The Pulpit Commentary — Genesis — Section 8

• Isa. xi. 1. 8 Rev. :rix. 10. 10 Acts L 43. 11 But useful for this line of study W3 may recommend the beautiful treatise of Davison, ' On Prophecy.' 12 See on this subject the article Bible in Smith's 'Dictionary of the BiLle.' 13 I have illustrated this danger in two papers on • Wresting tho Scriptures' in tho •Expositor' for July and August, 1880.  often usml to enforce rules of sound Biblical interpretation nre in eevernl instance" rnislnterprote<I or miRRpplied. We should o.ttend, it is snid, to the spirit, not to the letter, for "the letter killetle." We should interpret "auordinl] to tlie pro-- portion of faitlt." We should imitate the Divine method by teaching "precept upon precept, JYfe<Jept upon precept; line upon line, line 1tpon line; here a little, and there n little." Wo should remember that "nil scripture ie given by inspir- ation of God." Now these remarks and suggestions may be true and wise, but i11 every one of these instances the text is misapplied, and a glance at the context will show thnt it is eo. The expression "the letter killeth" 1 applies primarily to the sentence of death pnesed upon transgressors by the Mosaic law. The use of the ex- pression ·u according to the proportion" ( or analogy) "of faith" as a rule for the exposition of the Scriptures, is only a secondary and incorrect application of it; for "the faith" spoken of is not faith in the sense of the system of religion, but is sub- jective fnith, and St. Paul is speaking of preaching within the limits of the spiritual gifts which we hnve received. 2 "Line upon line, precept upon precept," is so far from being o.n inspired description of the method of God's revelations, that it is a taunting mimicry of Isaiah's manner, 8 used to ridicule him by the drunken priests of Judah. Lastly, "all scripture is given by inspiration of God" is a translation which is so far from certain that it has been regarded as untenable by a very large number of orthodox and learned commentators from the days of Origen down to our own, and both the Syriac, St. Jerome, and Luther render it" all inspired scripture is useful also for doctrine," &c. 4 The misuse of this little group of texts, all referring to one subject-and that the very subject of the right method of Scriptural interpretation, which should surely not be formulated in terms of Scriptural misinterpretation-will at least serve to show the need for carefulness. For indeed the necessity for such carefulness is much greater when important doctrines are made to rest their ·main support' on such texts as, "the whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint;" 5 or, "which of us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? "tor, "in the place ·where the tree falleth there it shall be : " or, " cursed be Canaan ; " 7 or indeed in a ·multitude of othe'.r texts which, as is proved by the context, have not, and could ne'l"er have been intended to hnve, the controversial significance which has been attached to them. It has indeed been an unauthorised superstition, and one which has been prolific of error, to assert that "every passage of the Bible looks backward and for- ward and every way, like lights from the sun." It is a dogma which does not find in Scripture itself the faintest shadow of authorisation; it is due to that irreverent reverence which ends in superseding in favour of its own arbitrary fancies the pro- fessed object of its devotion; its final result is to hand over the Bible to the auto- cratic manipulation of prejudice and fancy, instead of demanding the toilsome anJ unbiassed discovery of its true meaning. Texts have been compared to those flints which, when struck open by the hammer, reveal a Drusic cavity full of crystals of the colour of amethyst, "purple with a dawn such as never was on land and sea." The comparison is as true ns it is beautiful; but such rich contents will never be found- though they may be invented and imagined-by any student who does not study each text in its due place and under its proper relations. III. After having endeavoured to show the importance of these broad principles of interpretation-and I have signalled them out as the most neglected and the most 1 2 Cor. iii. 6, 1 Rom. xii. 6. 1 ISB. :nvili. 10. • 2 Tim. iii. 111, It was so taken by Origen, Clement Alexandrinus, Tertullian, and most of the Fathers• and by the Peshito, Anibic, and Vulgate; by Luther, &:c. 1 Isa, i. 6. 6 Isa, xxxiii. 14. 1 Gen. ix. 25,  x GENERAL l~TRODUCTION TO THE OLD 'l'J•:STAMENT.