Hermeneutics

Newsletter article for December 2004

© 2004 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

“There is no God.”

“I am a god.”

“God is tempting me.”

“Jesus be cursed.”

This may seem like a foolish question, but which of these phrases comes from the Bible? The quick and easy answer is that they all are found in the Bible, but the true answer is that in this form they are all taken out of context. Here are these same verses in their proper context:

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” (Psalm 14:1)

“Will you then say, ‘I am a god,’ in the presence of those who kill you? You will be but a man, not a god, in the hands of those who slay you.” (Ezekiel 28:9)

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.” (James 1:13-16)

“No one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (I Corinthians 12:3)

Hermeneutics is the study of the interpretation of texts such as the Holy Scriptures. As I have demonstrated above the proper interpretation is essential if a person is going to properly understand what the Bible has to teach. Otherwise if we have a false method of interpreting the Bible we can even make God’s Word say what we want it to say, despite what it really says.

Jesus calls the devil the “father of lies” (John 8:44) but even the devil lies in a sneaky way so that he makes his deadly lies seem attractive and true. When the devil was tempting Jesus (see Luke 4 or Matt. 4) he quoted Psalm 91:11-12 which reads, “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” What the devil was trying to do was to get Jesus to commit suicide by jumping off of a tall building. His wicked reasoning went like this: “If God promised to protect you then you can’t be hurt, so make him prove it by jumping.” Jesus was not convinced by this fallacious argument. First of all, Jesus believed the teaching from Psalm 91 so he didn’t need to prove that God would save him. He already knew it by faith. Also, Jesus knew better than to say, “Well, if the Bible says it then it must be true.” Jesus knew the Bible better than that. He answered the devil by quoting another Bible verse which says “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Deut. 6:16) This demonstrates the hermeneutical principle which states, “Let Scripture interpret Scripture.” All scripture is true because it is God’s Word (2 Tim. 3:16) so just because one passage is accepted as true it doesn’t mean that you can reject another.

We saw this type of false hermeneutic at St. Timothy earlier this year when an unknown and still-unrepentant person made reference to Exodus 32:18 in a newsletter article which gave the false argument that because God wants us to sing then all singing must be God-pleasing. Well, anyone who is familiar with the story of Exodus 32 knows that God was not pleased with this singing, and He was so angry over their false praise that he was ready to destroy all the people of Israel (see v. 10) and start over with Moses. So just because singing is one way to properly praise God, it doesn’t mean that all singing properly praises God.

I have also heard someone try to tell me this year that because Scripture says to “Sing for joy to the Lord” (Ps. 95) it is all right to commit the idolatry of self-worship. Well, not exactly in those words, but that was the obvious intent of the argument in the same way that Satan also tried to tempt Jesus to disobey God by his misuse of Psalm 91. I was not swayed by this misuse of God’s Word, but I am extremely concerned that some people around here are misusing God’s Word in just such a way, and that other people are possibly being misled by such lies.

Hermeneutics by themselves are not pro-Christian or anti-Christian. They are tools which may help Christians understand God’s Word so that through it they may believe in Jesus and receive His salvation. A proper interpretation of God’s Word shows us Christ as our savior. An improper interpretation shows us something else which cannot save us. It is the great strength of Lutheran theology that we have the proper tools to understand the Scriptures “which are able to make you wise unto salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15), but even the best theology and the best teaching will do no good if we don’t use them, or don’t believe the truth of God’s Word. “Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers.” (James 1:16)

Manipulation, Lies, and Forgiveness

Newsletter Article for April 1999

© 1999 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

This past January, during the midst of the impeachment of President Clinton, I was channel surfing on the TV when I ran across an interview with inspirational speaker/author/guru Tony Robbins. He was being interviewed because of his role in advising the President regarding the scandal and impeachment. I didn’t realize until later the significance of a motivational guru advising a public figure trying to escape the consequences of his actions, so I watched the show with some interest. Robbins is not a Democrat, so his work with Clinton surely came from his general desire to help people succeed at things (which is what led him to his tremendous success) and from his belief that people are basically good.

I remembered that several years ago I had bought Robbins’ book Unlimited Power at a used book store for six dollars. Although I still resent paying ten times what the book was worth (though half the cover price) I picked it up and started to read it. Robbins’ writing style is nearly as engaging and charming as he appears on TV or in his infomercials. The basic idea of his success formula is to use a special technique to convince yourself that you are confident and competent at whatever area of life you want to excel, and then act on it. Robbins focuses on business types (because that is where the money is) but anyone can use his technique for any purpose.

I can’t remember why I bought Robbins’ book but I can tell you why I never read it through. I resent folks who try to motivate me when I don’t wish to be motivated. Perhaps I am too sensitive but to my mind that is manipulation and I resent being manipulated.

Robbins’ technique gets you to convince yourself that you are confident when you would rather be scared, self assured when you don’t know what you are talking about, and driven to succeed no matter what the endeavor. Everyone can agree that this technique would be very useful when you have prepared to make a presentation related to your job, but are simply nervous about presenting it before a potentially critical crowd. However, this technique is fundamentally flawed, and that is where it is dangerous. The flaw is that the basis for your confidence, determination, and drive, is a lie. I can hear the objections already, “what harm is there in telling yourself that you are bold and courageous when your knees are knocking, or convincing yourself that you love coconut when it makes you want to retch?”

The trouble is that by telling yourself a lie in order to accomplish a desired goal you are really training yourself to accept lying as an acceptable method of getting ahead. The more comfortable you are with lying (even if it is only to yourself at first) the more likely you are to make a habit of lying. Before you think that I have misunderstood Tony Robbins’ technique, I should tell you that chapter five of his book is called “The Seven Lies of Success”. But instead of a warning against the pitfalls of a “Success at any Cost” kind of approach, these “Seven Lies” are actually a fundamental basis for Robbins’ motivation technique. He admits that they are “lies” but he says that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Now I don’t intend to bad-mouth Tony Robbins. I can believe that he is a well-intentioned individual, and he truly wishes to help people succeed, and he probably views his tremendous wealth and celebrity as confirmation that he is doing just that. Like I said above, he must believe that people are basically good, and if that is true then honest people can use his technique to great advantage without too much damage.

However, what happens when dishonest, manipulative, sinful people use this technique? A person who is predisposed to lying already could use this technique to convince himself or herself that lying is not bad at all and he or she could become a much more confident, successful liar. Even worse, a person who feels guilt over his sin could use this technique to convince himself or herself that he or she hasn’t really done anything wrong and doesn’t need to confess any sins to God or look to Jesus (or anyone else for that matter) for forgiveness. Then that person not only continues in sin, but also does not receive forgiveness.

If people were basically good then this might not be a bad technique, but all people are sinners. God condemns lying in the eighth commandment (“You shall not give false testimony.”) and to encourage lying is to weaken our ability to distinguish between truth and lies. Perhaps you can tell where I am going with this so I won’t belabor the point, but what does it mean that a motivational guru was advising a man defending himself against charges of harassing one woman, and lying under oath to conceal an affair with another? I can’t help thinking that the nation has been manipulated by someone who told a lie (or two) with such confidence and self assurance that he convinced many influential people that it was true, and got away with something he ought not to have gotten away with.

Obviously I am a strong believer in forgiveness. I confess my sins every day and trust in Christ’s mercy to forgive all my sins. Every worship service I announce the full forgiveness of sins to everyone who confesses to Christ Jesus. Although God has given His church the authority to forgive sins freely, he also gives the church the responsibility to withhold forgiveness where there is no repentance so that the sinner may turn to Christ for forgiveness. That is why Jesus says in John 20:23, “If you forgive anyone his sins they are forgiven, if you do not forgive them they are not forgiven.” Christ doesn’t want us to be capricious or vindictive in our application of forgiveness, but to give it freely to all who look to Christ for forgiveness, and to withhold it where it is not wanted or appreciated.

We ought to beware of manipulation and lies, and be honest in all things, with ourselves and with others. Most of all we need to be honest with God. We might be able to hide our sins from ourselves by any number of questionable techniques, but we can hide nothing from God. But He still loves us and forgives all our sins, so we should honestly confess all our sins to God and trust in Him for forgiveness, strength, and motivation.

Truth Suffers

Newsletter article for February 1999

© 1999 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

As of this month (February 1999) I am for the first time eligible to become President of the United States. This is a milestone which is somewhat more dubious than it ought to be. This hasn’t always been the case. It used to be that the pinnacle of achievement that parents could wish for their young children would be that they would grow up to become the President of the United States. Now I suspect that very few parents would wish that for their children. This is partly due to the indignities committed by President Clinton, but also partly the indignities imposed upon the President from outside, such as the lack of privacy and the viciousness of the media.

I don’t intend to take sides in this article. I know that there are strong feelings on both sides of the issue of the impeachment of the President, and there is much to be desired from both Democrats and Republicans. Instead I wish to note that what has suffered the most in our nation has been the Truth.

From time to time a character in the comic strip “B.C.” will stand up on a pedestal engraved with the word “TRUTH” and speak some great truth which is meant to inspire or to guide the listeners’ thoughts and actions. The idea of putting truth on a pedestal means that we should respect the truth and look up, admire, and listen to those who speak it. Proverbs 23:23 says much the same thing, “Buy the truth, and do not sell it.” We should value the truth so much that we would pay a price to find it, but we should not be persuaded to tell lies, even if we think we will be rewarded if we do so.

The trouble with our society is that we do not put truth on a pedestal, nor do we value the truth enough to buy it. If the truth is inconvenient or expensive it is so much easier to settle for the bargain half-truth, or even for the cut rate lie, and many people take this “easier” path.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” Proverbs 14:12

“All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.” Prov. 16:2

Jesus said, “[The devil] was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” John 8:44