In Sunday School, I learned enough conventional explanations to give me
simple, comfortable explanation for most texts that I encounter - too
simple, and too comfortable. And in my mind, these explanations are keyed to
phrases I remember from the translations we used.
If the point of hermeneutics were to find "the answer" to any passage, God
should have written a systematic theology, a gospel tract, and a book of
ethics instead of the wonderfully rich book that he gave us. So when I
approach the text, I try to assume that it is strange to me, that any one
explanation is only part of the truth, and that I can only rely on the
Spirit to convey some of the richness of this living and active word to the
spirit within me.
So one of the reasons for looking at the Greek and history is to remind
myself how strange and rich the text really is, and throw myself on the
grace of the Spirit.
Jonathan
***************************************************************************
Jonathan Robie
POET Software, 3207 Gibson Road, Durham, N.C., 27703
Ph: 919.598.5728 Fax: 919.598.6728
email: jwrobie@mindspring.com, jonathan@poet.com
http://www.poet.com <--- shockwave enabled!
***************************************************************************