The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand. (Psalm 119:130)Hermeneutics is the art of studying the Bible. A hermeneutical principle is a principle you use to figure out what a verse means. People who go through seminary training always take a course in hermeneutics so that they can see how to understand the Bible.
That is designed to help them figure out what God is saying. And sometimes help is needed. A few of the verses are obscure and you need some guidance to get at the bottom of them. Sometimes they are vague, sometimes just plain strange.
But one thing is for certain. The Bible can be understood by anyone who has a relationship with God. God did not give us some strange document that requires years and years of advanced study, several languages, a PhD in ancient near eastern history and one also in philosophy just to be able to understand it.
You want to know what God says? You read your Bible. Anyone can understand it.
It takes a theologian with several degrees and an intimate knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew to turn the Bible into something that cannot be understood without help. But God said, just look at it. Read it. Understand it. You can know it in your heart well without all that theological help.
As I have gotten older, I have gained a new hermeneutical principle (a principle for understanding the Bible). It goes like this. The longer it takes to explain what a verse means, the more wrong the person explaining probably is.
It’s kind of like coming into the house and having a broken vase with two children standing nearby. You ask, Who broke the vase? The one with the longest answer is probably the one who is guilty.
The same goes for the Bible. You ask, What does this verse mean? One guy gives a ninety minute, one hundred page answer, based on the original languages, with a sidebar on historical context and deep philosophical meanings. The other guy gives a simple answer.
Chances are the simple answer is right because the Bible says even the simple can understand. If that were not true, the Bible is a liar and not worth following. If God cannot make his divine will understandable to us as finite humans, he is not worth worshiping.
Of course, that is also why those who are outside of God and his will cannot understand it. To them it is all pretty gibberish. God intended that it work through our relationship with him.
The written word of God was intended for ordinary people, not for theological scholars. God said, just look at it. Just get a modern version and read it. Understand it. It is from his heart to yours.
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