It is legitimate to interpret the Gospels in terms of the
intent of their human authors. However, many scholars stop there without
considering the intent of the greater author – the Holy Spirit. The Bible warns
us against such a bias in a number of ways. First, it claims that the Bible is
God-breathed-out:
·
2 Timothy 3:16–17 All Scripture is breathed out
by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for
training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for
every good work.
This is also the claim of the Apostles:
·
1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we also thank God
constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard
from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the
word of God, which is at work in you believers.
The Spirit even warned the Hebrew Prophets that what they
write, they will not always understand because it was written for a later
generation:
·
1 Peter 1:10–12 Concerning this salvation, the
prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and
inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them
was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent
glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you,
in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached
the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which
angels long to look.
Because of this, our unbalanced method of interpretation –
looking just at the intent of the human authors – biases the resulting
interpretation. Instead, if the Bible is the Word of God, then we have to also
treat it as God demands – as the one plan of God from beginning to end. This
requires us to interpret each verse in conjunction with the rest of the Bible.
If we do not start according to the approach delineated by God Himself, we will
inevitably derive wrong interpretations.
This is also the way we attempt to interpret any novel – to understand the end from what has already been laid out in the beginning and even throughout. If the Bible is God’s Word, why then shouldn’t we interpret it as the coherent work of its one managing Author! Consequently, we derive the essential principle – Scripture interprets Scripture!
This is also the way we attempt to interpret any novel – to understand the end from what has already been laid out in the beginning and even throughout. If the Bible is God’s Word, why then shouldn’t we interpret it as the coherent work of its one managing Author! Consequently, we derive the essential principle – Scripture interprets Scripture!
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