Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 94:373 (Jan 1937)
Article: A Syllabus of Studies in Hermeneutics Part 5
Author: Rollin Thomas Chafer

BSac 94:373 (Jan 37) p. 72

A Syllabus of Studies in Hermeneutics
Part 5

Rollin Thomas Chafer

(Continued from the July-September, 1936, Number)

IV. The Relation of Logic to Interpretation1

{Editor’s note: Footnotes in the original printed edition were numbered 15–18, but in this electronic edition are numbered 1–4 respectively.}

Accepting the prerequisite fundamental facts enumerated in the preceding sections as a basis upon which general interpretational study must advance, the next step should be the choice of the right method of logical procedure, and to avoid ultimate confusion this must be consistently adhered to. Some writers place before all else the necessity of attention to grammatical construction, idiomatic expression and other textual consideration. Although these very important matters should have close attention in their proper order, it remains a fact that one may trot all day in a grammatical half-bushel and not come within clear sight of the great themes of the Bible and their logical development.

The Bible is not a handbook of Logic. It is not a compendium of Natural Science. Its own themes, however, are developed in accordance with the principles of logic and in harmony with classification of proved facts. The logic of the sacred writers has been made a subject of special attack by radical critics, one such writer voicing the sentiment of the many in the thought that Paul was too logical, that his logic is so inexorable that modern thinkers are forced to reject his conclusions. It is a sad commentary on certain phases of so-called orthodox theologies that this sentiment, now boldly voiced by spiritual outlanders, exhibits the

BSac 94:373 (Jan 37) p. 73

evidence of its influence in various theological formulas. Sadder still is the fact that many hold these dicta to be normative as a standard by which the Word of God itself should be interpreted. In whatsoever measure this idea is allowed to influence the student’s thinking it weakens to that degree faith in the fundamental fact of the Spirit’s authorship of the Scriptures. To attack the logic of the sacred writers is to attack the logic of God. This is the necessary conclusion if the Biblical doctrines of revelation and inspiration are accepted.

In revealing God’s thought the Holy Spirit not only employs the bald and dogmatic statement of fact which must be accepted without argumentative proof (Example, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth”); but also He makes use of the reasoning process, amplifying the bald statement of truth by comprehensible proof and illustration (Example, in 1 John 4:8 th...