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)

The Real American Idol

Newsletter article for March 2003

© 2003 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

A few years ago the Detroit Free Press newspaper changed the name of its Sunday editorial section from “Opinion” to “Choices”. The content of the section did not change, only the name. Logically and linguistically this makes no sense because editorials are completely different from choices. There are no real choices given in this newly named section, only editorials and opinions. The change in the name was made to reflect the growing desire for people to feel like they are in charge and can make a choice about what is going on in the world, even when there are no choices to be made.

Now, this may seem like a trivial little thing, and sometimes it does to me, too. I still think it is silly every time I open up the Sunday newspaper. Often the editorial section is the only part of the Sunday paper that I read, (besides the comics) and I find it a little unsettling how the heading in no way describes its content. So what is the big deal about choices?

I believe that Americans are so selfish that the Free Press editors feel they have to play silly word games to get people to give their attention to the editorial section. The word games are not the cause of the problem, merely a symptom of a much greater, and more serious, problem in society. It is a generalization to say that Americans are selfish to the point of idolatry, but I believe that even in this short essay that I can give enough evidence to say that this is generally true.

The real American idol is selfishness, and it shows itself in a number of ways. First, with regard to the “choices” mentioned above, Americans demand choices about everything. From the multitude of channels available on cable television to access and content of the Internet, we must have the sense that we are in control and are making the choice about what we do, or where we go, or how we spend our money or time. Americans even demand choices where no real choices exist. This desire for “choice” gives people the idea (or the illusion) that they are in control and can do whatever they want to do, so in a way we convince ourselves that we are little gods.

The most horrific example of this idolatrous self-interest is the American lust for the pleasures of sexual relations without the associated responsibilities of marriage and parenthood. At best this selfishness results in loneliness and lovelessness which comes from not being committed to one person in a lifelong marriage. At worst this self-worship causes parents to murder their own children in the name of “choice.” This “choice” is really a false choice. If “choice” enters into the situation anywhere it comes very early when the man and woman choose to engage in activity which results in the conception of a child. After the conception has taken place there is no real choice. That child is completely dependent on his or her mother for life for at least nine months, and any “choice” which results in the death of the child is a false choice because God has given the parents the responsibility to care for the child.

The history of legalized abortion in America is itself an example of the selfish idolatry that I am describing in this essay. According to our Constitution, only the Congress can pass laws, but abortion became legalized nationwide by an act of the Supreme Court which, in effect, simply decreed that mothers have the right to murder their children. Although the Constitution makes no mention of a “right” to abortion, the Supreme court invented one that can only be overturned by another ruling of the Supreme Court, or by a specific Constitutional amendment denying such a “right.” But the American idol will not permit either to happen because that would force Americans to be responsible for their actions.

If selfish “choice” is a god to many Americans then that would also explain the rising popularity and acceptance of such perversions as homosexuality. This is another false choice. There are precious few things more obvious to all self-aware people that God made men and women for each other, but we see that as the Bible tells us, sinful people will always choose to rebel against God’s good design despite any number of horrible consequences. This horrible sin is only made more attractive when so-called “Christian” denominations refuse to call homosexuality a sin as the Bible does, and thus they encourage people to rebel against God’s plan in this way. Selfish “choice” is an extremely short-sighted god in that as long as the person doesn’t see an immediate bad consequence he or she can easily convince themselves that there are no consequences.

You may ask why I am addressing this issue in the Church newsletter? The answer is that although as Christians we are citizens of God’s Kingdom first, and citizens of our nation second, we cannot help but be affected and influenced by what goes on around us. If all the world (or what may seem to our eyes to be the whole world) is saying that they are free and that it is a good thing to make yourself into your own god so that you can do any thing you want to do, then it is only natural that after a few dozen times of hearing this we get tired of fighting it, and after a few hundred times we may begin to believe it. It may start out with simple envy of people who don’t feel constrained by God’s laws, but that envy can grow into doubt and unbelief, and unbelief is just a short step to idolatry. As Christians we need to remain faithful to God’s Word above all things. Even when it seems wrong or unfair or restrictive, we need to trust that God still knows what is best. Only when we are faithful to God and learn what His will is from the Holy Bible then we can recognize the false choices that the world gives us and we can avoid falling into the trap of self-worship or some other idolatry.

This self worship idol is particularly attractive because our sinful nature secretly desires to be a god. That is how the first sin came about, and we are no different in that respect from Adam and Eve. Don’t be misled by false choices which go against God’s laws and His Word. The world may ridicule Christians for their obedience to God and His good laws. The world may say that we are unnecessarily enslaved by our “blind” obedience to God, but they don’t understand that because of the forgiveness and salvation that God has won for us in Christ Jesus we willingly obey whatever God says because we know that whatever “freedom” we may lose by ignoring those false “choices” we will gain vastly greater freedom and greater rewards in heaven.

I Was Glad When They Said To Me, Let Us Go Into The House of the Lord

Newsletter Article for November 1998

© 1998 by Rev. Paul A. Wolff

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)

I suppose it should give us some comfort to know that the early Christian Church in the first century had some of the same troubles as we do now. Although the way we live now is vastly different, people are unchanged. The same exhortations that we read in the New Testament also apply to us.

At one point or another we all need to be encouraged, prodded, cajoled, or dragged kicking and screaming into Sunday worship. Actually I would prefer to forego much of the kicking and screaming, but it would give those in attendance something to talk about. (“You’ll never believe what happened in Church on Sunday.... You should have been there!”)

The writer of the book of Hebrews is talking about what a great honor it is that God invites us to come near to Him and come into His house. This was almost unheard of among the Hebrew people in the Old Testament because only the priests could go into the holy place of the temple, and only the high priest could go into the most holy place on one day a year. At the death of Jesus God’s house was opened up to all the faithful. When Jesus died God was no longer our enemy. He was instead our salvation, and He welcomes us with open arms into His house.

Habits can be a good thing when we make doing good a habit. But habits can be bad when we do harmful things without even thinking about it. Bad habits are hard to break precisely because we don’t think about what we are doing. If we are in the habit of attending worship on Sunday then we are regularly reminded of God’s care and concern for us every day of our lives. If we are not in the habit of worshipping regularly then we have to rely on our (sometimes faulty) memory. The longer we stay away from God’s house, the worse off we are, but we forget why.

But let us encourage one another to attend worship. God’s people are like a family. A large family. A family of millions and billions of people both here on earth and also in heaven. However, we need that encouragement because sometimes we forget that those sinners we see in the pews and in the pulpit are people whom God loves, just as He loves the sinner we see in the mirror every day.

Our time is short on earth, but that is no reason to skip Church on Sunday. Instead that is the very reason why we should come to Church. We should be eager to come to God’s house and learn more about Him. When Jesus returns on the last day we want to be eager to see Him and be near Him. We don’t want Jesus to be a stranger to us when He comes back. It would be so embarrassing if we have to ask the guy next to us who that is coming from heaven on the clouds. Worse than that, we don’t want Jesus to say “I don’t know you” because if He says that then that would be the last time we ever see Him.

Let’s all recommit ourselves to worshipping God every Sunday. That way, we will get a head start on some of the joys we will share in heaven. See you in God’s house.