Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics (from Greek hermeneuo, to interpret, related to Hermes as messenger of the gods) is the science and art of biblical interpretation — the principles and methods by which Scripture is understood and applied. The discipline encompasses both general hermeneutics (principles applicable to all literature) and special hermeneutics (principles specific to Scripture as divine revelation). Classical hermeneutics established the grammatical-historical method: understanding the biblical text in light of its original language, grammar, literary genre, and historical setting — what the text meant to its first readers. This method, developed by Reformation exegetes and refined in subsequent Protestant scholarship, holds that the text has a single determinate meaning intended by the human author under divine inspiration, though it may have multiple applications. Key hermeneutical principles include: context (immediate, book-wide, and canonical), grammar (syntax and word meaning in the original languages), genre (narrative, poetry, prophecy, epistle, apocalyptic), analogy of faith (interpreting obscure passages by clearer ones), and progressive revelation. Modern hermeneutics has expanded to address pre-understanding, cultural distance, reader response, and the role of tradition, while evangelical scholarship maintains the priority of authorial intent rooted in divine inspiration (2 Pet. 1:20–21).