. Love and faith are the “interstitial doctrines,” that is, they fill in all the gaps. There are no gaps. No silences. No missing authority. It’s all there in two words. Maybe a reminder … Continue reading →

In Galatians 5, at the apex of his argument, after four chapters of elaborate explication, Paul declares a profound principle—one that the reader is to understand as being just as true as can be: “The only thing that counts is … Continue reading →

One school of hermeneutics is called “flat” hermeneutics. In flat hermeneutics, it’s concluded that because all the Bible is from God, all the Bible is equally important. It’s just as important to understand how to worship or organize a church … Continue reading →

We in the Churches of Christ call ourselves “New Testament Christians,” as though there were another kind. But the point of the phrase is to emphasize our reliance on the New Testament and belief that the Old Testament has been … Continue reading →

Jesus himself teaches an important lesson on hermeneutics in Luke 6. It’s not an immediately transparent passage, at least not to me. (Luke 6:1-10) One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some heads … Continue reading →

How can I understand the gospel if I don’t understand who God is, what he has done, and that we mortals are all fallen creatures lost in our sins? This is why, for example, Paul begins the great book of … Continue reading →

We begin in 1 Corinthians (and we’ll probably move around a bit). 1 Corinthians is a good place to start because Paul is confronted with a host of problems, many of which we still face today, and he repeatedly gives … Continue reading →

We need a more comprehensive approach to interpreting the scriptures–a nice, sharp set of scalpels that helps us know which examples and commands were temporary expedients and which are permanently binding. Obviously enough, the solution won’t be found in humanistic … Continue reading →

In the last post, we considered some false approaches to hermeneutics. Let’s consider a few more common errors. * Proof texts are not an entirely wrong approach. However, there use is a very, very dangerous practice. Indeed, the proof text … Continue reading →