1. Give a definition of hermeneutics and then offer a discussion of the importance of 1 of
the following components in interpretation--the role of the author of the text, the role of
the original readers of the text, or the role of the interpreter. What kind of impact does
this particular participant provide on an attempt to discover the meaning of a text? How
important is this component?
Hermeneutics can be defined as the task of explaining the meaning of the
Scriptures. It is the art and science of interpretation. Hermeneutics also describes the
principles people use to understand what something means, to comprehend what a
message – written, oral, or visual- is endeavoring to communicate.1 The role of the
interpreter has the major role of interpretation to get the plain meaning of the text, what
the original author had originally meant to convey to the audience.2 The interpreters of
the reading of the Bible have the challenge of of course having their own personal
experiences and circumstances hinder their understanding of what the author originally
meant. For example, a woman goes to her therapist and says that God told her to divorce
her husband. The woman cited Paul’s command in Ephesians 4:24 (KJV) “Put on the new
man,” which she in turn interpreted as a “divine” notion to support her discussion. In all
actuality Paul was urging believers to take up their new Christian faith. This passage had
nothing to do with the woman’s marital problems, but she had read her own meaning to
1 William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L Hubbard, Jr., Introduction to Biblical
Interpretation (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2014), 4.
2 Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan, 2014), 22.
the certain passage. Klein states, “ All interpreters bring their own presuppositions and
agendas, and these affect the ways they understand as well as the conclusions they
draw.”3 A good interpreter can stay true to the meaning of the passages read but also be
able to help prick someone’s heart. The role of interpreter must remember not bring their
own presumptions in too much of interpreting the Bible, for if they do this; they will
loose apart of what the meaning is. They forget that the original author of they book had
someone or group of people different in mind when writing the piece of work.4 In order
to properly interpret the “ then and there” of Biblical writings, the interpreter must not
only know the rules to apply to the words of the Bible; but also to the different genre of
books in the Bible.5 When God spoke through the people to write the Bible, He was
speaking in their time period, culture, and circumstances of that time . So, in order to be a
good interpreter; we must learn to understand what they said back then and then we must
hear the word as we would say it “here and now.” 6 The interpreter is a very important
role in that without an interpreter trying to understand the culture of the time the Bible
was written in would be difficult, also how words change from Greek and Hebrew to
English. They have to make decisions of what word comes closest to our modern
languages of the world. For a translator or interpret it is important they know the given
author’s style and vocabulary, because this goes into the textual choice also.7
3 William W. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L Hubbard, Jr., Introduction to Biblical
Interpretation (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2014), 8.
4 ibid., 7
5 Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan, 2014), 27.
6 Ibid. ,27
7 ibid. ,40
