Introduction

Interpretation, understanding, and application of the truth contained and peddled by the Holy Scriptures – the Bible – is referred to in Theology as Hermeneutics.

Hermeneutics is the art and science of biblical interpretation – its goals, methods, principles,a nd evaluative criteria used in interpreting Scripture. The result of a person’s encounter with the Bible will be heavily influenced by the interpretive lenses and understanding that the individual brings to the texts of the Bible.

What You Need

1. An open heart and mind.
2. A strong desire to learn and to know truth.
3. An objective, logical, yet spirit empowered mind.
4. Yilededness to the truth as unveiled by the Holy Spirit within the context of the Holy writ, over and above the subjective opinions of men.
5. A good and complete bible (preferably the New King James Version NKJV, New International Version NIV, New Living Translation NLT, New American Standard Bible NASB).
6. Focus, Commitment, and Discipline.
7. A diary/notepad and writing materials.

Why Is Hermeneutics Important?

It is very clear from the pages of Scripture that an inspiring Christian living, a robust and profitable walk with God, and a life full of hope and joy cannot be divorced from proper understanding of the emphatic message of Scriptures. It is therefore valuable and important that every Believer in Christ comes to learn the rudiments that make for accurate and beneficial interactions with the essence and life that the Scripture communicates.

Hermeneutics is therefore a crucial discipline to be learnt and mastered by every Believer for the following reasons, albeit not exhaustive;

1. To enable full appropriation and maximization of God’s provision to and in the Believer – Philemon 1:6, 2 Corinthians 2:12.
2. To be able to defend the faith – 1 Peter 3:15, Colossians 4:6, Jude 1:3.
3. To be able to teach others – 1 Timothy 4:13-16, 2 Corinthians 5:18-20, Matthew 28:18-20, 2 Timothy 2:2.
4. To be able to discern errors – 1 Timothy 1:4, 2 Peter 1:16, 1 Corinthians 2:15.
5. To prevent abuse of truth, mismanagement, and perversions – Galatians 1:6-8, 2 Corinthians 11:2-4.

Basics

1. BELIEVE that you can understand the message of the Bible. You don’t necessarily need a super sophisticated mind to understand the message of truth – meanwhile, this is not an argument against mental development and intellectual alacrity.

Jesus as a 12 year old child understood Scripture, could teach it,a nd defend it – Luke 2:46-47.

Timothy, as an infant, clearly understood the Scripture – 2 Timothy 3:15.

2. EMBRACE PATIENCE through reading, studying, memorization, and meditation. Don’t be in a hurry to arrive at conclusions concerning the things you read about and read of. Those who seek will eventually find but no specific time-frame is attached. The Spirit and the message of the SCriptures opens itself up to the sincere and the patient. Take your time through the process of reading, evaluating, reevaluating, meditating, and memorization – there’s no need to rush through or be hasty to settle at a perspective.

3. The Bible is its own best commentary/interpreter. Using concordance, dictionaries, reading other books by different authors and listening to sermons by preachers is helpful, but do so carefully. Let the Bib;le speak for itself – do not deduce, assume, presume, or interpose your opinons on any and all aspects of the Scripture. The Scritpure already has a message and an opinion it seeks to communicate – stay with that.

4. Learn to think objectively, constructively, and logically. This doesn’t mean you should be a cynic or a critic; BUT learn to ask questions of everything and to explore every shade that a matter in Scripture presents. Faith is not anti intelligence – they are not polarities or opposites; they are complimentary. By faith we understand and by understanding we believe/have faith. To think or portray the notion that faith is anti intelligentsia is creating false dichotomies.

God is not paranoid or angry about the questions that originate from and in your heart as you seek to understand and unearth the truth contained in the message of the Scripture. Only fools believe all things without carefully dissecting and evaluating them critically.

5. Don’t spiritualize (or over spiritualize) what is already spiritual. The Bible is already spiritual – there is no point seeking a mysterious meaning or trying to find a mysterious inference or deduction from what is written. The writers of the books of the Bible wrote to communicate clearly even if they sometimes used metaphors, epithets, personifications, humor, etc. Don’t chase shadows.

6. Be willing to put in the effort and the work required personally. A personal commitment to reading, studying, memorization, and meditation is an irrefutable and fundamental premise for understanding the message and life contained in the codices of the Bible (1 Timothy 4:13, Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:2-3). The individual must create a personal regime of constant, consistent, and continual reading and studying ingraine in their schedule.

7. Read audibly. Read slowly, Read with your mind involved and vested..

8. DON’T LISTEN TO TOO MANY PREACHERS. I know this may not sound good or acceptable to many people, but it is valid nonetheless. Many people are confused about the Bible because the interpretaions they have concerning fundamental matters are as numerous as the plethora of teachers that they listen to.

Make a selection of two, or at the most three, teachers that are the primary and principal ones you will listen to. You may then listen to others every now and then. There may be safety in the multitude of counselors, BUT there is often confusion in the multitude of teachers (especially when the teachers have differein gopinions about the same subject matter). This is why Scritpure says that your own teachers will not be hidden from you (Isaiah 30:19-21).

NOTE: You don’t choose teachers by favouritism, tribalism, populairty or any such petty penchant. You choose by discernment of Spirit, and the accuracy of life and doctrine. Paul said to TImothy that “you have known my doctrine and manner of life” (2 Timothy 3:10).

9. Undergird your reading, studying, and meditation with prayers. You must constantly stay in active communion with the persona and the spirit whose message you seek to understand. Prayer and studying are simply two sides of the same coin -none is more important than the other. In fact, some of the most important prayers you will find in Scriptures are emphatic about gaining understanding, illumination and insight into the truth that accurately represents and embodies God.

TO BE CONTINUED…