SECTION 2 God Expects Us to Use His Book to Know His Will

Hermeneutics Lesson #1 By Art Wallis

Introduction: We saw last week the practicality of learning proper hermeneutics. I showed how it makes a difference in our philosophy of life: one religious man felt guilty shoveling snow on Sunday, while another religious man felt great shoveling snow. The difference was in their hermeneutic, their interpretation of scripture. The one realized that it is OK to do some necessary menial labor on Sunday, while the other felt like it was a sin to do any kind of secular work on Sunday.

In today’s lesson, we will actually be analyzing some of the materials that D. R. Dungan had in the first three sections of chapter one of his book: Hermeneutics.

Chapter 1

SECTION 2 – God expects us to use His book to know His will A. Has to be studied – 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV B. Problem is with man 1. misunderstandings 2. human creeds 3. words change meanings –“pot”, “grass” C. Interpretations are not inspired….the original autographs were inspired – 2 Tim. 3:16 D. God chose to give the very words to the inspired writers of the Bible

SECITON 3 – Correct hermeneutics would help church divisions A. Wrong interpretation is not the only cause of division B. Selfish ambition – Diotrophes loved to have the pre-eminence – 3 John 9 & 10 – proper interpretation will NOT help selfish ambition. C. Don’t blame the Bible D. Method of interpretation is greatly to blame

SECTION 4 – Sound hermeneutics would help answer the infidels A. Lack of hermeneutics is not the only reason for unbelief….the writer of the book of Hebrews also talks about an evil heart of unbelief – Hebrews 3:12 & 19 B. Poor hermeneutics actually supports unbelief – if people don’t understand what God said and what it means, it does them no good. (like the TV documentaries that show a shallower place in the Red Sea where, if there had been several years of drought the water level would have been down and they could walk over on “nearly” dry land)(or another TV documentary showing that if the oil from a certain plant in Egypt gets heated by direct sunlight it has been known to catch on fire, thus we have the burning bush…only the bushes today burn up. Hmmm…..) These sort of things actually foster “unbelief” or “disbelief” because of the poor hermeneutic.

SECTION 5 – We need to know what the Bible means in order to get us to heaven – “Am I Saved or Not?” Chapter 2 – Things that Help Us Understand God’s Word

SECTION 6 – We need to understand things that help give us a knowledge of the Word of God.

SECTION 7 – Common Sense – (some people don’t have any)

SECTION 8 – Belief that the Scriptures are inspired helps – 2 Timothy 3:16 & 17

SECTION 9 – Use your head – think it through when you have a question about a verse of the Bible

SECTION 10 - Desire to do God’s will

SECTION 11 – Live a life of purity yourself – practice what you teach & preach A. To the pure, all things are pure. B. Some things can only be understood AFTER we are spiritually mature C. It is possible to sink so low in sin, that there is no way out because we WILL CHOOSE to NOT want out of our sin. – no repentance – no remorse – thus no forgiveness or pardon.

SECTION 12 – Use a correct Bible translation (tell of some problems with some of the translations)

SECTION 13 – Good General Education Required A. Can you read & write? B. Do you understand the basics of the English language? C. Are you of average intelligence? D. “At our last preacher’s meeting on Thursday, we asked the waitress if she knew what a participle was? Then we asked her if she knew what a dangling participle was? She had no idea they had to do with speech. E. The Bible uses “ellipsis”. Do you know what that is? See First Corinthians 1:17. It should actually read: “not to baptize ONLY, but to preach ALSO”. Words sometimes need to be supplied and that is what an ellipsis is. It the great commission it is used. “Go into all the world.” – Mark 16:15 some translations. Who is to go? It is understood (via ellipsis) that “you” or “we” are to go. F. It helps if you understand some Greek or Hebrew – Thus: Vine’s and Strong’s G. A knowledge of history of that time period and place helps. H. Maps from that time are useful I. Customs of that day are beneficial if you know them – “they reclined on a mat on the floor for the Lord’s supper…there were no chairs.”

SECTION 14 – Understand the Bible – to misunderstand it is to misapply it. Section 15 – Ask God’s blessing to help understand it. – James 1:5-8

CHAPTER 3 - Things That Hinder Our Understanding of the Bible

SECTION 16 – Pleasing the World, Not Pleasing God – I John 2:15-17

SECTION 17 – Don’t Let One Group Control the Bible A. Catholics locked it in Latin for hundreds of years and only the priests could read or understand it. B. The King James Only preachers do the same basic thing. C. There are NO divinely inspired translations; ALL have good points and ALL have bad points. – spit out the bones. D. Just because faithful Brother so and so says something doesn’t necessarily make it so or make it right. Don’t be a “preacher follower”. (I am of Cephas, I am of Paul, I am of Apollos) E. It is OK to use commentaries, dictionaries, Bible dictionaries, Bible Atlases, and other helps, but realize they were written by fallible men. They can be helpful.

SECTION 18 – Using the Bible to Prove Our Own Doctrine A. Going to it to prove were are right rather than going to it to see what God wants us to believe and do. B. Misapplied Scriptures (you can make up any doctrine you want by misapplication and taking out of context) What false doctrine could you make from these? 1. and he went and hanged himself – Matt. 27:5b RSV 2. go and do likewise – Luke 10:37b RSV 3. What you are going to do, do it quickly. – John 13:27b RSV

SECTION 19 – Mysticism says the Bible or God’s will can never be understood by man. Then why did He give it to us? (God is not the author of confusion – I Corinthians 14:33RSV)

SECTION 20 – The Bible is a Book of Wonders, but they are given to inspire us, to make us want to be faithful and serve the only true and living God.

SECTION 21 – If you don’t think you will ever understand the Bible, you won’t want to read it. A. Read it because you “want to”, not because you feel like you “have to”. B. Read it on a regular basis, the same time and place each day, if possible. C. Read the whole Bible, you may learn something new.

SECTION 22 – Some deliberately misinterpret the Bible for their own selfish means. *** When Billy Graham was once asked why he didn’t teach that baptism was essential for salvation, his reply was that if he taught that, he would lose his following.*** Better to lose his following, than for them to lose their souls. A. Party spirit – sectarianism – our little group are going to have these strange beliefs that separate us from the rest of you. I.E. like the Amish or Mennonite B. I want to be able to do what I want to do and live like I want to live attitude. SECITON 23 – Wanting to be “distinct” from other groups. - See Section 22 A above.

SECTION 24 – When the Bible and Science Disagree. A. As Christians we must always come down on the Bible side of the issue. I am sorry to say, but some of our apologists in the brotherhood will almost always come down on the side of science first and will perhaps later take the Bible side of the issue. B. The Bible wasn’t meant to be a book of science, but it does contain much valuable scientific information that has always been proven to be correct.