Hermeneutics is the study and practice of interpreting Scripture — the principled discipline of discovering what God's Word means by what it says. The classical evangelical approach is the grammatical-historical method: interpret texts according to their plain meaning in their original language, literary genre, historical context, and canonical setting. Scripture interprets Scripture (analogia Scripturae); the clearer passages illuminate the more obscure. The goal of hermeneutics is not creative application but faithful understanding — letting God's Word say what it actually says, which then informs how it applies. The Spirit illumines; the interpreter labors. Both are necessary.
HERMENEU'TICS, n. [Gr. hermeneuo, to interpret; hermeneutes, an interpreter.] The science of interpretation and explanation; explication of the meaning of another's words; particularly, the art of finding the true sense of the Holy Scriptures, by help of the original languages, reference to historical circumstances, comparison of parallel passages, and other aids.
Postmodern hermeneutics has severed the interpretive act from the author's intent, placing the meaning of a text in the reader's response rather than the author's purpose. Applied to Scripture, this produces "reader-response" theology — the Bible means whatever it "means to me." This is not interpretation but imposition: using the text as a mirror for one's own preferences rather than a window into God's revealed mind. The practical result is churches that "affirm" homosexuality, minimize hell, and redesign God's character based on what the current cultural reader finds acceptable. Biblical hermeneutics begins with the conviction that the Author's intent is knowable and authoritative.
• 2 Timothy 2:15 — "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."
• Nehemiah 8:8 — "They read from the Book of the Law...making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read."
• 2 Peter 1:20–21 — "No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation...but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
• Luke 24:27 — "Beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself."
G2059 — hermēneuō (ἑρμηνεύω) — to interpret, explain, translate
G1955 — epilysis (ἐπίλυσις) — interpretation, solution; used in 2 Peter 1:20 ("own interpretation")
H6567 — parash (פָּרַשׁ) — to make distinct, to explain clearly; used in Nehemiah 8:8
• The deacon asked his pastor what the passage meant; the pastor's job was not to share his feelings about it but to apply good hermeneutics — genre, context, original language, canonical placement.
• "What does this verse mean to you?" is not a hermeneutical question; it's a therapeutic one. Good hermeneutics begins with "What did the author mean?"
• Every Christian is a practicing hermeneuticist — the only question is whether they are doing it well or badly.