Exegesis and the Lens of Love: Duane W. H. Arnold, PhD

Exegesis and the Lens of Love

“Whoever, therefore, thinks that he understands the divine Scriptures or any part of them so that it does not build the double love of God and of our neighbor does not understand it at all.” — Augustine, De Doctrina Christiana I.36.40

There is much about biblical exegesis that is a mystery, but this I can understand.

For Augustine, proper exegesis is not an intellectual exercise alone, nor a means of defending one’s theological position, or discovering a new mystery in our interpretation. It is, rather, an act of love—rooted in what he calls the “double love” of God and neighbor. In fact, Augustine insists that unless our reading of Scripture leads to this so-called double love, we have not understood it at all, no matter the cleverness of our exegesis.

And just to drive home the point, Augustine tells us exactly who our neighbor is.

In his De Doctrina Christiana, Augustine writes that “we should understand that he is our neighbor to whom the office of mercy should be shown if he needs it.” The point is both simple and profound: the measure of our biblical understanding is not found in the precision of our arguments or the complexity of our hermeneutics, but in whether or not mercy flows from what we read. To engage Scripture apart from love is, for Augustine, to miss the heart of revelation itself.

True exegesis, then, cannot be self-centered. It is not all about me; it is about God, and it is about others. To read Scripture rightly is to be drawn beyond the self—to be confronted by divine love and called into love’s service. Even the one we would prefer to avoid, or to condemn, becomes our neighbor when seen through Augustine’s lens of love and mercy.

Moreover, Augustine understood that every word of Scripture—law and gospel, covenant and promise—points toward this same end. “The goal of the command,” as Paul writes, “is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith”. Augustine saw this as the key to interpretation: every covenant is made to instill the love of God and neighbor; every dispensation, even for the most ardent dispensationalist, points toward this same telos—love fulfilled. No system of interpretation is exempt. Without love as a result, our exegesis becomes mere tinkering with words and, therefore, lacking in meaning.

It is striking how relevant that remains today. Much of what passes for biblical interpretation at  present, especially online, is about winning debates, proving one’s orthodoxy, or discrediting one’s opponents. Augustine’s challenge stands in sharp contrast: Scripture exists not to divide us, but to unite us in love. Knowledge without love, he reminds us, “puffs up,” but love “builds up”.

Living in a broken world, such exegesis offers wholeness and healing. For Augustine, all knowledge, all prophecy, all study has but one end—the building up of faith, hope, and love. The Scriptures were given to form these virtues in us. To interpret them rightly is to be shaped by them, to be remade in love.

So, as we turn to the text—whether we are parsing Greek verbs or tracing covenant themes in a Hebrew text—it may be worth asking Augustine’s question in our own hearts: does this understanding build up love for God? Does it call forth love for my neighbor? If it does not, Augustine would say, we have not understood it at all. If it does, we are close to the kingdom.

Real biblical exegesis, then, is not about mastery of the text—it is about being mastered by the text, drawn into the love that stands at the center of all revelation and, I would add, the Incarnation itself. That, for Augustine, is where all interpretation must begin, and where, ultimately, it must end.

Duane W. H. Arnold, PhD