7) Seeking Truth as We Interpret Scripture
In the last study, we discussed how the Bible represents a story of redemption. In future studies, we explore how the redemptive story is split into specific categories. The redemptive story as a whole is what I call the full gospel message. Everything else we discuss fits within that full gospel message, within those redemptive categories.
As we outline the categories of redemptive history, we will also examine how individual categories can be misunderstood or misinterpreted. Specifically, how can they be viewed and interpreted outside the greater redemptive narrative? When redemption categories are taken out of the proper context, it can distort the full gospel message. While I am not implying that everything within this study is 100% divine truth, we will always strive to wrestle and understand individual events within scripture by viewing them within the context of the greater narrative. Placing events in the context of the greater narrative will allow us to see the event in its proper context. Allowing God the freedom to educate us and increase our wisdom and knowledge is part of sanctifying ourselves to become more like Christ. This comprehensive approach, of course, will be coupled with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who leads us into all truth:
When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13, ESV Bible)
But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. (1 John 2:20, ESV Bible)
Keep in mind that these verses from John and 1 John are not spoken as generalities but to specific people regarding specific things. For the modern-day believer to walk in the spirit of truth, we must understand the story's context, something very familiar to the first-century Jew and frankly foreign to us. We must also be willing to allow the spirit of truth to work within us. This may mean admitting that you may have the wrong perspective and are holding on to the wrong things you believe are true. In other words, be willing to let go of what you think you know and understand and pray that God alone gives you understanding. Don't be defined by your denominational beliefs. Do be defined by what you grew up learning in church. Good people miss the truth of God all the time. However, may we all be filled with the spirit of curiosity and the desire to seek understanding instead of settling on someone else's beliefs that we accept as our own. Every disciple who met and followed Jesus had to decide who he was and why they were changing their lives to pursue him. One of our primary goals as disciples in the modern-day is to seek truth.
Truth is that which explains and gives meaning to our existence because truth is that which corresponds to how things actually are. We seek to know ourselves, the world, and God as they really are. Though we long to walk in truth, we all sense a universal bondage to deception. Jesus declared:
For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice." (John 18:37, ESV Bible)
As Christians, we believe that the Scriptures, canonized in the Old and New Testaments, contain the truth. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus verified that those Scriptures tell us what truth is. They inform us who God is and who we are -where we came from and are going. They tell us the purpose and meaning of life. The scriptures point us to the truth.
Theological Consistency
Theological consistency is a vital principle that ensures our interpretations and understandings of Scripture are harmoniously integrated into the overarching narrative of redemption, which we term as the full gospel message. This principle is particularly significant as we explore the specific categories of redemptive history, examining how each category fits within the greater story of God's work in the world.
We then realize that there are biblical truths; they must be compared and proven consistent in our understanding. When a contradiction in our knowledge arises, it should prompt us to explore that topic further. For New Testament studies, our primary anchor will be our attempt to summarize the first-century Jewish worldview held by the writers of the New Testament. Thus, we will assume more of a historical scholarly approach to much of our study.
The Importance of Theological Consistency
Prevents Misinterpretation: As we delve into various aspects of the biblical narrative, theological consistency acts as a safeguard against interpretations that could distort or oversimplify the gospel message. When redemption categories are viewed in isolation, or without reference to the whole, there is a risk of developing skewed doctrines that may seem valid in a narrow context but fail to align with the broader truths of Scripture.
Maintains Integrity of the Gospel: The full gospel message is a complex tapestry woven through diverse genres and books of the Bible, each contributing unique insights into God’s redemptive work. Theological consistency ensures that these insights are not contradictory but rather complementary, revealing a more profound, unified understanding of God's plans and purposes.
Guides Correct Application: By consistently interpreting Scripture within the context of the full gospel message, we can apply its truths more accurately and relevantly in our lives. This approach helps us avoid the common pitfall of using Scripture to support preconceived ideas or culturally influenced beliefs that may not actually reflect biblical intent.
Enhances Doctrinal Purity: In a landscape of diverse theological opinions and denominational positions, maintaining theological consistency provides a critical check on our interpretations, helping to purify our doctrines from errors or human biases. This is essential for teaching and defending the faith in a way that is faithful to the original message of the Scriptures.
Implementing Theological Consistency
Scriptural Cross-Referencing: Regularly cross-reference related biblical passages to ensure that new interpretations are consistent with established truths. This practice helps highlight the continuity and coherence across the Scriptures.
Historical Contextualization: Embrace a historical and cultural understanding of biblical texts. Recognizing how first-century Jews, for example, would have understood the Scriptures provides essential insights that support a theologically consistent interpretation.
Community Discourse: Engage with the broader Christian community, including historical church teachings and contemporary theological scholarship. Such engagement can provide checks and balances, offering corrective perspectives that enhance theological consistency.
Spiritual Discernment: Lean on the guidance of the Holy Spirit, as promised in scriptures like John 16:13 and 1 John 2:20. The Holy Spirit aids in discerning the deeper truths of Scripture, guiding believers into a fuller understanding that transcends human wisdom.
Continual Reevaluation: Be willing to reevaluate and refine understanding in light of new insights or corrections. Theological consistency is not about rigidity but about remaining faithful to the core message of the Bible as more understanding is gained.
Incorporating these elements into our study ensures that as we dissect the various categories of the redemptive story, we do not lose sight of the coherent, integrated nature of the gospel. This approach not only honors the complexity and depth of the biblical text but also empowers believers to embody and articulate their faith more effectively and authentically.
There are many religions and sacred writings that claim to speak the truth. We have numerous divisions or denominations within Christianity, each with its own interpretation of truth. Whose account is actually correct? Whose perspective is reliable? Which sacred books are trustworthy? As fallen human beings, we have no way of knowing 100%.
Judeo-Christianity asserts that it has proof that its Scriptures tell us the truth. Its evidence rests not on its superior arguments or the accurate transmission of its holy documents (though we heartily affirm these) but rather on the claim that a man has overcome the primary existential ill: death.
Our entire existence and anchor is the life, death, and resurrection of a man we believe is the chosen Messiah. Many people who testified to his reality in the Hebrew Scriptures witnessed his life, death, and resurrection, how it pertains to their first-century Jewish understanding of the world, and what it means for our future. We believe that he alone is the Messiah, the chosen one of God to carry out all that God said will happen. This is what makes us and millions of others "believers."
This argument was the primary approach used by the early church in its proclamation. Only one presentation of truth has produced a resurrected human being. Thus, the Jewish Scriptures and expectations are authentic and "more fully confirmed":
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (1 Peter 1:19-21, ESV Bible)
Paul demonstrates this clearly as he summarizes redemptive history to the Athenians:
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for "'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your own poets have said, "'For we are indeed his offspring.' Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but know he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:24-31, ESV Bible)
The declaration of Jesus' resurrection was the primary means of convincing people that God had inspired the prophets and their Scriptures, which ultimately communicated the coming day of judgment. Suppose we deny the historical and bodily resurrection of Jesus. In that case, we have no proof of the Judeo-Christian Scriptures and their message of the day of the Lord, the resurrection of the dead, the new heavens and new earth, the age to come, etc. Without the resurrection of Jesus, our validation of scripture and reasons why we believe what we believe may be persuasive but not certain and not confirmed by God. As Paul said:
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:14, ESV Bible)
We have God-given assurance that there will be a judgment day. The assurance is the resurrection of Jesus.
Those who affirm that the Judeo-Christian Scriptures proclaim the truth exclusively are generally known as "evangelicals." This label roughly derives from Martin Luther's identification of the "evangelical church," which believed in sola scriptura (Latin for "by Scripture alone"), versus the Roman Catholic Church, which was viewed as tainted by its tradition. Evangelicalism is ultimately an approach to truth based upon the exclusivity of the Scriptures, for the evangelical "seeks to construct his theology on the teaching of the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible."
While we will primarily rely on the Bible and its Old and New Testaments, we will sometimes pull from extra-biblical sources to help define terms within the Bible that have not been clearly defined. We will also use extra-biblical sources to better understand the Jewish narrative and worldview.
To summarize this lesson, we have to seek truth at all costs. We must be astute learners and detectives of the scripture. We aim to understand the Bible as the first-century Jew would have comprehended. The closer we get to that understanding, the more likely we are to grasp the truth, hear the original message in the proper context, and decide how to live concerning that message.