What Does the Bible Say? Hermeneutics with Dr. Jim Shaddix
On today’s episode of the Journeywomen podcast we’re kicking off a brand new series: Journeywomen Goes to Seminary. In this seven-part series we’re covering seminary topics in a way that we hope will encourage you to pursue deeper theological study. Today we’re kicking things off with a professor who has had an impact on one of our very own here at Journeywomen, Lauren Bowerman, our Creative Content Manager. Lauren actually pitched the idea for this entire series and told me about taking a hermeneutics class from Dr. Shaddix, today’s guest, during her time studying at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. She talked about how life changing it was for her and how she would love for you guys to have a little taste of that experience!
Dr. Shaddix serves as Professor of Preaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC, occupying the W. A. Criswell Chair of Expository Preaching. He also serves as a Senior Fellow for the Center for Preaching and Pastoral Leadership, which exists to resource pastors in local churches. Dr. Shaddix has pastored churches in Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana and Colorado, and also served as Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in New Orleans, LA. He is the author of The Passion Driven Sermon (Broadman & Holman, 2003), Decisional Preaching (Rainer, 2019), and co-author of Power in the Pulpit (Moody, 1999, 2017) and Progress in the Pulpit (Moody, 2017), both with Jerry Vines, 2 Peter and Jude (Broadman & Holman, 2018) with Danny Akin, and Psalms 51-100 (Broadman & Holman, 2020) with David Platt and Matt Mason, both in the Christ-Centered Exposition commentary series. Jim and his wife, Debra, focus much of their attention on discipling and mentoring young leaders and spouses. They have three grown children and ten grandchildren.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
What is biblical hermeneutics?
What is the danger of having poor hermeneutics?
What is the joy in growing in a faithful hermeneutic?
Why is it important to understand the context of a biblical passage?
Can you briefly walk us through the “interpretive journey” - or the process of reading Scripture in its original context and then gleaning the truth that is able to be applied to believers today?
What is the role of the Holy Spirit in biblical interpretation and teaching?
How do you take your knowledge of God in his Word from theoretical / intellectual to applicable, real-life obedience and action?
What is the danger of seeking to move to application of a text too quickly?
How can we faithfully take what we have learned in our personal Bible study and then teach that, whether in a small ground discussion or large group teaching?
When it comes to teaching the Bible, how can you guide someone to consider, discover, discuss, and obey God’s truth?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“Hermeneutics is Bible interpretation, the art and science of interpreting the Bible correctly. Hermeneutics has as its end getting to what Scripture says. This assumes that God said something when he inspired the pages of Scripture and that what he said has meaning.”
“If we believe God wrote the Bible and that he spoke through it and that he speaks through it, then the importance of having a right hermeneutic is so that we hear the voice of God. The danger [of having a poor hermeneutic] is that we miss the voice of God.”
“The voice of God is his truth communicated through his Word, and that comes with the assumption that that truth is what transforms us. It’s what recreates us into Christ’s image.”
“If we don’t hear God’s voice when we encounter Scripture, then we miss the opportunity to be changed by his truth.”
“The purpose of the Bible from beginning to end is the recreation of God’s creation into what it was intended to be. The center of that is mankind, his creation of humanity. If that’s true and God’s Word is the primary agent the Holy Spirit uses to bring that about, then when we have a right hermeneutic, when we approach God’s Word and interpret it with integrity, we have the opportunity to hear his voice, be impacted by his truth, and be transformed into his image.
“The ultimate joy is knowing him in his revelation of himself, and then through knowing him getting to see him accomplish his purpose in us - his purpose of recreating us in Christ Jesus.”
“Meaning is communicated through context. It’s one of the cool things about the Bible that distinguishes it and Christianity from other major world religions. God’s revelation didn’t just fall out of the sky. There wasn’t a finding of a book somewhere that God had hidden. But God revealed himself through history, through a real historic nation that’s still in existence today… Scripture is historically verifiable. That means the context has to be taken into consideration in order to find its proper meaning.”
“We have to ask the question… when this verse or passage is in the Bible, what is the context of it that helps us understand what it means?”
“We have to understand Scripture in light of all of Scripture. The Bible is a Jesus book from Genesis to Revelation. It is about God’s recreation of mankind, and he’s done that through the gospel of Christ.”
“When we are looking at the details of a particular text, they may not ‘wow’ us, they may not be earth-shattering. But when we’re able to see the contribution, the role that particular story or text had in the larger story of the Bible, then it opens up a whole new world of understanding and meaning, but also what God intended in that particular text of Scripture.”
“Picture a river: on one side of the river is ‘their town’, the biblical world, on the other side is ‘our town.’ So two towns on either side of the river. The interpretive journey is moving from the biblical town over a bridge into the contemporary town.”
“Four necessities of the interpretive process to discover the eternal intent of God’s Word:”
What did these words mean to the biblical audience? (the biblical author or speaker who is communicating these words, the people who would have first heard or read it, and the context that they’re in)
Measure the width of the river. What are the differences in culture, language, time, situation, and covenant from their town to our town?
Cross the bridge. What is the theological principle that moves us across all of those differences? What timeless truths can we bring across the bridge into our town?
Grasping the meaning in ‘our town.’ How do we as believers today apply that theological truth? What do we need to know and do as a result of that truth?”
“Bible interpretation is the responsibility of all believers, not just men and women who go to seminary or Bible college, not just preachers and teachers of God’s Word. Right Bible interpretation is the responsibility of every Christian. We want every believer who picks up the Bible in his or her quiet time to read the Bible and interpret it. By God’s grace that is possible.”
“As believers, as children of God, we need to read the Bible well. We need to meditate on it and read it prayerfully.”
“[Studying and interpreting the Bible] is an enterprise that is other-worldly, it is supernatural. Human beings have the opportunity to hear the voice of God - that is something beyond us. So we are utterly dependent upon his Spirit if we’re going to get this thing right.”
“Bible interpretation and teaching are a Holy Spirit enterprise from beginning to end. Inspiration: he inspired the book, he is the author of the book. Illumination: he brings illumination to the meaning of the text. Conviction: as we’re reading God’s Word, he shows us the areas of our lives that need sanctification. Application: the Holy Spirit is the one who connects the truth of God to our lives, who helps us to understand what that means in changing the way we think and do. Communication: the Spirit empowers, in his filling of the believer, to proclaim and speak God’s Word.”
How do we take our knowledge of Scripture from head knowledge to heart transformation and real-life application? “Honesty: being honest about your life situation and circumstances. Accountability: having other people who speak into your life and hold you accountable for living out what you’re reading and teaching from Scripture. Remembrance: I have to keep coming back to the same truths… if I’m going to apply it and continue to apply God’s word.”
“We think application is just a practical how-you-do-something. But if we read the Bible through that lens, we misunderstand the purpose of the Bible. We’re acting as if the Bible is a practical manual for daily living so we go into it looking for that… how does the Bible tell me to live my life, raise my family, balance my checkbook? But if we’re thinking about this too quickly, we’re going to read that into the text and end up looking to find things that aren’t there.”
Ask yourself and the person you are speaking to: “What is God’s word compelling you to believe or do?”
“We are persuaders, we are to compel people and plead with them. This is weighty stuff, we’re talking about eternal stuff here, and the truth.”
“We’re taking people on a journey when we teach God’s Word, the destination of which is to hear the voice of God.”
“We have to think about the responsibility we have to compel people to say yes to this. In preaching and teaching God’s Word, we are responsible for calling for a verdict, not just to fill their heads with Bible knowledge, but to persuade them to respond to God’s Word.”
“We are utterly dependent on the Spirit of God. Nurture that dependence in all of your Christian life, including your navigation of God’s Word. Never forget that this is an other-worldly enterprise that if we don’t engage the Spirit in it, it’s not going to be fruitful.”
RESOURCES
Grasping God’s Word by Duvall and Hays
Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary
Living by the Book by Hendricks and Hendricks (the most practical and readable book for Bible interpretation for any Christian)
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What is the joy in growing in your ability to accurately study and interpret God’s Word?
What tools, tips, or processes did you learn in this week’s episode that you intend to apply to your study of God’s Word?
What steps can you take to lean more on the Holy Spirit during your study of God’s Word?
How do you intend to take what you are studying in God’s Word and share with those around you?
What are you going to do or implement as a result of what you’ve learned this week?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
Affiliate links used are used where appropriate. Thank you for supporting the products that support Journeywomen!
FOR MORE OF JOURNEYWOMEN
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify
Follow Us: Instagram | Facebook
Support the podcast by writing a review
