So I really cannot say enough about the issue of hermeneutics (a.k.a. "the art of interpretation"). It is really such a vital, necessary thing for us Christians to have a well-informed hermeneutic of the Scriptures (as my previous blog post--namely the video link therein--evidences). So I want to present, in different words, a concept I have already presented in a different way in the three-part blog I wrote a while back, which was entitled "Who gets to say, 'The Bible says...'?".
I would direct your attention to the words of Christ in John 5:39-40, where he says to a group of Jews who are upset that he had healed a man on the Sabbath: "You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, and yet you refuse to come to me to have life." (emphasis mine)
Again, in Luke 24:25-27, Luke recounts the story of Jesus rebuking the two dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus: "He [Jesus] said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! [emphasis mine] Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." (emphasis mine)
Later on in that same passage (vv.44b-45), Jesus serves the two disciples the Eucharist--symbolizing his own body and blood--and says to them: "'Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms [which was a Jewish way of saying "all of Scripture"].' Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures."
Why do I highlight these two passages? Because I think these passages give us a glimpse of a sort-of hermeneutical "key"--namely, that the "key" to understanding and interpreting the Scriptures is Christ himself. He himself says that all the Scriptures speak of him. He is the Word of God (Logos of God) to Whom the words of God (scripture) ought to point us.
If the Scriptures ever cease to point us to Christ--if we become more concerned about our doctrinal formations, our exegesis of the original languages, our historical and cultural background information, our "authorial intent"--then the Scriptures cease to function as they should, in the same way that they had ceased to function as they should have for the Jews Jesus spoke to in John 5.
And so you might ask, how can we--2,000 years after Christ--use Christ as our hermeneutical "key"? This may be true in a sort of theoretical way, but how does my proposal that Christ is our hermeneutical "key" really change how we read the Bible today? How can Christ really function as the "lens" through which we see the Scriptures when Christ is no longer among us?
But praise be to God, HE IS AMONG US! And how is he among us? By his Spirit. And where does his Spirit reside? Within each of us who have been baptized into the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--in those of us called "Church."
So if you ask me how Christ can be the "lens" for our interpretation of the Scriptures, I will answer you: Christ is our lens for the Scriptures when we allow the Body of Christ--the historical Church, filled by his Spirit--to help us interpret the Scriptures.
We only rightly understand the Scriptures when we interpret them in light of the confession of the historical Church, which is the Body of Christ indwelled by his Spirit. This is our safe-guard against the myriad of misinterpretations out there (see my previous blog for one of the worst). This is how we can avoid ending up like the Jews to whom Jesus spoke in John 5--who "diligently studied the Scriptures," but who had not recognized the Savior to Whom those Scriptures pointed them.
May the Scriptures always point us to the Christ of Whom they always speak.
Hey Ian,
ReplyDeleteLove your thoughts, as always. How would you advocate using the historical church in interpreting the scripture? When I study a text, typically I can find several interpretations of a text from the historical church fathers and modern scholars alike.
Hey Nick,
ReplyDeleteThanks for taking the time to check things out and respond. Your question is legit. What do we do when Augustine, Aquinas, Bultmann, and my local pastor all seem to have a different interpretation of a text in the Scriptures?
Well, first of all, I am not saying that the Church throughout all time and space always has the same interpretation of every text--obviously that is not true. We have some who read Rom. 8:28 and say, "See, there is evidence of a Calvinist understanding of predestination!" And others come along, read the same text, and say, "See, there is evidence that human beings have the power to choose or to reject the grace of God!" We've had both opinions throughout the history of the Church, and both need to remain a part of the broader tradition.
What I AM saying is that the consensual tradition of the Church sets the BOUNDARIES of what can and cannot be believed--orthodoxy, in a word. Orthodoxy does not simply arise from an honest reading of the text by a rational individual believer, but through the long, historical consensus of the Church. This consensus also helps us understand what we MUST say as Christians, as is evidenced in the ecumenical creeds (i.e. the Apostles' and the Nicene-Constantinople). In one term, it is the "rule of faith"--the creeds and the long Church tradition of interpretation--that helps us understand the BOUNDARIES as well as the CENTER of orthodox interpretations of the Scriptures.
Cheers, brother!