City Church Seven Hills

In our previous post, we established that we believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God and talked about exactly what that means. That belief is foundational to our faith and the way we understand the Bible, but it is not a complete guide to interpreting the Bible. The next part of our doctrinal statement, still under the category of being Evangelical, goes deeper into our method for interpreting the Bible.

We believe in a historical, contextual, literal interpretation of the Bible that all points to Jesus (Luke 24:27, Matthew 24:35, Romans 15:4)

Hermeneutics is a fancy word that just means the way we interpret the Bible. As a collection of 66 books from various genres, authors, and time periods, the Bible is not always easy to understand. For this reason, I often tell people to never assume someone who starts a sentence with, “The Bible says…” is really speaking biblical truth with what follows. The Bible says many things. What we need to uncover is what it truly teaches – what the message that God intends for us to receive is. Hermeneutics is the process we use to get to that message.

Let’s break down that doctrinal statement. We interpret the Bible in a historical, contextual, and literal manner. This references our guiding assumptions when we approach a passage.

Because we believe what Jesus said Matthew 24:35, that “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear,” the first step is to take a close look at what the Bible said in its original historical situation. That means knowing what events were happening in the area when the book was written. It means researching the cultural context and seeking to understand the people to whom the words were originally written. And it means knowing why the author was writing. This step is very important because sometimes it looks like the Bible is very clear but what we understand it to be saying is different from what the original, historical audience would have understood. We have to do the important work of understanding the passage from the perspective of that original audience before we try to understand it for ourselves.

Commentaries are very helpful with this step. We are blessed with countless biblical scholars who have done this work. We don’t have to let these scholars tell us what to believe about the Bible. But we do need to utilize the tools they have created for us as a starting point for building our own conclusions about God’s Word.

Second, we look at the context of the passage within the Bible itself. Where does it fit in the book you’re studying? What part does the sentence you’re looking at play in the larger picture of the whole writing? Where does the entire book fit in to the grand narrative of Scripture?

Paul says in Romans 15:4 that the things written in the Scriptures are there to teach us, to “give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.” Scripture as a whole, paints a beautiful picture of hope and encouragement and is filled with promises. We need to take that full picture into account in order to understand each smaller piece.

Finally, we believe that the Bible says what it means. Once we’ve done the work of putting the passage we are studying in its historical context and understanding its place in the tapestry of Scripture, it literally means what it says within its genre. This does not mean that we take every word of the Bible literally. Poetic passages must be understood poetically. Historical passages relate history but not instruction. But commands are commands. The Bible means what it says and says what it means.

That last line in this doctrinal statement is the most important of all. It all points to Jesus. What we’ve discussed so far is the technique, the nitty-gritty details that we need to understand. But all of those hermeneutical strategies are useless if it doesn’t all point to Jesus. We follow Jesus’ own understanding of Scripture in seeing Him at its center. When walking with some disciples after His resurrection, “Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:27). Jesus walked through every bit of the Old Testament and showed how He, as Messiah and Savior and King, was the main focus of it all.

Our interpretation of Scripture is informed by the teachings and life of Jesus and every conclusion we come to must be in line with Him. This is called a Christo-centric hermeneutic and it is the antidote to a wide range of doctrinal error. When you filter what you see through the teachings of Christ, you can always be assured that you are remaining on track.

This approach to interpreting Scripture defines our church family and guides us as we seek to put the Word at the center of everything we do.