Hermeneutics

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Hermeneutics

• Understanding the Word of God

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Historical-Cultural

• 1. Determine the general historical and cultural
  milieu of the writer and his audience.
• 1.1 What are the circumstances that cause the
  writing?
• 1.2 What cultural norms add meaning?
• 1.3 What is the level of Spiritual commitment of
  the audience?

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Historical-Cultural

• 2. Determine the purpose of the author
• 2.1 Note explicit statements or repeated phrases
• 2.2 Observe hortatory sections
• 2.3 Observe issues that are omitted or emphasized.

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Historical-Cultural

• 3. Understand how the passage fits into its
  immediate and larger context.
• 3.1 Identify the major parts of the book and how
  they fit together.
• 3.2 Show how the passage fits into the argument
  of the author or speaker.
• 3.3 Know the difference between prescriptive and
  descriptive truth

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Historical-Cultural

• 3.4 Determine the difference between incidental
  details and the teaching focus of the passage.
• 3.5 Identify the persons or category of persons
  for whom the passage is intented

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Lexical-Syntactical Analysis

• 1. Identify the general literary form
• 1.1 Narrative
• 1.2. Epistle
• 1.3 Parable
• 1.4 Miracle story

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Lexical-Syntactical Analysis

• 2. Identify the natural divisions (paragraphs and
  sentences) of the text.
• 2.1 Look at several English versions for
  paragraph divisions.
• 2.2 Look at the Greek text to see sentence and
  paragraph divisions.

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Lexical-Syntactical Analysis

• 3. Identify the connecting words within the
  paragraphs.
• 3.1 These words help show the difference between
  main and sub-clauses.
• 3.2 These words help show the progression of
  thought.

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Lexical-Syntactical Analysis

• 4. Determine what individual words mean.
• 4.1 This is where the original language will be
  very helpful.
• 4.2 Remember that a word needs a context to have
  full meaning.
• 4.3 Remember that all words have more than one
  meaning depending on time and context.
• 4.4 Try to determine the single meaning.

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Lexical-Syntactical Analysis

• 5. Analyze the syntax.
• 5.1 This can help the reader understand the
  argument of the author.
• 5.2 This can help the reader make technical
  decisions.
• 6. Put the results into non-technical easy to
  understand words that clearly convey the meaning
  of the passage

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Theological Analysis

• 1. Determine your own view of the Scriptures
  statement as to the nature of Gods relationship
  to human beings.
• 2. Identify the implications of this view for the
  passage that you are studying.
• 3. Assess the extent of the knowledge available
  to the people at this time.

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Theological Analysis

• 4. Determine the meaning the passage had for its
  original recipients in light of their knowledge.
• 5. Identify the additional knowledge about this
  topic that is available to us now because of
  later revelation or from other sources.