HGB-01 Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics

We all know that young children often think they know a lot more than they really do. They watch their mothers cook, help a little bit, and assume that they know enough to do it on their own. They watch their fathers do their work, they play at it once or twice, and they think they know everything their fathers know. But at some point, children usually find out that they have much more to learn than they ever imagined.

Unfortunately, adults often make the same mistake, even when it comes to something as important as interpreting the Bible. Most of us read our Bibles regularly; some of us have done so for many years. So, we often assume that we know enough about interpreting the Scriptures to just go ahead and do it. But biblical interpretation is one of those things that can seem much simpler than it really is. And when we take time to reflect carefully on what interpreting the Bible entails, we often find that we have much more to learn than we ever imagined.

This is the first lesson in our series He Gave Us Scripture: Foundations of Interpretation. In this series, we’ll explore several crucial outlooks on biblical interpretation and investigate ways to improve our ability to understand the Bible. We’ve entitled this lesson “Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics.” This lesson will introduce a basic framework for sound and scholarly biblical interpretation.

Our Introduction to Biblical Hermeneutics will divide into three main parts. First, we’ll gain an orientation to our subject by introducing some important terminology. Second, we’ll explore “scientific” approaches to hermeneutics that characterize scholarly interpretation of the Bible. And third, we’ll look at the value of employing devotional hermeneutics in conjunction with traditional academic approaches. Let’s begin with some important terminology.

Misunderstanding key terminology can be a big source of confusion in any discussion. So we’ll introduce several terms for our study. First, we’ll touch on what we mean by biblical hermeneutics. And second, we’ll look at three hermeneutical processes. Let’s look first at the concept of biblical hermeneutics.