A new false doctrine: the Hermeneutics of Humility: Part 2

The Hermeneutics of Humility part 1, here
The Hermeneutics of Humility part 3 here

Part one of the false gospel of Hermeneutics of Humility here. Hermeneutics of Humility says that "since we are fallible humans, there is no way to know for certain the bible's doctrines, no way to interpret it with certitude. To say we do or that we can is arrogant. I am more humble than that." To continue my exploration that this is a false gospel and is impacting our witness--

Popular words to use when professing the false gospel of hermeneutics of humility are "know, arrogant, and fallible. 'We cannot know for sure, to say we do is arrogant, I recognize my fallibility and therefore I am more humble about it.'

This is false because it disrespects God's foreknowledge, intelligence, and gift of the Word. Of course God knew that we are fallible.

Of course He knew that there would be false gospels, false interpretations and false knowledge stemming from the faith He gave the saints once for all. He gave us the bible anyway. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16) To say that the Gospel is uninterpretable with certainty means the Gospel's power unto salvation is lacking. Not so!

As for His intelligence, of course we cannot understand the mind of God! My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways," (Isaiah 55:8). That is why He dictated (Holy Spirit breathed) the inspiration unto men, in man's language, and put into the page each word He wanted known to reveal Himself. And then, He gave us the Holy Spirit as the Revealer of all Truth.

"But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come." (John 16:13)

"What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ." [1 Corinthians 2:12-16).

We cannot know the mind of God, but the mind of God makes Himself known in us by the Revealer: His Spirit!

Satan is enjoying the falling away he is creating with this false doctrine of Hermeneutics of Humility. His first victim was Eve. In the Garden, Genesis Chapter 3:1, the first time we hear satan speak, he says "Hath God said?" There are three ways he got Eve and the first were contained in those words, hath God said? He makes you doubt what you know. If the Holy Spirit reveals truth to you, and it truly is from the Spirit from a lengthy period of prayer, study, seeking His face and a close walk, nothing can make you depart from that truth. Unless you start to listen to satan. Hath God said, the rapture is pre-tribulation? Hath God said that the eternal punishment for sin is hell? Hath God said that the canon of the bible is closed? If you have had the truth revealed to you by the strength of the Holy Spirit and its power unto salvation, then you will answer those insinuating thoughts with YES, NOW GO AWAY. In my opinion, this is the moment when Eve fell from grace, between verse 1 and 2, when she did not stand on God's word but entertained sinful thoughts. And that brings us to her second mistake:

Eve failed to consult the Word. Wait, you say, the bible was not written yet. No, but the Living Word, who is Jesus, (John 1:1) walked with them in the garden (Gen 3:7). Eve didn't say to satan, 'Hold that thought, I'm going to check with God.' Nor did she say "Hold that thought, I am going to check with my husband, to whom God gave the order.' (Genesis 2:16-17). Eve entertained the thought and she didn't discern the truth for herself from the Source.

Third, once she began accepting the seeds of doubt planted in her, and satan saw she was not checking for herself what the truth was, her fleshly fallibility kicked in. Here is where our fallibility comes, not in not knowing the interpretation of God's laws, but in failure to check with the source in spirit and in truth. Then more fallibility kicked in: Eve changed the doctrine. She added to it. God hath said, "And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”" (Gen 2:16-17). Eve responded, "The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”" (Genesis 3:2-3).

I believe satan chose Eve for two reasons, And this is where the fur is really going to fly...but here goes. First, I think satan picked Eve because she had already gotten the order second hand. She was not made yet when God gave the command not to touch the fruit. She was created in the next verse. We can assume that God could have told her, but I assume more strongly that since He made her to be a helpmeet for Adam, he left the husbandly duties of sharing the truth with her as He commanded in Ephesians 5:23. That verse says that the husband is the head of the wife, and the concept continues in Eph 5:25; "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word..." I believe it was Adam's job to do tell Eve,and perhaps he did not, or perhaps he did tell her but told her wrongly, or perhaps he did and Eve relied on the wrong word- satan's. It is another successful tactic of satan, to break up families so that there is no husband, to wash the wife in the word.

Anyway, I also believe satan chose the woman because women are naturally inclined to reconciliation rather than conflict. Paul said that Euodia and Syntyche contended for the Gospel at his side (Philippians 4:3) and the word contended there is "wrestle." Women don't like to wrestle, contend, or strongly assert anything, especially if it means offending someone. But when you state absolute truth you're going to get challenged. That is a place no one likes to be. Women tend to want to smooth things over, make peace and have harmony. I'm sure that Paul did not relish confronting Peter in his mistake at Antioch, but Paul did it. (Galatians 2:11). He contended for the truth and because that contention was Spirit-driven, peace reigned once again and truth was restored. We have to be the bulwark in the face of any dilution of the Gospel, and stand. Hand- wringing retreat from the truth as uninterpretable with any certainty disrepects the work of the Spirit who imparts wisdom.

Part 3 in a bit. I have some more to say. We will explore discernment and how to acquire it, exhibiting love and peace while contending for the Gospel, and finish back at James 1:2-5.
The Hermeneutics of Humility part 1, here
The Hermeneutics of Humility part 3 here


Comments

  1. Please address the fact of how four Spirit-filled Christians who love the Lord, seek His face, spend their lives studying the Word prayerfully can come to completely different views of the End Times. I am in agreement with what you are writing about this new heresy, I would just like to hear how you reconcile this happening. Dispensational pre-mil, Amil, Post-mil, Historic pre-mil. If it were as simple as you write, then there would be agreement within the Church on these issues, as well as agreement of when or even if the Rapture is going to happen. I know people in each of these 4 camps who fit your criteria of how to understand the Word, people who are completely convinced and could each write (and prove Biblically) their view of End Times, no wishy-washy thinking involved. Surely you are not saying that each of the groups who believe differently are not Spirit-filled and serious in their study of the Word??

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    1. I agree with this subject. This is a dangerous teaching and the believer that falls for this cuts out the spirit teaching them what God wants to say to them. I can understand what your saying as well. I have encountered those that have a 'post-trib' belief and I a 'pre-trib.' Although it would be hard in terms of space in this tiny box to explain the differences, but to reconcile a matter of different interpretations is sometimes tedious. The way to reconcile this differences is, what do you believe?
      An Evanglelist friend of mine once told me; "Everything in the Bible is open to discussion and different interpretations except salvation, this is dogmatic." That made sense to me. Are those that believe in a post-trib right or wrong? Dos it matter. As in terms of the Rapture, the best advise and belief is "just be ready when it happens." There are some believers that have a difficult time in trying to figure out why Jesus never said He was God. But the opposite is true, the "I Am's" of Jesus is just one of the proof's He claimed to be God, the Messiah. Why do some miss that? I believe that God reveals to us what we should know, not what we want to know. The bible is so deep in wisdom, guidence, truth, etc. But it is also Spiritual. We can never "know" it all. Again, we know what God wants us to know. Also, I think a good "foundation" to studing the Bible is set in this "Text without context is nothing more than a pretext to what you want it to mean." But should we argue and debate over things that in the over all picture of scripture that have no basis on salvation and our walk with God? If someone wants to believe in a mid-trib rapture, is that worth a harsh rebuke, have we become so self-righteous that "our" view is right (salvation aside)? Also, a verse that has sustained me on things I do not understand, Deut 29:29. This eliminated the stress of trying to figure it all out, to answer all the "why" questions in life. Thanks for letting me add my 2 bits.

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    2. The answer is not "what do you believe" but "what did the Spirit say?" We all have the Spirit inside us, and he speaks truth to our soul thru the Word. We CAN know. There IS certainty. We have "confidence". We "contend". The Greek uses strong words to reassure us that in addition to salvation there is certainty about what God said.

      I agree we should not argue over vain philosophies and we should not put a division in among the brethren over non-essential doctrines (whether Christians should drink alcohol...baptism...for example) but equally we are called to contend for the faith. Therefore we need to have a sure footing of what the faith is and what doctrines formulate the faith that are worth standing up for.

      If there is a brother who is flawed in his understanding of the rapture, which I believe is not a non-essential because it colors your entire approach to the return of Jesus and thus how we act in these last days, and also because there are commands to us associated with it, - then no, not a harsh rebuke but a serious contention should arise.

      John MacArthur spoke on this subject, saying that there are three categories of certainty- "either in the category of theological certainty regarding the gospel, or moral certainty regarding the law, or relational certainty regarding love."

      "They are categories of unequivocal, unarguable divine truth. But also they are categories of absolutes that become the tests of one's spiritual state. They are categorically the areas in which one is tested as to their spiritual state. "

      "He continues, "“Well what makes you think you can know what the Bible means when there are so many people who take differing views?" Well, one reason for the unclarity, the uncertainty, the confusion, is...the unconverted do not and cannot understand the bible. I'm not saying this about you, per se, but when we come across someone who says, what does it matter, really, and can we ever really know?' it may indicate an unconverted heart.

      Now I understand that there are some things that the LORD did not fully reveal, so we cannot know fully. We are told we see thru a glass darkly and will know fully later on. Human understanding of the Trinity is one of those doctrines we can't truly comprehend, for example. But overall, there is something important I want you to grasp-

      Of what He has revealed to us in scripture, YES it "matters'. Here's why

      God holds people accountable with regard to their eternal destiny for their understanding of His revelation, both in nature and in Scripture.

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  2. Hi Anonymous,

    I agree it is sad when that happens. Got Questions answers your query with 7 possibilities as to why.

    http://www.gotquestions.org/interpretations-Christian.html

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  3. I see anonymous's point, too.

    As I also know people in all these camps. It seems that we are faced with a dilemma. That is where the RCC and their structure and "authority" is so attractive so people, if we just go by "the Bible" they say, look at all the denominations look at all the divisions...not that divisions are bad when concerning MAJOR things, (Christ's deity, the virgin birth, Christ's blood atonement for sins, the final judgement, the exclusivity of Christ as the mediator between God and man). We should not bend on these things.

    Also in areas such as Biblically prohibited practices, (homosexuality, ordination of women, murder, idolatry) there should be no compromise.



    While I wouldn't consider the Catholic church to be within orthodoxy for several reasons, I do see the pre/mid/post rapture people can all make a good case for their view and all from the Bible.

    So, who is Spirit led and who is not?

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  4. Anyone who espouses anything except pre-tribulation rapture is in error. Here is the scripture showing it:
    http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-on-why-rapture-will-hapen-pre.html

    It is important because of the 4X Paul said "don't be ignorant", one of them was over THAT doctrine!

    I go to the bible for truth. Yes there are denominations, yes there are people within the same church offering different interpretations. I don't care. I also don't care who is spirit led and who is not. I just go the bible and to the Spirit and ask Him. I know *I* am Spirit led. I know that when I ask Him if this person or that teaching is accurate, He shows me. The rest is chaff to get wound up over. It's not rocket science; Know the truth and proclaim it.

    As for those who say different things, I share, I show the verses, and then I move on if they are unwilling to converse on a biblical basis. It's their problem at that point and I don't stress over their mistakes. I pray. I move on.

    As for me, He reveals wisdom gradually, as He deems I'm ready. Just because people mess it up doesn't mean the bible is uninterpretable and that we can't know for certain. And those who do know truth and espouse it are not (necessarily) arrogant. Certitude gets a bad rap these days, but that is because it is an attack on the truth of the bible. As more people attack, fewer stand up to contend. It is a see-saw with the fulcrum of balance now tipping.

    I don't bend on any truth. One person's essential is another person's non-essential. MacArthur said of Genesis 1, "Write it in a letter and send it to them next time some ministry solicits money from you. “Do you believe completely in the literal interpretation of Genesis chapter 1 and chapter 2?” Ask them that. There are 106 Christian colleges in what is called “The Christian College Coalition.” Five would say yes."

    Has Genesis 1 become non-essential? Yes, to many. What else do we consider major and not major? Consider this: If we are too fallible to be certain what the bible says, then who are we to make judgments about what is major or not major? It works both ways.

    I don't bend on the truth. I don't look for fights but when glaring error is presented to me, I address it in love and in compassion. I'm sure.

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  5. I will check out the pretrib proof link. I will admit that, although I am pretrib myself, I can see how people see it differntly.

    I wouldn't bend on the literal creation of Genesis 1:1 either.

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  6. Yo're a good egg, Ma!

    I wrote about pre-trib rapture many times. The link I gave I like the best. Here are some others, some written by other people

    http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-on-rapture-will-be-pre-tribulation.html

    http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-rapture-is-biblically-pre.html

    http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2009/11/why-pre-tribulation-rapture-is.html

    http://the-end-time.blogspot.com/2009/12/thirtysix-pre-trib-rapture-texts.html

    I was unsure at the beginning of my walk with Jesus but I studied all aspects of it and He led me to the proper stance which is pre-trib.

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