Reading Scripture in the Fellowship of the Spirit: The Koinonia Role of the Holy Spirit in Biblical Hermeneutics

How does the Holy Spirit guide the Christian community in its custodianship and interpretation of Scripture? How does the fact that the Spirit is characterized by koinonia impact upon this task? In light of this, do we read Scripture with too much of an individualistic mindset? In this new book, Dr Trevor Reynolds addresses these questions, seeking answers primarily from within Scripture itself. He explores in depth what Jesus and the New Testament community taught concerning the interpretive role of the Holy Spirit. How did they interpret Scripture, with the help of the Spirit? He highlights their corporate/Spirit-led hermeneutic, with its challenge to our individualistic approaches. The New Testament writers interpreted the Old Testament in a way that revealed communal methods of interpretation. These were informed by Jewish pneumatic and corporate solidarity notions, as reshaped by Jesus’ own Spirit-given example and legacy. In this book, New Testament extracts are discussed which contain either specific examples of how Old Testament Scripture is interpreted by members of the New Testament community, with the Spirit’s help, or speak of the Spirit’s work of interpretation in a more general way. Trevor Reynolds seeks to uncover their implications for biblical hermeneutics, as well as for the doctrine, use and custodianship of Scripture in the life and witness of the church today. The book concludes by pointing to the wide-ranging implications that reading Scripture in the fellowship of the Spirit poses for today’s church.