What are some principles to help me understand the Bible as a whole The Bible has 66 different books written by at least thirty authors over a span of 1500 years. This alone gives us a challenge to be able to fit it all together so we can know the truth God has revealed. Everyone who is more than a casual reader eventually adopts some interpretive lens. Here are five principles that have guided many Christians through the centuries.
The Old Testament must be interpreted by the New Testament. We look to Jesus and his apostles to explain the Bible beginning how to understand the Old Testament. For example Malachi 4:5 says that God will send the prophet Elijah before the day of the Lord. Who is that? Matthew records the words of Jesus to let us know that this ‘Elijah’ is John the Baptist. Mat 11:13-14 (NIV), “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.”
The Gospels must be interpreted by the Letters.
In Matthew 5:20 (ESV) Jesus said,”unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”. We may conclude that we must live by the Old Testament until we are instructed by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:20, 22 (NIV), “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin…This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
The incidental must be interpreted by the systematic.
We interpret the unusual, obscure statements by plain, straightforward statements. One example is 1 Corinthians 15:29 which is used sometimes to teach that a person can be baptized in behalf of a person who is dead. But a look at all of the baptism stories in the book of Acts and other baptism teachings show that a person is baptized after their own personal faith is expressed. This is the safeguard against bizarre doctrines.
The local must be interpreted by the universal.
A command or example that is tied to a local situation is not necessarily to become a practice for all believers at all times. One example is found in Romans 16:16 (NIV), “greet one another with a holy kiss…” And another is in 3 John 14 (NIV), “Greet the friends there by name.” These specific ways to greet are not the point. Do we kiss? Do I have to greet everyone by name? No, the universal is simply to acknowledge other believers in a friendly manner.
The symbolic must be interpreted by the instructive.
The clear, instructive passages guide us in interpreting symbolic statements. The day counts in Revelation are likely symbolic since Revelation is purposely written in veiled language to protect the original readers from persecution. Attempts to interpret these numbers must be guided by the instructive statements made by Jesus that no one knows the day or hour of his return. Revelation 11 lays out times in terms of day counts. This must be guided by Matthew 24:36 (NIV) “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
For more on this topic listen to our Know God podcast “Principles of Bible Interpretation”.