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Should Extra-Biblical Knowledge Inform our Interpretation of Scripture?
By Jonathan Bryan | November 30, 2007
In an exciting sermon, John Wesley espoused the following impassioned complaint against the usual Calvinistic interpretation of certain passages of Scripture:
But you say you will prove it [unconditional election] by scripture. Hold! What will you prove by Scripture? That God is worse than the devil? It cannot be. Whatever that Scripture proves, it never proved this; whatever its true meaning be. This cannot be its true meaning. Do you ask, “What is its true meaning then?” If I say, “I know not,” you have gained nothing; for there are many scriptures the true sense whereof neither you nor I shall know till death is swallowed up in victory. But this I know, better it were to say it had no sense, than to say it had such a sense as this. It cannot mean, whatever it mean besides, that the God of truth is a liar. Let it mean what it will, it cannot mean that the Judge of all the world is unjust. No scripture can mean that God is not love, or that his mercy is not over all his works; that is, whatever it prove beside, no scripture can prove predestination.
Scripture, according to Wesley, cannot prove unconditional election (by “predestination,” Wesley is specifically referring to the Calvinist understanding of predestination) because this would be to prove God to be other than we know him to be.
To many, Wesley’s argument would seem entirely misguided. Prior to this impassioned part of his sermon, Wesley makes some arguments which he believes show that the doctrine of unconditional election does indeed imply that God is not love, that God is not just, and so forth. Regardless of how convincing (or unconvincing) these arguments may be, the problem for many is that Wesley’s understanding of what scripture teaches on election is shaped by what he has already reasoned about the implications of predestination on God’s love, justice, and so on. But shouldn’t his understanding of what the Bible teaches on election be shaped entirely about what the Bible actually teaches on election, and not on philosophical arguments? Shouldn’t we let our theology be shaped by the Bible, rather than let our Bible be shaped by our theology?
The answer to this question is not as easy as it looks. In order to discern what the Bible says, it is obvious that a certain set of principles must be assumed. We cannot interpret the Bible without knowing how to interpret the Bible, and the Bible itself does not give us the general principles (I am thinking of such basic hermeneutical principles as “pay attention to context,” and basic logical principles like the law of non-contradiction) that we need in order to interpret the Bible. And even if the Bible did give us those principles in certain passages, how would we interpret those passages without already assuming the basic principles? It seems obvious, then, that at a very basic level our interpretation of Scripture is shaped by outside sources, since we cannot even attempt to interpret Scripture without assuming some basic principles which are not learned from Scripture. This is, however, a good deal away from saying that what we can reason about God and man can shape our understanding of the Bible. The level with which extra biblical knowledge must shape our understanding of the Bible is at such a basic level that it is the sort of thing which men assume without even realizing it.
Once we admit, however, that extra-biblical knowledge does inform our interpretation of the Bible, we must accept a simple consequence of this fact: even if the Bible is the ultimate authority in terms of what can be known, it cannot be the sole authority. At the very least, we can gain genuine knowledge of reality not only from scripture but also from other sources. How much we can gain from these other sources is a difficult question, but at the very least an argument from extra-biblical sources about God cannot be dismissed simply because it is “merely” an argument from extra-biblical sources. That is, once we accept reason or experience or some authority other than the Bible as a genuine source of knowledge, we must allow for the possibility that it can tell us something about God.
It has been maintained by many that what extra-biblical sources do tell us about God is, while important, not very much. We may be able to discern through rational thinking that God exists and some things about him, but we can hardly discern that God is triune without the help of special revelation. If this is the case, it is doubtful that reason can tell us anything at all about such subjects as God’s election of certain people to salvation. This seems true if we are speaking of reason which is uninformed by special revelation. But it seems to me that reason which is informed by special revelation can tell us a great deal about God which could not be known from what scripture by itself specifically tells us. That is, in addition to what can be known by reason alone and what can be known by what the Bible tells us (which is itself informed by reason at a basic level), there is also what can be known by reason which is informed by Scripture. That is, we can reason about what scripture tells us in order to gain knowledge beyond what scripture directly tells us. In addition, what scripture tells us should inform how we reason. That is, general and special revelation can work together rather than as separate methods of knowing.
If this is accepted, some difficult epistemological questions immediately arise. What if what the Bible directly tells us contradicts the knowledge we have gained through reason (or from reasoning about scripture)? Do we conclude that our reasoning must be incorrect or that our interpretation of the scripture which contradicts our reasoning is incorrect? It seems that we have two equally powerful arguments for both options. We may describe them as follows.
Argument 1:
1. According to a line of reasoning, X is true.
2. According to an interpretation of a Biblical passage, X is not true.
3. The line of reasoning is correct.
Therefore, the interpretation of the passage is incorrect.
Argument 2:
1. According to a line of reasoning, X is true.
2. According to an interpretation of a Biblical passage, X is not true.
3. The interpretation of the passage is correct.
Therefore, the line of reasoning is incorrect.
Both arguments seem equally valid; to deny this would either be to deny that reason can tell us about reality or to deny that scripture is an authority. The question is how certain we can be of the third premise in either argument. Concerning the third premise in the second argument, it is important to note that determining whether a particular interpretation is correct itself requires a line of reasoning. The problem before us is therefore not so much about scripture verses reason, but about reason verses reason. For, as has been said before, our interpretation of scripture requires reason. And an argument for why a particular passage of scripture is correct certainly requires reason. Now, suppose that the line of reasoning, while fairly convincing, is less convincing than the reasoning which tells us to accept the interpretation of the passage. It seems to me that we must conclude, in this case, that our line of reasoning is somehow incorrect. But supposing we find that the line of reasoning is more convincing than the reasoning which tells us to accept the interpretation of the passage? Here things are a little more difficult. If scripture should be understood to be the ultimate authority, perhaps what it tells us directly should have more weight than what we may gain from reasoning about what scripture tells us. Nevertheless (especially since it must be acknowledged that even our interpretation of scripture involves reasoning) it can at least be said that if it is unclear that the interpretation is correct to begin with, and if the line of reasoning is sufficiently convincing, we are justified in concluding that the interpretation of scripture is incorrect.
Suppose that someone is attempting to decide whether scripture teaches that angelic beings once looked upon the daughters of men with lust and even engaged in intercourse with some of them, resulting in the birth of various giants. Suppose, also, that he finds what Genesis 6 tells him to be rather unclear—it is unclear, perhaps, that the phrase “sons of God” refers to angelic beings. Suppose further that he has clear reasons for believing that it would not be possible for angelic beings to engage in such acts (e.g. perhaps he finds evidence that angels are purely spiritual, and deduces that impregnating human women would be impossible for such beings). It seems to me that, in such a scenario, a person would be epistemologically justified in rejecting the interpretation of scripture which says that there were angelic beings that lusted after the daughters of men and even engaged in intercourse with some of them, resulting in the birth of various giants. The reason he would be justified is not because an alternative interpretation is clearly correct, but because an alternate interpretation better coincides with what he has good reason to believe about angels.
I believe that this approach to scripture is commonsensical and is even commonly used by those who may wish to make objection against it. For example, any Christian theologian who reads in Hebrews that God says to Jesus “You are my Son, Today I have begotten You,” knows that this cannot mean that there was an actual time (before “today”) when the Son was not. And he knows this without even looking at the context of the passage. He knows this because he knows that such a thing would be at odds with what he knows about Jesus from other passages of scripture, what he has already reasoned about those scriptures, and from a general tradition which tells him that Jesus does not have a beginning. And he knows that if Hebrews actually did mean that there was some time when the Son of God was not, then Hebrews would be heretical. But since Hebrews, the theologian will assume, is not heretical, it follows that Hebrews does not actually mean that Jesus had a beginning. Now, I realize that there are probably good hermeneutical reasons to believe that Hebrews does not mean that Jesus had a beginning. My point is that the theologian can and does reject this interpretation regardless of this, and he is right in doing so.
I conclude that we cannot object to a line of argument like that of Wesley’s simply because it is more philosophical than hermeneutical. Wesley thinks it is right to reject the Calvinistic interpretation of scripture, not because there is an alternative interpretation which better suits those particular texts, but because accepting the Calvinist interpretation makes God (in his words) “worse than the devil.” I see no reason to reject his method. The question is simply whether the Calvinistic understanding of predestination does indeed imply some unreasonable things about God. If we find convincing reasons to believe that it does, we cannot, in my view, do anything but agree with Wesley in rejection those interpretations of scripture.
Topics: Debating White Monkees |
November 30th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Well, I actually read through all of this and understood it! Your thoughts regarding scripture and the interpretation thereof make good sense.
December 1st, 2007 at 4:01 pm
What you wrote deals with a lot of issues that I am learning in Biblical Interpretation.
We have to understand what was the original purpose (and who was the original audience) behind the text and be careful how much we use presupposition when interpreting it. We can distort the true meaning when we already determine what we think it means before actually reading it.
This can be a problem when we read stories we have heard over and over again as well. We assume we already know what it means because we are so familiar with it.
I had to learn to be wary of these things when I was writing my exegetical paper on Isaiah 41:1-20. I originally assumed when I read verse 2 (Who raised up one from the east? Who in righteousness called him to his feet?) that it was referring to Jesus who would save His people from their sins. After studying it however, I realized that it was Cyrus, king of Persia that it was pertaining to. A similar thing happened in verse 6 (Everyone helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!”). I perceived this to be a positive message that deals with working together and helping one another achieve a common goal. Only later did I discover that this was referring to the foreign nations in fear creating for themselves idols that would protect them from the terror of Cyrus.
When we interpret Jesus’ parables for example, we need to be careful how much we allegorize it. It’s very easy to get caught up in trying to make every thing mean something in the story and to miss the message.
Augustine may have over allegorized the parable to the Good Samaritan. Almost everything in the parable was made to represent something else (ie: the man going down to Jericho= Adam, binding of the wounds= binding the restrain of sin, wine=exhortation to work with fervent spirit Samaritan=Jesus Christ). 1 (see footnote below)
This can be a problem because many interpeters may disagree with certain details such as with the Samaritan. Perhaps it does not symbolize Jesus but instead it symbolizes human beings.
I shall conclude my thoughts for now before this comment turns into an essay
1 J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays, Grasping God’s Word: A Hands-on Approach to Reading, Interpreting, and Applying the Bible, 2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005). 260
December 5th, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Been reading J. P. Moreland lately?