The devil’s hermeneutics
Ross is a smart guy. In reflecting on the temptation narrative he says this:
Each camp could identify bible verses which could be used to back up their argument, and each hurled them at the other as though simply quoting the bible and saying “it is written!” (or, perhaps, the rhetorical “what does Scripture say?”) was enough to clinch the argument with proof of having God or truth on their side.
Much like the interaction between Jesus and the devil in Matthew 4. “It is written,” the devil declared.
Was he right?
Yes, it was written. But no, simply quoting the passage as such did not support his argument or make it - or him - right.
It is not enough to simply shout “IT IS WRITTEN!” followed by a few verses that support your case. That is simply employing the devil’s hermeneutics. We need to go beyond the “it is written” and start to wrestle with, among other things, the “it is also written”. And then we need to sit with the pluriform, disparate and sometimes contradictory voices of scripture, and with God’s help, start to tentatively plot a course through.
November 25th, 2005 at 3:13 pm
you might start by examining Jesus’s answers
November 25th, 2005 at 10:43 pm
you might start by addressing the question that’s being asked. I know it’s uncomfortable for you, but just saying “the bible says” makes one as good a theologian as satan, but no better. I’m hoping you’ll agree with me that we need to be setting a higher standard for our theological and ethical discourse than that which the devil achieves while tempting the Christ…
November 26th, 2005 at 9:53 am
Satan delivers out of context statements whilst Jesus gets to the heart of the matter.
It is why understnding god’s word us essential for living
November 26th, 2005 at 11:12 am
[…] of scripture, and with God’s help, start to tentatively plot a course through. more Via Signposts
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November 27th, 2005 at 9:33 am
You think so Homer? Perhaps you could explain what an “in context” interpretation of Psalm 91 might look like, especially when talking to God’s annointed one?
I’d say that in this story, the devil has done exactly what is done by others throughout the new testament - even by Jesus himself: he has taken a psalm and interpretted it as applying to the Messiah. Not much out of context there as far as I can see. In fact, I’d say it was a fairly conservative application of Scripture.
Just goes to show that you can use a passage of Scripture to support an evil and corrupt agenda. Of course, this is hardly breaking news - just do some study on the theology and Christology coming out of Germany in the 1920s and 1930s.
It just frightens the hell out of me that we still haven’t learned our lesson about this.
November 27th, 2005 at 10:29 am
That is an excellent point Ross, ” just saying ‘the bible says’ makes one as good a theologian as satan, but no better.” I have never thought of it like that before.
November 27th, 2005 at 10:54 am
Ross & nilmot you have missed the point.
Satan wil always tempt us with bible passages and they may well be true however Jesus showed in the temptations which the right ones were!
November 27th, 2005 at 12:11 pm
Hang on Homer, are you saying that Satan used the bible, and quoted Scripture saying “it is written”, and didn’t even take it out of context, but was still wrong in his attempted application of that?
That sounds a lot like what you’re saying.
That sounds exactly like what I was saying too - that it is possible to quote a passage of scripture but still miss the point and get it wrong. Homer, are you agreeing with me?
November 27th, 2005 at 12:42 pm
Ross,
Actually Satan used it in context but out of context.Yes the passage was about Jesus but it wasn’t about arrogance of the position.
Angelic help is only sent when needed.
November 27th, 2005 at 12:45 pm
I just wanted to point out that Godwin’s Law has already been fulfilled in this thread…
November 27th, 2005 at 1:05 pm
Yes it has.
I might add that Paul told us to examine all things said to ensure it was correct.
It just means you need to read your bible well.
November 27th, 2005 at 1:13 pm
That’s fantastic! I hadn’t come across Godwin’s law before! That’s great.
Of course, the probability of that happening is even higher in discussions that involve a) me and b) biblical interpretative frameworks, because the christological developments in Germany after Albert Schweitzer (although, in truth, before the Nazi party’s rise to power) are a great and terrible example of what can happen when you let your interpretative framework be dislocated from the groundings of history.
Although in truth, neither the Nazis nor Hitler have been explicitly mentioned or compared to - my reference was actually to the Christian academia of the day. But I think it probably still counts. Learn something new every day…
November 27th, 2005 at 1:45 pm
Ross, you need to get out to more blogs!!!
November 27th, 2005 at 2:38 pm
I dunno Homer, I was beginning to think I needed to spend less time in front of the computer!!! But you could be right.
November 27th, 2005 at 4:19 pm
Homer writes :” Actually Satan used it in context but out of context”
I don’t understand.
November 27th, 2005 at 4:52 pm
I loved writing that