The Biblical Hermeneutics of Philip van Limborch (1633–1712) and its Intellectual Challenges

Abstract

Two features characterize van Limborch’s biblical hermeneutics: insistence on the reliability of New Testament testimonies about the life of Jesus, and a reliance on human reason as a key to the biblical message. Stressing the historicity of the Bible, van Limborch continued the tradition of Remonstrant predecessors like Episcopius, Grotius, and de Courcelles. He developed these features in debates with Orobio, Lodewijk Meyer, Spinoza, and Cocceius. Maintaining divine inspiration, he allowed for minor anomalies in the text. Van Limborch adduced the extraordinary character of miracles, the predictions of what would come to pass through Christ, and the convincing promise of eternal life. The Christological meaning was nothing but a mystical layer added by the New Testament authors. Thus he undermined the traditional ahistorical exegesis that explains the Old Testament by applying a New Testament perspective. This chapter ends with the reception of Van Limborch’s exegetical works in Germany and England.