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Hermeneutical Tool Kit

During my studies both for my undergraduate and masters degrees I had to take hermeneutics classes. Hermeneutics is the technical term for how we read the Bible. I was trained to examine literary context, investigate the original languages, search out historical details, and generally try to read the text as the original audience would have as best as we can reconstruct.

I'm in no way saying that this is a bad method of Bible study. I think that it is a vital tool in our arsenal as we faithfully engage scripture to try and learn about God. Engaging in this historical-critical method, as it is called, keeps us grounded and constantly holds our own cultural biases in check. Working closely with any other culture, past or present, will do this. 

The problem I have is not with this method, it is a useful tool after all, but that we have seemingly abandoned all other tools in favor of this one. The only proper way to read any and all texts is to examine its place in history, literature, and language to try and determine original context and meaning. Again I'll emphasize that this is a good thing, but it shouldn't be the only tool in our kit. Why?

Jesus, the Apostles, and the earliest Christians didn't read the Bible this way!

Have you ever read the New Testament and were frankly confused by the way Christ or Paul seemingly quoted the Old Testament out of context and at random? It genuinely seems at times that the New Testament authors are pulling verses from the Old Testament from thin air and twisting them to fit their needs. At least, from our perspective of only using the historical-critical method, that is what it looks like.

The same is true for the earliest Christian writers, those who shared the same culture and language as the apostles. These men and women used scripture in ways that seem totally foreign to us. They allegorized, searched out types, and saw Jesus all over the place even in seemingly non-messianic Old Testament passages.

The way the apostles and earliest Christians read scripture was through the lens of Jesus. They made Jesus the looking glass through which every book, chapter, and verse needed to be examined. This is drawn from Luke 24, where Jesus says that the entirety of the Old Testament is talking about him. The New Testament, being written in the wake of Christ, is also clearly about Jesus.

This is not a call to abandon the way we read scripture currently. Rather, this is simply a challenge for all of us to widen our understanding and better use the tools we have at our disposal. Let's apply the same rigor that we use to learn languages and history to better understand the Bible and use it theologically with a Christocentric hermeneutic.

We all do this subconsciously to a degree. We all go to scripture for application and to learn about Christ. The problem is that we often aren't equipped to search out theology and meaning, only history and original context. That means the application aspect is often slapdashedly carried out. Let us read the Bible with the same eyes as the earliest Christians, allowing Jesus to be our lens. 

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