LITERAL SCHOOL OF INTERPRETATION

It has been my practice over the years as a Bible teacher to use my own outlines and my own commentary as much as I am able when presenting study material. However I do use good sound resources produced by others in the preparation for and the presentation of the studies that I undertake. One of the men that I find to be most helpful is Dr. Norman Geisler. While I cannot say that I am in full agreement with all of Dr. Geisler's theology, I do love the systematic and logical approach that he employs in his writings, particularly in the arena of Christian Apologetics.
As we begin our study of Hermeneutics I think it would be helpful to establish a good set of working definitions for terms that relate in critical ways to our topic at hand, that being; sound principles of interpretation.  The following list of terms and definitions will help to set the ground rules for our future studies together. Dr. Geisler's work has been very helpful in this effort, particularly volume four of his "Systematic Theology".

A key phrase that we used in our previous study "The Word of God" was the knowability of scripture. There are several implications to be considered when we apply this concept. The idea being that man can understand through the use of his God given mind what the omniscient mind of God has expressed  clearly in the scriptures. Remember, the Holy Spirit is always ready willing and able to assist every one in this great adventure, so that is no excuse for not getting it (Jn.14:26;
 I Tim.2:4; II Pet.3:9).


1. The mind - the constituent aspect of sentient being that is the center of thought, the place where thinking takes place in a person and where understanding takes place.

2. Meaning - understanding, comprehension or intelligibility that the mind derives from thinking.

3. Intention - that which a mind intended to express through communication, what was meant by what was said.

4. Language - the means by which the thoughts and intentions of the mind are expressed in symbolic representation of words both written and spoken that are intended to be understandable for communication.

5. Application - is how an intended meaning communicated through language is employed in various and specific situations.

6. Literal - the normal everyday use of terms as understood by people of normal intelligence without secret or special keys or codes needed to achieve proper understanding.

7. Historical - understanding that the events, things and people being described in a text are to be understood in a real time and place setting. They are not subject to reinterpretation in a modern or foreign context.

8. Grammatical - all correct understanding of intended meaning in communication is dependent upon maintaining a proper foundation of sound grammatical structure. All parts of speech maintain their  normal and proper place in sentence structure in order to produce intelligible and effective communication.

We will be employing the literal, "Historical - Grammatical" method of interpretation consistently as we discuss the topic at hand, Biblical Hermeneutics. A key word in our purpose clause is "consistently." This is a very important distinction that must be maintained between an actual literal approach to interpretation and a nominal "literal" approach where allegorization is employed to explain away inconvenient passages that are in conflict with ones personal dogma or theological preconceptions.
As I stated in a previous posting on Friends and Family Facebook page, this consistent literal approach is critical if we are to maintain a sound and correct understanding of what the Bible actually says and means, particularly when it comes to eschatology (last things).

The Judgement Seat of Christ

The Judgement Seat of Christ

Ro. 14:10- “We shall all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ”   KJV

                      

“We shall all stand before the Judgement Seat of God”     NASB

Jn. 20:28- “My Lord and my God” ; Titus 2:13- “Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ”

   Note:       Jesus is God.    It is Jesus who will be sitting in judgement
of all people,the saved and the lost.   The “Judgement seat of Christ”
is for the saved.                                                                   

Jn. 5:22-     “The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgement to 

the Son”  

Ps. 50:5-6- “Gather My godly ones to Me,--- for God Himself is Judge.”

Definition:

                    The “judgement seat” in the Greek is the “Bema”. The word means “a raised platform from which judgement is pronounced.” It was used in law courts in Greece and was used by Roman magistrates and rulers. A third use was that of a judging stand at sporting events, such as the famous Isthmus games and the ancient Olympics.

                      It is from this third use of the term that we gain some insight into how it is used in our text, Ro. 14:10. The idea is that of a reviewing stand at the end of a race to distribute rewards to the appropriate participants. There is no looming consequence of punishment for poor or inferior performance, only lack of reward. 

There is however a definite sense of seriousness and need for ones best effort in anticipation of standing before the awesome and almighty Judge.

 This will not be a time for lame and worthless excuses in an attempt to justify a halfhearted effort. Especially when it was the Judge Himself that provided everything needed for each one to do well. (1Cor. 3:15)

2Cor. 5:10- “We must all appear before the Judgement Seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body” according to what he has done, whether good or bad (worthless, the opposite of good, i.e. not good).”

2Cor. 5:11- “Therefore knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade men”

1Cor. 3:8- “each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”

1Cor. 3:10-15- Each Christian's work will be judged by Christ:

Let each man be careful how he builds on the foundation. Paul said he laid a foundation. 
What is the foundation of Paul’s teaching? Answer - Jesus Christ.
What is the foundation of all the Apostles and the Prophets (Eph. 2:20)?    
Verse 11 says, “no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, 
which is  Jesus Christ.”

    Note:             Jesus Christ is the final word from God to men (Heb. 1:2). 

                            He is the only foundation upon which any man may build.  

 “On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."

 Lk. 6:46-48- Jesus said, “Everyone who hears My words and acts upon them, he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation upon a rock.”

1Cor. 3:14- “If any man’s work remains, he will receive a reward.”

Lk. 14:14- “you will be paid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (the Rapture)

Rev. 22:12- “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”

Rewards:   Mt. 5:12- enduring persecution; 10:41-42- Prophets reward, righteous man’s reward, reward for kindness to children; Rev. 11:17-18- rewards for all His servants, small and great.

Crowns:     

Incorruptible Crown; I Cor. 9:25-27 - The Victors Crown.

Crown of Life; Rev. 2:10 - The Martyr's Crown.

Crown of Glory; I Pet. 5:2-4 - The Elder's Crown.

Crown of Righteousness; II Tim. 4:8 - For all those Who Love His Appearing.

Crown of Rejoicing; I Thes. 2:19-20 - The Soul Winner's Crown.

Authority:  

                      Mt. 19:28-30- Apostles to sit on thrones, follower’s to receive a hundred fold houses, land and family. 1Cor. 6:2-3- Saints to judge the world and angels.

2Tim. 2:12- We shall reign with Him. Rev. 5:9-10- A kingdom of priests who will reign with him on earth. Rev.20:6-Reign for a thousand years. Rev.22:5- We shall reign forever and ever.

Parables of reward:

Mt. 25:14-30- The parable of the talents. Verses 21 + 23 – “Well done, good and faithful servant, you were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things, enter in to the joy of your Master.”

Lk. 19:11-27- The parable of the minas. Verse 17 - “Well done , good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, Be in authority over ten cities.”

Verse 19 – “And He said to him also, And you are to be over Five cities.”         

Commentary:

                    The Judgement seat of Christ should be a time of great rejoicing for all Christians, but it most likely will be a time of shame for many. The knowledge that we will all give an account one day to the Lord of heaven and earth, should motivate us to do our very best while we still have a chance to do so here on earth. When we leave this world our work to be judged will be done.

“We must all work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no man can work” Jesus Christ Jn.9:4.

The sin question

THE “SIN” QUESTION

WHAT IS IT,

AND WHAT IS THE ANSWER ?

 I.                    The Atheistic world view.

 A.                Naturalistic Pragmatism, the “Survival of the Fittest”, the “Will to Power.”

There is no such thing as “sin”; whatever works is the best course of action. The drive to power is the key to survival. In the end, only the strong will survive. The strongest is the fittest. The winners make the rules of right and wrong. There is no objective “truth” and no basis for morality or ethics other than survival.

 B.                Social Evolution, the “Survival of the Whole”, One World evolving foreword for the good of all. The universe is one unified organism. All parts are of equal value to the whole. No such thing as “sin” only ignorance and error. Education and cooperation will lead to utopia.

 C.                Sin is an illusion. The universe is an illusion. Solipcism, only the self with its perceptions really exists. Buddhism, true reality lies in “enlightenment” which is only achieved through freeing the mind from the illusion of “self”, which illusion is perpetuated by desire, pleasure and pain. This illusion, known a “Maya” keeps one trapped in the lower regions of existence that we know as “the material world.” The goal of all sentient beings is to attain freedom from illusion and to reach the state of pure mental bliss called “Nirvana”, the eternal selfless here and now, free from all sensuality and desire. There is no God. There is no good or evil, there is no sin. These are all illusion.

 II.                 The Theistic World View.

 A.        Universallism: an all loving God will forgive everybody of everything.

 B.      Annihilationism: an all-powerful God will eliminate all sin and sinners from

       existence. There is no such thing as hell.

 C.         Works based salvation: personal righteousness and salvation are achieved  

       through personal achievement. Salvation may be achieved through a

       combination of right thinking i.e. “wisdom” along with good deeds or

       adherence to the correct set of rules. Or through ones good works alone, 

       which must outweigh ones bad works, good deeds must outweigh sinful deeds. 

       God judges according to a balance scale. It is not an overstatement to say that

       virtually all false religions and cults fall into this category of error in one way

       or another.

 D.        Corporate Salvation: forgiveness through heredity, membership or

       association. The only unforgivable sin is to not be a member of the

       “in crowd”, the chosen few, or the right group. This is the attraction of the

       cults. This is related to the works salvation error as stated above. The

       difference is that only those who belong to the group may qualify to perform

       the required works.

 E.       «  Revelation based Biblical Christianity: Forgiveness of sin is by God’s grace  

       alone through personal faith in Jesus Christ alone, which comes through

       the hearing of God’s word alone. God has provided the only way of 

       salvation and for the forgiveness of sin available to man. Man can not

       discover it apart from God’s revelation.  Man can not add to what God has

       provided, if he does he defiles it and he fails to posses it. Man cannot improve

       upon what God has provided, it is perfect as it is and to attempt to improve

       upon it is to deny its perfection, thereby refusing to receive it. Man cannot

       replace what God has provided with anything else. God’s way is nonnegotiable,

       it is the one and only way of salvation. Any other system, schema, or plan for

       dealing with sin is false and will fail. Any denial of the existence of sin, or of the

       deadly consequences of sin is also false. The failure to deal with sin according to

       God’s solution will result in death followed by condemnation to hell.

Commentary:

The purpose of this brief exposition on the question of sin is to simply but to seriously point out the danger of the denial of the reality of sin and its consequences.

It is only when sin is recognized for what it is in light of all of its deadly ramifications that one can come to appreciate the gift that God has provided to deal with it. It was out of His love, grace and mercy for His creation man, that God sent Jesus Christ, once and for all to deal with sin. After considering the alternatives that man has come up with to deal with the sin question it is easy to see the foolish arrogance and futility of man’s attempt to play god. One of the most insidious effects of sin is that it so infects the mind and heart of man that it prevents him from being able to recognize his own folly. This inescapable fact is why it can only be through God’s revelation along with the aid of the Holy Spirit that man can ever find the truth regarding the answer to the sin question. Praise His name, He has provided the answer. It is Jesus Christ! Trust Him completely and trust Him alone.

î

ÿ

Ù

THE RAPTURE

John 14:1-3 -   "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

        I will come again and receive you to Myself;
        that where I am, there you may be also.”

The doctrine of the “Rapture of the Church” is a source of much confusion and controversy within the professing church of Christ today. This has actually been the case since around the fourth century, when the practice of “spiritualizing” the meaning of certain scriptures came into vogue. Although most of those who employ this practice would claim to be “literalists” regarding biblical hermeneutics, they engage in special pleading when it comes to passages that don’t fit into their private interpretations. Prophetic scriptures in particular have been designated for nonliteral  / spiritualized understanding. This is done in order to avoid obvious contradictions and inconsistencies within their dogmatic systems of belief.

 Many editorial liberties were taken at that time and have remained embedded in the thinking of large segments of nominal Christianity to this day. It was under the strong influence of such men as Origen c185-c.254 AD, and Augustin 354-430 AD, that this practice of manipulating the meaning of biblical texts away from their plain rendering gained such a deadly foothold on the uninformed within the church. The worldly church descended into centuries of spiritual darkness under such influences. It is only in recent times that a clear understanding of biblical prophecy is once again emerging, praise God!

 As we rapidly approach the fulfillment of God’s plan for the ages, He has once again blessed His Church with a correct understanding of His prophetic revelations. We see their literal fulfillment as they unfold before us in our time, and we can now understand and trust in the same literal fulfillment for those that have yet to be accomplished.

            The primary truth that was lost during that long night of man’s wandering imagination was the blessed doctrine of the “Imminence of Christ’s Return”. Only a literal approach to biblical interpretation, which includes all prophetic passages, will yield a correct understanding of this, the most hope filled doctrine of all, the Rapture of the Church.

The hope and comfort for the disciples, and for us today, is that Jesus is coming back, literally, to take those who are waiting for Him back with Him to His Fathers house, to be with Him in heaven! To behold Him in His Glory, the Glory that He had with His Father before He came to earth as a humble baby - John 17:24. To spiritualize this promise, as so many do, into saying that Jesus meant only that when a believer dies they go to heaven, is an insult to our Lord’s integrity, and just plain bad Hermeneutics.

            The blessed hope of our Lords imminent return is taught throughout the New Testament. Not only will we be with Him when He comes, which could be at any moment, but we will be changed in an instant to be like Him.

1 Cor. 15:50-52 - I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

1 John 3:1-3 - Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure

1 Thess. 4:15-18 - For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up (Greek – harpazo; Latin – raptus; English - raptured) together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

            Where would the comfort be if 1) the Lord didn’t really mean that He was coming back literally and 2) if He meant that He would come back after the great tribulation.

1 Thess. 1:10 - And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

1 Thess. 5:9-11 - For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

1 Thess. 4:18 - Therefore encourage each other with these words.

John 14:1 – “Let not your heart be troubled”