Why Hermeneutics Matters

Before you decide this conversation about a technical term for hermeneutics is pointless, I want to point out that all human communication requires interpretation. If we never learn how to interpret what other people say, we will make lots of mistakes in communication.

Part of the humor in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy centers around one character’s inability to interpret metaphors. For example, while they are escaping from the prison in the first movie, Drax interprets one of Starlord’s comments as an insult.

Rocket, the Racoon, explains what’s happening to Star Lord, “His people are completely literal. Metaphors are gonna go over his head.”

Then Drax hilariously responds, “Nothing goes over my head. My reflexes are too fast. I would catch it.”

Since Drax lacks the ability to interpret metaphors, he repeatedly misunderstands what they mean. To put it another way, Drax is bad at hermeneutics in conversations.

While having poor communication skills makes for great comedy in movies, lacking the ability to interpret what the Bible means (i.e., hermeneutics) is a critical problem for Christians that we must address.

So, let’s look at what is involved in the hermeneutical process.

Interpreting the Bible is an Act of Communication

First, we need to recognize that interpreting the Bible is an act of communication. Someone (or more accurately, many people) wrote and formed the words on the pages of your Bible. Every crossed “t” and dotted “i” is a part of a larger network of words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs, and books intended to communicate something.

However, as the old saying goes, it takes two to tango. Communication always involves more than one party. When it comes to the Bible, however, the act of communication includes more than two people.

Let’s take a look at who all is involved.

Who is Involved in this Act of Communication?

As far as acts of communication go, the Bible represents a pretty complicated process. This claim may come as a surprise to some people because it is common to assume that the process is far more simple than it is.

Many people would prefer for God’s communication with us to look like this:

While God can and does certainly speak to people, the primary means by which God has communicated with us is through the Bible.

God —> The Bible —> Me

Even so, this picture does not fully capture the communication process. While Christians claim that God inspired the Bible, we do not claim that God wrote it Himself. Instead, we believe the Bible was written by humans. So, we need to expand our idea of the communication process again:

God —> Human Authors/Editors —> The Bible —> Me

As you may have guessed by now, our image of the communication process is still not quite complete. While we believe that the Bible is written for our benefit, it was not originally written to us. As historical documents, the human authors/editors wrote the Bible with particular audiences in mind. So, our conception of the Bible as an act of communication expands again:

God —> Human Authors/Editors —> The Bible —> The Earliest Audiences —> Me (INSERT IMAGE)

While this image of the communication process is much closer to the reality, we should expand our understanding it one more time. As modern, Western Christians we can mistakenly assume the Bible is an act of communication between God and our individual selves. However, the Bible is a communal document. To put it another way, the Bible is God’s communication to the Church of which we are a part.

I am not suggesting that God never communicates to us as individuals. Instead, I am suggesting that God does not communicate to us as individuals in a vacuum. We are a part of much larger community (both past and present) that wrestles with God’s word and seeks to understand its meaning. So, the Bible as an act of communication looks more like this:

God —> Human Authors/Editors —> The Bible —> The Earliest Audiences —> Me, Translators, Christians past and present, etc.

How does this act of communication occur?

In addition to knowing who all is involved in the act of communication through the Bible, we need to reflect on how the Bible communicates.

Communication is notoriously hard in a marriage relationship where the couple knows each other quite well. Couples spend lots of time in counseling working on their communication skills so they can quit misunderstanding each other. If we are prone to poor communication in our most intimate relationships, why would we expect to have no problems when we engage the Bible as an act of communication?

In addition to the complicated process of communication illustrated in the previous section, our ability to interpret the Bible faces numerous other communication challenges. For example, the Bible was written several thousand years ago. The authors assumed their readers would understand historical references and figures of speech that we easily overlook or misunderstand.

Additionally, when we read the Bible, we encounter many different types of literature. The list is quite long. It includes: poetry, short story, history, narrative, riddles, prophecy, biography, letters, apocalypse and many others.

These literary styles were common during their historical period, but are completely lost on us. While we easily understand how to read a comic strip, news article, and fiction book, we struggle to know how to read ancient historiography, apocalyptic literature, or prophetic books.

Thankfully, recognizing how difficult the Bible is as an act of communication is major part of the battle. Once we learn that how God communicates through the Bible, we can begin to better understand what He communicates.

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In summary,

• Hermeneutics is the fancy word for interpreting the Bible.
• The Bible is a complicated act of communication involving God, human authors/editors, the Bible, the earliest audiences, and ourselves.
• If we want to interpret God’s word well, we need to learn the communication methods God used (i.e., the Bible’s literary styles).

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