The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Hermeneutics of African Evangelical Christianity

Abstract

The church is faced with numerous heretical teachings and misinterpretations of the Scriptures, which have recently become prevalent. The modern period desperately needs the Holy Spirit’s contribution in every arena of Christianity, which fundamentally includes biblical interpretation. Even within the church, various false teachings flourish due to the narrow-minded understanding of Scripture and biblical interpretation among believers and preachers of the gospel. The Bible is the Word of God and God is the divine author; equally, it is the writing of human authors through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The thrust of this paper is to consider unified methodological vigor to arrive at valid and faithful biblical interpretation, which should include prayer, mental engagement, and illumination by the Holy Spirit, which are essential tools necessary for an in-depth study of the Bible, among a host of other factors. Hence, the paper explains the concept of hermeneutics, explores the role of the Holy Spirit, and projects a unified means of engaging in authentic biblical interpretation. As a goal, biblical interpretation must always aim at revealing the original meaning of the text, a process that crucially involves the Holy Spirit. Thus, this calls for a closer look at the process of hermeneutics and what is involved in it. The study argues that the role of the Holy Spirit in interpretation is not to bring new meaning to the text; but to help the interpreter discover, understand and accept the meaning intended by both the divine and human authors of Scripture.