NT Framework - A Faulty Start leads to a Faulty End

When you start from a faulty supposition, you get a faulty end result. This is true in math, science, or any field. If the Apollo 13 NASA engineers had started from a faulty premise, we would have lost another three great astronauts. The same is true in theology. Start with the wrong preconceived notion and your doctrine gets really weird. 

More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com 

This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).

Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner. 

Transcript

Welcome And Series Context

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament framework. Today, a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.

Hermeneutics And Why Meaning Matters

SPEAKER_01 0:10

First at the issue of hermeneutics, and then I'll just compare and contrast these two. Hermeneutics is the art and science of interpretation. It's about how you interpret literature. And I would say it's about how you interpret any kind of literature. And the question is, well, how do you do that? Or how do you interpret, in this case, the Bible? But we could say the same question about the Constitution. How do we interpret the Constitution? Does it really matter if we sit down with the Constitution and I say, well, what does it mean to you? And what is this, what does it mean to you? And what does it mean to you? And what does it mean to you? Well, it doesn't really matter, really. It means what does it mean? Like that is the purpose to discover what the original authors who pinned the Constitution actually meant, right? It's the same thing with the Bible. What does it mean? Not what do I think it mean for you or whatever. Um, the interesting thing is not what I think. The interesting thing is what God intended to say, what he meant, through the human author that he inspired by his spirit to write it down. Because ultimately, the only interesting things in the universe are what God has said and what God has done. Everything else is just imagination. It's a distortion of reality, which means it's not real. So we have a lot of false images in our mind. These are what are called idols. We want to cast those out. We want to get rid of that. So hermeneutics is the art and science of interpretation. Art meaning it's a skill that is developed, and science meaning there are rules. If we play basketball, let's just say, well, let's go play a basketball game. You got the referees, let's hopefully have the referees. The referees are the ones who enforce the rules. If somebody steps out of bounds with the ball, the ball goes to the other team. You know, things like that. If somebody fouls somebody, the ref is supposed to call it. You can't do that. It's against the rules. It's the same thing when you interpret the Bible or any set uh literature. There are rules. And if you violate the rules, well, you're cheating. And it's not right. Now, where do we get these rules from? Well, and there's there's art, there's an art to you, you know, lit playing according to the rules. Now, um, where do we get these rules? From language itself. All languages. Now, God who started the language game? Who's the first speaker? God. Right? Genesis 1:3. God said, Let there be light. Okay, so we've got a sentence, we've got a structure there, right? Now, he speaks in what we call an ordinary literal fashion. Let there be light, for example. What does he mean by light? Well, he means physical light, the property of prop with properties of light, right? Like we would think of in terms of physics. But there are places in the Bible that speak of light in an ordinary, I'm sorry, a figurative literal way. For example, it says walk in the light, as he is the light. Now, it's not saying he's physical light, is it? No, it's saying he's pure. And we're supposed to walk in purity. So you can use the word light in an ordinary literal way. You can also use it in a figurative literal way. But the point is that light, in either ordinary or figurative usage, has a literal reference. We know what it means when God says, I am light, and in him there's no darkness, not even at all. You know, we mean that that means that God is pure and right. And we're supposed to live our lives that way. So this is just basically how we learn about words and meaning. And this is given to us in the grammatical structure of languages.

Covenant Of Grace As Interpretive Lens

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Now, so when it comes to covenant theology, how do they interpret the Bible? Well, they interpret a lot of it literally, but they do so through the lens called the covenant of grace. And this they say is where God made a covenant with Adam and his elect offspring to save them. Okay? So at the very beginning of time in the book of Genesis, they're going to say God made a covenant with Adam and all of his elect offspring that God would give them eternal life. So it's a soteriological or what we just call a salvation covenant. Now, this is a claim. I didn't say this is what the Bible teaches. I would challenge anybody here to show me where is the covenant of grace. They'll cite some passages or whatever. But I bet you've never actually thought about it as you read Genesis 1, 2, and 3, because the word covenant is never even used there. That doesn't mean it's not there. Trinity's not used in the Bible either. But the question is, is there a covenant where that God made with Adam and all of his elect offspring to save them? Is that actually in the text? Many of them will say no, it's not explicit, it's just implied. But this becomes the lens through which they see. You know, if I put these on, these are my readers, so if I look at you all out there, I can't see but much, and you just get you know fuzzy. That's kind of how they see the Bible, to be frank with you. I mean, they think they see clearly, of course, but when I put these on, you know, I can only see things up close. I can't see anything out there clearly. But they look through a lens called the covenant of grace to interpret everything. So everything in the Bible for them is about salvation. And when you talk about the biblical covenants like Abrahamic, you know, the Land Covenant, you know, the Davidic covenant, the new covenant, all these covenants, they say, are simply outworkings of this original covenant. And that would mean that all the Abrahamic covenant is about is about is salvation. And the land covenant is all about salvation. They would say, well, land just means going to heaven. It's not a real physical land, it's it's a salvation land, it's a it's heaven, you know, and stuff like that. So now that's I would say that's not the normal use of language. Like when you have to interpret land as heaven. Um would you uh no land is earthy, you know, it has to do with you know topography, it has to do with boundaries or borders, it has to do with you know elevations and visions and all these types of things. No, no, no, that's just heaven, see, we're told. But that's the reason they see it that way is because why? Because they put the law lens of the covenant of grace on, and then when they see passages about land, they say, oh, that's about heaven, because we've got this covenant of grace that's controlling everything, it's controlling how you interpret. So that's one view. Now that's gonna change everything because, again, I mean, is Israel gonna have their promised land? Oh, that's just heaven. So does God. What is happening in the Middle East today, since 1948? What's going on? Uh, is this God's move in history to bring Israel back to the land to establish them and fulfill his covenant promises to them? No, they'll say. Israel is just a nation like any other nation. And if they believe, great. But if they don't, too bad. But what's going on over there? Nothing. Okay, nothing of biblical significance is going on over there. Why? Well, because everything is being viewed through the covenant of grace, and that's the idea that the whole story of the Bible is basically about God has an elect group of people that he's going to save and take to heaven. That's basically the whole story of the Bible.

Dispensational Literal Reading Approach

SPEAKER_01 7:29

Now, dispensational theology says, no, no, no, no, no. We don't look through the lens of a covenant of grace. We're just going to interpret the Bible literally, as I described before. You've got ordinary literal, you've got figurative literal. But all that this means is that however the terms are to be understood in a context, it has a literal reference. And uh, so we follow that all the way through the Bible consistently. That's our goal. And so the story is much more complicated, um, as we'll see in dispensational theology, what we think God's plan is. Uh, what's the unifying principle of the Bible? Meaning the one principle that unifies the Bible. Well, covenant theology set out to discover this at the time of the during basically the time of the Reformation. And they claim that, again, the unifying principle of the Bible is just salvation of men. This is what the Bible is basically all about: salvation of men. So it's very uh man-centered, what we would call anthropocentric, right? And of course, this is just part of the covenant of grace, because that's what the covenant of grace is. God's going to save Adam and all his elect offspring. So who did Jesus come and die for? Adam and all elect offspring. Did Jesus come to die for every person? No, he only came to die for the elect. So you have to figure out how they're deriving their doctrines. And it's all coming from the covenant of grace. And if you don't understand that, you don't understand what's going on and why they're saying what they're saying. You think they're saying it because of certain verses. No, they're not saying it because of certain verses. They're saying it because of the covenant of grace, and they're reinterpreting all these verses.

Where To Find Visuals And Rate

SPEAKER_00 8:59

Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app. And until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.