Definition
The principles of Biblical
Hermeneutics are those governing laws and methods and procedure by which the
interpreter determines the meaning of the Holy Scriptures. These principles are
of the nature of comprehensive and fundamental doctrines. They become to the
practical exegete so many maxims, postulates, and settled rules. He is supposed
to hold them in the mind as axioms, and to apply them in all his expositions
with uniform consistency. Schleiermacher has rightly said,
The perfect
understanding of a discourse is a work of art, and involves the need of an
art-doctrine, which we designate by the term Hermeneutics. Such an art-doctrine
has existence only in so far as the precepts admitted form a system resting
upon principles which are immediately evident from the nature of thought and
language.[1]
Importance of Sound Principles
The importance of establishing
sound and trustworthy principles of Biblical exposition is universally
conceded. For it is evident that a false principle in his method will
necessarily vitiate the entire exegetical process of an interpreter. When we
find that in the explanation of certain parts of the Scriptures no two
interpreters out of a whole class agree, we have great reason to presume at
once that some fatal error lurks in their principles of interpretation. We
cannot believe that the sacred writers desired to be misunderstood. They did
not write with a purpose to confuse and mislead their readers. Nor is
reasonable to suppose that the Scripture, given the divine inspiration, is of
the nature of a puzzle designed to exercise the ingenuity of critics. It was
given to make men wise unto salvation, and in great part is so direct and
simple in its teachings that a little child can understand its meaning. But the
Bible contains some riddles and dark sayings, and many revelations in the form
of types, symbols, parables, allegories, visions, and dreams, and the
interpretation of these has exercised the most gifted minds. Many different and
often contradictory methods of expositions have been adopted, and some
enthusiasts have gone to the extreme of affirming that there are manifold
meanings and “mountains of sense” in every line of Scripture. Under the spell
of some such fascination many have been strangely misled, and have set forth as
expositions of the Scriptures their own futile fancies. Lange points out,
As the sun
in the earthly heavens has to break thought many cloudy media, so also does the
divine word of Holy Scripture through the confusion of every kind which arises
from the soil of earthly intuition and representation.[2]
True method of determining sound principles
Sound hermeneutical principles are,
therefore, elements of safety and satisfaction in the study of God’s written
word. But how are such principles to be established? How may we determine what
is true and what is false in the various methods of exposition? We must go to
the Scriptures themselves, and search them in all their parts and forms. We
must seek to ascertain the principles which the sacred writers followed. Naked
propositions, or formulated rules of interpretation, will be of little or no
worth unless supported and illustrated by self-verifying examples. It is worthy
of note that the Scriptures furnish repeated examples of the formal interpretation
of dreams, visions, types, symbols, and parables. In such examples, we are
especially to seek our fundamental and controlling laws of exposition. Unless
we find clear warrant for it in the word itself, we should never allow that any
one passage or sentiment of divine revelation has more than one true import.
The holy Scriptures is no Delphic oracle to bewilder and mislead the human
heart by utterances of double meaning. God’s written word, taken as a whole,
and allowed to speak for itself, will be found to be its own best interpreter.
Ennobling tendency of hermeneutical study
The process of observing the laws
of thought and language, as exhibited in the Holy Scriptures, is an ennobling
study. It affords an edifying intercourse with eminent and choice spirits of
the past, and compels us for the time to lose sight of temporary interests, and
to become absorbed with the thoughts and feelings of other ages. He who forms
the habit of studying not only the divine thoughts of revelation, but also the
principles and methods according to which those thoughts have been expressed,
will acquire a moral and intellectual culture worthy of the noblest ambition.[i]
[1]
Outline of the Study of Theology, p. 142. Edinb, 1850.
[2]
Grundriss der biblischen Hermeneutik, p. 77
[i]
This is a quotation from the book, Biblical
Hermeneutics, by Milton Terry, Zondervan Book pp. 161, 162
