Category Archives: hermeneutics

“How can we grow and mature as interpreters of Scripture? To begin with, we must make it a priority and not take so many things for granted. In effect, we must practice in the same sense in which an athlete or a soldier is constantly engaged in preparation and practice. We practice by focusing on specific passages or issues within Scripture, seeking to construct tentative conclusions about what Scripture teaches, and then subjecting our understandings to constructive criticism from trusted advisers. My primary point here, though, is that we come to assume and take for granted very few matters until years of practice and openness to critique have clarified and sharpened our understanding in a manner consonant with Scripture. In a sense, I am suggesting that a hermeneutic of humility should primarily characterize our understanding” –Dr. Benjamin Wolfe.

Not long ago a family member asked me what courses I was taking at Southwestern. The purpose of a class in hermeneutics was hard for him to grasp. “What’s to interpret about the Bible? It says what it says,” was his response.

The statement illustrates an attitude that Dr. Wolfe has mentioned as being a barrier to proper interpretation. While it is true that “The Bible says what it says,” our goal as interpreters is to determine what it says accurately. We cannot even begin to do this with the attitude that we “have it all figured out.” What does this attitude lead to? It leads to very little time spent in reflection upon the Word of God. We may quickly skim over a small portion during our five minute “quite time” and fail to see anything more in our passage than what we were taught in a third-grade Sunday school class.

Perhaps this problem grows partly from seeing the Bible as a collection of moral stories, like William Bennett’s Book of Virtues, rather than a unified history of salvation. If we know the gospel (that is, John 3:16) and we know how to be good, moral citizens, then what is left? Only to pass our “wisdom” down to the next generation. (So seems to be the line of thought.)

Dr. Wolfe’s “hermeneutic of humility” seems all important. Am I going to approach the Word of God with a willingness to accept what it says even when it is contrary to what I previously thought it said? If a passage from James or Paul seems to shatter what I previously held so dear, am I willing to accept that? Or will I dismiss it because it contradicts what I take for granted?

Do I have this hermeneutic of humility? I doubt that I can say I do; I am too quick to assume things, even after very little study. But I hope to see it growing. It seems that the more I have studied the less that I assume. In the past few years I have realized that much of my “knowledge” was wrong. Unfortunately, I still see myself quickly passing over a passage as if my mind were saying, “Yeah, yeah—I already know all of this.”

As Dr. Wolfe points out, practice in the Word will help us to develop a hermeneutic of humility. We also need the Holy Spirit to humble us in order for us to be accurate interpreters. “The primary work of the Holy Spirit in exegesis is to abolish the pride and arrogance in us that keep us from being open to the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit makes us teachable because he makes us humble. He causes us to rely wholly on the mercy of God in Christ for our happiness so that we are not threatened if one of our views is found to be wrong. The person who knows himself finite and unworthy and who thus rejoices in the mercy of God has nothing to lose when his ego is threatened” –John Piper, “The Goal of Exegesis and the Rationale for Finding Relationships Between Propositions.” May the Lord grant us the humility necessary to be true students and develop true wisdom.