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Hermeneutics Lesson 14

Use God's Way to understand (interpret) God's Word - Review of class.

Isaiah 28:9 says Whom shall he teach knowledge?  and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?..

This chapter in Isaiah explicitly tells us how God gives us knowledge  and makes (us) to understand doctrine.    This paper provides the details of 'How To Do'.  However, God has shown me within His Word, and it has been my personal experience in life, that the best explained plan will be altered by the person receiving it unless they have their heart set to do exactly as they are told to do.  They make what they believe to be an insignificant change and then when their changed procedure fails, they reject the original plan and claim that it has the fault.  That is one of the main reasons why so much time and effort was put into earlier lessons which might have seemed to be unrelated, but which were actually designed to prepare the heart to follow this procedure exactly as written.  Therefore, if the reader has skipped, or only skimmed earlier lessons, please return to them and pray for God's help before going over each lesson in detail.

  1. It should go without saying that we need to start with prayer every time that we deal with the Bible.
    The he  of this verse is God.  We always need to start with prayer if we want God involved.  James 1:5-8 says If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.  Further, 1Corinthians 1-3 tells us about the differences between the wisdom of man / this world  and the wisdom of God.  If we do not specifically seek the wisdom of God  every time then we will use the wisdom of man / this world  (procedures from religion).  Even with prayer we will tend to use the procedures of religion.  Specifically, the greatest danger of today is for people to use the procedures which yield the many applications of the Bible, (prayer and preaching) instead of the procedure that yields the single interpretation (study [2Timothy 2:15]).

    Therefore, while we start with prayer, we must put more time into study,  than into prayer, if we are to have God work this way in our life.

  2. Remove the source of doctrinal error: Woe  to Those that Teach Doctrinal Error (Isaiah 28:1-4, 13b-20).
    1. They would not hear the Word of the Lord (when the Bible disagreed with their traditional doctrine) - Isaiah 28:12-13 ...yet they would not hear...But the word of the LORD..
    2. They trusted in past power and fading glory (position and power from traditions of men) - Isaiah 28:1-4 ...crown of pride...is a fading flower...the Lord...shall cast down to the earth.  A simple example of this is preachers who claim to be preaching in the tradition of great men but are not receiving the results of those men.  Even after 20 years or more of claiming the power of tradition, while not seeing God bless, they still demand that people have faith in their preaching.
    3. The Lord has pronounced judgment against them.
      • Isaiah 28:2 ...the Lord...shall cast down to the earth...
      • Isaiah 28:13b ...that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
      • Isaiah 28:14 ...ye scornful men..  Also see Psalms 1 especially 1:1.  They are not blessed of God as they claim to be.
    4. Isaiah 28:15a Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement  Also see Psalms 1:4-5.  The methods they teach are from Hell, even if they are saved.  A simple example is the claim to have an 'every word belief', based upon the Bible saying Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God / of God.  (Deuteronomy 8:3; Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4).  Then the person making that claim proves that they ignore the phrase that proceedeth out of the mouth of God / of God  because they then used the definition from men when we are commanded, by this phrase, to use the definition that belongs to God.  We find God's definitions by doing proper Bible Word Studies which very few people do.  They prove this when they use 'the Greek' to define their words instead of using it to provide additional applications of the base definition.
    5. Isaiah 28:17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.  Also see Luke 6:39.  These leaders and their followers will receive God's judgment.  In addition, the line, and...the plummet  are construction tools which are used to produce an exact test of being correct.  (Exactly horizontal and exactly vertical.) These religious leaders excused their failure to meet God's exact standards, but God still requires us to meet His exact standards.
    6. They will not understand the clear teaching of the Bible.  - Isaiah 28:19 especially it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.  They are skipping parts of the Bible in their preaching, or looking for someone to explain their 'problem verses' because the erroneous method of interpretation that they use causes a vexation only to understand the report.
    7. Their doctrine will not meet anyone's needs.  (Isaiah 28:20) We see people in many churches today who claim to be saved but are ensnared with the sins of this world.  And even when they follow their churches' doctrine, they are not set free.
    8. Romans 6:16 says Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?  When we teach people to rely on doctrine that comes from man, we are encouraging them to do a sin unto death.  When we do that we are also daring God to bring a judgment of death into our life.
    9. Bottom line: there are good preachers who are daring God to judge them and their followers because they are using the wrong method for interpretation and teaching others to use the wrong mentods.  Listen to what they say about applying the

  3. Remove the source of doctrinal error: Sources Identified (Isaiah 28:2)
    1. Doctrinal error comes from believing anything other than 'God said what he meant and meant what he said'.  That is, rejecting the literal translation of a God given Bible when it is available.  One of the main sources of error is the belief that what you have been taught before is all that God wants to reveal to you using that section of the Bible.  God will not force anything on you.  If you read a passage with the thought that you already know what is there then your mind is closed and God can not correct you.  Neither can God give you new insight.
    2. People fall into doctrinal error because they have the wrong Lord: Behold, the Lord hath a mighty and strong one, which...shall cast down to the earth with the hand.  (Isaiah 28:2) God's strong one,  Who will judge, is the Son of God.  The religious man who refuses correction, especially in the way that he gets his doctrine, lives his life proving that he believes that his religion or himself is the real ' lord' of his life and that his personal 'lord' will force the Lord of the Universe to not do the judgment He promised.
    3. People fall into doctrinal error because they have the wrong Book of the Law (use the wrong so-called bible).
    4. People were taught the wrong Method of judging doctrine (Isaiah 28:7-11).  The Biblical Method is presented below.  Using any other way  is a rejection of God's way  and sin.
    5. People were taught the wrong Method of determining doctrine.  We see the Bible say that religious tradition has made the word of God of none effect  (Matthew 15:6; Mark 7:13; Romans 4:14; 9:6; 1Corinthians 1:17; Galatians 3:17). 
      1. Several preachers have said that you can determine a preacher's doctrine by the school he attended.  That says that most of our preachers are as spiritually immature and the people in Corinth (see the Test of Spiritual Maturity).  When we are trusting in doctrine which came from famous preachers we are daring God to bring a jusgment unto death.  We are to follow these men as they apply God's ways to their life, but not trust their words for the interpretation of the Bible.  (Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.  [1Corinthians 11:1]).
      2. We must have at least 2 places where the Bible literally says what we hold as doctrine or we are trusting religious traditions instead of the word of God.
      3. We must use God's way  to interpret God's Word or we will have a 'less than perfect' interpretation.

  4. We must start our interpretation with a godly attitude.
    1. The wise man dug down the Rock,  which is always a type of Christ  in the Bible, while the foolish saved man trusted what preachers and religion told him and did not personally verify what was preached by looking at the verses referenced, and their context, after the service.  Failure to verify what is preached opens us to the possibility of accepting doctrinal error.  We must personally dig into our Bible.
    2. You have to verify that you found a Rock  before you stop your digging.  We must see what the passage tells us about God and the Son of God.
    3. God is a Spirit.  God wrote His word from His Spiritual perspective.  We must get the spiritual point of view, which is different from the physical point of view.
    4. God wrote His Word to reveal Himself to man. God wrote what He meant and meant what He wrote.  The FIRST meaning to seek is what God literally wrote.  You can not learn Algebra until after you learn to add and subtract.  You cannot learn addition until after you learn your numbers.  Likewise, you can not get symbolism, prophecy, analogies, parables or anything else until you first get the literal meaning that all is based upon.
    5. God wrote His Word to reveal Himself to man.  God knows our infirmities and hates  people who claim to have 'special knowledge' so that people have to go to them in order to interpret their Bible.  That is what the majority of people are doing when they go to 'the Greek'.  God uses 'the Greek' to enhance what we already interpreted in the English.  1John 5:13 tells us that the same Bible that we use for salvation is to be used for sanctification.  You present God and yourself as unreliable when you tell people to believe the English for salvation  and then turn to 'the Greek' for sanctification.
    6. Look for what the Bible says about God and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Then look at how the section of the Bible is understood from a spiritual perspective while sticking to the literal interpretation.  Then look for a physical perspective of what is literally said.  Then start looking for figures of speech that have already been mentioned.
    7. The Doctrine of the Apostles (Isaiah 28:9) is the next thing to look for.  The Doctrine of the Apostles is given in the New Testament and tells us how to apply the truths of the Bible.  Yes, the New Testament teaches doctrine and some things about interpretation, but the most obvious teaching of the New Testament is the application in our lives.  The Doctrine of the Apostles is the practical teaching of the church and guides us in the proper application of doctrine.
    8. God says I change not (Malachi 3:6) and Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8).  God will not teach us a doctrine that goes against what He taught the early church and put into the New Testament.  What's more, while the details of how God applies promises often change from person to person and from people to people, the character of God Who provides promises does not change.  Thus, God did not take away the promises that He made to the Jews and give those promises to the church but God gave similar, but better, promises to the church.
    9. Expect and accept correction from the Spirit of God.  Many times throughout the Bible and throughout this life we see God's people suffer judgment because they 'took a stand' on what was religious tradition which went against the commandment of God.
    10. Accept personal direction from the Spirit of God using the word of God.  True salvation is a personal relationship with the Son of God as Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, He will give you some personal commands that you must obey while other Christians do not have to obey them.

  5. God teaches correct doctrine to people who use His Way (correct actions).
    6. (Isaiah 28:9-11): Whom shall he teach knowledge?  and whom shall he make to understand doctrine?  them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.  For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.)
    1. God teaches knowledge  and expects us to 'trust and obey' Him.  God repeats His lessons several times with different circumstances and with increasing demands of faith.  It takes time and effort to make  something.  God makes (us) to understand doctrine  only through our repeated experiencing the knowledge  that He teaches  with our experience coming from when we 'trust and obey' Him.
    2. them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts  is speaking about reaching a level of spiritual maturity that was already discussed with God's test laid out in the Test of Spiritual Maturity.  People who have not reached this level have no business expressing an opinion of doctrine  because they have not reached the spiritual maturity required for God to make to understand doctrine.  Letting them speak is like letting a two-year-old advice you on financial investments of be a marriage counselor.
    3. precept upon precept  (Isaiah 28:10)
      1. A precept is a generic rule that applies to all of life and never changes such as God saying I change not.
      2. A precept will be stated literally in at least two places in the Bible.  Please notice that each of these steps are stated twice, which makes them the basis for doctrine  that all saved people are to obey.  In addition, we see these instructions repeated again later within this chapter, which makes them double established.  After the second time we see the judgment that God brings upon His people who would not hear.  If what people claim is doctrine is not stated at least two places or is not literally said, it might be good for personal direction from God and might be good as a rule for those people that God made you an authority over, but shouldn't by ' laid' on another person, especially someone from another church.
      3. A major precept  that applies here is called 'progressive revelation'.  God wrote the first 5books of the Bible and waited until people could handle that before He added more.  We are told that The Bible was written over a long period of time with God giving it here a little, and there a little.  In our own lives God first reveals His love to us in order to get us saved.  Then He reveals His character intermixed with His commands and does it here a little, and there a little.  Understanding comes later.  God uses the same method for revealing doctrine.  The first revelation is what God literally says.  If a figure of speech, such as a parable, is being presented then the little context reveals it.  After that God reveals things about Himself as we understand how and why God acts like the passage tells us he does.  Only after that are we to consider things 'who did God use to write this, what are the cultural influences, what additional applications can we learn from other languages'.  Further, we are to realize that symbolism is very tricky and very dangerous to try and understand.  We should only apply symbolism when the Bible literally tells us the symbol such as in the 'parable of the sower' where we are told the seed is the word of God  (Luke 88:11).  In addition, when God said or did something to someone else, such as the Jews, we can not 'Claim that thing' for our selves but we can learn what God did and why and then expect God to apply those same attitudes and actions to us when we have attitudes and actions matching the other people in he Bible.  However, that is an application of the passage and not an interpretation.  Applications are to be made only after getting the proper interpretation.  Therefore, we muse be sure to follow God's order of 'progressive revelation' if we want too end up with the correct interpretation.
    4. line upon line  (Isaiah 28:10).
      1. Line Upon Line means Sentence upon Sentence.  Many saved people are bad for following the Devil's example in tempting our Lord Jesus Christ.  Specifically, they take the word of God out of context by ' interpreting' less than a full sentence.  This was explained earlier but look at the differences between the verse format of Romans and the sentence format and the differences should be obvious.  A lot of doctrinal error is based upon people being taught to 'interpret the Bible verse upon verse'.
      2. Line Upon Line means one part of a logical argument stacked upon another just like one floor of a building is built upon lower floors.  Consider how often God uses a building as an example in the Bible.  Ignoring the context that comes before a passage in the Bible and provides the basis for it, or ignoring what comes after the passage which it must support, is like someone tearing out the support walls on the second floor of a 4 story building and not bothering to provide proper bracing first.  Please see the note at the beginning of the Book Study on Romans about all of the connecting words and how all of Romans is built one chapter upon another.  Then consider how many people jump into some verse within Romans to teach doctrine without considering all of the support before and after that passage which God expects us to consider.
      3. It is important to realize that precept upon precept comes before line upon line.  What we read is never to be interpreted as opposing God's precepts.  In most instances when a passage seems to go against precepts  the person is trying to 'force an interpretation' or they are ignoring context such as being told that a figure of speech is being used, or they are trying to apply a spiritual passage to the physical or trying to apply a physical passage to the spiritual.  God gave us a brain and expects us to use it.  In most instances, if we open, to God, a closed mind, then he will show us what we need to know about that passage.  With 'progressive revelation' it often will be less than full revelation but it will be enough for us to go on.
    5. A major part of a line  is the punctuation (jot and tittle  [Matthew 5:18; Luke 16:17]).
      1. Since Jesus said Till Heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled,  we must treat punctuation as part of our 'God breathed word of God'.
      2. Our God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.    Having multiple definitions for words causes confusion,  is man's addition to our word of God, and is not from God.  Just as God has a one-to-one relationship between words and their true Biblical meaning, so also does God have a one-to-one relationship between punctuation and its true Biblical usage.
      3. Please see the Punctuation layout of the Bible for more detailed examples.
      4. Explaining the usage of punctuation was covered in the prior lesson.  Please see it if necessary.
      5. Please notice the semi-colons within our verses of Isaiah.  These show us steps that we are to take in the order that God lists them.  We can not take a second step before we take the first step.  A major source of the divisions in all of the 'Christian Faiths' are because people did not use God's way  to determine their doctrine and Ddd not use God's way  to show other people the error of their doctrine.  The most often skipped steps of people's doctrine is clearing away all sources of error and digging down to a personal relationship with God, which is represented by the rock  in the parable of the wise man and of the foolish man.
    6. here a little, and there a little  (Isaiah 28:10): We must act upon the little  that God gives us before He gives more.  Many people believe in 'the power of prayer' while ignoring the many places where the Bible tells us that God says 'I'm not listening until after you obey'.  We must 'trust and obey' every litttle  thing that God tellls us before He will tell us the next little  thing.
    7. stammering lips and another tongue  (Isaiah 28:11).  God will use people outside of our religion and outside of our culture to teach us but only after we are established in the basics of true doctrine.  The stammering lips  means people who have a hard time making themselves clearly understood, which includes people from another culture.  Many people tell us that we must consider the culture that a Bible passage was written to.  While that is true, it fits in this place of God's way  to interpret His Word.  It adds another level of understanding but can not invalidate what was already revealed.  It especially can not invalidate the literal interpretation.
    8. The same is true for another tongue,  such as 'the original languages'.  In the Biblical example of a building, this is trim added to a building.  It is not the basis to tear down the building and start another from the foundation up.

  6. Who has Good results which show that they are following God's method of learning doctrine?  On that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people, And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.  (Isaiah 28:5-6, 12)
    1. The good results are to those who recognize the LORD  as their personal God.
      • Salvation is in a personal relationship with the person of the Son of God and not in ANY religious act including a prayer of salvation.
      • A truly saved person worships their God.
      • A truly saved person is part of the residue of his people.  That is, they are what is left behind holding onto true Biblical doctrines as most of the church follows 'religious traditions'.
      • They fear their Lord and the consequences of straying from His commands because they recognize that He is a spirit of judgment (please see the Study called Fear the Lord).
      • They are willing to charge Hell with a squirt gun (what is physically inadequate but what God provided) and are actively trying to turn lost people back from the gate of Hell by the Spirit of God.
    2. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing  (28:12).  They have/do enter God's rest.  (Please see the second point, called Rest, in the study called God's Economy.) Rest is not worrying about the things that God said he would take care of while we obey Him in doing the work He assigned us.
    3. They have God's refreshing:  The word of God is what corrects them when they stumble and correction from God refreshes our spirit.

  7. Who has bad results?  (Isaiah 28:13) But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.  Saved people are supposed to present God's Word God's Way.  When they misrepresent God's Word or God's Way they receive greater judgment than the lost do.  That is a separate lesson.  However, please consider:

The rest of Isaiah 28 provides more detail and support for these basic teachings.  God repeats the start of the chapter so that we have the Biblical bases to say that this is doctrine that all saved people have to believe and obey.

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