Scripture’s Interpreter
How to Read the Bible Well, Part III
“The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (Ps. 119:130)
Thus far we have considered how we ought to read the Bible habitually, as though it were food (because it is), and we’ve also looked at what posture we should have while doing so. This week we turn to an important principle that will help guide the actual interpretative work involved in reading the Bible.
As you well know, the act of reading does not simply involve sounding out words on a page. It involves actually understanding what they mean. God speaks to us through Scripture, and this means we have to process what He is saying. We don’t have much difficulty doing this when we’re working through some of the clearer portions of Scripture, but the same cannot be said when we find ourselves in more obscure territory. In these times, we might wonder how we get on. How do we interpret such passages? In thinking through this issue, the Reformers arrived at an interpretative principle which acted as their guide. They said that Scripture is its own interpreter. The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) put it this way: “The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself” (1.9).
What this principle teaches us is that rather than going to an outside voice for interpretative insight—whether that voice is the intellectual current of the day, or a purported authority such as the pope—difficult scriptural passages ought to be clarified by plainer scriptural passages. To quote again from the WCF: “when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture. . . it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly” (1.9). According to this principle, no church tradition or council bears interpretative weight, except insofar as they shine, not their own light, but scriptural light upon the text.
Now, I’ve said that this was a Reformation motto, but it did not originate with them. They did not invent it, in other words. In fact, the principle is itself deeply scriptural. The Reformers were careful readers of Scripture, and saw how within Scripture Scripture is busy interpreting itself.
As you well know, the Bible was not written in a day. It is comprised of several books composed over the course of roughly 1,500 years. Within this library, later scriptural authors inspired by the Holy Spirt are familiar with the books that came before them; and, guided by the Holy Spirit, they are carefully developing and interpreting these earlier books. To give just one example: the seed of the woman (Gen. 3:15) becomes the seed of Abraham (Gen. 22:18) who is the seed of David (2 Sam. 7:12-16) who shall inherit the nations (Psa. 2:7) who is Jesus Christ (Matt. 1:1).
Now if you were to simply read in insolation Gen. 3:15, that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent’s seed, you might come away rather confused, or perhaps with a vendetta against snakes. What could it mean? If we are sons of Eve has God laid upon us the solemn job of smashing the head of every snake we see? or, just the ones that talk? Besides the fact that my father-in-law would like to have a word with those who’d gladly take this line of thought, more importantly, Scripture itself supplies us with an abundance of interpretative light, lest we rush to hasty conclusions. But in order to see such passages in its light we have to keep on reading.
As we keep on reading, Scripture unfold itself, imparting light to earlier texts, so that we come to see this doom foretold upon the serpent fulfilled in Christ. Indeed, we come to understand it as the first proclamation of our Lord’s triumphal defeat of Satan, and of evil itself. The psalmist recognized this kind of scriptural reality, and praised the Lord for it, saying: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (Ps. 119:130).
This was, moreover, how Jesus Himself interpreted Scripture. After His resurrection, He walked His disciples through the Old Testament, interpreting to them in “all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Lk. 24:27). Following His lead, this is how the evangelists framed Jesus’ life, footnoting, as it were, their narrations with references to earlier Scripture. Paul, too, reads Scripture this way, drawing out his doctrine from the Old Testament by interpreting it in light of Jesus.
What this means for us is that when we come to a difficult passage, and we rub our heads wondering what to make of it, we need to keep on reading. We need to keep on reading to see how the Holy Spirit clarifies what He has spoken. Like a good story, Scripture answers many of the questions it poses. We are also, of course, permitted to seek out commentaries and helpful guides from faithful men who have gone before us in searching out such scriptural illumination.
We should also keep in mind that this doesn’t mean that all of our questions will be answered, that all mystery will be dispelled. Good, godly men, well-versed in Scripture, still scratch their heads at certain passages, and even end up with different interpretations of them. In these instances, we get to practice humility, as we look forward to the day when Scripture will be replaced with sight. But for now, we walk by faith, which means “knowing in part” (1 Cor. 13:12). And we look forward to the day when our Lord will speak to us, no longer through the mediation of Scripture, but as with Moses, He will speak to us face to face. Martin Luther would put it this way: we do theology now in the light of grace, but then in the light of glory.