Uplifting the Bible

The Christ the Redeemer statue (Cristo Redentor), inaugurated on October 12, 1931, is a major landmark in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Exactly fifty-five years after the statue’s inauguration, on October 12, 1986, the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists voted to approve the document “Methods of Bible Study” at its Annual Council held in Rio.

This official document provides basic guidelines for interpreting the Bible as the trustworthy Word of God and rejects all hermeneutics that undermine its divine origin and authority. The document urges us “to avoid relying on the use of the presuppositions and the resultant deductions associated with the historical-critical method.” Under the assumption that “human reason is subject to the Bible, not equal to or above it,” the document states that “even a modified use” of the historical-critical method “that retains the principle of criticism which subordinates the Bible to human reason is unacceptable to Adventists.” This document helps the church maintain hermeneutical integrity. Many theological tensions and controversies within Christianity have arisen because of human biases and faulty interpretations of the Bible.

For instance, Lutheran theologian Gerhard Ebeling speaks of church history as “the history of the exposition of Scripture.” However, long before church history was thought of, a hermeneutical dispute occurred in the Garden of Eden between Eve and the serpent on how God’s word should be understood (Genesis 2:15–17; 3:1–7).

Almost all of Christ’s debates were over the interpretation of Scripture or its fulfillment (Matthew 4:1–11; 15:1–20; 22:23–33; Luke 4:16–30; 10:25–37).

We know that in the final days of human history, there will be many hermeneutical storms, and every wind of false doctrine will blow (Ephesians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:3, 4).

At the same time, “God will have a people upon the earth to maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms.” May we always be part of those faithful people who abide “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).