Foundations of Common Sense Hermeneutics

 The contents of this blog come from another blog but it is worth publishing it separately for those sincere students of the Bible who hope to interpret correctly and not wander into cultic nor heretic conclusions.

Our common sense hermeneutics principles can be summarize as follows:

1. There is NO MYSTERY in the languages of Scripture (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek). These were the common languages of their day. No secret codes to uncover. These are plain HUMAN languages used and empowered by the Holy Spirit ONLY in the proper spiritual context of the reader. The mystery or mysticism, if you will, is in the work of the Holy Spirit in the Bible student's heart and life when the plain language is understood correctly. This means that we exercise care when performing exegesis from ANY translation since there will be words that cannot be translated accurately between languages. ALL our English Bibles are translations or paraphrases. 
2. The Old Testament (Tanakh) is NOT the "undisputed" Word of God contrary to what the Jews and Protestants are claiming. History clearly tells us otherwise.  What was implicitly authenticated by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself in Matthew 5:18-20 was the Septuagint (LXX) completed 100 years before Christ and, most probably, the existing Hebrew Bible text of his day WHICH INCLUDED THE APOCRYPHAL BOOKS and is definitely NOT the Masoretic Text completed 1,000 years AFTER the time of Christ, and mind you, the "righteousness that exceeds" was added by Christ in the context of a HIGH VIEW OF SCRIPTURE, not Tradition.  Note that the "english" of the world of Christ and the apostles was the koine Greek. Most of the disciples did not even know Hebrew, they spoke only Greek or Aramaic. The traditional view of inerrancy and verbal inspiration may be correct BUT we have NONE of the original autographs. What we have today are IMPERFECT copies or translations of the word of God. Regardless, there seems to be ONLY ONE version of the Torah whether Hebrew or Greek. The variations or imperfections in the rest of the OT books do not change salvation doctrine although some books like Proverbs, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, etc portray the culture of the Sermon on the Mount of which the Masoretic text is more anemic on this. Regardless of these imperfections again, we see that the foundation of all of Scripture is the Old Testament and its explanation and elaboration by Christ in the gospels especially the Sermon on the Mount.
3. The Gospels main job as exemplified by Christ is to explain the Old Testament. However, since the principles come from the Logos, we tacitly assume that it is the Word of God. Furthermore, Christ Himself declared that his word is the word of God in Matthew 24:35. However, in order for God NOT to contradict Himself, NO statement of the Christ can nor will contradict the teachings of the OT, but only interpret it correctly. The focus of Christ's teachings are the culture of Kingdom children, NOT theology. We will be judged by our fruit, our works and NOT our theology, assuming we have the right BASIC belief (Apostle's Creed ONLY)
4. The Epistles (not at all authenticated by Christ but hinted through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, hence largely inferential) main role is to interpret the gospels and the Old Testament where necessary. Any new doctrine or practice that does not explain anything PREVIOUSLY REVEALED in either the Old Testament or the New Testament is considered cultural, descriptive and NOT at all prescriptive, e.g., women wearing veils in church, women to be silent in church are all cultural and have to be interpreted from a cultural context. Furthermore, no principle derived from the epistles should contradict either the gospels or the Old Testament.
5. Pre-Nicene Church Tradition enhances understanding of Scripture. What did Christians believed and practiced in the early church? For those of Eastern Orthodox persuasions: We have to differentiate the first century church (mostly Jewish based or pre-Nicene). Tradition from the 3rd generation of Christian Tradition (mostly Gentile and many non-Greek-speaking and post-Nicene). We may strictly follow the first century tradition which produced the Scriptures but we have to be a bit more critical with the Gentile-sourced traditions which were mostly interpretations (unfortunately, mostly allegorical and inferential too) of Scripture already completed. The Filioque is a Gentile era issue.
6. Explicitly declared principles should take precedence over allegorical or inferential interpretations  (Numbers 12:6-9). The clear passages should interpret the unclear passages. (Common sense in normal human conversations or even when determining truth by the Supreme Court). 
7. Interpretations should have no contradictions within Scripture. (Most allegorical or inferential interpretations will find contradictions). NO Ecumenical COUNCIL MAY CONTRADICT THE CLEAR DECLARATIONS OF SCRIPTURE NO MATTER HOW GOOD THE INTENTION. The early church looked at the Old Testament narrative as allegories of the Christian life and walk. However, they were able to distinguish between prescriptive and descriptive passages.
8. God reveals progressively (Hebrews 1:1-3). No new revelation in progressive revelation should contradict any previous revelation (or else, God contradicts himself!)
9. Reject any new "gospel" or interpretations after the canon of Scripture was closed in the 4th century. (Galatians 1:8,9; Revelations 22:18-19; Deuteronomy 4:2) Examples, are Once-saved-always-saved (16th century), the pre-tribulation Rapture (19th century), abstinence from drinking wine (an insult to Christ in John 2, 17th century?) (also, only taught in the USA, nowhere else unless a USA colony or missionary influence)
10. Our exegetical method uses the Wesleyan (Outler) Quadrilateral. Scripture is the final authority because it is the FORMAL product of first century church tradition. Hence, any succeeding tradition after the New Testament was completed as written (despite scribal or pseudo-scribal errors) SHOULD NEVER CONTRADICT Scripture. ALL the seven Ecumenical Councils cannot contradict Scripture or its intent. We use pre-Nicene Tradition (that does not contradict Scripture) to enhance our understanding of the written Word. The early Greek-speaking Christians were the writers and audience of the New Testament and hence understood and interpreted their communications much better than us today since we are 2,000 years remote from their language and context. Then we use our God-given Reason to synthesize Scripture and Tradition. Finally we rely on the Experience of the Holy Spirit (Who does not speak to us clearly when we are not pure in heart) to again "inspire" us, meaning, move us to understand, be convicted and obey or abide by what God says, in much the same way he moved men to write it.
11. Pay more attention to the SHOUTS of God (preponderance of Scripture declarations on the same subject) and less attention to the w-h-i-s-p-e-r-s of God (mentioned once or twice or only a few unclear times, e.g., predestination, elect). SHOUTS should interpret whispers, not the other way around