作者: Monergism 譯者: 駱鴻銘
主後1515年，馬丁路德拒絕了盤踞中世紀主流的「四重釋經法」（four-fold hermeneutic；見譯註）的闡釋。這種釋經法導致了十分牽强的對聖經的寓意解釋（allegory），把聖經的詮釋完全交在專家的手裏，只有他們有能力猜出聖經經文真正要說的一些奧秘的事。這最終引發了偉大的新教宗教改革，也因此，宗教改革最基本的可以說是一場由釋經學所引發的戰爭。爲了取代寓意解經，路德提出了一個他稱之爲“文法-歷史” (grammatical-historical)的釋經法。
In
1515 AD, Martin Luther rejected the elaborate four-fold hermeneutic that had
been predominant throughout the Medieval centuries, and which led to some very
far-fetched allegorizing of the bible, leaving scriptural interpretation in the
hands of the experts, who alone were capable of figuring out the secret things
that bible passages really meant. This would eventually lead to the great
Protestant Reformation, which is therefore, most fundamentally, a
hermeneutically-driven struggle. In place of this allegorical hermeneutic,
Luther proposed what he termed a “grammatical-historical” hermeneutic.
根據路德的新釋經法（實際上只是恢復了早期教會教父的釋經法），每一段聖經經文，具有一個最基本的意義。這個意義乃是深深扎根於歷史的事實，也和人類語言的一般原則是準確相關的。因此，所謂的“歷史”，就是指它和真正的、互相關聯的歷史事件有關，而要理解或應用聖經的各樣教導之前，必須先承認並認識這些事件；“文法”的意思是，用一般人使用語言的方式。這個“文法-歷史”釋經法非常重要，因爲它把聖經的真理和真正的、歷史的事件結合在一起，這些歷史事件對我們的生活仍然有著真正的影響；它也給我們一種方法，使我們能有自信，根據已經確立的人類語言規則，來研讀聖經。
According
to Luther's new hermeneutic, which was actually just the recovered hermeneutic
of the earliest Church Fathers, each bible passage had one basic meaning, which
was firmly rooted in historical truth, and related accurately according to the
common principles of human language. Thus, it was “historical,” relating real,
interconnected historical events, that must be acknowledged and understood
before the various teachings of the bible could make sense or have application;
and “grammatical,” using language the way any normal person would. This
grammatical-historical hermeneutic is absolutely vital, for it tethers the
truth of the scriptures to real, historical events, that have a real impact on
our life; and it gives us a way to study the scriptures with confidence,
according to well-established dictates of human language.
譯註：四重釋經法（quadriga）是中世紀發展出來的釋經理論。這種方法認為聖經經文有四重含義：字面意義（literal），託寓意義（allegorical，與基督徒的信心/教義有關），倫理意義（moral/tropological，與基督徒的愛有關），以及奧秘的意義（anagogical，與未來的盼望有關）。當時的教會認為，由於經文非字面的意義不是一般人可以看得出來的，因此只有教會才能解釋聖經。
