Testing Cline's Hypothesis With His Own Hermeneutic
In his handy book, Making Sense of the Old Testament, Tremper Longman III writes that David J. A. Cline is the most influential writer today proposing that the meaning of a biblical text is not found in the author nor the reader, but nowhere.
"Cline," says Tremper, aruges that the "interplay of the numerous authors, the biblical text, and its readers through the years prohibits our speaking of 'the meaning' of any particular text. He then blatantly says that we are free to interpret the text any way that we choose."1 Tremper writes that Cline asserts that if he is speaking for a group of Anglicans he would interpret the text one way, for a flock of feminists another way, or for a crowd of vegetarians, still another.
Of course, this makes the reader the sole authority on what he wants the text to mean, subtracting all authority from God and impugning Him with the inability to communicate in a way that men can clearly understand. Cline's approach indirectly slams Paul's statement in 2 Timothy 2:15 to be a faithful workman who handles "accurately" the word of truth, for if a text has no right meaning, then seeking "accuracy" has become a blindman's mission--but wait! Who has the right to say how 2 Timothy 2:15 should be interpreted in the first place?
Cline's proposal may intimidate many at first, for it's difficult to argue against someone who says there is no objective method of interpreting a text of Scripture. But it's really quite simple. Cline has already decimated the very hypothesis he stands on. Let's test Cline's hypothesis with his own hermeneutic. "Mr. Cline, if what you say is true, then I would like to apply the same theory to your words. I have chosen to interpret your statement to mean that a text's meaning is the meaning the original author intended." You see, Cline has invalidated his proposal before it even started. And if we use his proposal, we can defend that the meaning of any biblical text begins and ends with the intention of the original author.
Endnotes
1. Tremper Longman III, Making Sense of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 24.