Reading the Word of God in the Presence of God: A Handbook for Biblical Interpretation

by Vern Sheridan Poythress

Every time we read the Bible, we’re reading in the presence of God. How should this incredible truth shape how we read? Moving quickly from principle to practice, Vern Poythress helps us rethink how we interpret the Bible by showing us the implications of entering into God’s presence as we study. This handbook outlines distinct steps for practicing faithful biblical interpretation by focusing on our fellowship with the God who speaks to us through his Word.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Faith, Nonfiction

464 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2016

About the author

Vern Sheridan Poythress was born in 1946 in Madera, California, where he lived with his parents Ransom H. Poythress and Carola N. Poythress and his older brother Kenneth R. Poythress. After teaching mathematics for a year at Fresno State College (now California State University at Fresno), he became a student at Westminster Theological Seminary, where he earned an M.Div. (1974) and a Th.M. in apologetics (1974). He received an M.Litt. in New Testament from University of Cambridge (1977) and a Th.D. in New Testament from the University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa (1981).

He has been teaching in New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia since 1976. In 1981 he was ordained as a teaching elder in the Reformed Presbyterian Church Evangelical Synod, which has now merged with the Presbyterian Church in America.

More information about his teaching at Westminster can be found at the Westminster Seminary website.

Dr. Poythress studied linguistics and Bible translation at the Summer Institute of Linguistics in Norman Oklahoma in 1971 and 1972, and taught linguistics at the Summer Institute of Linguistics in the summers of 1974, 1975, and 1977. He has published books on Christian philosophy of science, theological method, dispensationalism, biblical law, hermeneutics, Bible translation, and Revelation. A list of publications is found on this website.

Dr. Poythress married his wife Diane in 1983, and they have two children, Ransom and Justin. He has side interests in science fiction, string figures, volleyball, and computers.

The family lived on a farm until he was five years old. When he was nine years old he made a public commitment to Christ and was baptized in Chowchilla First Baptist Church, Chowchilla, California. The family later moved to Fresno, California, and he graduated from Bullard High School in Fresno.

He earned a B.S. in mathematics from California Institute of Technology (1966) and a Ph.D. in mathematics from Harvard University (1970).

Reviews

[Eric Yap · Rating 5 out of 5]

TLDR: I would recommend it to bible readers with even some slight experience on the subject of hermeneutics, and it is essentially a retrieval of all spectrum of hermeneutic by assuming a Triune-God centred approach and attitude (Triperspectivism) to interpreting scripture.

4.5 stars. It was hard to put a finger on the spectrum of hermeneutics that this book postulates when I started initially. Perhaps it was because of the expectations I had going into it. I was expecting a theological-philosophical treatment of the redemptive-historical/Christocentric hermeneutic method that hails from the Ridderbos/Vos/Old Princeton/Westminster tradition that Poythress belongs to. Instead the book opens with basic passing remarks on redemptive-historical/Christocentric presups and premises but went on quickly to a hermeneutic framework built upon John Frame's Triperspectivism. Essentially, the book is what it claims to be in the subtitle: a handbook for biblical interpretation. Poythress presents an entire toolbox of hermeneutics from an entire spectrum of historical/literary-grammatical to redemptive-historical/Christocentric hermeneutics, with of twist of Frame's Triperspectivism: that the different methods are not exclusives but rather perspectives, with Trispectivism being analogous to the Trinity, hence Triperspective hermeneutics is Triune-God centred, therefore the book aims to read the word of God in the presence of the TRIUNE GOD. Granted, getting a hang of Frame's Triperspectivism helps with understanding the book better, as Trispectivisim can be essentially analogous with quantum physics: particle, wave and field, or in ethics: the normative, situational and existential, which is, in turn, is analogous to the Trinity, God (the Father) in and of Himself (normative/particle), God the Son coming into history to accomplish redemption (situational/wave), and God the Spirit applying the timeless benefit of salvation to each of us (existential/experiential/field).

Poythress states that the book presents the hermeneutic framework in an increasingly complex manner, so a layperson could get into it while seasoned biblical students may gain more insights from the latter chapters, but the irony is that Frame's Triperspectivism is no amateur issue. Instead, it seems like Poythress moves from the detailed to the broad, beginning with transmission and contextual issue, to linguistics (scientific) and genres, to redemptive-historical/Christocentric motifs, and then to broad hermeneutical philosophies and closes with appendices that address modern hemernuectical debates which sheds light on the reasons he sets out to write this handbook on biblical interpretation (the appendices was what I was expecting initially from the book), and therefore, can be observed as moving from a scientific/historical/literary/grammatical mode of hermeneutic to an increasingly theological/redemptive-historical/Christocentric philosophy of hermeneutic. In the appendices, Poythress states the reason for his broad toolbox of interpretive tools as being the recovery of a God-centered attitude of interpretation, and here his Van Tillian lens really comes through. A strict scientific/historical/literary/grammatical mode of hermeneutic that usually belong to liberal or higher/textual criticism camps can be employ in our biblical interpretation by recovering them through inserting God-centered attitude and presupps, that God is ultimately the author of scriptures comes to us with the aim of presenting Christ and applying it into our lives (here Triperspectivism comes through again), and what is present in common grace and general revelation (linguistics, transmission, textual criticism, genres, grammar, history, scientific methods) can be employed as part of an entire toolbox of hermeneutic tools to help us arrive at multiple perspectives of interpretive conclusions that are not exclusive of one another nor dismissive of theological/redemptive-historical/Christocentric hermeneutics (again, Frame's Triperspectivism comes through). Therefore, comparing it with other hermeneutics textbooks I've read, it fits awkwardly between a more technical/grammatical/literal/genre types (think Gorden Fee and Kostenberger) and more theological-philosophical types (think Grant Osborne and Blomberg. In the broad camp of hermeneutics though, I would probably place it under the camp/labelled it as the theological interpretation of scripture).

Some overall caveats of the book include the fact that Triperspectivsm can sound a bit relativistic or purely subjective, but Poythress does address part of this accusations but I would have hope he addressed it with greater detail and clarity. The use of Triperspectivism as a framework to retrieve an entire spectrum of hermeneutical tools by placing in on a motif of being Triune-God centred (Triperspectivsm is analogous with the Trinity), along with its Van Tillian lens (begins with God-centered presups such as authoritative, inspiration and so on), is rather genius and quite remarkably, brilliant and magnificently coherent, but the end result can feel like an endless spiral of Triperspectivism as each perspective can be broken down into further perspectives and it sometimes feels like an endless rabbit trail. Finally, as alluded earlier, Poythress claims that this book aims at layman as it progresses by being increasingly complex, but again, Frame's Trispectivism is not amateur subject, and I would imagine this book being above the capability of someone who has never cracked open a book on hermeneutics, theology or philosophical-theology, though I could sense Poythress overall simplistic way of writing by just giving a bit of depth in each example rather than providing the theological arguments for it as the theological-philosophical basis of the book is left to the appendices, so it is actually highly readable in presentation but slightly technical in its material content (and hence, fits rather awkwardly between the hermeneutic works of Kostenberger/Fee and Osborne/Fee), so I would recommend it to bible readers with even some slight experience on the subject of hermeneutics.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent in taking into account the other uniqueness of God's word as the foundation for all interpretation of Scripture. At times. Poythress' perspectivalism can lead to a confusing structure to his writing. But overall highly recommended.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a practical handbook to help people grow in skill in interpreting the Bible. It illustrates the process of interpretation by considering the stages through which a Bible student may travel in the course of studying a passage in the Bible. Even beginners can use the early stages of our approach (up through chapters 4-6), because we have designed the explanations to make sense to beginners and to be usable. In later chapters we add more complexity, so that beginners can continue to advance. As more details are added, pastors and advanced students may also find helpful insights. Our approach should also interest experts, because it differs from what has become standard among many biblical scholars. (opening paragraph from chapter one)

I have many reactions to this paragraph ranging from, "How courteous to write a book designed to make sense and be usable!" to "Well, at least the author is completely honest and transparent about how incomprehensible most of the book is going to be!" The truth is I do appreciate his honesty. It feels good to know that it isn't "just me" and that (probably) 80% of Christians (at least) would be equally at a loss to make sense of this one!

What I liked:

The Title and The Premise. It is a fantastic title. I do think Christians need reminders that when they read the Word of God they are in fact reading it in the very presence of God. Not only is God present with them. God is present IN them. Believers have an indwelling teacher and counselor that can and will illumine the Word of God as they read, study, and meditate. Believers can KNOW the author of the greatest book ever written. Believers can SPEAK to the author at any time, in any place.

The premise of this one is simpler than anything else about it. The premise is as follows:

If we love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind, we will be interested in learning more about him. And the Bible is the primary source for knowledge of God. Thus, loving God motivates serious study of the Bible. When we study the Bible, we should be loving God in the midst of our study. What implications does loving God have for the way we study the Bible? Amid our studying, we will be asking God to enliven our hearts, to enliven and clarify our minds, to sanctify our attitudes, to teach us, and to empower us to receive and obey what we study. We will also be praising him and loving him and enjoying him and marveling over who he is amid every aspect of our study. We will be repenting of sins when the Bible reveals how we have sinned.

I agree wholeheartedly with every word! Who wouldn't want to read such a book?!?!

The Organization and the Outline. I may not have understood--comprehended--90% of the book's content. BUT. I do have to admit that it was well organized, well structured, and logically displayed. Comprehensible? Not really. But one could see how it was structured theoretically to make sense to the reader.

The Consistency in Examples. He uses the same passage of Scripture in nearly every chapter.

The Occasional Comprehensible Insight. Chapter Two entitled "Principles for Interpreting the Bible" is a great example that the book has good intent.

The Bible is God’s speech in written form. So we should think about what it means for God to speak. God’s speech has several forms. 1. God speaks eternally in the Word, the second person of the Trinity (John 1: 1). 2. God speaks to create and to govern the world. 3. God spoke orally to human beings, in theophanies (Gen. 17: 1; Ex. 20: 18– 19) and through prophets as his spokesmen (Ex. 20: 19, 21). 4. God wrote his word. He did so directly with the tablets at Mount Sinai, which were “written with the finger of God” (Ex. 31: 18). Later, he committed his word to writing through human spokesmen who did the actual writing (Deut. 31: 24– 26). 5. Finally, at the climax of history, God spoke through the incarnate Son (Heb. 1: 1– 2). 6. God now speaks to us through the Bible, which God has given us as the permanent deposit of his word.

If we are going to appreciate what God says, we must know God and grow in knowing him. What we know about him feeds into our understanding of what he says. 1. God is Lord over all things. So we must take into account his lordship as we study. 2. God is Creator, while we and everything else in the world are creatures. The Bible makes a distinction between the Creator and his creatures. God as Creator is Lord, while his creatures are subjects and ought to submit to his lordship. This distinction implies that we must listen to God when we read the Bible, and not imagine that we can listen merely to our own ideas that arise while reading. 3. God is immanent. He is present in the whole world. He is also especially present, with his offer of redemption in Christ, as we read Scripture. 4. God has planned history and brings about his plan in time (Eph. 1: 11). History has purpose, and God has designed in particular that our study of the Bible should have a purpose. The Bible serves his goals, not whatever goals we may devise out of our own hearts. In particular, we are not supposed to be studying the Bible merely to acquire information, but for our spiritual good— for our salvation.

Now let us consider some basic principles about the Bible. 1. The Bible is God’s own word, so that what the Bible says, God says. 2. God governs the whole world through his divine speech, which specifies and controls what happens (Heb. 1: 3). The Bible, by contrast, is the word of God, designed by God to speak specifically to us as human beings. All divine speech, whether directed toward governing the world in general or directed toward us as human beings, has divine character. 3. God speaks his words to us in covenants (Gen. 9: 9; 15: 18; 17: 7; Ex. 19: 5; etc.). A “covenant” is a solemn, legally binding agreement between two parties. In this case, the two parties are God and human beings. 4. All the Bible is the covenantal word of God. That is, the idea of covenant offers us one perspective on the Bible. 5. The Bible is a single book, with God as its author. It does of course have multiple human authors. But its unity according to the divine author implies that we should see it as a single unified message, and should use each passage and each book to help us in understanding others. 6. The Bible is God-centered. It not only has God as its author, but in a fundamental way it speaks about God as its principal subject. It does so even in historical passages that do not directly mention God, because the history it recounts is history governed by God. 7. The Bible is Christ-centered. 7 Covenants mediate God’s presence to us, and at the heart of the covenants is Christ, who is the one mediator between God and men (1 Tim. 2: 5). 8. The Bible is oriented to the history of redemption. God caused the Bible’s individual books to be written over a period of centuries. God’s later speech builds on earlier speech, and further unfolds the significance of his plan for history. God’s redemption takes place in history. Christianity is not merely a religious philosophy, a set of general truths about God and the world. 9. Christ’s first and second coming are central to history. God’s work of redemption came to a climax in the work of Christ on earth, especially in his crucifixion, death, resurrection, and ascension. Christ now reigns at the right hand of the Father (Eph. 1: 20– 21). We look forward to the future consummation of redemption when Christ returns. 10. God’s work of redemption interweaves word and deed.

We must love God with all our mind. We must serve and worship him. He is present and comes to us when we read Scripture. To try to forget or suppress his presence is to twist the purpose of Scripture, to express ingratitude, and to turn away from life to death. How can we expect to understand Scripture if, at the beginning, we insist on treating Scripture as something that it is not, namely a merely human document from a merely human author? It is regrettable and dangerous that we live in a time and at a cultural moment when most of Western scholarly study of the Bible follows the route of virtually exclusive focus on human authors. The mainstream of biblical scholarship does not believe in divine authorship at all. Many scholars outside of the mainstream still believe in divine authorship somewhere in the back of their minds, but they may nevertheless partly lay aside what they believe for the sake of a method that takes human authorship in isolation.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would probably give this 3.8-4 stars. I learned a lot for Poythress and I have grown in my understanding of hermeneutics from this work. My main qualm is that this book got very tedious over time. His multi-perspectival thinking is brilliant but it starts to feel redundant or too repetitive when he applies it to everything.

If you're not familiar with Frame-Poythress and their multi-perspectival or tri-perspectival way of thinking don't start here. Go read Symphonic Theology by Poythress first then come back to this work.

You can get Symphonic Theology for free online directly from Poythress' personal website.

[Brian Frick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poythress approaches the subject of interpretation both critically, that it can be done, and should be done properly, but also with humility, recognizing that we are fallible and subject to misinterpretation. He successfully balances the need for rigorous study and heartfelt dependence on the Spirit to illumine our minds to understand the Scriptures.

[Matthew Rawlings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recommended but only for seminary students or dedicated lay theology nerds.

[Michael Harshman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The opening sentence in this book is “This book is a practical handbook to help people grow in skill in interpreting the Bible”. The author states that the approach of his writing is geared to be more simple in the early part of the book and then graduating to more and more complexity as you read further in the book. I do have to admit that the author does really go into great depths as to different methods of reading and interpreting the Bible can be done. With that said, yes, the early part of the book does keep it fairly simple, but quickly dives into a sea of detail and complexity. I think this book would be good for a seminary student or a pastor, but with the writing style utilized, I feel that a majority of the believers out there would feel somewhat lost after the first chapters. So, I would recommend this book to those that are very serious about diving into the deep waters of Biblical interpretation methodology, but not recommended for people who don’t want to devote some serious reading and studying time to understand where the author goes with this book. In some instances, you may need to take a lot of notes or underline/highlight and then go back to look at your notes as you progress through the book. The author does state that “even beginners can use the early stages of our approach…” which is up to about chapter 4 or 6, but beyond that, most beginners will likely feel lost.

I received an electronic copy of this book in exchange for this review from Crossway and all opinions are my own.

[Kenson Gonzalez · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful book written by Vern S. Poythress, ideal for all seminary student or layman who wants to learn more about biblical interpretation. The book is divided into eight parts, in which the author takes us from the simple to the complex on the interpretation. Everything is explained in an excellent manner, also the author provides us many examples.

For those who have read about the tri-perspectivism John Frame, the book will make very familiar, but for those who are new to the tri-perspectivism, the author helps us get into the triad (existential, normative, situational).

It is a book I enjoy a lot, when you get to the part VI, the author deals with something so sublime as the redemptive - historical interpretation , and you can understand much better the Christocentric interpretation of Scripture.

This book helped me a lot, and will continue helping me to understand the Scriptures, not under a simple method but under the presence of God.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who wants to start in the study of the Scriptures.

[David M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading the Word of God in the Presence of God is the application of the Perspectivalism Poythress outlines in his earlier work,Symphonic Theology: The Validity of Multiple Perspectives in Theology. That being said, I would highly recommend reading his earlier work first so as to better appreciate the significance of its application to biblical interpretation.

Poythress interacts with different perspectives through a Trinitarian lens as well as the conviction that one must love God to interpret His Word If you have ever wanted to make yourself aware of how different approaches can be utilized faithfully for the purpose of bringing out nuances in the biblical text, this book is an excellent guide. You will see how unity and diversity strengthen each other (pg 26).