Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 93:371 (Jul 1936)
Article: A Syllabus of Studies in Hermeneutics Part 4
Author: Rollin Thomas Chafer

BSac 93:371 (Jul 36) p. 331

A Syllabus of Studies in Hermeneutics
Part 4

Rollin Thomas Chafer

(Continued from the April-June Number, 1936)

{Editor’s note: Footnotes in the original printed edition were numbered 13–14, but in this electronic edition are numbered 1–2 respectively.}

III. Some Axioms of General Hermeneutics

An axiom is a self-evident truth. Although this is the primary definition of the lexicographers, it cannot be said that all fundamental principles of the various sciences are at once self-evident, and therefore at first sight axiomatic in character. Some essential principles become clearly axiomatic to the student only after an understanding of the background and general field in which the principle is operative has been gained. This is generally true of various sciences, therefore we may expect to find it true also in the science of Biblical interpretation; for here, moreover, an element intrudes itself which is not found in any other science. The natural man cannot see the spiritual things of the divine revelation. The principles which all regenerate men readily recognize as the axioms of the faith, unbelievers are unable to understand or accept.

The axioms related to language as a medium for the expression of thought, secular and sacred, are so simple it seems to the student a waste of time to consider them; and yet, simple and self-evident as they are, they are so frequently violated or disregarded by scholars that heed must be given to them as the foundations of hermeneutics are laid.

Practically all writers on hermeneutics now and then refer to the simple and fundamental principles governing the use of language without formally announcing them as axioms. Dr. Clinton Lockhart, however, in his Principles of Interpretation devotes a chapter to axioms, listing fifteen. I have selected seven of these as representative and on which some comments and quotations may be made. The order followed by the author is changed to suit this condensed treatment.

BSac 93:371 (Jul 36) p. 332

Axiom 1. ”The true object of speech is the impartation of thought.” This lays “the foundation of all hermeneutics.” The objective true is important; for in the face of the fact that much speech is innocent of thought it still remains true that the impartation of thought is the true object of speech. Many believe that the Book of Revelation cannot be understood, yet the Apostle used understandable language and familiar Biblical symbols to convey definite thoughts which may be understood in their true meaning under right methods of study. The habit of many interpreters of setting aside what the author really says, replacing it with what they want him to say and what he does not s...