Hermeneutics Introductions

I'm about to preach a series on Philippians. I've been more aware this year - having preached basically every week since I began at my church nearly three years ago - of the danger of preaching 'flatly'.

When I say 'flatly', I mean that every sermon starts to sound the same despite the sermons being on different books in the bible. There can be a similarity in the structure of my sermons which I've become aware of.

So to counter this, I've been re-reading excerpts from some hermeneutics books to remind myself of the different genres and methods of approaching the different books of the Bible.

I have a couple of books on my shelf from my bible college days at Moore Theological College.

One is Introduction to Biblical Interpretation by Craig Blomberg et al. I read through their chapter on the epistles, and was reminded of the importance of the historical specificity of each letter. Philippians comes under a subtopic of a 'family' letter. It was written with personal and pastoral news, while at the same time telling us more of God's character, as we see Paul's insistence on unity amongst the believers. So a good start here. I'm a big Blomberg fan as he writes in a very readable and clear style.

Another reference has been Sidney Greidanus' 'The Modern Preacher and the Ancient Text'. I read the section on the epistles, as well as some excellent practical tips on getting to the main idea of the section of a letter you are preaching on so as to avoid getting stuck into red herrings and the like instead of the main message of the text. All basic stuff for pastors, but very good to be reminded!

Again, historical context and specific purposes of each letter are vital when then getting into the detail of breaking down letters into sections for preaching, says Greidanus. All good advice!