Helping Your Hermeneutic: Pronouns

In the last Helping Your Hermeneutic article, titled Repetition, we transitioned from the broader hermeneutical theory to sentence-level interpretation. Here, we will continue to equip the reader with another crucial sentence-level tool for sound biblical understanding. Before we begin, remember that we desire to interpret the Bible well, not merely to be a sort of intellectual juggernaut who puffs up, but because knowledge of God’s will leads to living a life pleasing to the Lord (Colossians 1:9-10). With that, we proceed.

A Very Brief Theology of Pronouns

The male-female dynamic within the created order is the choice of the Creator (Genesis 1:27), whose motivation is to receive glory from his creation (Ephesians 1:6). Within God’s Holy Word and the world he created, there are only two genders: male and female. These two God-given genders help us better understand, at a minimum, the unity within the Trinity, the unity between Christ and his Bride, and the purpose of earthly marriage. For these reasons, we praise God for the two genders he chose to create. And while there are only two genders, there exists a multiplicity of pronouns to refer to these genders both individually or collectively. Here is a non-exhaustive list of 15 pronouns we find in our English Bible:

I, Me, We, You, Who, He, Him, Himself, She, Her, Herself, They, Them, Any, and All.

Failing to identify the person or people a passage of scripture addresses, leads to one of the more common ways to take scripture out of context and misapply it. Therefore, when you read the word of God, look for pronouns and search the text to identify whom the pronoun references (the noun that a pronoun refers to in a sentence is called the antecedent . . . when you read your Bible, go find the antecedent!).

The following example is an excerpt from an Exegetical Study on 2 Peter 3:8-9 that clarifies one of the most commonly misinterpreted scriptures by identifying and tracking the pronouns throughout Peter’s second epistle. 

Follow the Pronouns: You, Beloved, and Any

A pronoun typically stands in for a noun to avoid repetition.[1] The key to the proper interpretation of this passage is to determine the identity of each noun that Peter’s pronouns are “standing in for.” Peter uses the Greek pronouns hymas and tinas (translated “you” and “any” respectively) in 3:9 referring to a specific audience. The importance of this point cannot be stressed enough because Peter attaches specific promises about God’s patience in salvation to whomever hymas and tinas are. The reader must apply these promises to the same people (pronouns) that Peter does. Therefore, the key to properly understanding, interpreting, and applying this text in the manner Peter meant it to be is to follow his use of the pronouns: “you,” “beloved,” and “any.”

“You” is the Beloved

Peter says, “God is patient toward you.” In the immediate context, “you” refers to Peter’s beloved brethren. The “you” in verse 9 is also identifiable by progressing through chapter 3 and noting who Peter addresses his statements to each time he uses the words “you” and “your.” Second Peter 3:1 says, “This is now the second letter I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles” (emphasis added). Notice how the “you” in verse 1 is also called the “beloved?” Peter says, “I am writing to you, beloved.” Verse 1 serves to show that the word “you” and the word “beloved” refer to the same group of people.

The same connection in verse 1 of the word “you” to the word “beloved” is also present in verses 8 and 9:

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance (emphasis added).[2]

So, the group the Lord is patient toward, “you,” is the group whom Peter also calls “beloved.”

“Any” is the Beloved

As previously discussed, the “beloved” refers to the Christian brothers to whom Peter writes. When Peter says, “But God is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish,” he does not change his audience mid-sentence (or the entire theme of his letter up to this point); he is still addressing the beloved and correcting the false teachings of scoffers regarding the Lord’s second coming. Peter does not mean to say, “God is patient toward the beloved, not wishing that any person ever throughout the history of time should perish.” Rather, what he does mean to say is, “God is patient toward the beloved, not wishing that any of the beloved should perish.” The basis for God’s patience is that some among every person throughout history will repent according to his will.

This excerpt displays the vitality of properly identifying the antecedent in a sentence, chapter, and book of the Bible when the authors of scripture utilize pronouns. Join us next time in this series when we examine the value of identifying lists within the infallible, inerrant, inspired Word of God.

Notes:

[1]William D. Mounce, Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar: Third Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2009), 99.

[2] Soteriological doctrines tend to be built off of the out-of-context usage of this exact phrase. Identifying and following the pronouns of 2 Peter would prevent such an error.