Hermeneutics is critical because it’s the connection between God’s Word and its application. The single most influential class I took in seminary was hermeneutics. It did more to enrich my knowledge and understanding of God’s Word than any other subject.

There’s one topic I wish every believer would study. Even though I’m an apologist and have taught apologetics for nearly two decades, it has nothing to do with defending the faith (though it can help with that). It’s called hermeneutics, but it’s more commonly known as biblical interpretation. If I could, I would require every believer in the global church to learn its principles.
Now, I can almost hear the pushback. Hermen-what? It sounds like a dry, academic subject that has no practical value for my walk with God. It’s probably just for pastors, people say.
That’s just not true. Hermeneutics is an exciting topic because it helps us believers better understand what God is saying to us. You’re going read the Bible between now and the day you die, and what you read will define your theology, affect major life decisions, and determine what you teach others according to what you think it says. Hermeneutics is critical because it’s the connection between God’s Word and its application. The single most influential class I took in seminary was hermeneutics. It did more to enrich my knowledge and understanding of God’s Word than any other subject.
Let me illustrate how three key principles of biblical interpretation can help you understand a commonly misunderstood passage. It’s based on a verse that has fueled numerous skeptics to challenge the integrity of Jesus.
They claim that Jesus commands his followers to round up those who reject him and kill them. They cite Luke 19:27 where Jesus says, “Those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.” That doesn’t sound like the tender and compassionate Jesus we all know. What’s going on? The problem is entirely a hermeneutical mistake—people are misinterpreting the passage. Consider how applying the three keys to biblical interpretation clarifies the meaning and application of this passage.
Context: The first key to interpreting any biblical passage is to read the verses before and after the passage in question. The more you read, the better. That’s why we say at Stand to Reason, “Never read a Bible verse.” Always read the whole paragraph, the chapter, or the whole book. When this verse is read in context, you discover that Jesus is telling a parable about a nobleman and his servants. Parables, of course, are fictitious stories intended to illustrate a point. This story is about a nobleman who leaves ten minas with his ten servants and departs to be crowned king. His servants hate him, though, and send an envoy to petition against his appointment. After he’s crowned king, he returns to judge his servants on how they’ve invested his money. After rewarding the faithful servants, he punishes the unfaithful ones and then orders his enemies to be killed.
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The measure of success for your life this day until your last is that Christ increases and that you decrease. That’s what we’re aiming for. That’s the target. John’s attitude in verse 29, “So this joy of mine has been made full,” shows he lived his life not only out of obedience or deep resolve, but a servant’s joyful heart. Disciples of Christ find their joy not when we are made great, but when Christ has been made great. That is our source of delight and true satisfaction, not the finite things of this world.

Please read John 3:22-36 as a preface to this article
The major religion of our world today is the religion of personal happiness. Our supposed aim in life is to make ourselves as happy as possible as quickly as possible. Financial security, prestige, relationships, and treasures all exists as possible avenues to total satisfaction. Even morality has been subjected to decisions of personal happiness.  If you have what you want, you are told you will be happy.
The problem is that our pursuit of that happiness isn’t going very well. We don’t seem to be good at it. Despite all the available forms of wealth and entertainment, people are treated for depression and anxiety at an incredibly high rate. If you’re not happy, take a pill or talk to a professional. We’re not a joyful society. One needs only a quick look at Twitter or Facebook to find a culture that is discontent, disappointed, and often enraged.
For Christians stuck in a “me first” culture, John the Baptist provides a powerful example of one who has found satisfaction.
Find Joy in Purpose, Not Popularity
For those who want to find happiness in importance, John the Baptist is an ancient example of celebrity. Mentioned in all four gospels, John is a prominent man, and particularly because of his role as the forerunner of the Messiah. John stands out; he’s not in the cities or the prominent buildings. He’s out in the wilderness preaching and people are going out to hear him. He has a thriving ministry and people from all over the region are coming great lengths to hear him.
Within the greater context of the Gospel of John, the text I asked you to read is John the Baptist’s last testimony. In fact, the gospel of John doesn’t even mention the account of John the Baptist’s beheading at the hands of Herod, we simply don’t hear from him again in this book. Yet, in this passage we find modern instructions for joy for those who think ease and popularity are the pathway to happiness.
In Matthew 3, even the Pharisees and the Sadducees wanted to come witness this great man. The priests and the Levites wanted to come see this phenomenon. Herod, himself, who was not a godly man, enjoyed listening to John’s preaching. This is a man of influence. This is a man of popularity.
They were very, very popular, but the disciples to question and worry about this Jesus who was more popular than them. The disciples came to John with concern and anxiety because there were more people coming to Jesus than to John.
Jesus’ ministry was growing in popularity, faster than John’s, giving John’s disciples the well-known fear of occupational obsolescence. With Jesus’ ministry growing, the disciples of John worried they were going the same pathway as the blacksmith, the milkman, and of Blockbuster video.
How would you respond? Ho do you respond when your plans fail, and your importance is diminished? Often our response is to get frustrated, defensive, critical, or bitter. But this isn’t the model we saw in John 3. In short, John’s response was this: It isn’t about me.
He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease
What John begins to do is declare that Christ is greater than he is. That his own popularity is of little consequence to him. 
In verse 27, John begins by taking no credit for his success. He says a man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. He says to disciples, ‘Friends, we weren’t prominent because we were creative, or smart, or good looking. We were given the position that we were given because God gave it to us.’
Our intellect and skills that put us in a role of influence or respect are from heaven.
Showing deep understanding of his role, his purpose, John says in verse 28, “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him.’” Saying, “This wasn’t about me, this was about making Him look good. I didn’t get into this for my own gain or for my own influence.”
John sees his ministry as a gift, and he sees his role as a setup man, satisfied and joyful when the spotlight is not on him, but focused on Christ.
He gives his summary statement in verse 30, saying “He must increase, but I must decrease.” I’ve been doing this all for Him. The main point of this section is to show that John’s ministry is going to disappear, and Christ’sministry is going to increase, but it also displays John’s burning passion for the greater ministry of Christ as the Messiah, not his ministry as the messenger.
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The Bible instructs all believers to gather regularly to hear the preaching of God’s Word, receive baptism and the Lord’s Supper (these are also known as Sacraments), and pray together (Heb. 10:25; 1 Cor. 10:16). Christ is present in these means of God’s grace through the power of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 18:20; John 14:16–17, 26). While the Holy Spirit is not limited to using Word, Sacrament, and prayer in his work of sanctification, these are God’s ordinary means of grace. 

The good seed cannot flourish when it is repeatedly dug up for the purpose of examining its growth. — J. C. Kromsigt

One of my favorite things about trees, especially mature ones, is the way they provide shade and shelter from the natural elements. Yet, everyone knows a seedling doesn’t give much of either. Trees need a consistent supply of sun, water, and nutrients over a long period of time to survive and thrive.
Christians often wonder whether they are growing in holiness.
Sanctification is a slow process of dying to the flesh (mortification) and living unto God (vivification). Just as it is impossible to know exactly what a tree seedling is going to look like in ten years, it can be frustrating to attempt to evaluate a person’s growth in Christ over the short term.
In his parables Jesus uses the image of plants to describe spiritual growth in the gospels of Matthew and John (see Matt. 13:1–32 and John 15:1–7):

“Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Matt. 13:8-9, the Parable of the Sower)

Jesus uses the metaphor of a vine and its branches to describe the organic union believers have with him.
Throughout the New Testament, believers are encouraged to grow in long-term community with each other in the local church (Acts 2:42; Eph. 4:11–13; Col. 3:16).
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