History of Biblical Hermeneutics From the Reformation to the 1700's Part 1

In this series of articles, I will continue from where Anthony ended in his history of pre-reformation hermeneutics. I will be discussing the Reformation through the 1700s.

In the late 1400s the Roman Catholic church was as far from biblical hermeneutics as possible. At this point the Catholic church had become a worldly enterprise, the pope chose to rule over the government, and bishops were chosen because of the power they had - not for any other qualification. And the Roman church had decided that it was the most important and ultimate authority in deciding what the Scripture says. This led to a time in which biblical hermeneutics was completely discarded and some of the most tragic and damnable heresies were not only propagated, but also were enforced through threats of excommunication, torture, and death.

During this time the Roman church had all but despised the Bible, and certainly didn't apply true biblical hermeneutics. They had added many doctrines to the Bible, and the chief among these was the heresy that a person must work toward they're salvation. The truth from scripture that a person is saved by faith, through grace alone, was completely rejected at the time of the zenith of the Catholic church. The church taught that working - especially in relation to the Catholic church - would merit God's favor, and thus obtain a person entrance into heaven. The biblical concept that God would graciously forgive sinners by faith alone was was an impermissible doctrine which was shunned with utter hatred.

"Salvation is by faith alone through Christ alone through God's grace alone. When you put your trust in Jesus Christ, God declares you righteous. Not because you are, but because He imputes the righteousness of Christ to you, because He imputes your sin to Him. Christ bears your sin, you receive His righteousness. This is the glory of the great doctrine of justification. Roman Catholicism doesn't believe that. The Council of Trent, 1545 to 1563, came out with statements. Listen to some of them. "To those who work well unto the end, and trust in God, eternal life is to be offered." That doesn't sound like anything I just read. To those who work well unto the end, and trust in God, eternal life is to be offered. Listen to this. "It is given as a reward, promised by God Himself to be faithfully given to their good works and merits. By those very works which have been done in God, fully satisfied the divine law according to the state of this life and to have truly merited eternal life." Eternal life in the Catholic system is something you earn by your works, you merit it and you receive it because of your merit. That is absolute and total contradiction. That is another gospel." [1]


This rejection of the grace of God, inescapably led to a false biblical hermeneutic, and the elevation of the Catholic hierarchy, writings, and traditions over scripture in almost every area. "Roman Catholics since the Council of Trent, flatly deny that Scripture is the supreme authority in all matters of faith, conduct and doctrine. The words of Vatican II, quote: 'The Roman Catholic Church does not draw her certainty about all revealed truth from the holy Scriptures alone, but both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal feelings of devotion and reverence.'" [2]

Continue Reading on Google Knol