A Biblical Vision, Part I: Mastering the Old Testament Witness to Christ

Session 1 Introduction

What is the correct way to interpret the Bible? It is sometimes imagined that there are as many different interpretations of the Bible as there are readers. How should the Bible be understood? As the Ethiopian eunuch asked, with the Bible in hand, “How can I [understand] unless someone guides me?” The answer to this problem for the Christian is clear. Christ is our guide; he is the key to the interpretation of the Bible. Jesus claimed five times that he is the theme of the entire canon of Old Testament Scripture. Speaking of the Law and Prophets he said, “I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5.17). Jesus walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24.27). Later, to the ten disciples in the upper room Jesus said, “Everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24.44). In dialogue with the Jews Jesus charged, “You search the Scriptures . . . and it is they that bear witness to me” (John 5.39). The writer of Hebrews ascribes to Christ these words of Ps. 40: “It is written of me in the roll of the book” (Heb. 10.7). These five times our Lord affirmed that he is the theme of the whole Old Testament. We may conclude then, on the authority of Christ, that he is the theme of the entire Bible. The Bible must be interpreted Christocentrically (i.e., Christ-centered). There is no other way for a Christian to understand it. There are at least three basic senses in which we may see Christ in the Bible as we survey its content: (1) Christ is the theme of both testaments of the Bible, (2) Christ is the theme of each of the eight sections of Scripture, and (3) Christocentric themes and truths may be found in each of the sixty-six books of the Bible. Like a puzzle, once the overall picture (theme) is understood, it is much easier to put all the pieces together.

~ Norman L. Geisler. A Popular Survey of the Old Testament . Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 2003. p. 19-20.

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I. Basic Overview of the Scriptures

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15] and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

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