Hermeneutics

In this third session, Pastor Martin focuses entirely on the mental gifts necessary for the pastoral office. He identifies five indispensable mental requirements: (1) a mind reverently submissive to Scripture, (2) a mind furnished with the basic content of Scripture, (3) a mind furnished with an understanding of the meaning and interrelatedness of Scripture across four theological disciplines -- systematic, biblical, historical, and experimental theology, (4) a mind furnished with the necessary tools to discover and make plain the right meaning of Scripture, and (5) a mind furnished with sound practical judgment. He concludes with five qualifying principles to prevent undue discouragement while maintaining the biblical standard.

Pastor Martin devotes a full message to the lexical groundwork of sanctification, showing that the Hebrew and Greek word families translated 'sanctify/holy' primarily mean to set apart from common use for God. He illustrates this from Exodus (holy ground, firstborn, people, priestly garments), Matthew 23 and 1 Timothy 4 (temple sanctifying the gold, food sanctified by the word and prayer), then traces three streams from this 'mountain pool' of meaning: the sanctification of God (by himself and by his people), the sanctification of man (as responsibility, as privilege of position in mixed marriages, as divine promise), and the sanctification of the Redeemer (John 10:36, John 17:17-19). The pastoral aim is to equip the congregation to read Scripture without being deceived by sleight-of-hand teachers.