Biblical Hermeneutics

Definition and Meaning

Biblical hermeneutics is the field of theology concerned with the principles and methods for determining the meaning of the text of the Bible. It also addresses how that meaning should be applied today. The term "hermeneutics" derives from the Greek hermēneuō, meaning "to interpret" or "to explain." The work of directly drawing out the meaning of a text is called exegesis. Hermeneutics is sometimes distinguished from exegesis as the discipline that examines the principles and presuppositions underlying it.

Biblical and Historical Background

The New Testament contains numerous instances of the interpretation of the Old Testament. In Luke 24:44-46, Jesus explains the law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms as writings concerning himself. Within this tradition, typology—reading Old Testament figures and events as shadows that prefigure Christ—developed at an early date.

In the early church there were two main currents. The Alexandrian school represented allegorical interpretation, which sought hidden spiritual meanings in the text. The Antiochene school emphasized the literal and historical sense. In the Middle Ages, the fourfold sense of Scripture, which sought the literal, allegorical, moral, and anagogical (eschatological) meanings together, was widely used.

During the Reformation, Martin Luther and John Calvin established the principle that "Scripture interprets Scripture." They emphasized interpretation according to the grammar of the original languages and the historical context. Since the modern era, historical criticism, which uses the methods of historical scholarship to study how texts were formed, has developed. The extent to which this method is accepted varies widely by denomination and theological orientation.

Practice in the Korean Church

Korean Protestantism is generally regarded as having had a strong conservative interpretive tradition since the early missionary period. Among Presbyterians, a controversy arose in the 1950s over Kim Chae-chun's view of Scripture and his acceptance of historical criticism, and this controversy formed the background to the separation of the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea. Figures such as Park Hyung-ryong and Park Yune-sun championed Reformed interpretation grounded in biblical inerrancy (the view that Scripture contains no errors). The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, by contrast, incorporated critical scholarship into its theological education.

Methodists follow the Wesleyan theological tradition. They often speak of an interpretive framework that holds Scripture as the primary standard while also taking tradition, reason, and experience into account. Pentecostal and Full Gospel churches emphasize the illumination of the Holy Spirit and application to daily life.

Differences in interpretive method underlie a range of debates, including dispensationalism versus covenant theology, women's ordination, and creation and evolution. In the daily lives of church members, hermeneutical principles are put into practice through quiet time, Bible study, and expository preaching.