The Role of The Holy Spirit in Biblical Interpretation

The role of the Holy Spirit in interpretation is something that is often mentioned in hermeneutics (biblical interpretation) and exegesis (deriving the meaning of the text) books, but little discussion is devoted to explaining what that role is, where the Bible teaches it, and how we know when it occurs. After much reading on the subject and a study of related passages of Scripture it is my contention that the Spirit has a multifaceted role in the life of the believer as he interprets Scripture.

The Spirit’s work in the interpreter is necessary because of the depravity of man. Due to the effects of sin a natural man, the unbeliever, “does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised” (1 Cor 2:14). This means that the unbeliever does not see the word of God as wisdom, but rather foolishness. Therefore he rejects it. While he does have a level of cognitive awareness of the signification of the words, He cannot understand in the sense of experientially knowing it as truth in a relationship with God. This is due the fact that it is spiritually discerned. The unbeliever is spiritually dead (Eph 2:1) and consequently has a futile, darkened, ignorant mind, and a hard heart that makes him callous to spiritual things (Eph 4:17-19). He is hostile to God and cannot bring himself under the Scriptures as his authority (Rom 8:7-8).

Ready to Preach?

"Every now and then someone in the church will ask me before a sermon, 'Are you ready?' When asked, I greatly appreciate the loving care for me as a pastor and the anticipation for the preaching of God’s Word, and yet I always have to smile to myself as I think how to answer. 'Are you ready?' How do you answer that question?

From one perspective, I don’t know that I am ever fully ready to preach God’s Word. The holy weight of the task demands humility, brokenness and dependence. Preaching is a sobering task for which no one is ever fully ready, able or worthy. The pastor is merely a redeemed sinner that God graciously works through. We are but beggars, longing that God would magnify Himself through us as unworthy broken vessels. Therefore we preach, praying that God would graciously do what only he can do—cause growth (1 Cor 3:7).

In addition, no matter how much preparation one does, there is always more that can be done: more to read, more time in the text, more prayer, more time in crafting the sermon, more time on illustrations or application, etc. Readiness can imply the arrival at some point as if one is finished or has exhausted all that needs to be done. There is always more than can be done! From this standpoint, one is never fully ready. At some point in the preparation process, the pastor has to trust in the grace of God and get up and preach. We work hard in study and prayer and then trust the Lord to work.

Will the REAL Mary please stand up? (pt. 2)

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Will the REAL Mary please stand up?

"Mary is the test of how well a Christian has accepted the gospel...Our understanding of Mary reveals everything about how we understand Jesus and his saving work." Catholic theologian- 2001.

As we continue the narrative of Mary as found in the Gospel of Luke we need to explain what Mary we are talking about.  Is the Roman Catholic Mary- the Mary of Scripture?

In order to present a fair critique I have read a number of Roman Catholic books.  In his book on Hail, Holy Queen: The Mother of God; In the Word of God Hahn writes, "I wrote this book so that my fellow Catholics would never be ashamed of their supernatural mother as I was once ashamed of my natural mother when she came to take me home from school."

Later he writes, "If you could have created your mother and preserved her from original sin, would you?  Would you?....Of course, you would!  But could you?  No, you couldn't! But Jesus could and Jesus did!"

On page 161 while flying on a plane Hahn pictured Mary patting me on the head and saying, "Don't worry so much about defending me.  Just love me and love my Son, and where you fall short, WE'LL make up for what you lack."

This Sunday our miniseries on the Biblical Mary continues.  Part one of this series can be downloaded free of charge here.

Must Every Sermon Focus on Jesus? By Walt Kaiser, Jr.

In previous blog posts I have asserted that Text-driven preaching is the apostolic mandate for all preachers, in all times, in all places.  We must preach the Word in season and out...(2 Tim. 3:15-4:5).

Elsewhere I attempted to show the proper relationship between preaching and the doctrine of God's sovereignty (read here).  I've also shown how expository preaching is the natural overflow of an inerrant text (here); and have posted a few articles concerning the doxological nature of genuine biblical exposition (see this)... Properly done preaching and singing fuel authentic, corporate worship!  Along the way I have also posted articles about how shallow preaching robs the people of God of spiritual riches.   Many of these articles have arisen out of the overflow of my doctoral studies at the Master's Seminary in expository preaching.

In this vein, one of the most debated issues among evangelical Christians today is "Must every sermon highlight the person and work of Christ if it is to be considered a 'Christian sermon' ?"  Is Spurgeon's quote, "A sermon without Christ is an awful thing" a helpful way to judge preachers and preaching today?  

During Dr. John MacArthur's D. Min lecture series this January he encouraged a room full of fifty pastors to carefully consider Dr. Walt Kaiser's many resources on exegesis and exposition.  Both Kaiser and MacArthur believe that it is the duty of all ministers of the gospel to preach expository sermons that are exegetically driven.  He reminded us that our theology ought to be fruit of a literal hermeneutic and sound exegesis.  So I ask again, "Must every sermon focus on Jesus?"  The following article by Dr. Kaiser is the most helpful summation concerning this topic that I have ever read.  Tolle lege.