Here's an excellent overview of the hermeneutics process for systematically studying Scripture, written by Kevin Coward, Living Hope Church of DeRidder's fulltime pastor. I am reposting it from his Facebook page with his permission. Follow him there and at his new site, Fulfilled Theology.
HERMENEUTICS: The Laws of Interpretation
One of the greatest problems in biblical interpretation is not that people do not read the Bible. Many people read it faithfully. Many pray before they read it.
Many sincerely love God and desire to understand His Word. The problem is that sincerity by itself does not guarantee correct interpretation. Many are sincere but they are sincerely wrong.
We’ve all been there. I speak for myself. As a pastor, I have had to humble myself with my congregation and say I was wrong in some areas.
Some pastors cannot do this because they feel their church may not respect them when they admit they were wrong. I don’t believe that. I believe they will respect you more because of your humility and transparency.
It’s okay to be vulnerable in front of your church. They will respect you more because they see your honesty. This goes a long way with people.
Many are trapped by their own pride and many are locked into preaching something they actually do not believe because they’re not willing to change.
So, can we be completely sincere and still misunderstand what the biblical writer was communicating to his original audience.
The Bible was written in an ancient Eastern and Mediterranean world, yet we often approach it with a modern Western mindset. Scripture contains history, poetry, prophecy, parables, wisdom literature, epistles, symbolism, hyperbole, prophetic imagery, and apocalyptic language.
If we read every passage as though it were written directly to twenty first century Americans, using our modern definitions, assumptions, and cultural expectations, we can make the Bible say things its original writers never intended to say.
Now, I believe in prayer. I believe the Holy Spirit helps us. But prayer was never intended to replace study when unpacking the scriptures. I do not care how long we pray over a passage, if we refuse to study its language, context, audience, history, and literary form, we will still misinterpret it.
Two sincere Christians can pray over the same passage and arrive at completely opposite conclusions. That alone should tell us that we need sound principles of interpretation.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
2 Timothy 2:15
There is a responsibility placed upon the student of Scripture to handle the Word carefully. That is where hermeneutics becomes so important.
Hermeneutics is the study of the principles, methods and laws used to interpret Scripture correctly.
Simply stated, hermeneutics asks:
What rules should guide us as we seek to understand what a biblical text means?
We do not begin by asking, What does this verse mean to me? We begin by asking, What did the writer mean, and what would his original audience have understood him to be saying?
Once we establish that meaning, then we can properly consider its application to us.
1. THE LAW OF AUDIENCE RELEVANCE
One of the first questions we should ask when reading Scripture is:
Who was speaking, and who was being spoken to?
Every biblical passage had an original audience. Before the Bible was written for us, its individual books and letters were written to them.
When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near.
Luke 21:20
Jesus was speaking to His disciples. We cannot automatically change the pronoun “you” into people living thousands of years later.
Audience relevance forces us to hear the passage first through the ears of those who actually heard it.
2. THE LAW OF TIME RELEVANCE
Words concerning time must be allowed to mean something.
Scripture repeatedly uses expressions such as soon, near, at hand, shortly, this generation, these last days, the last hour, and quickly.
The time statements cannot simply be removed because they conflict with a theological system.
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place.
Revelation 1:1
Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near.
Revelation 1:3
A responsible hermeneutic asks what shortly and near communicated to the original recipients.
If our interpretation requires the original audience to understand “near” as thousands of years away, we need to reexamine our interpretation rather than redefine the time statement.
A verse should never be separated from the argument surrounding it.
We should examine what comes before the verse, what comes after it, the chapter in which it appears, the purpose of the book, and the larger biblical discussion.
A verse removed from its context can be made to support almost anything.
What is the writer talking about?
What question is being answered?
What event is being discussed?
What has already been established in the passage?
Before building a doctrine from one sentence, read the paragraph. Then read the chapter before and after. Sometimes we need to read the entire book.
How many time have we cherry picked a scripture and made a complete doctrine out of it. We have our candy stick scriptures and have completely missed the meaning.
4. THE LAW OF HISTORICAL CONTEXT
The Bible was written within real history.
Israel, Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, Jerusalem, the Temple, the priesthood, the Jewish feasts, Roman occupation, persecution, wars, and covenantal events were not imaginary settings. They formed the world of the biblical writers.
Understanding the first-century Roman world can dramatically affect how we read the New Testament. Understanding the Jewish Temple system helps us understand Hebrews. Understanding the prophets helps us understand Revelation.
What was happening historically when this was written?
Ignoring history allows us to transport ancient passages into our own time without justification.
Historical context is often supported from sources outside the Bible. Credited historians wrote down what they saw, heard and witnessed.
Josephus and Tacitus were Jewish historians that witnessed the events surrounding the first Jewish-Roman war and eventually witnessed the destruction of the temple, the horrific slaughter and fall of the city.
5. THE LAW OF SCRIPTURE INTERPRETING SCRIPTURE
One of the safest interpreters of Scripture is Scripture itself.
The New Testament did not appear in a vacuum. Its writers constantly drew from the Law, the Psalms, and the Prophets.
Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud, and will come into Egypt.
Isaiah 19:1
God was not describing Himself physically riding through the atmosphere on a literal cloud. This was prophetic judgment language.
Therefore, when similar cloud-coming language appears in the New Testament, we should first investigate how that language had already been used in Scripture before imposing a modern interpretation upon it.
This becomes especially important when studying prophecy.
The majority of the time the writers were using Old Testament language when they wrote their pistols, especially about soon coming prophecy. So if you find it in the New Testament, you can most likely find it in the Old.
6. THE LAW OF CONSISTENCY
Our interpretation of one passage should not contradict clear teaching elsewhere.
If we define a symbol, phrase, or prophetic image one way in the Old Testament, we should have a sound textual reason before completely changing its meaning in the New Testament.
Consistency keeps us from changing definitions simply because a passage becomes difficult for our theology.
A good interpretation should work with the whole biblical story, not merely with our favorite proof texts and not some far out, left field idea we pull out of the air like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
Not every book of the Bible should be read exactly the same way.
Psalms is poetry. Proverbs is wisdom literature. Acts contains historical narrative. Romans is an epistle. Revelation is apocalyptic prophecy.
When David says that the mountains skipped like lambs, we do not search history for mountains physically jumping into the air.
When prophetic writings describe stars falling, heavens shaking, the moon becoming blood, or the sun being darkened, we must investigate the prophetic language behind those expressions.
Genre tells us what kind of literature we are reading, which helps determine how its language should be understood.
8. THE LAW OF LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR
Words matter. Pronouns matter. Verb tenses matter. Sentence structure matters.
Words should first be understood according to how they were being used by the writer and his audience.
This is where careful word studies can help, particularly when examining the underlying Hebrew and Greek. But even Greek and Hebrew words must be interpreted within context.
Sometimes even a concordance may be vague. And not all commentaries are correct. Remember, these theologians were dedicated to their work but it was still an opinion. A dictionary can give us possible meanings. The sentence determines which meaning is intended.
We should never select a definition merely because it supports what we already believe.
9. THE LAW OF AUTHORIAL INTENT
What was the author trying to communicate?
Our goal is not to discover a meaning that nobody could have recognized until two thousand years later. Our goal is to understand the message the inspired writer intended to communicate.
This protects Scripture from becoming subjective.
If ten people can make a passage mean ten completely unrelated things based entirely upon personal impressions, interpretation has lost its anchor.
The author’s intended message matters.
10. THE LAW OF COVENANTAL CONTEXT
The Bible tells a covenantal story.
Covenants not dispensations.
When Scripture discusses the Law, the Temple, sacrifices, priesthood, Jerusalem, judgment, inheritance, circumcision, Israel, and the nations, covenantal context matters tremendously.
Hebrews is a perfect example.
In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.
Hebrews 8:13
If we ignore the Old Covenant and New Covenant transition occurring in the first century, much of Hebrews becomes difficult to understand.
We must ask where a passage belongs within the unfolding covenantal story.
Understanding hermeneutics leads us directly into two extremely important words: exegesis and eisegesis.
It’s sad but many Bible readers/studiers have never heard these terms. Even some ministers.
They sound complicated, but the difference is actually very simple.
Exegesis mean drawing the meaning out of the text. To take from the context. What the passage is actually trying to communicate.
We examine the words, audience, historical setting, context, grammar, genre, Old Testament background, and the writer’s purpose. Then we allow the evidence to lead us toward the meaning.
What does the text actually say?
What was happening historically?
What did these words mean to those people?
Where did this language appear previously in Scripture?
That is allowing Scripture to speak for itself.
Eisegesis does the opposite.
Instead of drawing meaning out of Scripture, eisegesis reads our ideas into Scripture. By placing our opinions into the passage. Making the scripture shape to our thought.
We already have a doctrine, tradition, assumption, or conclusion, and then we approach the Bible looking for verses that appear to support it.
This can happen without us realizing it.
Again, we’ve all done this.
We inherit teachings from our denomination, pastor, Bible notes, prophecy charts, books, teachers, family, or tradition. Then every passage begins passing through that theological filter. We must have the right lens.
Rather than asking, “What did this mean to them?” we unconsciously ask, How can I make this fit what I have already been taught? That’s a very easy trap to fall into. Who wants to be wrong?
That is why hermeneutics matters so much. It is extremely vital to understand correctly.
WE MUST BE WILLING TO LET THE TEXT CORRECT US
Perhaps one of the hardest things we will ever do as students of Scripture is allow the Bible to challenge something we have believed for years. This is where we suffer with cognitive dissonance. We shut down anything that opposes our views. Again, we’ve all been there.
Good hermeneutics requires humility and then, more humility.
We cannot approach Scripture determined to defend our system at all costs. Whether we have believed something for five years or fifty years, our responsibility remains the same: examine the text.
What was happening historically?
What kind of literature am I reading?
How did Scripture previously use this language?
What did the writer intend his audience to understand?
Does my interpretation remain consistent with the rest of Scripture?
Prayer is important. The Holy Spirit is important. Faith is important. But none of these gives us permission to ignore careful study.
The goal of hermeneutics is not to make us sound scholarly. It is to keep us from making Scripture say what Scripture never said.
I’ve heard people say…well, I just pray over it. I say…well, good luck. Like I said, I believe in prayer but prayer alone will not reveal the meaning every time. Does it help? Certainly. But first we must learn the proper techniques to study.
Before asking what a passage means to us, we must first determine what it meant to them.
And sometimes, when we finally allow audience, time, context, history, language, genre, covenant, and Scripture itself to guide our interpretation, we discover something uncomfortable:
The Bible did not change. Our interpretation did.
We have greater tools at our fingertips today more than ever to properly interpret the Bible. Time to use them but with the proper guidelines
