Literal Hermeneutics

Literal Hermeneutics? It is taught today that if the plain and normal reading of a prophecy in Bible scripture makes sense to your common sense of understanding then that is the proper meaning of the prophecy, so seek no other meaning. In some cases, no doubt, this is true but that is the human way of understanding books that are written by humans.

Jesus, however, demonstrated that God does not always limit himself to man's common senses. He showed us how God thinks higher and deeper than our common senses when, for example, he said “destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days” (Jn 2:19). Common sense would obviously understand him to be talking about the temple which they were all standing in and that is what they all believed he was saying at the time. None of them, including his disciples, understood the real meaning of what Jesus was teaching them here until after his resurrection. The Apostle John then wrote that the temple being spoken of was Jesus' body - the true Temple.

If we seek no other meaning in a case such as this then we would still be waiting for the temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt after it's destruction in 70AD by Jesus in a three-day period of time. That would be the literal understanding. We would completely miss the point of the resurrection of Jesus' body to life after three days in the grave and instead would be believing in a fantasy.

What if a prophecy and it's explanation are separated by testaments and centuries of time? Will we believe the explanation? On the road to Emmaus ( Lk 24:13-35,45) two of Jesus' disciples were down-hearted due to Jesus' death which had just happened three days earlier. As they were traveling, they talked together concerning the events that had happened recently in Jerusalem. As they talked Jesus joined them, though they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them what they were talking about and after a moment of surprise they told him how Jesus had died and how they had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel and how some of their women had been to the tomb that morning and had come back saying that they had found the tomb empty and had seen a vision of angels who told them that Jesus was alive. Jesus then explained to them, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, what the scriptures said concerning himself.

What did Jesus need to explain? Did anyone write it down for us so that we too could understand what the scriptures taught concerning Jesus? And why in verse 45 does Jesus have to “open their minds to understand the scriptures” if the scriptures and prophecy can be understood by our own common sense? The fact is that a large portion of the New Testament is written explaining those very things that were talked about that day. The key example is found in Galatians 3:16 where Jesus is said to be “the seed” of Abraham to whom the promises were spoken. When reading the Old Testament promises in the book of Genesis however, the promises are spoken to Abraham and are confirmed to Isaac and then later to Jacob. So “common sense” confirms to the natural mind that the promises were made to the physical descendents of Abraham, and obviously they were. That would be the normal and literal way to read and understand these passages, but is it the correct meaning that God intents to fulfill in the prophecies? According to Galatians 3:16 it is not. In fact, we learn that the promises are to Jesus alone. He is “the one person” spoken of in this verse. According to Hebrews 1:2 He is “the heir” of all things. He is the only one with true inheritance rights. And according to Colossians 1:16 He is the one that created all things and they were all created for him.

Wow! And we thought it was all for the Jews by physical birth. The fact is, Isaac and Jacob were both of the same faith as their father Abraham and the New Testament writers go on to explain that the promises are for all that are of the faith of Abraham (Romans 4:16). It is not limited in any way by physical birth (John 1:12-13).

The promises according to Galatians 3-4 are for all who have been clothed with Christ's righteousness by faith. Now we are adopted as children and made co-heirs with Christ and made to qualify for the inheritance of the saints in Christ's Kingdom of Light (Col. 1:12-14). This is the Kingdom we were meant for from creation as referred to in Matthew 25:34 that was lost by original sin.

Okay, so there were some promises also for Jacob's descendents made through Moses. But in this case, we have clear and indisputable evidence that all those promises concerning possession of the land of Canaan and it's complete conquest were all completely fulfilled according to Joshua 21:45; 23:14. We are not looking for a future Jewish kingdom where the Jews are restored to a peaceful land of Canaan in order for God to faithfully fulfill his promises because He has already fulfilled all his promises to that people. Those that were of the same faith as Abraham then, and those that accept their Messiah Jesus today fulfill all prophecy concerning Israel along with us in the Church and in the Church's future. We are the redeemed Israel.

So how should we interpret the scriptures? Read it as literal until Jesus or his Apostles explain it differently in the New Testament and be willing to change as the Holy Spirit leads. He will lead us into all truth as Jesus promised (John. 16:13).

Does the Church Replace Israel

Does the Church Replace Israel