Mind
or Mysticism? Reconciling Academic Biblical Interpretation and Holy
Revelation.
When
examining the role of the Holy Spirit in the interpretation of
biblical works, it can be easier to divided the information into
three main categories; these categories being the specific roles of
the Holy Spirit, the exclusive responsibilities of the human mind,
and the areas in which the two are inextricably linked. Also
important to any discussion of the Holy Spirit’s roles in the
life of the mind, is the question of to what degree the academic
minds should make allowances for God’s Holy Spirit to be
involved in the understanding of biblical texts. By attempting to
understand these questions, we can better understand the role of the
Holy Spirit in the interpretative process.
In his book, Grasping God’s Word, Daniel Hays suggests relating
the understanding of the complex body of God’s word to the less
daunting image of a musician. Hays states that, undeniably, every
master composer or conductor enjoyed the passion and the beauty of
music at an early age, but none of them grasped the true passion of
the music until they had mastered the rudimentary basics of creating
sound. That is, not until they learned the notes and mechanics of the
music did they ever begin to make aesthetically pleasing sounds, much
less create music capable of stirring the soul. Hays relates this to
interpretation of the Bible by saying that in the same way one may
have a shallow appreciation of a simple melody, one may understand
the shallow meaning of a scripture and be moved. But an understanding
of the mechanics and the procedures of academic interpretation opens
the door to the deepest biblical truth and the passion of the
ultimate symphony: the Word of God.
Modern Christians walk a dangerous line between a blind acceptance of
biblical truths and an apathetic complicity with basic, “harmless,”
politically correct biblical interpretations. Both extremes prompted
by the secular pressure on Christians to intellectualize their faith
in order to come to terms with it in a “reasonable world.”
God, as the creator of our minds, has not left them out of the
interpretive process. As a person who is gifted with natural musical
ability still has to practice, Christians, gifted with the ability to
understand scripture, must read and study diligently to be able to
read the bible for its true meaning.
To understand scripture academically requires “the study of (1)
the structure and idioms of biblical language, (2) the type of
literature represented, i.e., prose or poetry, history or allegory,
literal of symbolic, or perhaps a particular genre found in the
bible, such as apocalyptic, (3) the historical background, (4) the
geographic conditions, and (5) the life setting (Sitz im Leben).”
(Ferguson, 5) when we use these five approaches, we can be fairly
certain that we have arrived at a logical conclusion as to the
meaning of the text on the page, but while many may find themselves
satisfied at this level, the Christian is enabled and called to study
the word on a deeper level.
There are passages in scripture man cannot rationally understand
simply by using an academic formula, Origen states that “they
[the aforementioned scriptures] are provincially placed to warn us
that we are not on the right track if we pursue the literal sense,
and to remind us that we must leap over the literal to the spiritual
if we would truly understand the scriptures.” (Ferguson, 144)
While Origen makes this statement in support of his questionable
theory that every biblical passage can be allegorized to the
spiritual, (Ferguson, 144) he does indeed make a valid point in this
statement: left only to the hermeneutical tools previously discussed,
the mind will inevitably discover passages of scripture that confound
it. These scriptures are not to remind us that all scripture must be
allegorized [as Origen argued] or twisted to fit our preunderstanding
of the text; but rather, these scriptures are placed to make us stop
and pause, reminding us we cannot understand the scriptures without
the aide of the Spirit.
This problem reminds us that while a use of our minds is important to
biblical study, even integral, our intellect alone will never reveal
to us the depth of the word of God. The Bible teaches us that “the
man without the Spirit does no accept the things that come from the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot
understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1
Corinthians 2:14) Although many scholars have disputed the meaning of
the original Greek of this passage, 1 Corinthians 2:12-14 seems to be
saying that “the non-Christian will not accept spiritual truths
and cannot understand them. These are two distinct though related
concepts. Non-Christians do indeed plainly understand the Gospel at
times… [but] Paul’s point seems to be that the depths of
God’s… wisdom cannot even be touched by non-believers.
There is a level to which they cannot attain.” (The Holy Spirit
and Hermeneutics, 3)
1 Corinthians 2:14 seems to explain that the bible cannot be
understood by the mind alone. But because we are called to discern
truth, it is then obvious that the spirit and the mind must both
participate in the interpretation of scripture.
The role of the Holy Spirit in bible interpretation is difficult, if
not impossible to define: “Anyone who attempts to strictly
define the Holy Spirit’s activity faces a tremendous challenge.
It is impossible for mere men to fully comprehend God’s
activity in the world because he is limited in his understanding.”
(Role of the Holy Spirit… 1) But however vague, there are
specific areas we can be aware of the actions of God’s Spirit.
Three of these areas are: “Convicting us that the bible is
divinely inspired, impressing on us the full meaning of scriptures,
and working in our hearts for that we may accept the message”
(Hays 13). Just as we are able to define the Spirit’s roles in
revealing to us the meaning of the bible and the personal application
of it to our lives, so can we determine the specific roles that the
Spirit will not execute: The spirit does not create new
meaning or provide new, secret meaning, nor does it change the bible
to suit our own purposes or circumstances. (Hays, 12)
Ultimately, “The spirit helps us to apply the Word of God given
thousands of years ago to our everyday lives now. The Spirit helps us
as we read the Scriptures to close the gap between us and the
original writers and overcome the effects of sin in our thinking
process” (The Role of the Holy Spirit, 2)
The greatest gift God has endowed to us is our redemption in Christ
and the accompanying spirit which fills us upon acceptance of our
redemption. Arguably, though, is another great gift: the human mind.
Both are valuable tools to understand scripture, and without one or
the other, true understanding is impossible. Intricate and rather
mystical, for most Christians it is difficult to know where the mind
stops and where the presence of the Holy Spirit takes over in the
control of our thoughts and actions. The academic mind, however, is
trained to analyze and contemplate language and words technically,
far removed from personal feelings and biases. Every Christian has a
duty to God to understand scripture through their own study and
through the reception of revelation from God.
Unfortunately, there are no answers in the back of the book that we
can flip to when scripture puzzles us, but God has allowed us the
opportunity and duty to seek his answers through academic measures as
well as prayer and meditation on the accurate meaning, as
illuminated by the Holy Spirit. There is an intense danger of
over-intellectualizing our communication with god (Hays, 14) but the
mind should never be valued over God’s own presence in us,
helping us understand the true meaning behind his Holy text.
Works Cited
Bradshaw,
Robert I. The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Inspiration and
Illumination of Scripture. 1995. http://www.robibrad.
Demon.co.uk/Spirit.htm
Duvall,
Scott & Daniel Hays. Grasping God’s Word. “Chapter
Twelve: The role of the Holy Spirit in the Interpretive Process”.
PowerPoint Presentation.
Fuller,
Daniel P. The Holy Spirit’s Role in Biblical Interpretation,
http://www.fuller.edu/ministry/berean/hs_role.htm
Ferguson,
Duncan S. Biblical Hermeneutics: An Introduction. 1986. John
Knox Pres, Atlanta, Georgia.
The
Holy Spirit and Hermeneutics.
http://www.bible.org/docs/soapbox/hermhs.htm
