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The interpretation of Scripture is one of the most important issues facing the Church today. Generally speaking, biblical interpretation tends to swing between two poles, a liberal exegesis that ignores the miraculous power of God, or a fundamentalist or conservative exegesis that often assumes that God does not act today as he acted in biblical times. The latter perspective often adopts a "correspondence theory of Truth," as if the Word of God simply reflects historical events rather than creating them in the first place. To address these matters, I will show that how one interprets Scripture is related to one's world view. I will adopt the world-view of the creeds, as this is how the ancient church responded to confusions in how to interpret Scripture. In doing so, I will adopt the position that the crucial feature of Scripture is that it describes God's words an deeds, that God speaks and acts today as Scripture, and that his present words and deeds are in accord with Scripture. That God can act and speak today as he always did is of the utmost importance as we all need a living God speaking to us and acting in our lives. The essays follow. 1. The Creeds and Biblical Interpretation Shows how and why the Creeds must structure biblical interpretation, and as an example, discusses economics, violence, and sexuality in that light. Also offers a critique of the historical‑critical method of interpreting Scripture.2. Trinity, Incarnation, and Biblical Interpretation 3. Barth on Anselm This essay, also given in the theology section, is Barth's examination of Anselm's "proof" for the existence of God. In the process of Barth's analysis, it becomes clear that Barth believes that God can literally speak. As applied to Scripture, this means that the scriptural words are not only human words, but also, the very words of God. As such, Scripture is not the divine Word in human words, or through human words, but as human words. This implies that Scripture is both the Word and words of God, and further, that interpretation begins with the literal meaning of the text taking genre into account.4. Explaining Inerrancy This essay addresses the matter of biblical inerrancy as presented by R.C. Sproul in his book on inerrancy. In general, the essay affirms Sproul, but his correspondence theory of biblical truth does not reflect the work of a triune God who creates and recreates reality through and by Jesus Christ.5. Isaiah 6 Discusses the trinitarian structure of Isaiah 6 together with some conclusions for language for God.6. The Historical Jesus and the Spirit Describes the Spirit's role in the formation of the gospels and arrives at an understanding of the gospel accounts that differs from literal fundamentalism on the one hand and liberal exegesis on the other.7. Scripture, Creed, and Marriage 8. The Quest for the Historical Jesus This essay examines the scholarly attempt to discover the historical Jesus. It makes some concrete suggestions as to how the quest for the historical Jesus can be carried out in ways that currently escape the attention of many biblical scholars.9. Countryman on Scripture Describes the revisionist perspective governing William Countryman's treatment of Scripture in regard to homosexuality.10. The New York Hermeneutic Theologically analyzes a hermeneutic put out by the Episcopal Diocese of New York, showing it to be docetic, modalistic, and destructive of biblical faith. Essay also gives insight into how to interpret Scripture in an orthodox fashion.11. Sexual Orientation and the Heart Briefly describes the biblical concept of heart and relates it to the modern concept of sexual orientation.12. Engaging the Word A theological analysis of Michael Johnston's Engaging the Word, showing that its theological perspective is mystical and pagan. The essay also sheds light on how Scripture can be interpreted from the perspective of the Nicene Creed.13. The Bible Did not Die for Us Refutes the claim that, given that Jesus Christ is not a book, the Bible is not of decisive authority. Shows how the Bible, especially the four gospels, are Jesus Christ in written form. The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D. |