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Hermeneutics
“Man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the
mouth of God” Matt. 4:4
Four Basic Gaps
• The Linguistic (language)
Gap
• The Cultural (lifestyle) Gap
• The Geographical
(location or topography
{maps, charts}) Gap
• The Historical (past events)
Gap
The Linguistic Gap
• God spoke words
(thoughts or ideas)
• The Bible was written in 3
different languages
• Hebrew, Aramaic
(Chaldee) and Greek
• Is anyone among us skilled
in these languages?
Example
• Matthew 22:32
• Jesus defended life after
death
• I am the God of Abraham
• Not I was the God of
Abraham
• Am, Was, and Is are small
words capable of
changing the entire
context of a sentence.
Three (3) basic considerations
• Vocabulary
• Grammar
• Genre (type or style of
language used)
Vocabulary
• Definition: a sum or stock of
words employed by a
language, group, individuals, or
work or in a field of knowledge.
• There are four essential
elements
• Etymology (history),
comparative study, cultural
meaning and the cognate
(equivalent) of the words being
studied.
Etymology
• The history of the word
• Where did it come from?
• Why and how was the
word created?
• The meaning of a word is
influenced by it origin.
• Hermeneutical tools are
very important
Comparative Study
• Studying words within
Scripture.
• The same word at each
occurrence. (OT & NT)
• The meaning may vary
from verse to verse,
chapter to chapter and
book to book.
• Do not assume anything
Cultural Meaning
• A word’s use and meaning in a
specific era of time
• The word conversation means
for us today, to talk.
• For the Greeks, it can mean
behavior.
• A word today considered to
mean infidelity.
• The same word meant moral
impurity in the broadest of
terms.
Cognate languages
• The study of equivalent
words in related
languages.
• All languages can be
closely related to other
languages.
• Most of the English words
evolved from other
languages.
Grammar
• A failure to understand
and interpret Biblical
grammar can lead to
misinterpretations.
• Past, present, future, verb,
noun, adjective, singular
and plural
Grammar and Languages
• Analytic language is a
language where the order
of words determine the
meaning or role of each
word (English & Hebrew)
• Synthetic language is a
language where the
ending determines the
words meanings (Greek &
Spanish)
Genre
• The type or style of
language
• 3 elements of Genre
• Literary style
• Literary expression
• Figures of speech
Definitions
• Literary style: historical, poetical
or prophetical
• Literary expression: parables,
allegories or riddles
• Figures of Speech:
comparing one thing with
another thing which has a
familiar meaning to the reader
(metaphor- drowning in
money)