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]

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Pre-Reformation History of Biblical Hermeneutics: Part III

Having finished looking at the hermeneutics of Ezra and the scribes, what remains in this pre-reformation history is a period of 1400 years. The question posed at the end of part II of this series was “Will the religious leaders, church fathers, and medieval theologians of this era maintain the same hermeneutical preciseness exemplified in Nehemiah 9?”

A few decades before the birth of Christ, two rabbis come on the scene. Hillel and Shammai both lived during the reign of King Herod, from 37 B.C. to 4 B.C. Sadly, it was their differing character traits and perspectives (rather than holding to unchangeable Biblical standards) on the Roman occupation that led to their differing hermeneutics. “Shammai was concerned that if Jews had too much contact with the Romans, the Jewish community would be weakened, and this attitude was reflected in his strict interpretation of Jewish law. Hillel did not share Shammai's fear and therefore was more liberal in his view of law.” [1]

Another more serious issue arose a few centuries before, and it affected the Church for centuries to come. Years after Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey were written, other Greek philosophers came along who admired and desired to preserve these early writings. Yet, they also were embarrassed by the content – the immorality, and the way it portrayed the gods as weak and like humans. The easiest solution to this was to allegorize. “This allegorizing approach enabled Greek philosophers who came along later… to promote their own ideas while claiming to be faithful to the writings off the past. They could promote their own teachings under the guise of allegorizing the mythology of Homer and Hesiod.” [2]

The Jews also faced a similar dilemma. In their minds, the Old Testament contained unedifying stories of immorality, and also undesirable anthropomorphisms (the representation of God as having human form or traits [3] ). Two examples would be the story of Judah and Tamar (immorality), and a verse such as Exodus 15, verse 3: “The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name” (anthropomorphism). Instead of humbly seeking to understand the original meaning and context of these passages, they chose to allegorize. In some cases, the Jewish people went beyond allegorization and actually deleted such references. This occurred in the Greek translation of the Old Testament – the Septuagint.

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Part I: A Man Named Ezra || Part II: Prayer of the Levites
Part III: Religious Leaders and Medieval Theologians

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[1] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/hillel.html
[2] Zuck, Roy. Basic Bible Interpretation. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1991. Print.
[3] http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=anthropomorphism

Pre-Reformation History of Biblical Hermeneutics: Part II

The previous post in this series gave an introduction to the history of Biblical hermeneutics, while taking a close look at Nehemiah 8. That chapter set the stage for what is, arguably, one of the earliest (c. 445-420 B.C.) canonical references to hermeneutics. Nehemiah 8 also gives us the three main steps in studying the Bible: observation, interpretation, and application. This post will examine the hermeneutical principles laid out in Nehemiah 9.

While the exact exposition of the Law that the Levites gave to the Israelites (Neh. 8:8) is not written in the text, a summary is presented in chapter 9… in the form of a prayer to God. In this prayer, the Levites begin by proclaiming:

“Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.” (verses 5-6)

In the previous chapter, the Levites read to the people the books of the Law – the Pentateuch. Now, in this prayer, they are praising the Lord for all He has done, while giving a summary of the first five books of the Bible! In verse six, they begin at the beginning – the Creation story, in the book of Genesis.

“Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham; And foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Jebusites, and the Girgashites, to give it, I say, to his seed, and hast performed thy words; for thou art righteous.” (verses 7-8)

The Levites describe here God’s call of Abraham, and God’s covenant with him.

One important thing stands out – as they pray, they are taking the text very literally! In verses seven and eight, the Levites interpret the events in Genesis 12 as if that chapter is actually describing real people (Abram, Chaldeans), places (Ur), and things (land, promise). Remarkable!

“And didst see the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red sea; And shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land: for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them. So didst thou get thee a name, as it is this day. And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their persecutors thou threwest into the deeps, as a stone into the mighty waters. Moreover thou leddest them in the day by a cloudy pillar; and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give them light in the way wherein they should go." (verses 9-12)

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Part I: A Man Named Ezra || Part II: Prayer of the Levites

Part III: Religious Leaders and Medieval Theologians

Pre-Reformation History of Biblical Hermeneutics: Part I

As people seek to understand Biblical hermeneutics, the first step is to examine the historical pattern – from Biblical times to just a few decades ago. This mini-series on the pre-Reformation history of Biblical hermeneutics will be composed of three parts. Parts I and II will focus on the hermeneutics of a man named Ezra and his fellow Levites. In Part III, the hermeneutics of the later Jewish religious leaders, church fathers, and medieval theologians will be laid out.

It is exciting to start with the example of Ezra, because he was a man who feared God and correctly applied Biblical hermeneutics. The text is straight from the pages of Scripture and its meaning is clear; it also is one of the earliest examples of the existence of hermeneutical rules in relation to studying the Bible.

Nehemiah 8:1 reads:

“And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.”

To set the context, Nehemiah was the cup-bearer for Artaxerxes the king – king of the Persian empire (chapter 1). Then, in chapter 2, Artaxerxes grants Nehemiah's request to go to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. In the next chapter, the wall is repaired and built. In chapters 4-6, the Israelites face new foes, in the form of Sanbalat and Tobiah. They cry out to the Lord for help and strength (6:9), and God allows them to finish the work they begun. Skipping over chapter 7 (the genealogy), there is this verse at the beginning of chapter 8.

All the people gathered together in one accord, and asked Ezra to bring to them the book of the law – Genesis through Deuteronomy. Then, the next two verses are critical.

“(v3) And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. (v4) And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.”

Here lies the first step in studying the Bible – observation. Ezra read to the people from the books of the law from morning until midday (which is convicting in and of itself). There can be no second step of understanding - or a third step of application - if there is no observation. Thus, even though in-depth study is very important, it is also important to be reading God's word often.

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Part I: A Man Named Ezra || Part II: Prayer of the Levites || Part III: Religious Leaders and Medieval Theologians

Hermeneutics - How to Read the Bible Correctly - New Series

"What do you think that verse means?"

"What does this verse mean to you?"

"What do you believe about this verse?"

Many Christians, when studying the Bible, often ask these questions, trying to determine what the Bible means. But is this truly how we are supposed to understand the Bible?

In the modern "Christian" church we have developed such a warped view of scripture with many heresies, false doctrines, and other forms of aberrant theology, it is evident that we have truly lost an understanding of how to read the Bible rightly.

In the next couple months Noah and I, and our newest blogger, Anthony will be discussing, how the modern church has lost proper biblical hermeneutics, and we are going to lay out, how to lead the Bible correctly.