Episode Details

Episode 01 of Christ for Us Bible Study Podcast. Pastor Preus will explain the principles of biblical interpretation. How do you know how to read and understand the Bible? Why do different church bodies come to different conclusions from the Bible? How can you know which one is right? 

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Intro and closing music: Wachet Auf, Ruf Uns Die Stimme BWV 645, setting by J. S. Bach, Noncommercial Use

#Lutheran #PrinciplesofBiblicalInterpretation #Biblestudy #Howtoreadthebible #theology #christforus

There are dozens of churches in my town. There are literally thousands of denominations to choose from. How can you possibly know which is the right one? Some say Baptism saves, others say Baptism is just an act of obedience. Some say we are saved by faith alone, others say we are saved by faith and works. Some say that the Lord’s Supper is the true body and blood of Christ, while others say that the bread and wine is only a symbol or that Jesus is present spiritually, but his body and blood remain as far away from the bread and wine as heaven is from the earth. How do you know that the Roman Catholics are wrong about these things and the Baptists are wrong about those things and the Mormons are wrong about everything? And how can Lutherans say that they are right? Surely, if several groups read the same Bible and come to different conclusions, then some must be right about some things and others about other things and no one is right about everything! And many people resign themselves to this conclusion and figure that every church has somethings right and somethings wrong, so they’ll just pick the church with the friendliest people, the liveliest music, the most active youth group, or the best potlucks. Of course, that is a dangerous thing when you are receiving Communion, which is an act of confession that you confess what the Church publicly teaches. No, you should Commune in confidence and you should be confident that your Church is teaching you the truth and not false doctrine.

All these questions of doubt can be clarified if we look at the method by which we interpret the Bible. This is called Principles of Biblical Interpretation. Different religious groups come to similar conclusions, because they have similar principles of interpreting the Bible. The Lutheran principles of biblical interpretation are the best, because they are the principles taught in the Bible itself. In this episode, I’m going to go through five principles, which Lutherans follow to interpret the Bible. Lutherans did not come up with these principles themselves, but they are taught in Scripture itself. And it is by following these principles that we come to the conclusions that make us Lutheran.

First, let us pray: Enlighten our minds, we beseech Thee, O God, by the Spirit which proceedeth from Thee, that, as Thy Son hath promised, we may be led into all truth; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

Before we can even begin talking about the principles of biblical interpretation, we must pray to the Holy Spirit, because the natural person cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God unless the Holy Spirit opens his mind. And Jesus promises that God will give the Holy Spirit to him who asks (Luke 11:13).

• Scripture is the only source and norm of all Christian teaching. This is called the Formal Principle, that is, the authoritative source.
  • “1. We believe, teach, and confess that the sole rule and standard according to which all dogmas together with [all] teachers should be estimated and judged are the prophetic and apostolic Scriptures of the Old and of the New Testament alone, as it is written Ps. 119:105: Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. And St. Paul: Though an angel from