Historical Approaches to Understanding the Bible

Lessons from the Past: The Importance of Hermeneutics in Biblical Interpretation

"Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it." (George Santayana) This quote is a modern-day proverb that is commonly coined yet scarcely heeded. No institution or government that has been born and reborn throughout the centuries has been exempt from collateral misfortunes, all of which could have been prevented if they only looked back through the corridors of time to learn the mistakes of the past and move forward without repeating them. Unfortunately, the people of God have not been exempt from such foolish historical repetition either, as such many divisions, schisms, and splits have occurred throughout the church's history, each arising from theological, ecclesiological, or church practice distinctives. All of these stem from clear differences in how people in the past sought to interpret the word of God. This interpretation was based upon their own presupposed principles of hermeneutics that led God's people to the conclusions they landed upon, sometimes for the good and sometimes for the bad.

Nevertheless, there have been many biblical insights provided by God-fearing men that can shed light on our own study of the Bible. Such classical scriptural interpretation that has been mutually agreed upon by students of the Bible throughout the ages of the church can inform us of the truth and graciously challenge the lenses and cultural presuppositions that twenty-first-century readers and Bible students bring to the text of scripture. Thus, a careful study of the history of hermeneutics is necessary to inform us of the truth, warn us of the past, and prevent us from a wayward future.

Historical Hermeneutical Positions

To gauge the past and learn from it, rather than repeating its mistakes, a consideration of the primary hermeneutical positions throughout the history of God's people is in order. Two primary positions manifest throughout Church history: Jewish thought and even modern-day Bible interpretation—an allegorization of scripture and a literal grammatical-historical interpretation.

Allegorical Interpretation

Allegorizing the Bible has consistently been used throughout the church's history and Jewish rabbinic thought. Beginning with the rabbinic hermeneutic of midrash, the rabbis sought to uncover hidden meanings of the text by examining and giving meaning to passages of scripture without regard to their context to bring relevance to God's word in their ever-changing environment. As time progressed and the Hellenization of Greco-Roman culture began to steep itself into Jewish thought, men like Philo of Alexandria began allegorizing parts of the Mosaic Law to synthesize it with Greek philosophy. Unfortunately, synthesizing the text of scripture with Greek philosophy also plagued the patristic interpretation. Clement of Alexandria and Origen subscribed to an allegorical interpretation to deal with the "various moral issues contained within the Bible".

Literal Grammatical-Historical Interpretation

In contrast to an allegorical interpretation, a literal grammatical hermeneutic (GH) has also been utilized throughout the church's history. Yet, it did not see the limelight until the Reformation. At that time, many of the men who spearheaded the Reformation cried for the church's purity and purity in hermeneutics. Where men like John Calvin and Martin Luther took staunch positions against an allegorical interpretation. All the while promoting the literal meaning of the biblical text given its historical and grammatical context.

Conclusion: The Need for Historical Awareness in Hermeneutics

The plain reality is that many Christians in America have disregarded the triumphs and pitfalls of hermeneutics throughout the history of the church and have disregarded even the Bible itself. Because of this prevalent biblical illiteracy, the average Christian in America can be led into bad theology, nonsense interpretation, or even find themselves in a cult. The lack of genuine interest in the plain meaning of scripture leads so many individuals to find the "deeper meaning" and, by some miracle, locate the date of the rapture as if it were plain as day. Yet, all of this could be avoided if, first, bible students stuck to GH hermeneutics and, second, knew the church's history and recognized the dark path that follows obscure bible interpretation.