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In endeavoring to understand a text we apply the principles of Biblical Hermeneutics (ΕΡΜΗΝΕΥΤΙΚΑ), the science and art of interpretation. Relying on the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit “to lead us into all the truth,” them to “rightly divide the Word of Truth.”

The practical application of hermeneutics is Exegesis (ΕΞΗΓΗΣΙΣ), meaning “to lead out” and hence metaphorically “to draw out in narrative, and unfold in teaching.” From Louw and Nida: “to make something fully known by careful explanation or by clear revelation.”

The verbal form of “exegesis” occurs but once in the New Testament, a hapax legomenon, but this solitary instance shows its intrinsic meaning: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

Chief among the hermeneutical tools we employ for sound exegesis are:

  • Learn the Lexical Meanings - Find the natural and native meanings of words
  • Consider the Context - Anchor a text within its semantic, authoral and cultural milieu
  • Apply the Analogy of Faith - Scripture interprets Scripture and will not contradict itself

Finally, the sine qua non: We must be taught by the Spirit. The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14). The Spirit is the Author of Scripture, and He is the One sent to open it to our understanding, and to us to lead us into all truth (John 16.13). Therefore it behoves us to humbly seek God to know what He is saying to us.

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