Divine Hermeneutics from Numbers 12

This obscure passage, rarely discussed in churches and even Bible studies has a profound implication on what I would call the "divine method" of hermeneutics primarily because it is God himself who declares this clearly in Scripture. This primary principle of Bible heremeneutics is:

THE DECLARED WORD OF GOD HAS PRECEDENCE OVER INFERENTIAL INTERPRETATIONS OF THE WORD.

Numbers 12:6-8 

"6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed."

The Bereans did precisely this: they examined the Scriptures (Old Testament ONLY, since there was no New Testament at that time). It goes without saying that they relied on the clear declared words in Scripture.

2 Peter 1:19-21

"9 And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, 20 knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 21 For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

Clearly, Peter was distinguishing between personal interpretation and the declared word. It has to be clear that Peter's context here is the "prophecy of Scripture" is the declared word of God and not a prophet's personal interpretation of a dream.

How do we apply this PRIMARY principle of hermeneutics?

1. Faith comes by hearing the word of Christ according to Romans 10:17. We have to examine if our belief or belief system is based on the clear declared word of God or is it based on what somebody else (ASIDE FROM READING THE WORD OF GOD) told us? Is the basis of our faith, the declared word or is someone's interpretation of the declared word?
2. Inferential interpretations are not necessarily bad but they can be used by the Devil (whose primary mission is Scripture distortion to mislead us away from what God is REALLY saying.
3. The declared word of God interprets inferential passages and NOT the other way around. Declarations of God are either explicit or clearly derived from Scripture without use of allegory, e.g., the deity of Christ and the Trinity. Allegories start with analogies which are mere opinions of what the symbols or combination of characters in an event may mean. We at least honor them if they do not contradict Scripture but it is a foundation built on SAND and not ROCK. This is the essence of Christ's lesson on the houses built on rock or sand in Matthew 7
4. We rarely question declared principles and we should ALWAYS question derived (inferential) principles. The early church fathers wallowed in allegory and in the process deviated into heretical views. NOTE THAT THOSE DECLARED AS HERETICS BY THE ECUMENICAL COUNCILS WERE ACTUAL ACTIVE BISHOPS OR THEOLOGIANS.
5. Inferential interpretations ALWAYS have alternative interpretations that might even be more biblical than the original interpretation. Inferential and allegorical interpretations are what gave credence to the theotokos of the Holy Orthodox Church. As many allegorical interpretations do, human nature corrupts subjective conjectures and turns something good into something bad like blatant "mariolatry" in the Latin churches, especially those of the Spanish variety. If the church condones the veneration of Mary who is basically human, why can't it condone worship of the baby Jesus since the baby is basically God Incarnate!
6. Check source of faith: is it something you learned from other people or from the word of God?
7. When we declare a truth, is it an opinion or is it based on the full revelation of God's word?
8. Today, when we open our Bibles, we open the opportunity for God to speak "face to face" or "mouth to mouth" with us.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit may include rejection of what the Holy Spirit has clearly written in the pages of Scripture just to preserve personal beliefs or allegorical interpretations.

On my next blog, we will discuss how to use Progressive Revelation as another major foundation for correct hermeneutics.