Sermon Tone Analysis

BIBLICAL EXEGESIS

Biblical exegesis can be defined in the following way: the attempt to determine an author’s meaning—and ultimately God’s meaning, which is more exhaustive than that of the human author—in one particular passage through such means as the analysis of its genre (each genre—apocalyptic, poetry, narrative, epistles, etc.—has unique rules of interpretation), textual criticism, grammar, flow of ideas, historical background, word meaning, figures of speech, and relationship with other biblical passages through direct quotation or allusion.

The greatest rule in doing biblical exegesis is that the immediate context of a passage is crucial in determining the meaning of that passage.

There are also broader contexts that affect the meaning of a particular passage:

(1) the book in which the passage appears

(2) the corpus to which the book belongs

(3) the testament in which the book or corpus is located.

Duguid, Iain M.. Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary (Kindle Locations 539-542).

Westminster Seminary Press.

Kindle Edition.

VALIDATING A BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION

The following questions should be addressed in order to validate or show the probability of a proposed interpretation:

Does the interpretation fit well in the context of the passage?

Is the interpretive idea in harmony with the rest of biblical revelation and theology?

Is the interpretive idea in harmony with the rest of biblical revelation and theology?

How well does the proposed interpretation illuminate the parts of the passage?

How well does the proposed interpretation illuminate the parts of the passage?

How does the proposed interpretation compare with competing interpretations offered by other commentators?

How does the proposed interpretation compare with competing interpretations offered by other commentators?

Duguid, Iain M.. Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary (Kindle Locations 542-547).

Westminster Seminary Press.

Kindle Edition.

UNDERSTANDING DIVINE INSPIRATION

The Protestant canon of the Old and New Testaments comprises the divinely inspired, authoritative material for doing biblical interpretation.

Tradition (commentaries, sermons, etc.) can help us understand the Bible, but we must remember that tradition is not inspired and, therefore, not ultimately determinative of the Bible’s meaning.

Duguid, Iain M.. Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary (Kindle Locations 549-552).

Westminster Seminary Press.

Kindle Edition.

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN AUTHORSHIP

New Testament scholars generally affirm that a text cannot mean what it never could have meant to its original author or his readers.

This principle, however, is not absolute since biblical authors did not have exhaustive knowledge of what they wrote.

Only God has exhaustive knowledge, which is not contradictory to the human author’s knowledge but an organic expansion of it.

This is especially apparent when one recognizes that Old Testament prophecies and narratives are understood with greater clarity (but not in a contradictory way) in the light of Christ’s coming and the revelatory events connected with the new covenant age.

Duguid, Iain M.. Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary (Kindle Locations 553-557).

Westminster Seminary Press.

Kindle Edition.

USING BIBLICAL THEOLOGY

One eminently important hermeneutical principle is that Scripture should be used to interpret other Scripture.

This hermeneutical principle is often called the “analogy of Scripture.”

Passages in Scripture, especially unclear passages, are to be read in light of other passages that speak more clearly on the same topic or develop the same idea.

The discipline of biblical theology builds on this hermeneutical principle as it studies each corpus of Scripture in its own right, especially with respect to the corpus’s place in the redemptive-historical unfolding of God’s revelation.

Accordingly, biblical theology is “the exhibition of the organic progress of supernatural revelation in its historic continuity and multiformity.”

This means that a biblical-theological approach to a particular biblical text seeks to give its interpretation in relation to its literary context, its redemptive-historical epoch, and to the epoch or epochs preceding and following it.

By so doing, one can see more clearly the organic development of earlier Scripture in relation to later Scripture.

In this respect, all of Scripture is to be viewed as narrating a unified, true historical narrative about how history began (the commissioning of Adam to rule as a priest-king and prophet), how humanity fell (Adam’s representative sin), and how humanity will be restored for the glory of God (ultimately climaxed with Christ’s inaugurated latter-day redemption at the cross and resurrection, consummated with his final return) in a new cosmos.

Thus, one must understand the beginning and middle of the biblical story in order to understand its climax and ending.

Likewise, one must understand the ending in order better to understand the beginning.

Duguid, Iain M.. Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary (Kindle Locations 558-571).

Westminster Seminary Press.

Kindle Edition.

UNDERSTANDING HOW THE NT USES THE OT

One good way biblical theology can aid the interpretation of particular passages is by pointing us to how the New Testament interprets Old Testament passages.

The interpretive presuppositions employed by the New Testament writers to understand the Old Testament serve as a guide for Christians interpreting the Old Testament:

The New Testament writers assume corporate solidarity or representation.

Corporate solidarity is the idea that an individual represents a group.

The individual’s actions and the resulting consequences apply to all persons in the relevant group, even though they did not perform the action of the individual.

For example, Adam’s disobedience and condemnation represented all humanity, so that humanity as a whole was seen as disobeying like Adam and therefore is condemned in him.

In the light of corporate solidarity or representation, the New Testament writers view Christ the Messiah as representing the true Israel of the Old Testament (e.g., ) and the church as the true Israel of the New Testament (cf.

and 3:29).

The New Testament writers see history as unified by a wise and sovereign plan so that the earlier events are designed to correspond and point to the latter events (cf.

; ; ).

In the light of corporate solidarity or representation, the New Testament writers view Christ the Messiah as representing the true Israel of the Old Testament (e.g., ) and the church as the true Israel of the New Testament (cf.

and 3:29).

The individual’s actions and the resulting consequences apply to all persons in the relevant group, even though they did not perform the action of the individual.

For example, Adam’s disobedience and condemnation represented all humanity, so that humanity as a whole was seen as disobeying like Adam and therefore is condemned in him.

In the light of corporate solidarity or representation, the New Testament writers view Christ the Messiah as representing the true Israel of the Old Testament (e.g., ) and the church as the true Israel of the New Testament (cf.

and 3:29).

The New Testament writers see history as unified by a wise and sovereign plan so that the earlier events are designed to correspond and point to the latter events (cf.

; ; ).

The New Testament writers believe that the age of es-chatological fulfillment has come in Christ (cf., ; ).

As a consequence of the preceding presupposition, the New Testament writers hold that the latter parts of biblical history function as the broader context in which to interpret earlier parts because the various human authors all have the same, ultimate divine author inspiring them.

One deduction from this premise is that Christ is both the goal toward which the Old Testament points and the end-time center of redemptive history, which is the key to interpreting the earlier portions of the Old Testament and its promises.4

The New Testament writers believe that the age of eschatological fulfillment has come in Christ (cf., ; ).

The New Testament writers see history as unified by a wise and sovereign plan so that the earlier events are designed to correspond and point to the latter events (cf.

; ; ).

The New Testament writers believe that the age of eschatological fulfillment has come in Christ (cf., ; ).

As a consequence of the preceding presupposition, the New Testament writers hold that the latter parts of biblical history function as the broader context in which to interpret earlier parts because the various human authors all have the same, ultimate divine author inspiring them.

One deduction from this premise is that Christ is both the goal toward which the Old Testament points and the end-time center of redemptive history, which is the key to interpreting the earlier portions of the Old Testament and its promises.

As a consequence of the preceding presupposition, the New Testament writers hold that the latter parts of biblical history function as the broader context in which to interpret earlier parts because the various human authors all have the same, ultimate divine author inspiring them.

One deduction from this premise is that Christ is both the goal toward which the Old Testament points and the end-time center of redemptive history, which is the key to interpreting the earlier portions of the Old Testament and its promises.

COMMENTS/QUESTIONS

Duguid, Iain M.. Seeing Christ in All of Scripture: Hermeneutics at Westminster Theological Seminary (Kindle Locations 572-586).

Westminster Seminary Press.

Kindle Edition.