of God. But we cannot argue from this for a like usage by other writers;
as, for example, in the well-known passage: "The word of God is quick
and powerful," etc. Heb. 4:12.

Usage alone is often insufficient to determine the meaning of a word in
a particular passage; for (1) the term may occur nowhere else, (2) it
may have in current usage two or more different significations. In the
former case, the interpreter must avail himself of all the external
helps above specified, and especially of the light shed upon the meaning
of the term in question by the context. In the latter case, the context
must be his chief guide. The same Greek word, for example, signifies
_stature_ (Luke 19:3) and _age_ (Heb. 11:11). In the interpretation of
Matt. 6:27, where our version reads: "Which of you by taking thought can
add one cubit unto his stature?" the question may naturally enough arise
in which of these two senses the Saviour employed it. Whatever may be
the decision, it must have for its basis not simple usage, which is
ambiguous, but the connection of the word in the context. Many like
examples might be adduced.

It has been already remarked (Chap. 24, No. 5) that in New Testament
usage many words have a technical and therefore peculiar meaning. We are
not at liberty, however, to determine such technical meanings at random,
or in accordance with any preconceived opinions. It can only be done, as
in the case of all other writings, in accordance with the acknowledged
laws of interpretation. The general result, then, at which we arrive is,
that in determining the meaning of scriptural terms we must be guided by
the same rules which we follow in the interpretation of other writings.

2. From the signification of particular words we proceed to the
consideration of the _sense_ embodied in the language of the sacred
writers. A knowledge of the words which enter into the composition of a
sentence does not of itself give us a true apprehension of the sense
which the writer seeks to convey. We must know the writer's aim, the
shape and course of his argument, the ideas which he is combating as
well as those which he seeks to establish, the emphatic words of the
sentence, whether he wishes to be understood literally or figuratively,
and various other particulars; all which are to be ascertained by the
same rules which we employ in the interpretation of language generally.

3. The _scope_ or _design_ of the inspired writer may be _general_