How to Approach the Scriptures (Part 1)

My hope is that the reader has come to a place in his or her journey of life where the Bible is the sole authority of faith and practice, for it is without error in every matter of which it speaks. The Bible is, after all, God’s Word. (Some places where this is taught: Prov. 30:5-6; John 17:17; Rev. 22:18-19; 2Pet. 1:19-21; Heb. 1:1-2; 2Pet. 3:15-16; 2Sam. 23:2; Acts 1:16; 1Cor. 2:13-14; Matt. 5:18; John 10:35; Gal. 3:16; 2Tim. 3:16; Acts 17:11; 1Cor. 10:6-12; Eph.6:17; 2Tim. 3:15-16; 1John 4:1) Having come to this place in my own life, it is now essential for me to yield to its teachings whether or not I can intellectually understand and/or immediately agree. More properly I should say that, “I need to submit to God’s teachings” for that is what the Bible is: God’s teachings. I am reminded of the event that took place and was recorded for us in Acts 8:27-35, where Phillip led a one-on-one Bible study of the book of Isaiah with a man from Ethiopia. The Ethiopian wasn’t quit sure of whom the Prophet spoke. He had not, at this point, had a course on hermeneutics (interpretation). So God took care of the first things first: Phillip presented the Gospel and the Ethiopian believed and was baptized.

Some have used this as a proof text for their philosophy that every passage in the Bible points to Christ. This is often called the Christological approach. Others, closely related to the first group, use this passage to enforce the idea that every verse in the Bible points man toward salvation or has to do with some aspect of salvation. This is said to be the Soteriological approach. The esteemed C.H. Spurgeon said to his students, “Choose your text, then make a bee line for the cross!” Therefore, before I assert what the best approach to Scripture is, I will offer these preliminary remarks. It should be clear that I have a warmth and brotherly affection for Christians who do not agree with me. We are brothers in Christ! Some choose to call themselves “reformed”, “covenantal”, “new covenantal” and “progressive dispensational”. In these systems of thought many are conservative and seek to follow the teachings of God. There are also a great number of theologians and preachers in these groups who have much to offer the church and the individual believer. I personally praise the Lord for their commitment to the Bible and God. I am also friends with many in these groups and they would say the same of me I do believe.

Now to get to the nuts and bolts of this post; some may argue that language is a hindrance to God, but I humbly suggest it is NOT! God is perfectly capable to condescend to our human language which He invented, and this is also how He chooses to communicate to us. Let me quote Alice, when she was in Wonderland, “say what you mean and mean what you say.” This is basically what the Ethiopian was saying to Phillip … and it turns out that this is exactly what God has done for us in His Word the Bible. It is a marvelous Book, a special Book, a divine Book, and yes, a spiritual Book, but the simple fact remains: it is a Book! We must read it, and read it properly if we are to know what God wants to reveal to us from it. The question is “How are we to read this Book?” We will try to answer this question in part two (my next post) as we explore how to approach the Scriptures. Our approach to Scripture is vitally important don’t you agree?