Eclectic Hermeneutics
All Scripture
Quotations are from the King James Bible
By Dr. Ken
Matto
It is
quite interesting when a free will pastor comes across the word “election” in
the Bible, they explain it away that election is not really election. However,
when they come across the word “tithing, tithe, or offering” it definitely means
tithe or offering with no explanation needed. I call it “Eclectic Hermeneutics.”
I
remember many years ago I was in a Sunday School class at Green Brook Baptist
Church in Green Brook, New Jersey.
The Sunday School teacher came across Jeremiah 1:5 and instantly in one breath
stated “this is not predestination.”
Before I
formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the
womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
(Jeremiah 1:5)
Let’s
take a look at the language in that verse.
Before Jeremiah was even born, God knew him.
What is one of the great principles in Scripture concerning the
relationship between the Lord Jesus Christ and his people?
He knows them by name, remember Lazarus come forth?
To him the porter openeth; and the
sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them
out. (John 10:3) Then what
about the relationship between Jesus and the unbeliever?
And then will I profess unto them,
I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
(Matthew 7:23) He didn’t
know them because they were not his.
Then Jeremiah was sanctified.
Sanctification is salvation language.
By the which will we are
sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
(Hebrews 10:10) When a
person becomes saved they are instantly sanctified, that is made holy, then the
rest of their lives they experience progressive sanctification where they become
more set apart for the things of God by rejecting the ways of the world and
replacing them with the ways of God.
Then
Jeremiah was ordained a prophet.
The word “ordained” in the Hebrew carries with it the meaning of “to put or to
make.” Before Jeremiah was born he
was to be made a prophet and the only way a person could be a true prophet of
God was to be saved. It also
carries the meaning of “being appointed.”
And when the Gentiles heard this,
they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. (Acts
13:48) That same principle is
carried over into the New Testament when dealing with believers as we read in
Acts 13:48 where believers are “ordained” to eternal life.
The New Testament term “ordained” also carries with it the meaning of
“appointed.” If Jeremiah 1:5 is not
predestination then I am six feet tall.
Here is
the definition of predestination from the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary:
PREDESTINA'TION, n. The act of decreeing or foreordaining events; the decree of
God by which he hath, from eternity, unchangeably appointed or determined
whatever comes to pass. It is used particularly in theology to denote the
preordination of men to everlasting happiness or misery.
Predestination is a part of the unchangeable plan of the
divine government; or in other words, the unchangeable purpose of an
unchangeable God.
Since many Christians believe in free will, I have two
questions for them:
1) Did Jeremiah make a decision to follow God before he
was formed in the womb?
2) Did Jeremiah make a decision as to whether he wanted
to be a prophet or not before he was formed in the womb?
The answer to these is no, how could he since he was no
yet born. His life was already
pre-determined by God who appointed him a prophet before he was born.
Even Webster defines it as “unchangeably
appointed or determined.” Just like
every other true believer, Jeremiah was named before the foundation of the
world.
The term
“Eclectic Hermeneutics” is not a subject which is taught in Bible schools yet it
is encouraged in all the schools which espouse free will.
It is just another method whereby pastors and theologians can position
their theological bias by explaining away passages, phrases, and words which do
not fit their theological bias.
What is
taught is Hermeneutics which is the science of interpretation.
The word “hermeneutics” is taken from the Greek god Hermes who was the
god of trade, the messenger of the gods, and
the guide to Hades. In Biblical
Hermeneutics, exegesis focuses primarily upon the word and grammar of texts.
The science of interpretation
and explanation; exegesis; esp., that branch of theology which defines the laws
whereby the meaning of the Scriptures is to be ascertained. Schaff-Herzog
Encyclopedia
The Law of interpretation which governs the Bible is that the Bible interprets
the Bible and not outside sources such as newspapers or news broadcasts.
The Bible is not to be interpreted through the biased eyes of any
particular belief system. The Roman
Catholics interpret their Bible through their system of beliefs, the same with
the Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and any other non-Christian religion or
organization along with all the free will churches.
We find the true principle of interpretation to be comparing Scripture
with Scripture and that is found in 1 Corinthians 2:13:
Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
(1 Corinthians 2:13)
The
Bible is a spiritual book and it must be interpreted according to itself.
Here is a quote from the SBC Issues Blog.
I want you to notice something in this paragraph which is common among
all those who have espoused Eclectic Hermeneutics.
“I do not believe the
Bible comes close to teaching that God hand picks who is and is not saved. I do
not believe that the Bible teaches that Jesus died for a select group of
individuals and that eternity is reserved for “God’s four and no more.” I do not
believe the Bible teaches that man is dead in his trespass and sin to the extent
that he is totally incapable of responding to God’s revelatory work found in the
Scriptures nor His reconciliatory work rooted in the convicting work of the Holy
Spirit in the heart of an unbeliever. I do not believe a lost person must be
“born again” so that he MAY repent and then exercise believing or saving faith
to become part of God’s forever family. I do not believe the Bible ANYWHERE
teaches that God’s call to salvation is an irresistible
call that the lost
person automatically responds too… like Lazarus did when Jesus called him by
name to come out of the grave.”
Here is the link so you
know I am not making this up:
https://sbcissues.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/calvinism-is-an-abominable-theological-position/
Did you notice it?
All five statements begin with “I don’t believe.”
Something else to notice, what is his source for these statements?
Is it the Bible? No because
I don’t see one verse in this paragraph, in fact, if you look at the entire
rant, you will not see one Scripture verse used.
His source is himself and his personal opinion.
In every article I write, I do not fail to back up everything I present
with Scripture and I will not misrepresent or force any scripture to say what I
wanted it to or to adhere to any presented teaching.
Many times we will see the Greek word “nekrous” being used which carries
with it the meaning of “dead, lifeless, and useless,” it contradicts most of the
wrong teachings found in the free will movement.
Did you also
notice one other thing in this paragraph?
He states that “dead” is not “dead.”
God could have used the term “man’s understanding is darkened” but he
chose to use the term “dead.” What
happened in the Garden of Eden was man died spiritually and not just darkened in
their understanding. What this man
wrote is a perfect example of Eclectic Hermeneutics where he claims dead is not
dead when the word means dead!
Is there any precedent
for understanding the Bible in the Bible?
Yes there is and you will see that no personal opinion is involved.
Let us attend to this Biblical Example!
So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense and
caused them to understand the reading. (Nehemiah 8:8)
And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the
purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and
Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and
Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and
Meshullam. {5} And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he
was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: {6}
And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen,
Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped
the LORD with their faces to the ground. {7} Also Jeshua, and Bani, and
Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah,
Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the
law: and the people stood in their place. {8} So they read in the book in the
law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the
reading. (Nehemiah 8:4-8)
In Nehemiah 8:4-8, we read of the time when many Jews went back to Jerusalem
from Babylon and had repaired the walls of the city. Here we have the scenario
where Ezra the Scribe was now attending to the reading of the word of God which
at that time was the Law of God. Ezra was given a high wooden pulpit to begin
the reading of the word of God to the people. As we plainly see in verses 4 and
7, Ezra was not the only one who did the teaching. In verse 7 it names 13 other
teachers plus the Levites which caused the people to understand the law. Verse
4 tells us that there were 13 others on the platform with Ezra but it is not
known if they were temple workers or if they joined in and helped Ezra to teach
the word of God to the people. All in all Ezra had 26 people to help him in
this task.
If you notice there was no division among them as the people stood and listened
to the word of God being interpreted and proclaimed unto them by as many as 26
preachers or as little as 13. It did not matter because they were all teaching
the same message which affected all the people as many of them wept knowing they
had broken God’s law.
In our theme verse which is Nehemiah 8:8 we find the following three very
important words.
So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense,
and caused them to understand the reading. (Nehemiah 8:8)
The first word we will look at is the word “distinctly” which carries with it
the meaning in the Hebrew of “to give instructions, to show, to declare.” The
first thing that Ezra and his entourage did was to read directly from the word
of God, in other words, their first task was to declare the word of God to the
people. There was no fooling around with commentaries, spurious or personal
interpretations. It was a direct reading from the word of God.
The second word we will look at is “the sense” in the Hebrew it is one word and
carries with it the meaning of “insight, understanding, wisdom.” Not only did
they read the word of God but they interpreted it in such a manner that the
people received insight and understanding. They understood the word of God and
the meanings of the passages which were read to them. You can tell that the
people received the straight understanding of the Scriptures because it affected
them to the point of weeping. A neutralized interpretation would not do that to
someone. There was no filtering or mollifying of the message.
The third word we will look at is “caused…to understand” which is one word in
the Hebrew and carries with it the meaning of “to perceive, have intelligence,
discern, prudent.” After you hear the straight word of God and are given the
proper interpretation, which is what hermeneutics is supposed to supply, then
you will have the discernment and intelligence of a good solid Christian who
will now possess good understanding of the word of God. This, of course,
depends upon two important factors: 1) That you are hearing the true word of God
and not a counterfeit; and, 2) that the hermeneutic you are being subjected to
is not biased but based strictly on the word of God regardless of the fact that
it may come up against established belief systems which are derived from
Eclectic Hermeneutics.
What is Eclectic Hermeneutics?
The following is from the 1913 Webster’s Dictionary:
1.
Selecting; choosing (what is true or excellent in doctrines, opinions, etc.)
from various sources or systems; as, an eclectic philosopher.
2.
Consisting, or made up, of what is chosen or selected; as, an eclectic
method; an eclectic magazine.
Since I have not read the name then I will coin that phrase. Eclectic
Hermeneutics is the interpretation of the Bible based upon what meaning is
chosen or selected by the person doing the interpretation rather than directly
harmonizing links of Scripture to each other.
It is also the intentional misrepresentation of the words in Scripture
which do not fit into a specific belief system.
Is there another example in Scripture?
I am glad you asked because here it is.
In 2 Kings 22, we read about King Josiah giving money to the workers in the
Temple who were doing repairs to it.
Then all of a sudden they discovered a copy of the word of God.
And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book
of the law in the house of the LORD. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and
he read it. (2 Kings 22:8)
Then Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan the Scribe and he read it and then brought
it to the king and the next verse shows the impact the word of God had upon King
Josiah.
And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law,
that he rent his clothes. (2 Kings
22:11)
The king was so convicted that he rent his clothes, that is, he tore his clothes
in humility because of what he heard read out of the law.
12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and
Achbor the son of Michaiah, and Shaphan the scribe, and Asahiah a servant of the
king's, saying, 13 Go ye, inquire
of the LORD for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words
of this book that is found: for great is the wrath of the LORD that is kindled
against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book,
to do according unto all that which is written concerning us.
(2 Kings 22:12-13)
Josiah wanted to know what the words of God meant so he dispatched his priests
and scribes to inquire of the LORD what is to happen to Judah since they had
disobeyed the LORD and that resulted in his wrath being kindled against Judah.
As you can see that as soon as the King had read the book of the Law, he knew
Judah was in trouble and instantly acted upon it by having his spiritual team
inquire of the LORD as to what their future would be.
Do you see the urgency in which Josiah proceeded?
As soon as he got the word, he was convicted just like those in the time
of Ezra when they wept because they knew something was wrong.
This is the way the word of God deals with us, it convicts us to the
point of realizing our error so we can repent and get on the right road.
Do you think that there would have been such reaction to the word of God
by Josiah and the people hearing Ezra if the word was interpreted using eclectic
hermeneutics so the people would be pacified?
When they read the word, there was instant conviction because none of the
preachers placated their hearers.
When was the last time you heard a convicting sermon in church?
If you attend a church and all the people leave as happy and jovial as
when they arrived, then your pastor has used eclectic hermeneutics because the
Bible on its own is a convicting Word.
Let us look at a second word which applies to the Eclectic Free Will Movement.
It is the word “Assumption.”
The 1913 Webster Bible states the following definition of assumption:
1. The
act of assuming, or taking to or upon one's self; the act of taking up or
adopting.
2. The
act of taking for granted, or supposing a thing without proof; supposition;
unwarrantable claim.
Number two fits perfectly as it is used in Eclectic Hermeneutics today. Let me
give a further definition of Hermeneutics before we go on.
Hermeneutics is the science of interpretation of the Scriptures. It concerns
itself with exegesis, that is, extracting the true teachings from passages of
Scripture and giving the meaning of those truths. In other words, true
hermeneutics is concerned with bringing the message of Scripture directly from
Scripture without any buffers of bias such as theological systems or
denominational peculiarities. True hermeneutics is the only thing that stands
between the Scriptures and a Christian’s understanding of them.
Many times you may hear or read the following statement, “If the Plain Text
Makes Perfect Sense, Seek No Other Sense.” Remember dead is dead and that is
plain, isn’t it? That statement is totally violated by the very ones who espouse
it. Eclectic Hermeneutics has literally supplanted true hermeneutics in our
day. How you ask? When theologians write books, pastors preach, or any
Christian who belongs to a certain belief system will read and write only within
the confines of their chosen theology. Let me give some examples:
1) A Dispensationalist will only write according to their belief system. They
will interpret verses, correctly or incorrectly, according to
dispensationalism. They will train themselves so that everything they read will
be filtered through dispensational belief.
2) A Preterist will see only eschatology as far as 70 A.D. believing that all
prophetic events were fulfilled by that time and that nothing is future. So
when they look at eschatological passages, they only see verses understood
within their system of beliefs.
3) A person who believes that Christ died for every person in the world will
look at all passages of Scripture within that belief system. They will eschew
the idea that Christ only died for a certain group of people, namely His Elect.
4) A person who espouses a belief in free will believes that all a person has to
do is just “accept Christ” and that person has the ability to receive salvation
any time before he or she dies. So when they read the Scriptures, whether Old
or New Testament, they will read them with the understanding that God have given
mankind free will. This is why when free will preachers preach, they will make
incessant altar calls believing that a person can make that decision.
These four examples prove that the understanding and interpretation has become
compartmentalized in our day and Christians only see through the glasses of
their chosen belief systems. The belief systems are no longer subject to the
Bible but the Bible has become subject to biased belief systems, whether
personal or denominational.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans
10:9)
Let us look at Romans 10:9. Romans
10:9 is a verse which teaches us that we must believe in our hearts that God
raised Jesus from the dead and that we must confess it with our mouths. The word
for “confess” in the Greek text is the word “homologeo” which literally means
“to say the same thing.” In other words our testimony must be in line with the
Word of God. That principle is found back in Amos. Amos 3:3 (KJV) Can two
walk together, except they be agreed? To be agreed is to agree with the Word
of God. Before salvation, the Bible was a book we were unable to understand and
our lives were in opposition to the Bible but once we became saved, we are in
agreement with the Scriptures.
Then we are to believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead but with
the old heart we were at enmity with God. However, when God saves us and
resurrects our soul, He also gives us a new heart which would be able to
understand the things of God. A new heart also will I give you, and a new
spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26) Now
Romans 10:9 tells us to confess and believe. If we did these things from a state
of spiritual death, it would be an attempted work for salvation but because God
has already saved us and then given us spiritual abilities, they would be
considered exercising the faith that we have and it would not be a work for
salvation but a work in salvation which is what the believer is to be engaged
in.
For we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk
in them. (Ephesians 2:10)
You will see plainly there is no verse manipulation, that before a person is
saved they are spiritually dead and dead means dead. They do not have the
ability to generate faith, to believe, or will themselves into salvation. You
will also see that a person must be saved prior, and it could be just a few
seconds, to believing by means of faith which is given as a fruit of the Holy
Spirit who indwells the believer and then gives them the ability to believe the
things of God, simply because regeneration has already taken place. So let me
just list the order of effectual salvation it is from Spiritual death to
Spiritual resurrection to receiving the Holy Spirit to be given faith as a fruit
to be able to believe the things of God. No unsaved person can will themselves
into spiritual resurrection. It must be performed by God or the person stays
spiritually dead. It is that simple. We did not have to assume anything but in
our investigation of the doctrine of salvation, we find in the Scriptures, by
means of a clear hermeneutic that before one can believe, God must perform a
resurrection on our souls and that all takes place simultaneously. So when a
person responds to a gospel call and is truly saved, that means God has
resurrected that soul and because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, they now know
their need for a Savior whereas before they became saved, they didn’t even care
about the things of God being in a state of spiritual death.
Christians cannot continue to interpret the Bible in the way that we wished God
had written it or the way we want the Scriptures to imply . If the church is
ever going to get back to a place of strength, it must begin to look at the
Scriptures from the way God wrote them and not the way we want to read
them. The majority of Christianity has become very man-centered in that we view
the Bible in a way that pacifies man instead of the way God wrote them. The
fact that man sinned against a thrice holy God means that the way back to God is
not one of ease because it cost the life of the Son of God to pay for the sins
of His people. Living the Christian life does not wholly consist of jumping up
and down in church on Sunday or hearing some false preacher pacify his audience
in a mega-church with all kind of sweet platitudes while completely ignoring the
reality of sin. The true Christian will search the Scriptures diligently before
accepting any teachings to ascertain whether they have heard the Scriptures
being interpreted according to eclectic hermeneutics or through clear,
harmonious hermeneutics which connect the teachings of Scripture without
over-justification with many words.
Christians assume that everything they hear, especially from a well-known
preacher, is correct according to the Scriptures and that is just not true. In
fact, the more famous a preacher is, normally the more compromised they are with
the Scriptures but because they are famous, everything they teach is accepted
willy-nilly. For example, go to John MacArthur’s church and say he is wrong
about Mark 16:9-20. You will be escorted out the door. Go to Joel Osteen’s
church and say he is a false teacher. You will be escorted out the door.
This is why the Christian must spend time searching the Scriptures to either confirm or reject what they heard. God gave us the Bible for wisdom and understanding, neither of these can be obtained if we refuse to search the Scriptures and instead accept everything we are told. The reality is that when we hear a popular preacher speak, we automatically go into acceptance mode, that is, based upon who is speaking we accept the belief they are correct. This is very dangerous territory and is the reason that Christianity has so many confused Christians. There are a great number of teachings which are taught from the pulpits that are just not true and the reason that Christians become confused is because these teachings do not create a harmonious hermeneutic and if they clash with one another, it creates confusion and results in weak Christians and churches. This is why Christians can no longer rely on what we hear preached or what we read without confirming the teaching in Scripture. If the findings go against a popular preacher then so be it. This is why it is important for Christians to know whether they heard a teaching through eclectic hermeneutics or through real hermeneutics. If they pass on a false teaching, then they have become a false teacher themselves and no true Christian wants that moniker attached to them. Brethren, let us get serious!