Hermeneutics I
HER101 – 8/23/11
Mel Everingham – N1838-1512

Entering upon a discussion upon the subject of hermeneutics seems of the nature indicative of dry scholarly pedant-ese. Truly hermeneutics is an essential and vibrant part of the science of theology.
Theology itself is grounded in certain principles by which the interpretation of the Bible is brought to bear. Over the centuries these principles have crystallized from year upon year of men pouring over the
Scriptures with the fullest of all their capacities tested. Yet, if but one qualification is not met, any amount of scholarship, intellect, knowledge, erudition or acumen pressed into service and emptied of its vitality unto the task, is useless. This fact actually casts light on the principle we shall use as a door opening onto our discussion of hermeneutics. The principles of interpretation regarding the Bible require a condition which no man but two (Adam, Jesus Christ), since the beginning of time, have had any volitional effect upon; proper righteous relationship with God Almighty or salvation of the lost. This condition affords one and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which indicates a righteous fear of God which "is the beginning of knowledge" 1 .
As stated above hermeneutics begins with the salvation of the sinner. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit gives one access to the truths of God in the biblical text:
1 Corinthians 2:12-13 (ESV) 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
An individual who does not know 2 the salvation of Jesus Christ as delineated in the biblical text 3 , is not capable of discerning the true meaning of the Bible. This being said, the Church, as described by Jesus,
1 Proverbs 1:7 (ESV Bible)
2 John 17:3 (ESV Bible)
3 John 6:44, Ephesians 1: 3–5, 8-10, Acts 2:38-39 (ESV Bible)

dwelling in the heart of the believer 4 (True Church heretofore) defines the only population capable, in
Truth, of giving meaning to Scripture. In turn, for the same reasons, the True Church alone also defines the only population capable of receiving, in Truth, the God intended meaning of Scripture. The Great
Commission disseminated by Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18 – 20, reveals to us the decreed practical bridge for Jesus Christ's disciples to use in spreading the spiritual seed, but God only can cause the increase and thus the understanding of that seed, which is the Word of God. Biblical hermeneutics for the non-elect is a misnomer and an impossibility.
In light of what has been said above, the True Church is the conduit through which all true biblical exegesis must occur and so all hermeneutic principles must rise from this fact and according to the parameters which this affords. That being said, the first hermeneutic principle I will discuss is the principle of the divine origin of Scripture. All the facts regarding lives that have been inextricably changed from the prior reprobate course, including fundamental changes in the core elements of a human's being psychologically, spiritually and regarding the physical attributes which convey these aforesaid qualities, point to a super-natural impetus and power bringing to fruition these changes and the ensuing results in capacity. Regarding salvation, the nature and further, the mind of the reprobate, manifest inability, even of the Elect prior to Justification, to understand, give assent and respond in righteous affirmation to Scripture’s progressive covenantal structure regarding man and his relationship with God.
Man grows to adulthood developing certain presuppositions foundational to the way he interprets stimuli around him. The presuppositions characteristic of fallen man are replete with an underlying affirmation of man's ultimacy i.e. man being the full and final arbiter of what is true and what is untrue, what is good and what is evil, what leads to life in abundance and what leads to the dissipation of life.
4 John 14:23

Man's presuppositions, as they are founded initially in his sinful heart, can be altered only one way; man's very nature must be altered through destruction and subsequent reanimation unto a new life.
Scripture was deposited unto humanity via the Holy Spirit, acting in harmony with the nature of each writer. The Holy Spirit's work neither inhibited the inflections of the individual's character or the idiosyncratic intonation of style writing exudes just as surely as living. Thus these words were locked behind the mystery of the boundary between spiritual life and death. The Bible is the divine construction limitless in depth as God himself and infused throughout with as much, the power of God.
Hermeneutically speaking therefore, the Bible can reveal two things; first, the incomplete, ridiculous and crippled with corruption, attempt of man in rebellion to see and capture with his finite mind, the
Infinite; second, the Bible reveals to the Elect only, the thoughts of God which Elect man is to think after him.
I start my final element of consideration imperative to the exegetical interpretation of Scripture with a verse from:
2 Timothy 3:16-17 (ESV)
16
17
In the Elect/Christian, the entirety of his character and being intrinsically, and without, the source of all speech and behavior, is the Word of God. Every facet of his life intrapersonally and interpersonally are given substance, structure, attitude and effect by the concerted effort and the amount of time devoted to study in the Word of God. Reading the Bible is not associated with the unidimensional process of reading and uninspired book; this only holds true for the Elect as he explores the Scripture within attitude of righteousness, without having adulterated his communion with God through unrepented sin.
These experiences that I am speaking of our indicative of the Truth I am positing for your consideration.

The most important corollary to Election in scriptural exegesis is an open gateway to communication with God at any given time; a Grace present in mankind's theater of life since Moses first recorded the
Pentateuch around 1400 BC and gradually elevating in content and availability to the lay population until the invention of the printing press by Gutenberg around 1440 (Wikipedia, 2011).
In our time we have the complete Biblical text. The Scripture' s consistent self-attestation of divine origin is replete throughout the Bible, thus the comprehensive and radically humbling change one undergoes in the process of justification described in Scripture gives confirmation superseding the
Elect's ability to inventory in spoken or scripted description. This validation God facilitates in confirmation of the Bible's veracity through the transformation, exclusively, of the Elect’s heart unto righteousness has a glorious effect. In confirmation of one's Election, Scripture is rightly discerned unto the humiliation of man as a creature most highly blessed in our soul's capacity for mitigated, nevertheless imaged after God, understanding of Scripture unto the glorification and elevation of God as
Sovereign Creator. These Truths become evident in an ever-expanding dialogue between God and man in intra-biblical communication as well as extra-biblical experiences which confirm that which is divinely discerned in the Scripture directly, word for word, and confirmation through the Holy Spirit's illumination of the heart and mind in a situation specific scenario, giving evidence of the overall thrust of a section of Scripture being applicable.
These are personal and observable intrapersonal, interpersonal and situational variables which give validity and reliability to the claim of the Divine origin of Scripture. Another aspect of exploration to ascertain Divine origin of Scripture is archaeology. Biblical Archaeology, either purposeful or incidental, has validated Scripture-based histories of the ancient world repeatedly over the 19th and 20th centuries and continues to shed light on the veracity of Scripture and its Divine origin. Rising into the 19th century man was enamored with himself and his achievements from the Industrial Revolution and thus the Bible

became the target of naysayers and was ridiculed as anachronistic and erroneous or simply fictitious in its histories. Since then discoveries of magnificent proportions have clarified, verified and validated the claims of the Bible many times over. In fact two archaeological "dig" cities called Bab edh-Drha and
Numeira are covered with a "spongy ash" which ranges from a few inches to almost 2 feet deep. These two cities happened to be South East of the Dead Sea which is the traditional site of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Reznick, 2011). The biblical text mentions Assyria, and ancient empire which came to
Empire prominence beginning in the 800s BC. The Bible records an elaborate interaction between the northern country of Israel and the southern country of Judah, involving payoffs, revenge, betrayal and eventually the destruction of the northern country of Israel in 722 BC. Assyria was thought to be a fabrication but in 1847 Sennacherib’s Palace was uncovered by a neophyte to archaeology named Austin
Henry Layard from Great Britain (Bible History Online, 2011).
The aforementioned elements of verification, both subjective and objective, of the divine origin of
Scripture and its infallible content are essential to biblical hermeneutics. In addition, one's spiritual condition in regards to relationship with the one true God of the Bible is by far the paramount element of consideration in regard to even beginning to assess and then assert what the Bible is communicating to mankind. From the beginning Genesis 3:15 tells us that God decreed an antithesis between the "seed of Satan" and the "seed of the woman"; this instituted a dichotomy to mankind diametrically opposed one to the other. The Elect are those sovereignly predestined by God Almighty unto loving relationship with Him for eternity based upon a covenantal bond facilitated by the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ and the resulting imputation (legal designation) of both sinlessness and righteousness to the Elect and the gradual infusion of actual righteousness during the process of sanctification or being set apart until the culmination of history and all of the Elect being glorified in full righteousness of Christ at his return unto the judgment of mankind. The other strata of mankind is the group dubbed the Reprobate, left in the total depravity characteristic of mankind when born into this world, in which he remains

unless God has elected him unto salvation. The reprobate has absolutely no capacity to interpret
Scripture as Proverbs 1:7 tells us "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge"; Scripture plainly labels the reprobate subsequent to this qualification in Romans 3:18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” I will and my paper with the solid conclusions above posited and pray that the ignorance of Arminianism is lifted as a judgment on this nation, that responsibility may return to Christian men especially, that they may lead their families into the hope and strength of God unto a righteous society and then the righteous world alluded to throughout Scripture, as
Christ's kingdom propagates throughout the world before His return. The Reformed Christian
Faith holds the lineage of the Apostolic Truth founded in Christ and has safeguarded it for the next Reformation.
(Hermeneutics, 2011) (Dr. Richard Pratt, November 5 to November 11, 2006)