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Principles of Biblical Interpretation by Craig Wesley Rench

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Principles Of Biblical Interpretation by Craig Wesley Rench INTRODUCTION TO BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION SOME PERSONAL NOTES FROM THE PROFESSOR: I am incredibly excited about this class. I love teaching for the Anaheim District Ministerial Training Center. And I love teaching God’s Word. I am so blessed and so honored and so incredibly privileged to be teaching this particular class. Accurate Biblical Interpretation is so vital to preaching and pastoring the way the Lord wants us to … this is a foundational class that frames out everything we do as we handle God’s Word in our ministry for our Lord Jesus. This class is immeasurably important! Every sermon you will ever preach, every theology you will ever believe in, every Bible study you ever lead, and every Bible question you will ever attempt to answer will depend on your proper, accurate application of the principles of Bible Interpretation. What happens when a brain surgeon or a heart surgeon fails? … literally, people can die! And many do actually die. Those precious, incredibly gifted and unbelievably smart doctors better get it right. People’s lives literally depend on their accurate application of medical principles, knowledge and skills. Now, what happens when a pastor or Bible teacher fails? … people can die eternally the “second death.” (also known according to Revelation 20:14-15 as “the lake of fire.”) All false teaching … all heresies … all cults started with inaccurate, false Biblical interpretation! Many of these false teachers are truly sincere and they really are convinced that they interpreted the Bible correctly and that God Almighty is pleased with how they have handled God’s Word. But, they are sincerely … wrong! How many millions will spend eternity in the lake of fire © Craig Wesley Rench, 2018 Page !1 because they followed false teachers, heretics and cult leaders who thought that they knew what the Bible “really said?” I love teaching. I love teaching God’s Word. God has given me the gift of a tremendous passion for the Word of our Lord. I also know that whenever I teach a course like this that I am going to have the joy and blessing of learning a whole lot more than any student in the class! I have a lot to learn about interpreting God’s Word more accurately. I want to live out this verse: II Timothy 2:15 Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that doesn’t need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. I want to rightly “divide” God’s Word. I want to handle it right. I want to teach it well. I want the Lord to be pleased with how I reverently teach and preach His Word. Think about this, because we are teachers and preachers of God’s Word – you and I face a much stricter judgment on Judgment Day – (See James 3:1) When I stand before God I want to give a good account and I want to hear God say that I handled and interpreted and taught His eternal Word — right! I want Him to be proud of how I taught His Word to His precious people. To do that I need to have the Holy Spirit’s supernatural help! And I will also have to study just as II Timothy 2:15 says! I need the Spirit and I need to study! And I need to study right! This course will give you tools on how to “rightly divide the word of truth.” Following that great admonition from the Apostle Paul, in II Timothy 2:15 I want to: • Be “approved unto God” on Judgment Day – don’t you? • Be a faithful “workman” (that means that it will take “work” – doesn’t it?) • Never be ashamed of how I misinterpreted, mishandled, or misused God’s Word. • “Rightly divide the word of truth.” © Craig Wesley Rench, 2018 Page !2 More than any other class in the Ministerial Course of Study – this course will help you and give you the tools to correctly, properly, powerfully understand and declare the eternal truth of God’s Book. We all need this class … and many experienced preachers I know and love … need a refresher course that would remind them of these basic principles of Biblical Interpretation. I know that I need this class. I am looking forward to learning and re-learning these great principles. My love for God’s Word The Lord has blessed me with a great gift. And He will give you the same gift if you want it. It is yours for the asking. God has given me a powerful, overwhelming passion for His Word and a fervent desire to know it, understand it, love it, delight in it, teach it, preach it, follow it and obey it. Everything we can know about Jesus and His great gift of salvation comes to us through His Book – the Bible! I truly want to live out these verses spoken by our Lord Jesus: John 8:31 If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; John 15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. I really want to abide in His Word and in Him and I want His Words to abide in me. Ask the Lord to give you a holy passion and a fervent desire and delight in His Word. Keep asking for this. Ask for this every day. Every time you pick up God’s Word tell the Lord that you delight in His Word and ask Him to help you delight in it more today than you ever have! God will answer this prayer! © Craig Wesley Rench, 2018 Page !3 Ask Him to give you an unquenchable thirst for His Word! Ask Him to help you with the Holy Spirit’s supernatural enabling to understand His Word and to be a “DO-ER” of His Word. (James 1:22-25) Ask Him to help you understand, apply and meditate on His Word. Ask Him to give you the daily blessings of prosperity (according to His terms) and success that He promises to all who will meditate on His Word day and night. (See: Psalm 1:1-3; Joshua 1:8; James 1:25) Determine to obey His Word as He breaks it open for you. Feed yourself daily on His Word. Soak in His Word. Marinate in His Word. Love His Word. Ask God if there is anything He wants to say to you today from His Word. Beg Him to help you to accurately, rightly and spiritually understand and interpret His Words found in His Book. God delights to answer this heart-felt, humble prayer. My bias regarding God’s Word Everybody has bias. Nobody is completely neutral and bias-free. The wise person recognizes and admits their biases. I want you to know my bias about God’s Word right up front. Here it is: I believe that God’s Word is totally true, accurate and complete. It is all true. It is truly God’s Word. It doesn’t just “contain God’s Word” … it is totally God’s Word. We don’t have to slice and dice God’s Word to try and figure out what part of it is true and what isn’t … it is all true! God supernaturally breathed His Word into the hearts of the writers of Scripture and then He superintended every word that they wrote down. His Spirit literally was concerned about every letter they wrote on their scrolls and parchments. Then, miraculously, the Lord protected His Word down through the centuries – until you and I could hold His Word in our hands. I believe that the most precious inanimate object (and yet it is “living”) that I can ever hold is a Bible! What an inestimable privilege it is to have our own personal copy of the eternal, living Word of God! Countless millions of God’s people never got to hold a copy of God’s Word in their own hands! Countless billions more … could not have read God’s Book even if they had been able to hold it in their hands – for they lived and died illiterate! What a blessing, what a gift, what a © Craig Wesley Rench, 2018 Page !4 joy, what a privilege it is to be able to read and own on our personal copy of God’s eternal Word! I love God’s Word. I know that I could spend the rest of my life studying God’s Word every waking moment – and I still would never fully understand it. I know that the wisest, smartest people who have ever lived have not been able to plumb it’s depths. There are things in God’s Word that I know that I will never understand until the Lord personally teaches those truths to us in His eternal Heaven. There are things that I don’t like in God’s Word. There are things that I wish God hadn’t taken credit for. (for example: Exodus 4:11; Isaiah 45:7; Amos 3:6) There are things in God’s Word that His greatest lovers wish He had never said … and because of our limited understanding … we will never “get it” at least on this side of glory! But, my bias still stands: Even though I don’t understand it all, even though I don’t like everything that is in this Book – I believe and I know that it is all true! No one will ever be able to convince me that God’s Word is not true.
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