Lesson 9: The Heart of Interpretation
Not Crashing the Plane
There are two ways to crash the airplane of biblical application: mere moralism and airy abstraction.
Error #1: Mere Moralism
This error is a lack of Christ-centeredness, trying to apply a text while omitting Jesus and his gospel. And it is fatal because it fails to magnify Jesus as the one who empowers our obedience. Tim Keller warns us,
What if you are preaching through a text on Joseph resisting the temptation of Potiphar’s wife, or of Josiah reading the forgotten law of God to the assembled nation, or of David bravely facing Goliath, and you distill the lesson for life—such as fleeing temptation, loving the Scripture, and trusting God in danger—but you end the sermon there? Then you are only reinforcing the self-salvation default mode of the human heart. —Tim Keller, Preaching, Kindle ed., Chapter 2.
Do you see the danger? Our hearts are bent towards self-reliance. Therefore we must move away from mere moralism as we apply the Bible to loving God and loving our neighbor. Remember this (to paraphrase Tim Keller): the Bible isn’t primarily about you—who you are, and what you’re supposed to do. No, it’s about Jesus—who he is, and what he has done. He is the “ignition key,” the One who empowers us to obey by his Spirit. When we make the error of “mere moralism,” we crash the plane of application. We have foolishly trusted in human strength and wisdom, and forgotten the point of it all: to soar the high skies of exalting Christ.
Paul warns against mere moralism and its lack of Christ-centeredness in Galatians:
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? —Galatians 3:1–6
Error #2: Airy Abstraction
However, there is an opposite error to avoid. As we wrestle with the controls to keep the nose of our airplane from pointing down, we must avoid the opposite error of letting the plane rise into the air too quickly! This also leads to an eventual nosedive and crash landing.
While mere moralism is a lack of Christ-centeredness, airy abstraction is a lack of concreteness. The Bible demands that we apply its teaching in concrete and specific ways. Indeed, God created and redeemed us in Christ to live as his images, people who reflect and represent him by obeying his words in all of life. Jesus Christ is the “keystone,” who unites and makes sense of all creation. Thus, his gospel is meant to transform every corner of our lives. So if “believe in Jesus, trust the gospel” is your only application for every text you read, you aren’t faithfully applying the text. (Nor are you faithfully believing in Jesus and trusting the gospel!)
John calls for genuine faith in Christ that produces concrete obedience in his first epistle:
We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. —1 John 2:3–6 (NIV)
How to Fly Safely: Biblically Faithful Application
When we apply the Bible rightly, we don’t merely say “here’s how you should live,” nor merely, “believe in Jesus, trust the gospel.” Instead, biblically-faithful application shows how you should live in Christ.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5
Let’s take a closer look at this principle:
Biblical application shows how you should live in Christ.
How You Should Live
Love for God and neighbor is specific and real-world. It aims at the daily realities of our thoughts, emotions, and actions.
In Christ
Biblical application is also rooted in our union with Christ. We are freely and fully forgiven, unchangeably loved, free from sin, alive to God through union with Jesus. Because of Jesus, we are able to obey God’s Word through the power of the indwelling Spirit. These gospel realities empower and motivate us to live obediently in a way that pleases our Lord (Col 1:10). Such Spirit-empowered obedience does not exalt us for our goodness, our wisdom, or our strength. Instead, it exalts God in Christ!
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.
2 Corinthians 5:14–15
Ephesians: A Biblical Example
For a biblical example of faithful application, let’s consider the book of Ephesians. In Ephesians 1–3. Paul begins by proclaiming the gospel, including our predestination by the Father, our new life in Christ, our being sealed with the Spirit, and our identity as one church. Then he commands his readers to apply that gospel in concrete ways. Look at the following selections from Ephesians 4–6:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. —Ephesians 4:1–3
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. —Ephesians 4:25–29
But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. —Ephesians 5:3–4
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. … Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. —Ephesians 5:22, 25
And how did Paul get to these commands? Notice the “therefore” in 4:1. He is saying, “Because of the gospel I’ve just proclaimed to you, live in humility, love, truth, labor, and pure speech.” Right doctrine leads to right practice, and right practice is built on right doctrine. And our Lord Jesus Christ unites and empowers all because both right doctrine and right practice depend and focus upon him.
All theology is practical. All practice is theological.
Pastor Michael Foster paraphrasing Jonathan Edwards