Hermeneutics

“Then he said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” — Luke 24:44–45

Hermeneutics — from the Greek hermēneuō (ἑρμηνεύω), “to interpret, translate, explain” — is the discipline of rightly understanding the meaning of Scripture. The Bible is God’s Word, but it must be read with care, humility, and sound method.

The Literal-Grammatical-Historical Method

The foundational approach to biblical interpretation seeks the meaning intended by the original human author (the sensus literalis) by attending to three things:

1. Grammar — the actual words, syntax, and structure of the text in its original language (Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek)
2. History — the historical setting in which the text was written — the author’s circumstances, audience, and occasion
3. Literary context — the genre, literary conventions, and rhetorical purpose of the passage

This method does not mean that every passage is read “literally” in a flat, wooden sense. Poetry is read as poetry. Metaphor is read as metaphor. Apocalyptic symbolism is read according to its symbolic conventions. The goal is to read each text according to its intended sense — what the Reformers called the sensus literalis, the meaning the author conveyed through the literary form he chose.

Genre Awareness

Scripture contains a rich diversity of literary genres, and each must be read according to its own conventions:

• Narrative — Story-form history (Genesis, Judges, Acts). Narratives describe what happened; they do not always prescribe what should happen. Not every action recorded is an action endorsed.
• Law — Legal codes and covenant stipulations (Exodus 20–23, Deuteronomy). These must be understood within their covenantal context — some are moral and universal, others ceremonial or civil.
• Poetry — Psalms, Song of Solomon, portions of the Prophets. Hebrew poetry uses parallelism, imagery, and emotional intensity. It is not less true for being poetic, but it communicates truth through aesthetic forms.
• Wisdom — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job. Proverbs are general principles, not unconditional promises. Wisdom literature explores the complexity of life under God’s sovereignty.
• Prophecy — Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Twelve. Prophetic speech includes forth-telling (proclaiming God’s will for the present) and foretelling (announcing future events). Prophets use vivid imagery and may compress distant events into a single horizon.
• Epistle — Romans, Galatians, 1 Peter. Letters addressed to specific situations that carry universal theological principles. The reader must distinguish between the situation-specific and the universally binding.
• Apocalyptic — Daniel, Revelation. A genre that uses symbolism, visions, and cosmic imagery to unveil heavenly realities and the end of history. Apocalyptic must be read on its own terms.

Context: Immediate, Book-Level, Canonical

Sound interpretation reads every passage in three concentric circles of context:

1. Immediate context — the surrounding verses and paragraphs. A verse torn from its context can be made to say almost anything.
2. Book-level context — the themes, argument, and purpose of the entire book in which the passage appears. Romans 8 must be read in light of Romans 1–7.
3. Canonical context — the teaching of the whole of Scripture. No single passage should be interpreted in a way that contradicts the clear teaching of the rest of the Bible.

The Analogy of Faith

The Reformation principle of the analogia fidei — the analogy of faith — holds that Scripture interprets Scripture. Clearer passages illuminate obscure ones. No doctrine should rest on a single difficult verse when the broad testimony of Scripture speaks plainly on the matter. The Bible is its own best commentary.

The Christocentric Reading of Scripture

Jesus taught His disciples that the entire Old Testament bore witness to Him: “Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).

A faithful hermeneutic recognizes that the whole Bible — Law, Prophets, Writings, Gospels, Epistles — finds its center and fulfillment in Christ. This does not mean forcing Jesus into every verse, but it does mean reading every passage within the grand narrative of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation that culminates in Him.

Typology vs. Allegory

Typology reads Old Testament persons, events, and institutions as divinely intended patterns (typoi) that find their fulfillment in Christ and the new covenant. Adam is a type of Christ (Romans 5:14). The Passover lamb is a type of Christ (1 Corinthians 5:7). Typology is grounded in real history and recognized by the New Testament authors themselves.

Allegory, by contrast, treats the text as a coded message whose surface meaning is secondary to a hidden spiritual meaning. Philo of Alexandria (a Jewish philosopher, c. 20 BC — 50 AD) pioneered allegorical reading of the Hebrew Scriptures, and the later Christian Alexandrian school (especially Origen) adopted and expanded this approach, sometimes detaching interpretation from the historical sense of the text entirely. While allegory can yield devotional insights, it lacks the controls that typology provides and can make Scripture say whatever the interpreter wishes.

The Role of the Holy Spirit

Faithful interpretation is not merely an intellectual exercise. The Holy Spirit who inspired the text also illuminates the reader. Paul writes that “the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14).

The Greek phōtismos (φωτισμός) — “illumination, enlightenment” — describes the Spirit’s work of opening the eyes of the heart to see and receive what Scripture teaches (Ephesians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 4:6). Illumination does not add new revelation to Scripture; it enables the reader to grasp and delight in the revelation already given. For how Scripture’s authority and inspiration ground the interpretive task, see the companion articles.

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” — Psalm 119:18