Hermeneutics Lesson Synopsis
Understanding the word of God
Class Synopsis:
Ephesians 4:5 says One Lord, one faith, one baptism
. Yet when we look we see many 'faiths' which claim to be 'the true faith which comes from the Bible'. 1Thessalonians 5:21 says Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
According to the Bible, that which is good
is what comes from God. When we hold fast
, we still have it after the worst storm. If we lose it we may have held
it but we did not hold fast
. When we look at the spiritual condition that America had when we became adults, and compare that to the conditions we find today, we will have a hard time explaining to God how we obeyed His command to hold fast
.
The basic reason that God's people failed to hold fast
is because they used the wrong methods to prove all things
, including having the one faith
which is to be in obedience to One Lord
. Many people believe that they have the one faith
, and many honestly believed that they did the best that they could to live right, but the evidence says that our generation, and several prior generations, failed. The most basic evidence is the existence of many 'faiths' which claim to be 'the true faith which comes from the Bible', since it is impossible for all of these differing 'faiths' to be God's one faith
.
Let me illustrate what happened. My brother bought a house that was built in the 1800s. All of the interior walls had large cracks in them. He hired a team to tear out all of the lathe and plaster and put in new wallboards. A couple of years later the cracks were back. He chewed out his team, made them repair their work, and a couple of years later the cracks were back again. Having about 40 years personal experience in construction, he then did the job himself, and a couple of years later the cracks were back again.
At this point he started looking elsewhere and found serious problems with his foundation and main support truss. He had to (slowly) lift the house back into the proper position, fix the foundation and main support truss, wait for the house to settle in the correct position, and only then could he fix the cracks and have them stay fixed.
All while this was going on his wife complained and demanded that he fix the cracks and stop causing more damage. If he had done what she demanded their house would have fallen in on them. When I try to show 'good godly Bible Believing fundamental Baptist preachers' God's plan for fixing the foundation of our faith
, I keep getting demands to 'stop trying to fix the foundation and just repair the cracks'. It is very simple. The techniques that people want to learn are in the later lessons. God's way
is to start with our relationship with God. He gives us the spirityal point of view. He then changes our attitude. It is only after we are in line with God that He can work in us and through us to give us the right answer. Men want to skip the steps which connect us to God and jump directly to what we can do in the flesh and then wonder why they fail.
The primary requirement is to get God involved. Without God we are acting in our flesh and will fail. The primary failure of methods for interpretation the Bible is that they told people how to get God involved and then concentrated on techniques that we do in the flesh. In the process of teaching fleshly religious methods, our heritage has also skipped the primary fleshly step. Thus, most people currently base their doctrine on the sand of religion and what some famous preacher, or some Bible school, taught them was doctrine. This method is different. The primary things taught are how to get God involved before we do anything in the flesh.
For at least 100 years Baptists have 'kept the pulpit hot about sin', and the evidence is that they are 'fixing the cracks'. The same problems (cracks) keep returning and the situation is getting worse. They are not looking at the foundation of our one faith
. They believe what they have been taught, which is that our foundation is the word of God. However, the Bible tells us that our foundation is not just the word of God, but includes the Way of God for using the word of God.
When the devil tempted Jesus he quoted the Bible. The problem wasn't what he quoted but what he left out. We are losing our one faith
because our foundation does not include the Way of God for using the word of God. Further, the Bible tells us that God gives us a perfect way
. Unfortunately, many people reject this God given Bible truth because the 'way' that they use is not perfect
and their own pride keeps them from admitting personal error.
This course will cover the way
of God for using the word of God
and it will teach that way
at several levels. Most people will not use the most technical methods presented. However, it is important that they get at least a basic understanding of how thorough and accurate those methods are so that they can have confidence in the simpler methods which will also be offered.
At one time in my life I had to take 28 prescriptions per day. All of the doctors assured me that I would have to take this many and more for the rest of my life. I was completely disabled and being told that it was permanent.
I now take 5prescriptions per day and hope to reduce that. I have not been disabled for several years. The way that I improved my physical health was using the same methods that this course teaches. Those methods can improve your personal spiritual health and the spiritual health of all whom you influence.
However, even my personal experiences do not make a true Biblical witness that the way presented in this class works. The true witness is that this way has been used to interpret over 5,000 verses that are cross referenced to over 55,000 verses and there are NO 'problem verses'. Further, these results are on the web where anyone in the world can show where the results go against the literal interpretation of the 1611 KJV Bible, and no one has provided any evidence of error.
Many people who claim to not be 'Bible Correctors' still blame their perfect word of God
by claiming that there are 'problem verses'. We have a perfect word of God
that is a perfect
picture of a perfect
God Who is not the author of confusion
. However, when men get a conflict between their interpretations of two different passages in the Bible, they blame the perfect word of God
instead of admitting that they made a mistake or that their method of interpretation caused the conflict.
The method interpreting your Bible, which comes directly from the Bible, can be learned. However, there are two problems. First is that our preachers have been taught an incomplete method of interpretation but were told that it was complete even though it created so-called 'problem verses'. As a result, like we see all through the Bible, people hold onto what they were taught even when they are shown the error. Think of the disciples who left Jesus when He asked the apostles Will ye also go away?
(John 6:67).
The second problem is that while Hebrews 11:6 says But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him
, most people are not willing to fulfill God's definition of diligent
. Thus they do not do what God requires in order for God to reward
them. In spite of this, many want to claim to be a greater authority than someone who did fulfill God's definition of diligent
. This is plain and simple pride and anyone with any spiritual maturity knows how God reacts to pride.
You are invited to learn this method for yourself and personally test this way of interpreting God's Word in order to see if it causes any conflicts. However, be warned that it will require you to fulfill God's definition of diligent
in order to receive God's perfect
interpretation. While many people will not be able to do that, they can still benefit from learning the truths presented in this class because that will enable them to tell when someone is using a wrong method to get their doctrine.
I am not a medical expert and never have been. Nevertheless, I could tell the liars from people telling the truth by looking at how they generated the 'proof' that was supposed to back their claims. This class will allow many people to do the same for conflicting doctrinal claims. I already told just a little of the benefits to my physical health by using this method for medical information. However, is not your personal soul, and the souls of your followers, much more precious than physical health?
There are certain things that we only truly understand after we do them. Hebrews 5:8-9 says Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him
. Please notice that the Son of God had to personally experience things in order to learned he obedience
. In addition, we have the word and
within this sentence which means that His being made perfect
and His
becoming the author of eternal salvation
was added after He learned obedience
. That is why we must 'trust and obey' what makes no sense to us until after we have the experience which is required in order for us to understand. The homework assignments are designed to give the student the experience required to understand that this method works, even if they do not get enough experience to fully understand how or why it works. That level of understanding only comes after using this method for years and seeing God consistently bless it. Please use the following homework assignments as you go through these lessons.
Lessons:
Isaiah 28 is the basis of all of these lessons. If you look at the verses in Isaiah that are referenced in the high-level points that are below, you will see that these lessons follow the order of the chapter. If you read only the high-level points before each couple of lessons, you will see the specific steps that we are to personally do, and see them in the order that God tells us to do these steps, if we are to follow God's way
. to proper interpretation.
- First Step: Eliminate the source of error just like Isaiah 28:1-8 symbolizes. Isaiah 28:7 says
they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
Since they areout of the (God's only) way
, and theyerr
and teach error invision
andjudgment
, God will not use them. Since God does not change, God will not give us reliable doctrine by using anyone who teaches error. Therefore, God tells us to get rid of the influence from any source of error and this is our first step in interpretation. - Lesson 01: Three ways to use God's Word: The Gospels tell us of the example that Jesus gave. Please see the incomplete Book Study on Psalms 119. The incomplete parts, towards the end of the Psalm, show the first steps in how to do the type of study that is taught in this class. The start of the Study show completed sections. Thus, you have an example of the steps that you will go through as you do the homework that is part of this class.
- Lesson 02: Primary Way to avoid false doctrine: 1John 4:1. Please see the Study called False in addition to what is in this lesson.
- Second Step: Use God's Way to understand (interpret) God's Word like Isaiah 28:9-11 says. God's
way
. always has us match the character of God and gives us godly attitudes before godly actions. Thus, the most important thing to do is learn the character of God, which is a never-ending task since there is more about God than we can learn in a life-time. - Lesson 03: Use godly Attitudes to understand (interpret) God's Word. Please also see the Study called Prove in addition to what is in this lesson because most people fail to do all that God requires in order to prove their doctrine and they lose some of the blessings that God wants to give us.
- Lesson 04: Use godly Actions to understand (interpret) God's Word. Please see the Study called Basic Rules in addition to what is in this lesson. These rules are to always be used in order to get the correct interpretation.
- Third Step: Now we verify that our foundation matches the true character of the God of the Bible. God always rewards obedience and punishes disobedience. Therefore, we need to verify that we are doing exactly what God tells us to do. Please notice the exact wording of Isaiah 28:12. Some people received God's
rest
and some didn't. The people who refused tohear
part of what God said did not receive the blessings. Hebrews 3 explains that this difference is the same as the difference between thewise man
and thefoolish man
in the parable found in Matthew 7. God gives Hisrest
only to those saved people who accept all parts of God's character. If we do things any otherway
, then we get the judgment of God instead of God'srest
. - Lesson 05: Judgment is coming to God's people. Please see the Study called Fear the Lord in addition to what is in this lesson.
- Lesson 06: God is Lord. 'He said what He meant and meant what He said' . Context is critical. Please see the Study called God is a Spirit and pay special attention to what is said about
truth
which is a demanded part of ourworship
. - Fourth Step: Now that we have verified that we know God's
way (to) teach knowledge...and...make to understand doctrine
, we need to see how this gives us consistent rules of interpretation while also allowing many different applications. What is the same shows usprecepts
. Please notice the similarities and differences between Isaiah 28:1-12 and Isaiah 28:12-18. We must follow theprecepts
of God's Word before we look at details for applications in the lives of people. God's people are led into doctrinal error and receive judgment when they acknowledgeprecepts
but fail to apply them to their personal life. Please notice that Isaiah 28:13 tells us the consequences to God's people who failed to apply God'sprecepts
in their life. - Lesson 07: God is not a Communist but a Capitalist. Please also see the Study called Bible Economy 101 in addition to what is in this lesson.
- Lesson 08: Confess and forsake error and trust God's Way especially when it disagrees with the flesh and man's religion. Please also see the Study called The Knowledge of God in addition to what is in this lesson.
- Fifth Step: Please notice that Isaiah 28:14 says
Wherefore hear the word of the LORD
. This is opposed to the word of religious leaders that God callsye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem
. We need to continually recheck what we believe against God's written Word in order to catch ourselves when we start to drift from God's truth. Most importantly, we must verify that we have God's spiritual view and are not following the physical view that comes from the world and from religion. Since we are human, error will come in and we need to keep correcting those errors before they become big. When we applyline upon line
it must be exactly what is inthe word of the LORD
and not the interpretation of thatword
that comes from men. - Lesson 09: We have more than a 'God breathed' word of God in English. We have a God translated and God preserved word of God in English. Please also see the Study called Hyper Spiritual. It mentions ways that people think they are spiritual while rejecting what God's Word literally says.
- Lesson 10: Requirements for God to call you a spiritual adult. God uses the church to teach basic doctrine but He expects us to spiritually mature enough for Him to start teaching us personally. Please see the sub-study called sins that Paul dealt with in 1Corinthians (see Test of Spiritual Maturity), in addition to what is in this lesson.
- Sixth Step: Now that we know God's
way
and have accepted godly attitudes, we must bediligent
when we apply godly actions to receive God'sknowledge
andunderstanding
. Please notice that Isaiah 28:16 saysTherefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
We must be diligent enough to find every usage before we claim that we have the single interpretation and not just an often repeated application. People who are trulywise
and have been diligent enough to dig down to God'sRock
(personal relationship withChrist
), and put their foundation on Him,shall not make haste
.He that believeth shall
('absolutely, positively will') take the time to bediligent
in theirstudy
so that they get God'sreward
(Hebrews 11:6). - Lesson 11: The proper Way to do Word Studies. Also the difference between 'interpretation' and 'application'. Please see the Word Study on Adultery for an example of a proper Bible Word Study.
- Lesson 12:
Rightly dividing the Word of truth
. If we must berightly dividing the Word of truth
it should be obvious that people will bewrongly dividing the Word of truth
. They will be madeashamed
by God and it might not happen until thejudgment seat of Christ
, when it is too late for them to correct their error. This is where we apply God's method ofline upon line
, which requires us to use the punctuation which controls how thoselines
are put together. While verses are good for the application of the word of God, they lead to doctrinal error when trying to interpret the word of God. Please see the Study called Rightly Dividing in addition to what is in this lesson. - Seventh Step: Isaiah 28:26 says
For his God doth instruct him to discretion, and doth teach him
. Here are the detailed actions, to build our ministry, that we do after we get our foundation of God'sRock
and not the sand of religious procedure. This is where most Hermeneutics classes start, and they lead to error by skipping the first steps. God'sway
starts with getting to God's foundation, then applying God's character, then sticking with God'sprecepts
, then considering context as we studyline upon line
, and only after that do we get into the methods of finding personal applications which are many and vary between people. Bottom line: we must follow God's procedures step-by-step without skipping any of God's steps. - Lesson 13: 'Progressive Revelation' and how to get God's
discretion
by going beyond the initial revelation of what is literally said. This lesson covers most of the steps that most Hermeneutics classes teach in more detail. These steps are required to build a ministry upon whateverfoundation
you chose to use. Please see the Study called Doctrine in addition to what is in this lesson. - Lesson 14: This is a review and summary of what has been taught. Now the students can present their homework projects and show how well they applied the lessons of this class to their chosen chapter of the Bible. Please see the Study on Proverbs 9 in addition to what is in this lesson. It tells us how God says that
wisdom
builds a ministry.