principles that help us interpret God’s Word. What I would like to do, however, is set forth five basic hermeneutical assumptions that undergird and largely account for what you will encounter in the subsequent chapters. I make little effort to defend these principles (that in itself would require an entire book), but rather strive simply to explain them in a way that is intelligible (even if not persuasive!) to all my readers. So let me begin. 1. The central and controlling thesis that I believe