Read Like an Apostle
The early disciples gave evidence of the concept of Christ as the target of the Old Testament; but, should we read the Old Testament like they did? That is an ever pressing hermeneutical question. I want to suggest that the…
Tag Hermeneutics
Content to Know Enough
When addressing the subject of the inerrancy of Scripture in light of difficulties with which we are confronted in Scripture, E.J. Young would teach his students the following truth: “The believer,” he said “will labor to reconcile seemingly contradictory details…
Interpreting Scripture with Scripture
We cannot properly interpret what God does, as He has recorded it for us in Scripture, unless we know something about the God who effects what is recorded for us in Scripture. In other words, there must be a hermeneutical (i.e. interpretive)…
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves?
I’ve heard it uttered dozens of times. Friends, family members, and strangers have looked at me, a Presbyterian pastor, and said, “Well, you know what the Bible says, ‘God helps those who help themselves.’” I politely smile, but inside I’ve…
Formulating Doctrine
“It pleased God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness, in the beginning, to create, or make of nothing, the world, and all things therein, whether visible or…
Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels
One does not have to preach, teach, or even read the New Testament for long in order to discover how steeped its authors are in the Old Testament. The OT surfaces on virtually every page of the NT. It serves…
Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels
One does not have to preach, teach, or even read the New Testament for long in order to discover how steeped its authors are in the Old Testament. The OT surfaces on virtually every page of the NT. It serves…
Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels
One does not have to preach, teach, or even read the New Testament for long in order to discover how steeped its authors are in the Old Testament. The OT surfaces on virtually every page of the NT. It serves…
The Hermeneutics of Biblical Lament (Part 1)
What is the fruit of biblical interpretation? For example, in interpreting anceint texts such as the Psalms, should our primary goal be to reconstruct the ancient Psalmist’s meaning? Or, for Christians, should it be to receive the Psalms as prayers,…
Irenaeus on Reading and Understanding Scripture
The second-century Church Father Irenaeus’s most famous work, Against Heresies, was principally directed at the contemporary heresy of Gnosticism, especially as that movement found expression in the thought of a teacher named Valentinus in Rome. One can discern in Valentinus’s…