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Hermeneutics is the rules for interpreting the Bible. It is the principles upon which the message of the Bible can be arrived at. Hermeneutics is the science and art of Biblical Interpretation, this definition is from Dr. Percer in his video.[1] “It is a science because it is guided by rules within a system; and it is an art because the application of the rules is by skill, and not by mechanical imitation."[2] "Hermeneutics is a science in that it can determine certain principles for discovering the meaning of a document. . . . It is also an art . . . because principles or rules can never be applied mechanically but involve the skill of the interpreter.”[3]

Hermeneutics provides the backbone in which people can interpret the Bible. The only proper control for hermeneutics is to be found in the original intent of the biblical text.[4] When a book is written and read, information is transferred from author to reader. Both the reader and author have an important role in the defining process. Things become more complex when the reader is not the reader that the author was writing to, as is the case with the Bible. The role of the author is to bring together his thoughts coherently and then decide how to communicate those ideas to his intended audience. The author may use different languages, different genres, different words, and different stories to illustrate his points.

Properly interpreting a text is crucial to better understand the author’s mind and intention writing the book. As Kaiser and Silva mentioned, “we need principles of interpretation to understand trivial conversations and even nonlinguistic events.”[5] When talking about texts written a very long time ago, by a variety of people from different cultures, the task is even more significant. Final authority rest neither in the church nor in the Bible, but in the gospel message of Jesus Christ.

In conclusion, hermeneutics refers to deriving meaning from content, such as speech or literature. Biblical hermeneutics deals with correctly interpreting the Bible. It is harder than it seems, with culture, geography, time, and language forming high barriers to understanding, much less applying the Bible to the modern-day. It is not subjective; the Biblical authors put meaning into their words just as authors of the modern era do today (2 Peter 1:21). Interpreting the Bible is one of the highest callings anyone can embark on. The Bible reveals the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord and God. A text cannot mean what it could never have meant for its original readers/hearers…the true meaning of the biblical text for us is what God originally intended it to mean when it was first spoken or written. [6]

 


[1] Leo Percer, The History of Hermeneutics, online video presentation for NBST 610--Hermeneutics, accessed on May 19, 2021.

[2] Bernard L. Ramm, Protestant Biblical Interpretation: A Textbook of Hermeneutics 3d rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1970.

[3] Ibid 11

[4] Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003), 34.

[5] Walter C. Kaiser Jr, and Moisés Silva. Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics. The search for meaning. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2007), 17.

[6] Fee and Stuart, 34-36.

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