“Principles of Biblical Interpretation”
Introduction:

In the “Course Syllabus” (1.1), I, Pt. A., I made mention of “Philippine’s Minister Lack of Books” narrative. We will not be examining this. Instead, we will skip it and begin with Pt. B, which is included within the main course material coming up; simply keep in mind the subject matter “Rap Session” narrative, and you CAN’T miss it.

I. “GOD’S COMMUNICATION PROCESS”
(Getting The Big Picture)
Accompanying this part of the lecture
is an illustration of our main topic of
discussion here. It’s a group of five (5)
islands, spanning a vast ocean, with
major land masses on either side of
the illustration. The left side begins a
question and your quest of: “How do
we get the revealed will of God into…
(spacing for remainder of question
on the other side of the vast ocean)
…the minds and hearts of mankind
so that an internal metamorphosis
of good is the resultant treasure?”
The left shoreline is our present lost
and unenlightened condition. The
culmination point, right side of the
shoreline, is our goal: Salvation and
full comprehension of God’s WILL!
The space (ocean) in between these
two shorelines represents the vast
expanse of confusion, because we
lack the proper biblical knowledge
and in HOW to correctly learn it. The
five islands represent the five parts of
the “Communication Process” and we
learn each one, in order, earning rights
to advance to the next island, until we
have humbly learned what God has in
store for us. My Theology Professor,
Dr. Earl D. Radmacher, Th.D., used an
illustration of a “Bridge” with five (5)
“Pillars” representing the process. I,
as all other disciples in the class, was
required to be creative and come up
with my own illustrations, methods,
etc., when doing the course and also
simultaneously teaching it. That is
how I came to use the illustration
described above, with islands, etc.
You will be challenged to creatively
do the same when you endeavor to
take on this course. Blessings to all!

Dennis W. Brindley wrote:
“Hermeneutics, the universal laws of human language, is a science. Man has not made up these laws, rather he has discovered them, over time, as something innate in him, came to clarification over that spanse of time. These laws are just as real and objective as the law of gravity, and they apply to all languages and cultures. They are, in essence, timeless. They are extremely relevant in interpreting writings written thousands of years ago, and they will continue to be so, up-to-date, as long as man is communicating to others, or even to God. Just as for thousands of years men functioned, without consciousness, by the laws of gravity, because Isaac Newton had not yet formulated the Laws of Gravity, even so for ages man has observed and functioned by these laws of language, even though they often were not aware of their existence.”

According to Bernard Ramm:
“When a person is familiar with the materials he reads or hears, the process of understanding (by an educated person) occurs without effort. Interpretation is present, but it functions sooooo spontaneously that it is not evident. When a person is confronted with strange materials, his process of understanding becomes self-conscious. An effort is then made to find rules that will guide the interpreter through such materials. These rules are necessary because interpretation is as much an art as it us a science, and therefore there must be protection against arbitrary interpretation made in the name of art. Arbitrary interpretation may be a wrenching of the truth of the text, or it may be the over-application of a legitimate procedure (as in ‘typological’ interpretation). The conscious setting up of rules is “HERMENEUTICS!”

Now let us look at some particulars —
Earlier on, in the Syllabus (1.4), an illustration of a man in front of a boob tube, with his Bible nearby but dusty with cobwebs, was offered as a means of “Getting The Big Picture.” Keep that in mind as we begin our venture into the main course material. Let us ALWAYS begin each session with a heartfelt prayer of appeal, for our Father, Yahweh, via the Holy Spirit, lead us all to what He wants us to learn. Amen? To that end, let each of us bow our heads in silence, and silently offer your prayers to our Father…
(One brief point of clarification before we begin. You will note that I use the actual NAMES of God and our Lord and Savior. They are “Yahweh” (pronounced Yaw-way’), and “Yashua” (pronounced Yaw-shoo-ah). This may seem odd to you, at first, but you will be simultaneously learning several other languages as you progress through this course, along with other necessary subjects: Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, Latin, German and a few brief smatterings of other various languages. So, to me it’s important to start using the REAL DEAL as early as possible. And what better way to do that than learning the TRUE NAMES of the TRIUNE GOD:
1) Our Father (“Ab,” #1, Strong’s) is named “Yahweh” (#3068, which means “Self-Existing,” “Causes-To-Be,” and “I Am.” These conceptualizations are as close as we can come to defining the ancient “Tetragrammaton.” It is made up of four consonants in the Hebrew language, without vowels. The Hebrew expresses vowels in the form of what is called “points.” You will learn more about this later on).
2) “Yehowshu’a”(#3091, Strong’s; pronounced – Yeh-ho-shoo-ah; from #3068 and #3467, meaning “Yahweh saves”.
3) “Messiah,” (#4899, Strong’s, “Mshyach,” pronounced maw-shee-akh; from #4886, meaning “anointed /consecrated one” or “one whom is smeared with oil”; and
4) “Immanuel” (#6005, Strong’s, with us is God)

Mark Blain
DOC #1154225