A key to the Bible: being an exposition of the history, axioms, and general laws of sacred interpretation

Front matter

A KEY TO THE BIBLE

KEY TO THE BIBLE

BEING

Contents

XI

XI. On the alleged contradictions of the Bible, . • . .209

1. Those in facts and doctrines, ..... 211 — 219

Chapter I

ON THE IMPOBTANCE OF A EIGHT IKTEEPRETATIOISr OF THE SCErPTHRES.

V

Every age claims and exercises the privilege of writing its own books on all subjects, and especially its books on morals and religion. This privilege is essential to progress and to the full enjoyment of the truth in its best and most useful forms. When men cease to think for themselves, they soon sink into spiritual bondage, and descend from the position of honor and moral worth, to which the exercise of their just rights would naturally elevate them.

The only sure method of preventing this evil result, is to think and believe for ourselves, responsible to none, but God the Judge of all. The past has no anthority to bind the present age to tlie reception of its opinions ; the present age best comports itself nnder its responsibilities, and renders truest reverence to the past, when it receives, its creed on the ground of sober investigation and satisfactory conviction alone.

It is a vain expectation, therefore, which finds a place in some minds, that the books of the past, on religion and the Bible, should satisfy the people of this generation. To attain an enlightened satisfaction in our religious belief, we must investigate; and to investigate thoroughly and usefully, we must think for ourselves, in sincere and true independence. Every man is born to this responsibility ; and happy are we in the conviction, that true religion, and its only true source, the Bible, can receive no harm from the legitimate exercise of human reason in its proper sphere. The free and wise use of reason is, to men, the infallible condition of all saving faith, and of all right acquaintance with the will of God ; and to attain that acquaintance, is, in a high sense, the main business of every man in this life. We know of no business so noble in itself, or so worthy of the attention of all mankind. It is one of those duties which throw both a solemnity and a nobility around all the incidents and issues of man's life from first to last. To know the will of God, is next only in gran-

ITS IMPORTANCE. 15

deur of privilege, and in true fitness to the happiness of the soul, to the cheerful and hearty performance of that will.

But for man to know the will of God, in its broadest and grandest sense, it is necessary that he should search the Scriptures ; and every man to whom this matter is submitted, confesses to this necessity. The surest way to know the will of God is to make sure of the sense of the Bible.

No man, therefore, need marvel that there has been so much written respecting the meaning of the Bible, and the principles by which it is to be ascertained. In the Bible are settled all the profoundest problems of the soul. Here are solved all the urgent inquiries of our finite and restless nature. Here is garnered up that wisdom which is from Heaven, which alone becomes the immortal mind, and imparts to it that sublime peace, so essential to its progress and to its comfort in prospect of eternity.

To the Bible, above all other sources, must the friends of God and truth look for a final refutation of those errors, whereby Christianity, in every age, has been corrupted. In aU religious controversies, in the controversy between the Jew and the Christian, between the Protestant and the Papist, between those who hold to regeneration in baptism, the saving grace of sacraments, the supremacy of bishojjs.

the simple humanity of Christ, the salvation of all men, the return of the Jews to Palestine, the personal appearance and reign of our Lord for a thousand years at Jerusalem, and those who deny these doctrines, a sound and irrefragable interpretation of the Bible, conducted in the legitimate use of reason, is the last court of appeal. '' This is the Judge that ends the strife." This is the one mighty instrument by which error is to be overthrown ; and the victory cannot be doubtful, for God is on the side of his Word.

Any one who will reflect upon the matter, cannot fail to perceive the importance of oui- subject. It is by a right interpretation of its contents that the Bible becomes to us, in effect, what it professes to be, the infallible Word of God. To ascertain the precise sense intended by the Spirit of God, neither adding thereto, nor subtracting therefrom, is the only sure way of possessing the Bible. Its claims, as inspired and supreme, the momentous topics on which it treats, our absolute need of it as a directory of life, indispensable in a very high degree to the salvation of the soul, are facts of themselves sufficient to show how important it is that we find and adopt its true sense only.

The foundation of theological seminaries — ^the required qualifications of their professors — the im-

ITS IMPORTANCE. 17

mense snms laid out in their endowment — ^the princely libraries gathered for their nse, show clearly what the Christian world thinks of the importance of a Bible rightly interpreted.

So indeed does the establishment of the Chiistian ministry, because mainly for this express purpose it is ordained and educated. The work of the ministry is first to ascertain, then to enforce the meianing of the Scriptures. It was during our own personal struggles after the sense of certain texts, that the importance of this whole subject, and the need of such a treatise as this, for the first time revealed itself. On more careful investigation, we found that the meaning of the text did not sustain the sermon, and therefore the sermon was i^ fact of no authority. To the minister of the Gospel, above all men, the right interpretation of the Bible is a matter of the greatest importance. It is only when his sermon is wedded to his text, by a clear and irresistible interpretation, that he speaks in the name of his Master; and when he thus speaks, he will be heard and reverenced as an ambassador of Christ, a veritable teacher of the Word of Cod.

Besides, a misinterpreted Bible is the stronghold of all error — of Judaism as well as of Popery. The Talmud on which the Jews rely for their creed, is merely a collection of misinterpretations of Moses

18 INTEEPRETATIOlSr.

and* tlie propliets. Nor is there any general conversion of the Jews to be expected until they are persuaded to abandon the Talmud and take the Bible of their fathers in its stead. The same thing is true of Popery in all its forms. A perverted Bible, in the hands of a selfish priesthood, is the right arm of the Greek and Eoman churches ; and if, as the friends of the Gospel, we would secure them to the true faith, we must ply them on every hand with the Word of God. But in this work it will not be sufficient to quote Scripture; we must interpret Scripture ; and that, too, on principles, which their reason will compel them to accept ; then we may hope to enlighten and reclaim them, but not till then.

It gives all the force of a divine affirmation to the importance which we attach to a right interpretation of the Bible, when we refer to the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. He addressed himself throughout his whole eventful ministry to this very undertaking. The Scribes and Pharisees had made the Word of no effect through their traditions — that is, through their false interpretations. Hence our Lord attacked and subverted the entire system of Pharasaic exegesis. He exposed their errors and vindicated the true sense of the Scripture on every fitting occasion. The apostles imbibed the spirit of their divine Master, and carried it out in all theii

ITS IMPORTANCE. 19

labors and writings, until tlie yolume of Revelation was closed.

Finally, history confirms all that we have said of the importance of a right interpretation. The Bible, read and understood in its own meaning, in all climes and ages, is the sure forerunner of undefiled religion, the fruitful germ of all greatness and growth, in individuals and in nations. The Bible, the divine book, not on the shelf as an ornament, not in morocco and gold clasps merely, with a cross on the outside to be admired — ^but revealed and written on the hearts of men by the Holy Spirit, and received as an infallible standard of faith and morals — this, has always proved the true reformer. Under its influence, every faculty of man, and every virtue of the soil on which he treads, has ripened rapidly to maturity. A rightly interpreted Bible is the only pure fountain of saving knowledge and healthful civilization in this sinful and wretched world.

A firm faith in these sentiments has inspired us throughout in the composition of this work, of the special design of which we now proceed more particularly to speak.

20 INTERPEETATIOISr.

CHAPTER TI.

THE SPECIAL DESIGN OF THIS TREATISE.

To ascertain tlie true sense of tlie Bible lias always been a matter of tbe profoundest interest to all devout minds. Hence books on the subject, expounding the principles of interpretation, and showing bow the difficult passages of Scripture are to be explained, have always been desired. The want of such books has been felt by the learned and the unlearned, by enemies as well as by friends of the Sacred Yolume; and the common method of meeting it has been by commentaries in full on the books of the Bible.

But such commentaries, almost without exception, have been too elaborate, and too wearisome, to be thoroughly read ; and they very often fail to explain the difficulties which the reader wishes to have explained. It is no part of their design to state, with any clearness, the principles on which their exposi-

DESIGN OF THIS TREATISE. 21

tions proceed ; and yet there is not one in twenty of common readers but wishes to know those principles. Hence althougli commentaries are extensively pnrcliasedj they do not prove wholly satisfactory in the interpretation of the Bible.

The special design of this book is to place the principles of interpretation in the reader's own hands, that he may employ them in the formation of his views of what the Bible means ; if he acquires the principles, he can interpret, and form his own creed and commentary, in the free exercise of his own judgment.

That there are principles by which all our interpretations should be governed, will not be denied ; although it is well understood there are objections urged in high places against all attempts at reducing them to a system. It is said, men interpret as they read, without waiting for any formal system of rules. But if this is even so, it is no proof that men interpret correctly. A correct system of logic is no hindrance to correct thinking. Even so in the case before us. If there be . fundamental principles of interpretation, and no one denies it, and if they can be expressed and classified, the expression and classification of them must be a real assistance to every student of the Sacred Yolume. The want of such a system, and the inconsistent methods of interpretation to wHch it leads, has wrought no good to religion. It has given birth to the proverb, as mischievous as it is untrue :

" In the Bible every man his opinion seeks ; In the Bible every man his opinion finds."

This is a libel on the Bible. Let sound and true principles be adopted, and this proverb will perish. The Bible can be interpreted consistently with itself, and in such a manner as to commend itself to the good sense and enlightened faith of all men. It is not the text-book of every error with which this world is infested. It can be correctly interpreted, so as to give unity and perspicuity to its doctrines, just as truly as the ocean can be traversed by the help of the compass, through all its gulfs, bays, and straits.

It is absurd to oppose the reduction of interpretation to a science with its fixed rules. In the very nature of a revelation, and indeed of every communication from one intelligent being to another, there must be things requiring explanation ; but he to whom the communication is made must have the key to its meaning, or else it is given to him in vain. His knowledge of language, of the subject, of the author, of himself, and of things without him, will come to his aid. He will avail himself of the laws

DESIGN OF THIS TREATISE. 23

of correct thinking ; and these are precisely the laws which, when classified, will serve all the purposes of a rational and right system of Biblical interpretation. Our design is to collect these laws, and illustrate their application in the actual work of finding the true sense of the Scriptures.

But we do not think it necessary to follow the method of some who have treated this subject in all its details. They have laid down rules for all the separate departments of Scriptures ; for the parables, the promises, and the types, &c., until we have felt oppressed with the idea that the whole subject is entangled in an endless mass of particulars, never to be mastered. Even for professed students we would not adopt this method. It throws an air of difficulty over a subject, which in truth is of more easy comprehension than many of the sciences, the approach to which has never been hedged up with any such obstructions.

We have not attempted, therefore, any exhausting system of particulars ; our aim has been to deal with the subject in a clear yet comprehensive manner, laying down only those general principles which solve rationally and satisfactorily the main difficulties in the way of the inquirer. The wonderful unanimity of the great mass of common readers of the Bible, in respect to its meaning, shows that by far the greater part of the Bible admits of no mis- •anderstanding, and calls for no laborious apparatus of interpretation. We do not say the Bible contains no difficulties, nor that its interpretation is a work requiring no profound attention. What we object to is the air of repulsiveness and immensity so unnecessarily cast upon the subject. Let the student have the ordinary encouragement held out to those who attempt the acquisition of other sciences. Let him not be plunged into a wilderness of particulars. If he must have helps to interpretation, let them be such as he needs, such as he can readily use. A traveller asking the way to a certain place, does not require a minute description of every object on the line of his journey. It is enough that you call his attention to the most obvious objects : thus directed, he will find his way without further trouble.

Most frankly, therefore, is the confession here made, that this is no exhausting system of hermeneutics. Those who have a taste for such works will find it gratified in Ernesti, Home, and Davidson; invaluable books if you wish to pursue the subject into all its details. We must walk in another path, less scholastic, leading through an opener country ; content, if we may conduct the humblest inquirers to an understanding of the Bible, by such means only as shall neither weary their minds with parti cu-

DESIGN OF THIS TREATISE. 25

lars, nor divert them from the work of an independent interpretation of the Holy Scriptures.

A correct and comprehensive system of principles must be a very welcome assistance to all readers and students of the Sacred V^olume ; and such a system it has been our aim to construct. If the principles here recorded are in themselves correct, their application, such as we have made it, we hope is also correct. On this point there may be a difference of opinion. Some may adopt the principles, and object to the use we have made of them. But we are not greatly moved at the thought. Our eye is single. Truth is our aim ; and if the principles we have laid down in this volume be founded in sound common sense, the illustrations will answer for themselves. Let the truth be spoken at all hazards. All sects and parties are probably somewhat in the wrong, as respects the meaning of the Bible ; but the principles of interpretation, like the principles of mathematics, are independent of all schools and parties ; and by their impartial, legitimate application, must all parties be reproved if they have adopted errors worthy of reproof. We subject ourselves to the same laws, and await the issue without fear.

To every honest inquirer, then, is this treatise commended. If it serve the purpose designed by' the author, it will be a key to the Bible, and an easy and conyenient help in the solution of many of the perplexities which, as trials of our faith and patience, God has suffered to gather around His "Word. May the blessing of Him in whose fear it has been written, go with the book in all its fortunes, and it shall not be sent forth in yain.