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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from

FRAME-POYTHRESS.ORG the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible
Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House.
All rights reserved.  Italics indicate emphasis added.

God-Centered Biblical Interpretation

Composition by Colophon Typesetting

by Vern Sheridan Poythress

Printed in the United States of America

This book is published by Presbyterian and Reformed

Publishing Company, P.O. Box 817, Phillipsburg, New Jersey Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
08865-0817. It is posted on the internet by permission of the
publisher. Print rights are retained by the publisher. You may Poythress, Vern S.
order a printed copy from Presbyterian and Reformed by
phone (800-631-0094) or on the internet God-centered biblical interpretation / Vern Sheridan
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Westminster Theological Seminary Bookstore by phone
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p. cm.
(<https://www.wtsbooks.com>.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

© 1999 by Vern Sheridan Poythress

ISBN 0-87552-376-5 (pbk.)

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
1. Bible–Hermeneutics. 1. Title.
any means–electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or
otherwise–except for brief quotations for the purpose of
BS476.P68 1999
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publisher, P&R Publishing Company,m P.O. Box 817,
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To my Parents, Ontological and “economic” Trinity

God’s greatest blessing to me during the earliest times when Awe in the study of the Bible
he was at work in my life
4. The Purpose of the Bible

Many purposes
TABLE OF CONTENTS Triunal purpose
Christ as the center of Scripture

1. The Challenge of Understanding the Bible

5. The Triunal Character of Truth

Christians reading the Bible

Language as imaging God
Strengthening the Foundations
Truth
Secular theories of truth
2. God and Biblical Interpretation Truth as analogical

The Trinity and the word of God 6. Meaning

The word of God
Communication in the Trinity
Unity and diversity in content
In nite meaning
A triad for meaning
Depth in import
3. What Is the Bible? Meaning and application
Divine and human in the Bible
The word of God Diversity in the mode of divine authorship
The Bible as covenantal The concerns of scholars
God’s speaking in other ways Illustrations using analogy
The divinity of the word of God Creativity
Coinherence: God’s dwelling in his word The diversity in the body of Christ
Imaging Positive role of scholarship
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7. Terms 11. Exemplars and Analogy

Terms and Naming The role of exemplars

Word and thought Using analogy
A triad of attributes

8. Communication
12. History

God speaking
Author, discourse, and reader Unity and diversity in history
Misinterpretations as an aspect of divine war Perspectives on history
An example in 2 Kings 14:5

9. Steps in Interpretation Other kinds of connections

Classifying connections

God’s presence today The sin offering in Leviticus 9:8-11

God’s truthfulness Central connections and more distant connections

God’s control Analogy between historical events

Smaller acts of communication An example of warfare: 1 Samuel 13:5

Explicit hermeneutical procedure An example of praise: Ezra 3:11

Further subdivisions Clustering of divine action

God’s work in the whole process Grammatical-historical interpretation

10. Alternative Hermeneutical Perspectives 13. Idols as Counterfeits

An alternative perspective: God speaking to his people once The combatants

for all The root issue: idolatry

An alternative perspective: God speaking now Subtle idolatry

The nature of alternative models of interpretation Deceit and blindness

Explicitness in hermeneutics
14. Global Distortion of Interpretation
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