Five Times Jesus and the Apostles Disobeyed Hermeneutics
Nov 26, 2019 10:15:17 GMT -5
John, frienduff, and 5 more like this
Post by PG4Him on Nov 26, 2019 10:15:17 GMT -5
You know the rules of hermeneutics. Keep it in context. Define the intended audience. See if the contextual information points to literal or metaphorical writing. No adding in speculative information the text can’t support.
Well that sounds quite sensible and intelligent. This must be how the New Testament teaches from the Tanach.
Here’s Jesus taking Isaiah 29 out of context:
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. — Matthew 15:7-8
Well this is awkward. There’s no hermeneutic pathway to get from Isaiah 29’s context to Jesus’ discussion with the Pharisees. Sure, you can say, “but Jesus spoke in general terms about people who are hypocrites...” hermeneutic methodology suddenly allows for that? Anything can generally apply to people who fit the description? You know that’s not how hermeneutics works. You know if you were in a hermeneutics class on Isaiah 29 you’d be saying it applied to events that already happened.
But it gets worse! Here’s the author of Hebrews teaching from Exodus, Genesis, and Psalm 95, all in one paragraph, telling us it was prophetic about the Christian life.
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. — Hebrews 4:3-7
Did you know Genesis 2 was prophetic? Did you know you need information from Genesis to help you understand Christian salvation? What’s the hermeneutic pathway to get from Genesis 2 to Hebrews?
Here’s Paul butchering Exodus 14:
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea — 1 Corinthians 10:1-2
Here’s Matthew butchering Jeremiah 31:
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. — Matthew 2:17-18
Here’s Jesus butchering Jonah:
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. — Matthew 12:39-40
There are many, many more of these. In fact the New Testament is full of this. If you applied standard hermeneutics to the Old Testament without having read the New Testament, there’s no way you could arrive at the New. This is precisely the reason why Jews don’t see Jesus as Messiah. If you’ve never read the New Testament, no amount of hermeneutics in the Old will get you there.
Now then. If hermeneutics is an utter failure to get us from the Tanach from the New Testament... what makes us think this is the best way to read the New Testament?
Well that sounds quite sensible and intelligent. This must be how the New Testament teaches from the Tanach.
Here’s Jesus taking Isaiah 29 out of context:
Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. — Matthew 15:7-8
Well this is awkward. There’s no hermeneutic pathway to get from Isaiah 29’s context to Jesus’ discussion with the Pharisees. Sure, you can say, “but Jesus spoke in general terms about people who are hypocrites...” hermeneutic methodology suddenly allows for that? Anything can generally apply to people who fit the description? You know that’s not how hermeneutics works. You know if you were in a hermeneutics class on Isaiah 29 you’d be saying it applied to events that already happened.
But it gets worse! Here’s the author of Hebrews teaching from Exodus, Genesis, and Psalm 95, all in one paragraph, telling us it was prophetic about the Christian life.
For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. — Hebrews 4:3-7
Did you know Genesis 2 was prophetic? Did you know you need information from Genesis to help you understand Christian salvation? What’s the hermeneutic pathway to get from Genesis 2 to Hebrews?
Here’s Paul butchering Exodus 14:
Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea — 1 Corinthians 10:1-2
Here’s Matthew butchering Jeremiah 31:
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not. — Matthew 2:17-18
Here’s Jesus butchering Jonah:
But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. — Matthew 12:39-40
There are many, many more of these. In fact the New Testament is full of this. If you applied standard hermeneutics to the Old Testament without having read the New Testament, there’s no way you could arrive at the New. This is precisely the reason why Jews don’t see Jesus as Messiah. If you’ve never read the New Testament, no amount of hermeneutics in the Old will get you there.
Now then. If hermeneutics is an utter failure to get us from the Tanach from the New Testament... what makes us think this is the best way to read the New Testament?