Gospel Hermeneutic

Last Sunday morning I spoke on ‘Applying the Law to our Lives’ and I sought to introduce the church family to what I referred to as the ‘gospel hermeneutic’. I thought I’d follow up with that a little today here.

Although the word hermeneutic can put some people off, because it isn’t a word we commonly use or hear in the run of the mill conversations we have, it is simply the more technical term used to identify the important field of study of the principles of good interpretation.

And as I said, more than once on Sunday morning, this is SO important because correct application depends utterly on correct understanding (interpretation). So if we are going to apply the Bible to our lives (read ‘obey’) then the importance of a right understanding of it cannot be overstated.

The most difficult problem in this field in practical terms is applying the Old Testament (Jewish) Scriptures to our lives today as Christians. The OT makes up ¾ of our Bibles so this is a huge issue and it is fraught with dangerous perils. History records some of the horror stories of misapplication resulting from bad interpretation.

There are a number of important hermeneutical principles that we need to be aware of and putting into practice. I spoke about the literal grammatical approach. I also mentioned the importance of the principle of context. But the main point that I wanted to make was the principle that I called the ‘gospel hermeneutic’. (People also refer to this as ‘the hermeneutic of Christ’ or the ‘Christ centered hermeneutic’ and there may well be other terms used to identify the same thing.)

So here’s an attempt today to put it in simple terms that anyone can understand:

This approach to biblical interpretation depends on the other principles of interpretation I mentioned but it understands the Bible as one story and THE story; the grand meta-narrative of life. As stories have plots, so the Bible has one main plot. And although it has many ‘sub-plots’,  all of these ‘sub-plots’ need to be understood in the light of the main plot which is the gospel – the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of the world.

This is why I said Sunday morning that when we as New Testament Christians read the Old Testament (and we do need to be doing that … not just reading it, but ‘delighting ourselves in the Law of the Lord’) and seek to apply it to our lives, we cannot apply it directly. Rather we read it in the light of Jesus coming and dying for our sin and rising again. And we apply it to our lives as those who have been given new life in Christ and are completely under His authority. The gospel effects everything. Some things it changes. Some things it reinforces. Some things it does away with. In this sense, the gospel is the key to interpreting the entire Bible.

(You can check out our website if you want to hear the audio of the sermon. It’s not my intent to reproduce all of the content here. It’s www.sharethejourney.ca and look for the ‘listen online’ tab)

I did throw in a few comments for parents at the end specifically and received a message from Joel and Angela about this resource that looks amazingly good that I wanted to make you aware of.

‘The Jesus Story Book Bible’ by Sally Lloyd-Jones

Angela says:

“Just wanted to pass along a resource for parents of young kids that encourages the line of thinking you were discussing this morning. This little Bible points each OT story to Jesus. It is really wonderful. We love it.”

Here is what one of the reviewers had to say:

“I was hesitant about this book when I first spotted it because it looked a little hokey, to be honest. But as I began to read through it I was thrilled at what I found. Lloyd-Jones masterfully weaves together the story of the Messiah, the "Rescuer", through the various stories of the Bible. It is just so beautifully written. I have a hard time reading it to my kids because I am so moved by it I get choked up! The heart of God for us, His children, is evident in every story. It is all about relationships and God's unfailing love for His people. Lloyd-Jones brings out some interesting historical contextual information in the stories. Because it is a story-book version of the bible, rather than a translation or paraphrase, she is able to use the original images of the biblical text while explaining the meaning right in the telling of the story. For example, in the creation story, the biblical account talks of God "hovering over the deep", in Llyod-Jone's version, she explains: "Like a mommy bird flutters her wings over her eggs to help her babies hatch, God hovered over the deep, silent darkness."
This is a beautiful, beautiful book - I am so glad that children have a chance to see the connections between the various Bible stories and hear the call of God throughout. Lloyd-Jones does a great job of explaining connections that most adults are probably unaware of, or haven't taken the time to consider. This is a child's book that will thrill and delight children, but will also teach and inspire the adults who read it to them too. I can't recommend it highly enough!