Orthodox River

Biblical Interpertation

The Five Keys to Interpretation of the Bible

Father John Romanides

What is missing in the work of such Biblical scholars and especially of those who work within and under the weight of the Franco-Latin Augustinian tradition, are the following five keys:

  1. That the very core of the Biblical tradition is that religion is a specific sickness with a specific cure. This is what the claim “there is no God except Yahweh” means. Not knowing this fundamental first key one cannot know the second key:

  2. That there is a clear distinction between Biblical terms which denote that which is “uncreated” and that which is “created.” Not knowing this context one cannot know the third key to Biblical terms:

  3. That “it is impossible to express God and even more impossible to conceive Him.” In other words there is no similarity whatsoever “between the created and the uncreated.” Anyone who thinks that Biblical expressions convey concepts about God is sadly mistaken. When used correctly Biblical words and concepts lead one to purification and illumination of the heart which lead to glorification but are not themselves glorification. An integral and essential part of knowing these foregoing three keys is the fourth key:

  4. That the cure of the sickness of religion involves at all stages “the transformation of selfish happiness seeking love” into “the selfless love of one’s own crucifixion which is glorification.” This glorification, therefore, is not only that of the Lord of Glory Incarnate, “but also that of all prophets and apostles (sent ones) before and after the Incarnation of the Lord of Glory.” These four keys become the fifth contextual key of cure.

  5. That “the expressions about God in the Bible are not intended to convey concepts about God. They act only as means to guide one to the purification and illumination of the heart and finally to glorification by the Pre-Incarnate and Incarnate Lord (Yaweh) of Glory which is to see Him by means of His uncreated glory or rule” and “not by means of ephemeral created symbols and concepts about Him” as is the case in the Augustinian tradition. In John 17 Christ prays for the cure of the glorification of His disciples and their disciples, not for divided Churches. Indeed not for traditions which have not the slightest idea what the cure of glorification is.