One In Jesus

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 “nailed to the cross.”

Well, we’re wrong. The Old Testament is still very much in effect. Not entirely in effect, course, but sufficiently in effect that we really can’t understand the New Testament if we treat the Old Testament as no longer binding at all. 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 of grain, rub them in their hands and eat the kernels. 2 Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” 3 Jesus answered them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? 4 He entered the house of God, and taking the consecrated bread, he ate what is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions.” 5 Then Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 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 Romans teaching us that we have all fallen short of the glory of God (culminating in Romans 3:23). If we misunderstand that, we misunderstand everything.

And as I’ve argued elsewhere, we do misunderstand that, because we arrogantly assume our intellects are not fallen. Some actually teach that it’s possible to attain perfect doctrine–to know ALL the right answers. 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 answers. Better yet, he gives the reasons for his answers.

It’s not in Paul’s nature just to announce a command and say obey it. Paul was a great teacher, and he wanted to leave the church equipped to find its own answers when no apostle was around. Thus, 1 Corinthians can be read at two levels–for the answers it gives–and for the methods Paul uses to find answers. 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 philosophy. It won’t be found in the Enlightenment philosophers. It won’t be found in the law books. Rather, the only source with the authority to tell us how to interpret the Bible is–the Bible! 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 style of argument is one reason so many people say “You can prove anything by the Bible.” You can! But only if you consider a single passage satisfactory proof. It’s not.

It’s really easy to find a passage that “proves” whatever you want to prove. Continue reading →

It’s time to talk a little hermeneutics. “Hermeneutics” is the study of how we interpret writings, especially the Bible. And, of late, it’s become quite the controversial subject in the Churches of Christ.

Obviously enough, to properly understand the scriptures, we have to come to them with a sound approach to interpretation. If we start with a false hermeneutic, we’ll certainly reach false conclusions. This makes hermeneutics a particularly important study–and yet one that is generally ignored at the Sunday school level. Continue reading →