fi rst, when we are asking about the author’s original meanings. Not even
the method of grammatico-historical exegesis can guarantee uniformity
and universality.
So what about the dialectic between the Spirit and prejudice? Using
the latter key term from Gadamer’s hermeneutics, I’ve been speaking
about the human, all too human, dimension of biblical interpretation.
The implicit suggestion has been that even on a “high” view of biblical
inspiration, the point is not to make us absolute but properly to identify
the voice that gets through to us by means of Scripture in the midst of our
all-too-human relativity. But so far, all I’ve said about the Holy Spirit is to
distinguish three very general theories about the Spirit’s role. Here I want
to say at least a little bit more. I am locating myself within the Protestant
understanding of the Spirit’s role as teacher and as guide to the under-
standing of the biblical writings.
First, the Holy Spirit is not a method but an agency. The goal of method
is objectivity, to produce as much uniformity as possible. I think it can be
argued that the Holy Spirit is more like Mom than like the experimental
scientist. The purpose of this divine agency is to make sure that we hear
God’s word as we need to hear it in our distinctive situations. This will
inevitably mean hearing it differently from the way other believers have
heard it, and perhaps, in some situations, differently from the way the
biblical writers themselves heard it, as in the case of slavery.
Second, to speak of a divine agency is to suggest that in the human
dimension of biblical interpretation we are active, but in the divine dimen-
sion we are passive. There is something right about this. We do not con-
trol, much less manipulate, the Spirit; rather, we, by analogy with the
biblical writers themselves (but without authority), are to be “moved” by
the Spirit. This calls for a posture of openness and obedience.
Third, to speak of obedience and even of a posture of openness is to see
that “passive” is not quite the right word. We need to receive instruction
from the Holy Spirit, but to receive is to act in a certain way:
Joy to the world! The Lord is come.Here is the divine initiative, God’s action:
Let earth receive her King.
Let ev’ry heart prepare Him room.28 M. WESTPHAL