Implications of Interpretation

The Effects of Accommodation to Evolutionary Thought Brian Collins FrontLine • July/August 2016 The interpretation of the opening chapters of Genesis is at the forefront of biblical and theological discussion once again. Evangelical scholars have recently put forward new interpretations of those chapters that attempt to harmonize Scripture with the evolutionary account of origins. The…

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The Hermeneutics of Homosexuality

Mark Ward Originally published in 2013, this article deals with Biblical interpretation and the raging controversy of homosexuality. Changing American Attitudes toward Homosexuality The pace of change in American attitudes toward homosexuality is something no one could have predicted when a Democratic president signed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. Witness the difference even…

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THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS 3 (Part 3)

John Mincy Part 1 ♦ Part 2 ♦ This is Part 3 Part 1 deals with the literal interpretation of Genesis 3 based on data from the text itself and from cross references in the Old Testament. Part 2 deals with the literal interpretation of Genesis 3 in light of New Testament data. GENESIS 3…

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THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS 3 (Part 2)

John Mincy Part 1 ♦ This is Part 2 ♦ Part 3 Part 1 deals with the literal interpretation of Genesis 3 based on data from the text itself and from cross references in the Old Testament. GENESIS 3 AND THE NEW TESTAMENT Conservative scholars consider the confirmation of the New Testament to be the…

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THE LITERAL INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS 3 (Part 1)

John Mincy This is Part 1 ♦ Part 2 ♦ Part 3 For centuries most of Christendom believed that a historical Adam and Eve sinned in a real garden by means of the deception of a real snake. According to a recent survey, however, almost three-fourths of the members of America’s protestant churches do not…

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The Flawed Hermeneutics of Evangelical Feminism

Andy and Erika Merkle We don’t have women pastors in our churches. But those who do might not be the liberals you imagine. Some are Evangelicals, people who hold to a true gospel, salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We call them evangelical feminists.1 Evangelical feminists, unlike radical feminists, believe that…

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“The Yearning of the Spirit” James 4:5

Dave Pennington Many consider James 4:5 to be one of the most difficult passages to interpret within the entire epistle. Some believe it is one of the most difficult verses to interpret within the entire New Testament. While every Bible student will wrestle with this challenging verse, interpreting and applying its content provides both intellectual…

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me, the Holy Spirit, and my Bible

Don Johnson The great William Tyndale gave us most of our English Bible. He is credited with a quote about desiring to make the Bible such that the common plowboy could understand it. The quote (as many such) may be a bit off. Wikipedia reports it this way: “John Foxe describes an argument with a…

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Revelation and Moral Decadence • Proverbs 29:18

Robert McCabe Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. An article in a practical journal correlated “vision” in Proverbs 29:18 with setting longrange goals (“Clearing Your Vision,” Leadership 12 [Spring 1991]: 120–24). The interpretation of “vision” as long-range goals is one of the more popular…

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This is How We Know

Webster defines hermeneutics as “the science of interpretation; esp[ecially] the study of the principles of Biblical exegesis.” Nevertheless, a well-educated person may have no understanding of hermeneutics. In a conversation with a college professor from a well-known conservative (non-Christian) college, he challenged a clear interpretation of Scripture with the charge, “That’s your opinion.” When I…

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