When reading the Bible, I believe there are three very, very important lens that we must look through
- Jesus
- The Trajectory of the Scriptures
- The Context of the Scriptures
Reading the Bible through Jesus
• In Colossians 1:15 St. Paul tells us that Jesus is the “image of God, the invisible one.”
- John 1:14 tells us that the Word of God (Jesus) became flesh and dwelled among us
- Jesus Himself told us that to see Him was to see God
• As such, I firmly believe that we are to read the Scriptures through the lens of Jesus
- Jesus is God relived to us
- So when we have problems understanding what the Scriptures are saying
- Which, face it, there are some confusing parts in this book – that doesn’t mean that we throw them out (far from it)
- It just means that we read those passages through Jesus
• If our interruption of Scriptures does not match that of the life and character of Jesus, we MUST rethink that passage!
- We ALWAYS default back to Jesus
- For He is God relived to us!!
The Trajectory of the Scriptures
• The second lens is the trajectory of the Scriptures
- What has God been doing throughout history?
- What has been His focus?
- What is the overarching theme of the Scriptures?
• These are questions that we must ask ourselves as the books of the Bible are not standalone documents
• They are documents placed within a greater canon of documents
• The Scriptures did not fall from the sky bound and complete
- They are a collection of God-breathed letters, histories, poems, songs, etc
• Within the pages of Scriptures are people as human as we are
- It records there mistakes
- Successes
- Failures
- Loves and hates
• It tells us that we all are on a journey with God and even when we mess up, God is still with us
• As such, when we find a passage that is confusing, we must ask ourselves
- What is the overall movement of the Scriptures in this area?