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What is Bible hermeneutics?


missmuffet

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Guest shiloh357

To interpret the Bible literally, means to interpret it the way it was written and looking for what the author had in mind and wants to communicate to us.  The author supplies the meaning of the text.    Figurative devices are to be understood as devices used to arrive at the literal interpretation the author wants us to walk away from.   To understand the Bible literally is the entire point of interpretation.   There is no reason to read anything if you are not interested in the literal meaning. 

Too often people allow their theology to drive their interpretation.  They know what they want to believe, what they are willing to believe and so they try to mold the Bible to fit around their presuppositions and assumptions, rather than letting the Bible speak for itself.

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4 hours ago, StanJ said:

Overall I think the article is good but I disagree with their most important law being that it should be interpreted literally.

I think the following should be the proper order of Precedence;

Regard for genre

"A passage might be legal, narrative, polemic, poetry, wisdom, gospel, logical discourse, or prophetic literature, each having specific guidelines for proper interpretation."

Regard for literary devices

"Various forms of Hebrew poetry, simile, metaphor, and hyperbole need to be recognized if the reader is to understand the passage's meaning." 

Regard for literal meaning

A text should be interpreted with the degree of precision intended by the author. It should be interpreted "according to its literal, or normal, sense. The literal sense is the grammatical-historical sense, that is, the meaning which the writer expressed. Interpretation according to the literal sense will take account of all figures of speech and literary forms found in the text."

http://www.theopedia.com/interpretation-of-the-bible

 

Many people make the mistake of taking something literally that was never meant to be literal and is used in a hyperbolic or metaphorical sense. That I think is the biggest problem with reading the Bible.

Question: "Can / Should we interpret the Bible as literal?"

Answer:
Not only can we take the Bible literally, but we must take the Bible literally. This is the only way to determine what God really is trying to communicate to us. When we read any piece of literature, but especially the Bible, we must determine what the author intended to communicate. Many today will read a verse or passage of Scripture and then give their own definitions to the words, phrases, or paragraphs, ignoring the context and author’s intent. But this is not what God intended, which is why God tells us to correctly handle the Word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

One reason we should take the Bible literally is because the Lord Jesus Christ took it literally. Whenever the Lord Jesus quoted from the Old Testament, it was always clear that He believed in its literal interpretation. As an example, when Jesus was tempted by Satan in Luke 4, He answered by quoting the Old Testament. If God’s commands in Deuteronomy 8:3, 6:13, and 6:16 were not literal, Jesus would not have used them and they would have been powerless to stop Satan’s mouth, which they certainly did.

The disciples also took the commands of Christ (which are part of the Bible) literally. Jesus commanded the disciples to go and make more disciples in Matthew 28:19-20. In Acts 2 and following, we find that the disciples took Jesus' command literally and went throughout the known world of that time preaching the gospel of Christ and telling them to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Just as the disciples took Jesus’ words literally, so must we. How else can we be sure of our salvation if we do not believe Him when He says He came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), pay the penalty for our sin (Matthew 26:28), and provide eternal life (John 6:54)?

Although we take the Bible literally, there are still figures of speech within its pages. An example of a figure of speech would be that if someone said "it is raining cats and dogs outside," you would know that they did not really mean that cats and dogs were falling from the sky. They would mean it is raining really hard. There are figures of speech in the Bible which are not to be taken literally, but those are obvious. (See Psalm 17:8 for example.)

Finally, when we make ourselves the final arbiters of which parts of the Bible are to be interpreted literally, we elevate ourselves above God. Who is to say, then, that one person’s interpretation of a biblical event or truth is any more or less valid than another’s? The confusion and distortions that would inevitably result from such a system would essentially render the Scriptures null and void. The Bible is God’s Word to us and He meant it to be believed—literally and completely.

http://www.gotquestions.org/Bible-literal.html

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2 hours ago, missmuffet said:

Question: "Can / Should we interpret the Bible as literal?"
 

I'm not sure why you're posting the same link again? I told you I agreed with it except the order. Re-posting the same thing hasn't changed my mind.

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Just now, StanJ said:

I'm not sure why you're posting the same link again? I told you I agreed with it except the order. Re-posting the same thing hasn't changed my mind.

It is different than what I previously posted. I am not trying to change you mind. That is your choice.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest Robert
56 minutes ago, Father said:

Biblical hermeneutics was given to man by the Beast who taught man how to build false gods with his human hands. The various books that man needs to try interpret the Bible was influenced not only by the Beast but also by Satan. Only the Spirit of God can teach his created beings the Truth of how they were created. Satan and the Beast are only names of the information in God's creation that was necessary to fulfill God's plan to reveal the Tree of Life that gives life to His people and beasts. 

Bible hermeneutics is the proper interpretation of Scripture; if "Scripture interprets Scripture" is from the "Beast", then he must have really wanted his plans to fail when people correctly interpret the Bible.

As for "names", you forgot this one:

"On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent. When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, “By what power, or in what name, have you done this?” Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:5-12, NASB, emphasis mine)

This is the same name that you claim "isn't God", and that believing Jesus is God is of "Satan and the Beast".

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  • 4 weeks later...
Guest BacKaran

Hermanuetics helps keep the readers informed of who wrote the book, who the audience he was writing to , and it tells the reader the context in which the books were written during the first century.

Example: ... You're neither hot nor cold so I will spit you out....

Paul was in Ephesus, there were two rivers, one was hot and one cold. The hot water was good for medicinal purposes, the cold was for life giving drinking  water. But where the rivers met there was lukewarm water, not really good for anything.

The first century Christians understood this. 21st century Christians like me, understood this verse to describe people being hot... On fire for Christ... Or cold... rebelling against Christ. So by using hermanuetics MY error of understanding was corrected!

Example: in the 1920s people would say Oh she's so gay! They Understood that to mean happiness, she was happy.

Today she's so gay is understood as a sexual preference which used to be understood as a sin just s free decades ago.

To understand why something was said, who said it and who the audience is at that time will clear up errors that man makes assuming the bible says something was written in error.

 

I hope this helps you?

Karan

 

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Guest BacKaran

Also hermanuetics encompasses many themes and ties them together throughout the bible...

The one and the many

Near and far implications

The thread of redemption is seen from Genesis to Revelation.

There are literal interpretation, poetic, symbolic and metaphor along with comparisons and allegories and parables.

The bible is unique in that over a period of many years, many different authors Tell their story that weaves perfectly into one book of God s.

 

We are blessed to be believers in Christ!?

 

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20 minutes ago, BacKaran said:

The bible is unique in that over a period of many years, many different authors Tell their story that weaves perfectly into one book of God s.

And yet, the Bible is under attack from so-called evangelicals. Now it seems, Andy Stanley is on the warpath.

http://www.albertmohler.com/2016/09/26/bible-tells-biblical-authority-denied/

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