Reading: The Historical Element (Slides)

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
An Outline of Reformed Biblical Hermeneutics
Dr. Jeffrey A. D. Weima

Major Elements of a Reformed Hermeneutic

• The Holy Spirit Element
  
• The Grammatical Element
  
• The Literary Element
• The Historical Element
  
• The Theological Element

The Historical  Element

• The Bible did not fall from heaven in the King James Version, with red letters, and a concordance along with maps in the back!
• Instead every passage in the Bible has a historical context--a specific historical situation which caused the text to come into existence
• Knowing the historical context is crucial to interpreting any biblical text properly

The Four Pages of the Sermon (Paul Scott Wilson)

• Page 1: The Trouble in the Text
• Page 2: The Trouble in the World
• Page 3: The Grace in the Text
• Page 4: The Grace in the World
  

German phrase "Sitz im Leben”

• Literally means "Situation in Life”
• Phrase commonly used in German biblical scholarship to refer to the historical context or social setting or cultural background of any given text

Series is entitled: Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary

• Term "Backgrounds” reflects emphasis in this commentary series to show how the ancient world of the 1st century sheds light on the proper interpretation of the NT

Importance of the Historical Context

Example: Luke 10:25-37
Parable of the Good Samaritan

Samaritans = Descendants of 10 Lost Tribes of Israel

John 4:9―The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?"

Modern title "Good Samaritan" is an oxymoron, a phrase in which contradictory terms are combined. For Jews in the time of Jesus, all Samaritans were assumed to be bad.

Circumlocution (a roundabout or indirect way of speaking)

The Jewish law expert could not bear even to say the word Samaritan.

The application of Parable:

• Priest & Levite: historical reasons why they may have had logical excuses not to stop and help out person in need
• Parallel with believers today

Problem of the "Historical Gap"

Distinction between viewing the Bible as "culturally conditioned” or "culturally bound”

• Culturally conditioned: Bible is conditioned/impacted by its ancient culture but still relevant for church today
• Culturally bound: Bible is bound to its original ancient culture and thus not relevant for church today

"But first it is crucial to reiterate that all of the Bible is authoritative and normative for today. The issue is not whether the Bible is normative or which parts are normative, but how it is normative for today." (John Cooper, A Cause for Division?, 1991, p. 26)

How can one bridge the "Historical Gap”?

• Step #1: Discover the abiding principle or underlying moral truth claim (exegesis)
• Step #2: Apply that abiding principle to today's new and contemporary situation (homiletics)

"A distinction must be made between a moral principle and the application of that principle. The former is normative for the Christian life today, the latter is not necessarily so. The biblical text often contains concrete applications made in specific historical situations. Care should be taken not to transfer such applications directly to the different situations obtaining today. One must first seek to discover the abiding principle... Only after discovering the underlying principle, can one seek to apply it in a different situation today. (Acts of Synod 1978, p. 500; emphasis added)

"Sometimes we may have to come to the conclusion that, while certain laws no more apply in the form in which they were cast, yet their underlying principle is just as binding today as it ever was." (Louis Berkhof, Reformed Dogmatics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1932; 2nd revised edition, 1941: pp. 174-175)

"Reformed hermeneutics recognizes the difference between a principle and the application of that principle. A principle states God's abiding will for our lives, but how that principle is applied may vary according to time and place." (John Cooper, A Cause for Division?, 1991, p. 29)

"So, just as it is possible to identify in all the books of Scripture universal and abiding truths about the will, work and ways of God, it is equally possible to find in every one of them universal and abiding principles of loyalty and devotion to the holy, gracious Creator; and then to detach these from the particular situations to which, and the cultural frames within which, the books apply them, and to reapply them to ourselves in the places, circumstances, and conditions of our own lives today." (J. I. Packer, "Understanding the Bible: Evangelical Hermeneutics," Honouring the Written Word of God (Carlisle: Paternoster, 1999) 3.157 (originally published in Restoring the Vision: Anglican Evangelical Speak Out[1990]: 39-58).


Differing Degrees of Cultural Influence in Scripture

Minimal Cultural Influence: Col 3:1-3
"Since (literally "if'), then, you have been raised with Christ, set your minds on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died and your life in own hidden with Christ in God"

• Step 1: Discover the abiding principle or underlying moral truth claim (exegesis)
• Step 2: Apply that abiding principle to today's new and contemporary situation (homiletics)

Some Cultural Influence: Eph 2:11-22
Division between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians over the issue of circumcision.

• Step 1: Discover the abiding principle or underlying moral truth claim (exegesis)
• Step 2: Apply that abiding principle to today's new and contemporary situation (homiletics)

Great Cultural Influence: 1 Cor. 16:20b
"Greet one another with a holy kiss"

• Step 1: Discover the abiding principle or underlying moral truth claim (exegesis)
• Step 2: Apply that abiding principle to today's new and contemporary situation (homiletics)