So many who desire to study the Bible, yet dislike even the word, “hermeneutics!” Therefore, let us recall the meaning of the word; it means: “1. The science of interpretation, especially of the Scriptures. 2. The branch of theology that deals with the principles of Biblical exegesis” (Dictionary.Com). Therefore, no matter how you read and ascertain what the words, the verse, or the larger text means, you are using some “hermeneutics!” It may be bad or good “hermeneutics!”
As before, us let call this “hermeneutics 101.” Or it may be said, we are at the lowest level of “hermeneutics!” Remember here the four basic questions: 1) Who said it?; 2) When was it said?; 3) To whom was it said?; and 4) Why was it said? These four questions generally will help us understand the basic meaning of the text. When these four questions are never asked, and answered; it is highly possible to draw out of the text a wrong conclusion! Therefore, let us look at the text of Genesis 3:4: “Ye shall not surely die.” The first question: Who said it? The answer is: “And the serpent said.” The second question: When was it said? The answer is: “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden;” therefore, it was said when Adam and Eve where in “the garden.” The third question: to whom was it said? And the answer is: “And he (the serpent) said unto the woman” (Gen. 3:1). And the fourth question: Why was it said? And the answer is: This was the serpent tempting Eve! The serpent, Satan, who is a liar and he lied in this context. Therefore, we have learned that the words: “Ye shall not surely die,” were not to be believed and obeyed! This means that even though the words are in the Bible, the inspired book; they were the words of Satan and should never be believed and obeyed!
Now let us turn our attention to these words: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:12-13). Notice the pronouns “you” and “ye.” Should I read the these two pronouns as referring to you and all of us? Our four questions will direct us, the reader, to a correct conclusion in understanding the context. The four questions: first, who said it? And the answer is: “Jesus answered and said;” there the answer to the first question is “Jesus.” The second question: When was it said?” We locate the answer in John 13:1, as John wrote: “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” The events of John chapters 13, 14, 15, and 16, all take place at the “feast of the Passover.” Question three, To whom was it said? As we read through these four chapters, 13, 14, 15, and 16, they reveal that Jesus is speaking to the twelve disciples. Notice the names that we find in these chapters: 1) Judas Iscariot (13: 2); “began to wash the disciples’ feet” 3) “ Simon Peter (13:6); 4) Simon Peter (13:24); 5) Judas Iscariot (13:26); 6) Judas (13:29); 7) Simon Peter (13:36); 8) Peter (13:37); 9) Thomas (14:5); 10) Philip (14:8):; 11) Philip (14:9); 12) Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot (14:22); 13) “Then said some of his disciples” (16:17); and 14) “His disciples said unto him” (16:29). Therefore, the promise of John 16:12-13) appears not to have been made to Judas! It is most likely that Judas Iscariot departed; as Matthew wrote: “Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests” (Matt. 26:14; Mark 14:10)). We also learn that Judas was present during the meal when Jesus introduced the Lord’s Supper (Matt. 26:20); but Luke reveals that when Jesus went to “mount of Olives” (22:39), to “Gethsemane” (Matt. 26:26); that Judas was with those who came to take Jesus: “And while he yet spake (to Peter, James, and John, Matt. 26:37), lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people” (Matt. 26:47). Therefore, sometime between the introduction of the Lords Supper and Jesus going to the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas departed from Jesus and the eleven!
The reason this is so important, is that the promise to those disciples to whom Jesus is speaking when he makes the promise: “I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come” (John 16:12-13); Judas was not among them!
Jesus’ words were not made as a general promise when he said: “when he, the Spirit of truth, is come he will guide yo into all truth,” but it was to the eleven, not the twelve and not to anyone but the eleven in the context of John chapters 13 – 16. A great truth is learned by answering the four question of “Hermeneutics 101.” This is a lesson on the pronouns and learning the antecedent used in the text; in that the “you” and “ye” does not refer to us today!
Frank R. Williams