APR 26

Matthew 14:25-33
Memorise Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith it is impossible to please him”

WHAT IS THE RATIONALISTIC METHOD?

Over the next few days, we will be learning more about various methods of interpreting the Bible, and determine which the correct one is. We start first of all with the Rationalistic Method. This approach, which stresses human reasoning, blossomed during the post Reformation period. It continues to this day in many liberal seminaries and apostate churches. Germany is the home of many proponents of this method of interpretation. This is due to the many schools of Higher Criticism there which seek to undermine the authority of Scripture.

Those who use this method of interpretation literally divide the Bible into many tiny pieces to dissect and examine, categorizing many portions as what they claim to be “not God’s Word” and then reassemble them back into what they claim to be the real Bible. This they do because they pick and choose those parts of the Bible which they believe is God’s Word, using their own reasoning.

The basic presupposition of this method is that the Bible is like any other man-made book. There is no such thing as inspiration. All Scripture is subjected to human reason in order to determine the validity or historicity of its statements. Whatever portions that do not square with their human thinking and understanding are rejected. Thus miracles are explained away as false. For example, they cannot accept that Jesus can walk on the water, and so they reject it or sometimes explain it as there being rocks beneath the water which made Jesus ‘appear’ to walk on the water. The supernatural and miraculous are things that do not make sense to them, and therefore they rationalise them away. The human wisdom and limited knowledge of the sinful finite interpreter takes center stage.

So you see, dear teen, how important it is to rightly divide God’s Word. This harmful method of interpretation exalts the sinful interpreter who sets himself up as the standard of truth and only sees value in Scripture as it fits and confirms his own opinions. This method denies the greatness of God, His omnipotence, His omnipresence and His omniscience. This method is to be totally rejected.

Thought: Is your Christian faith based on reason?
Prayer: Our Father in heaven, grant me to know that there are more wondrous things in heaven and earth than what my eye and ear can see and hear.