PENTECOSTAL HERMENEUTICS AND PREACHING: AN APPRAISAL

Ogbomoso Journal of Theology , vol. 13, no. 1, 2008, 144- 153 1 PENTECOSTAL HERMENEUTICS AND PREACHING: AN APPRAISAL By John O. Enyinnaya, PhD 1 johnenyinnaya2000@yahoo.com Introduction Hermeneutics, derived from the Greek word for “interpret” refers to the theory of interpretation. 1 More comprehensively, hermeneutics concerns the interpretation of texts and other forms of communication both oral and written as well as fundamental issues of the nature of language, meaning, communication and understanding. 2 I use hermeneutics here to refer to the act and process of biblical interpretation while preaching is the public declaration of the meaning so discovered. Paul encouraged Timothy to: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15, NIV). The verb translated as correctly handling conveys the idea of handling with skill or mastery. Paul expected Timothy to develop himself to the point of handling the word of God with skill and mastery. This is a challenge to all who have the responsibility of preaching or teaching God’s word. It is also because of this that we must regularly evaluate our preaching with a view to constantly improving our hermeneutical and preaching skills. This paper is an attempt to evaluate the hermeneutics and preaching that goes on in Pentecostal churches. After an attempt at defining some key words, the paper is divided into three main parts namely characteristics of Pentecostal churches, appraisal of Pentecostal hermeneutics and appraisal of Pentecostal preaching. Clarifying the Term Before embarking on the main task of this paper, the word Pentecostal requires some comment. Pentecostal is not an easy one to define. Collins and Ishola identify four different strands of movements traceable to Pentecostalism. 3 Classical Pentecostalism began in the United States in the early 1900’s with people who began to teach that the New Testament Pentecost experience has to be repeated today accompanied by glossolalia. The churches started on the basis of this teaching are known as classical Pentecostal churches. The second strand began in the 1960’s when some of the beliefs and practices of the Pentecostal churches overflowed into the mainline churches. This is usually described with the term “charismatic movement”. The third strand developed in the 1970’s among evangelicals who did not identify with all the beliefs and practices of the first two strands such as “second blessing” but who embraced the idea that miracles such as deliverance from demons, healing and prophecy are primary elements of God’s plan for the church today. This is usually described as the third wave. The fourth strand, that is, the faith movement while accepting the tenets of the earlier 1 John O. Enyinnaya is Professor of Theology and Dean of the Postgraduate School at the Nigerian Baptist Theological Seminary , Ogbo moso, Nigeria and also a Senior Fellow of the ICETE Ac ademy. Ogbomoso Journal of Theology , vol. 13, no. 1, 2008, 144- 153 2 movements adds that physical wholeness and financial prosperity are God’s primary plan for Christians. 4 The difficulty in defining the word Pentecostal arises from these different strands of teachings or movements. I use the Pentecostal here to encapsulate these four strands since they all grew out from the roots of the Pentecostal revival that occurred around the turn of the 20th century. Certain Pentecostal Characteristics It is not easy to identify traits that cut across all the different strands included within the Pentecostal movement. This is mainly due to the complexities in the teachings of the groups that make up the movement. What is possible is only a general outline of characteristics that describe these groups, some more than others, especially in the Nigerian ecclesial scene. I will also attempt to show how these characteristics influence the preaching that goes on in Pentecostal circles. 1. Spirit-baptis m as second blessing Torrey defines spirit baptism as “an operation of the Holy Spirit distinct from and subsequent and additional to his regenerating work…an impartation of power… it is for every believer in every age of the church’s history”5 . This definition accepted widely by Pentecostals shows that the understanding of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as subsequent to conversion is an important characteristic of Pentecostals. Carl Brumback adds that spirit baptism is of a transcendent and miraculous character, “producing extraordinary effects which are visible to the onlooker, its initial oncoming being signalized by an utterance in other tongues. 6 Thus, there are three distinctive features of the Pentecostal concept of the Holy Spirit’s baptism: (1) the baptism is post conversion, (2) its initial sign is tongues-speaking, and (3) each believer is to seek it. 7 2. Prosperity and Healing Many Pentecostals believe that prosperity and healing, or generally speaking, signs and wonders are God’s primary plan for his children. The emphasis on physical wholeness and financial prosperity comes out strongly in the teachings of E.W. Kenyon, Kenneth Hagin, Benny Hinn, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland. 8 In Nigeria, the Living Faith Church under David Oyedepo, is well known for its faith and prosperity gospel. Oyedepo teaches that Christians are destined to experience abundance and material wealth in this world: “Therefore, Christians should aspire to be prosperous and they should be known for their prosperity in the society, by riding good cars and wearing costly dresses.” 9 For the preachers mentioned above, prosperity and healing function as some kind of hermeneutical criterion for their preaching and teaching. 3. Experience and Extra-biblical Revelation Pentecostals have a tendency to place experience and extra-biblical revelation above the Bible. A woman wrote John MacArthur the following words: “You resort to Greek translations and fancy words to explain away what the Holy Spirit is doing in the church today. Let me give you a piece of advice that might just save you from the wrath of Almighty God; put away your Bible and your books and stop studying. Ask the Holy Ghost to come upon you and give you the gift of tongues. You have no right to question something you have Ogbomoso Journal of Theology , vol. 13, no. 1, 2008, 144- 153 3 never experienced”10 (italics mine). What this woman wrote reflects the tendency of many Pentecostals to place experience and extra-biblical revelation (via dreams and visions) above the Bible. 4. African Cos mology The growth of the Pentecostal movement especially in Africa has been due largely to the fact that its teachings utilize insights from African cosmology and experience. 11 Imasogie’s timeless observation that the greatest weakness of the Christian theology imported into Africa from the West was the lack of fit between it and African life remains a valid one. 12 The Pentecostal movement sought to bridge this gap by utilizing African ideas and addressing realities of African experience such as poverty, demonic powers, among others. The search for contextual relevance, as good as it is, some times led to wholesale adoption or uncritical acceptance of traditional concepts and tendencies. 5. Anti-intellectualism The Pentecostal movement, historically, has within it a clear strain of anti- intellectualism.13 In many cases it is a backlash against the traditional western obsession with logic, academics, and science. Many Pentecostals claim proudly that God is now speaking verbally and through visions and dreams, instead of through biblical exegesis and exposition, in order to circumvent and denounce Christian intellectualism. This anti- intellectual strain found among Pentecostals sometimes manifests in their disdain for formal theological education. The value or lack of value that Pentecostals place on formal theological education may be illustrated by how many of the founders of Pentecostal churches in Nigeria today or their pastors have submitted themselves for theological training. The above are but a few of the traits that characterize Pentecostals in general. It is already evident that some of these characteristics bear upon Pentecostal hermeneutics and preaching. I shall now move directly to call attention to these. Appraisal of Pentecostal Hermeneutics This appraisal of Pentecostal hermeneutics will be made on the basis of four observations: Observations about Pentecostal Hermeneutics 1. Lack of familiarity with herme neutical principles. There are three basic hermeneutical approaches: author-centred, text-centred, and readercentred approaches. 14 The author-centred approach admits that the key to discovering the meaning of a text is the authorial intent and goes on to ask “what did the author intend for his readers to get from this text?” The text-centred approach is worried that many times the authorial intent is not a certainty and the only thing we can be sure of is the text before us. It thus proceeds to examine the text on its on basis. 15 The reader-centred approach does not see any reason to bother about the author or the text. The key to understanding a text is the reader and what his needs are at the moment. If we accept that the authentic goal of the hermeneutical process is to discover the meaning that a writer intended for his original readers and only after that to find the relevance Ogbomoso Journal of Theology , vol. 13, no. 1, 2008, 144- 153 4 for contemporary readers, it becomes clear that the path to sound interpretation lies in the combination of the author-centred and the text-centred approaches. If the reader-centred option is adopted then the Bible has no meaning of its own, the meaning thus depending on who the reader is or what (s)he is going through at the moment. Pentecostal hermeneutics tends to follow the reader-centred approach due to its emphasis on experience and elevation of visions and dreams above the Bible. Instead of the Scripture becoming the measuring rod in all doctrinal issues, experience usurps the prime of place, and the scripture becomes only a tool to validate experience. Interpreters also make a distinction between what is descriptive and prescriptive in Scripture. The descriptive refers to a mere narration of an event as it happened while the prescriptive describes what is scripturally normative for every time and age. Pentecostal hermeneutics due to its literal16 approach tends to make normative what was simply intended to be descriptive. 17 Lack of familiarity with important hermeneutical principles makes Pentecostal hermeneutics weak and flawed. 2. Inadequate Appreciation of the Authority of the Bible A crucial doctrine in evangelical theology is the acceptance of the authority of the Bible.18 Evangelicals believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God and therefore the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. In their elevation of experience over Scripture, and unquestioning acceptance of dreams, visions and spontaneous prophetic utterances over and above the teachings of the Bible, Pentecostals err in their valuation of the authority of the Bible. As Clements has observed, it is only a strong doctrine of inspiration (of the Bible) that can defend us against the slide back towards… man-centred theological methods of rationalism and mysticism. 19 3. Ignorance of Herme neutical Tools Finding the meaning of a biblical text is a rigorous exercise. It requires a careful and disciplined exegetical process to arrive at the authentic meaning of a text. The rigour is borne out of the fact that the contemporary reader is an outsider in the communication that went on in the text since (s)he is neither the author nor the original recipient. Other complexities are introduced by the fact of the temporal gap, cultural gap and historical gap that exist between the biblical text and the contemporary reader. 20 These gaps require that in order to arrive at the meaning of a text, the interpreter needs to go back in time to find out as muc h as (s)he can about the author, the original readers as well as the culture and history behind the text. The good thing is that Christians have been studying the Bible for the past 2000 years and consequently there is a plethora of resources available on the text. These include background materials, linguistic resources, historical and cultural resources as well as the comments others have written on the texts. Pentecostal preachers demonstrate a lack of knowledge of these hermeneutical tools without which the task of biblical interpretation will suffer hiccups. The ignorance of many Pentecostal preachers about the essential tools for interpretation is to be expected given their tendency to disdain formal theological education. It must be stated that the use of hermeneutical tools and the use of sound interpretative principles does not preclude the “anointing” of the Holy Spirit in the interpretation of the word of God. Ogbomoso Journal of Theology , vol. 13, no. 1, 2008, 144- 153 5 4. Prosperity as Hermeneutical Criterion A criterion whether in theology or hermeneutics functions like an “eye glass” through which every other thing is interpreted. For the health and wealth proponents within the Pentecostal fold, prosperity is the criterion in biblical interpretation. Every other concern is made subservient to this overriding concern. Every passage is interpreted from the perspective of prosperity and healing. A critical observation of Pentecostal preaching reveals that the overriding emphasis given to prosperity is at the root of many erroneous interpretations emanating from their circles. Appraisal of Pentecostal Preaching 1. Packaging vers us Content As stated earlier, hermeneutics has to do with the process of discovering the meaning of a text while preaching denotes the public delivery of the meaning so derived. In the assessment of sermons, weakness on hermeneutics is a great weakness indeed. Pentecostal preachers tend to have good packaging or delivery and less hermeneutics. This scenario produces great inadequacies in content no matter how good the packaging is. It must be stated that sermon delivery or packaging is important in preaching because it affects the effectiveness of a person’s preaching. A good number of Pentecostal preachers will score high on this point. However, the ideal context of proper packaging plus good content must be pursued at all cost. 2. Entertainment ve rsus Spiritual Enrichment Arising from the above, Pentecostal preachers tend to be entertaining. Many times, this quality of being entertaining overshadows the need for spiritual enrichment. Preaching that appeals only to the emotions can be hardly expected to also produce the depth required for a concomitant change of life and attitude. 3. What People want ve rsus what People Need There is a tendency among some Pentecostal preachers to focus their preaching on what people like to hear rather than on what they need to hear. The shifting membership base of some of these churches make the preachers tend to preach what would suit the taste of listeners so they would come back next Sunday. This listene r-friendly disposition or public relations concern of much of Pentecostal preaching makes it open to much suspicion. Conclusion The correct handling of the word of God is an imperative for all those called to preach and teach. Like in many areas of life constant review and evaluation are necessary if progress will be made. This appraisal of Pentecostal hermeneutics and preaching reveals that there are a few things to commend Pentecostals. These include the relevance of their messages to African experience and life and their good and entertaining delivery. However, a number of concerns have been raised in this paper such as their inadequate appreciation of the authority of the Bible, their ignorance of hermeneutical principles and tools arising from their disdain for formal theological education and their tendency to value packaging above content. These Ogbomoso Journal of Theology , vol. 13, no. 1, 2008, 144- 153 6 are serious issues indeed that call for urgent thorough reflection and action to correct the situation. Notes A.C. Thiselton, “Hermeneutics,” in New Dictionary of Theology, ed. S.B. Ferguson and D.F. Wright, Leicester: Intervarsity Press, 1988, 293. 1 2 Thiselton, 293. 3 Travis Collins and Ademola Ishola, Baptists and the Charismatic Movement, Ibadan: Publications Board of the Nigerian Baptist Convention, 1995, 8-9. 4 Cf. also Yusufu Obaje, Understanding the Pentecostal Movement, vol 2, Abuja: Access academy Publicat ions, 2002, 27-30. 5 R.A. Torrey, What the Bible Teaches, 271, cited by Obaje, Understanding the Pentecostal Movement, vol. 1, Abuja: Access academy Publications, 2003, 36. 6 Bru mback, What Meaneth This, 184, cited by Obaje, vol.1, 37. 7 See also Obaje, The Miracle of Speaking in Tongues: On Which Side are You , Ogbomoso: Adebayo Calvary Printers, 1987, 33-38. 8 Co llins and Ishola, 9. Matthews Ojo, “The Nigerian Baptist Convention and the Pentecostal Resurgence, 1970-2000: Critical Issues for Ecclesiastical Dynamics” in Ecclesiastics, ed. Ishola and Ayegboyin, Ibadan: Sceptre Prints, 2006, 331. 9 10 MacArthur, Charismatic Chaos, Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992, 25. 11 Ojo 333 12 Osadolor Imasogie,Guidelines for Christian Theology in Africa, Ibadan: Un iversity Press, 1986, 12. 13 Travis Collins, “Contemporary Issues in Baptist Doctrine”, nd., mimeograph,8. 14 Tremper Longman III, Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation 15 D.A. Carson, The Gagging of God, considers the reader-centered approach the offshoot of the deconstruction hermeneutics or rad ical hermeneutics of the postmodern era which makes biblical interpretation to have no anchor. 16 Ojo, 335. 17 Examp les abound in the way Pentecostals usually interpret texts such as Acts 2; 8; 10; 19; etc. Roy Clements, “Word and Spirit : The Bible and the Gift of Prophecy Today” in Hear the Word, ed. John White, etal, Leicester: IVP, 1990, 107. 18 19 Clements, 104. Clements also argues that the equivalent of the Old Testament prophet is not the New Testament prophet but the New Testament apostle. 20 Cf. Ch ika Ossai, Contextual Exegesis, Jos: Stream Christian publishers, 2001, 1-6.