Lesson 7: Christ as the Key
A Concern
Some worry that reading the Bible with Christ as the key causes us to misrepresent Scripture. This is a serious concern, and there are sometimes good reasons for it. In an exchange at Christianity Today, a top OT scholar questioned whether we should interpret the Bible in this way:
Is this exegesis [getting a message out of a text] or eisegesis [getting the text to say what you want it to say]? … Christ-centered preaching may obscure the intent of the original author and in so doing may actually reflect a low view of Scripture. —Dr. Daniel Block, in Christ-Centered Preaching & Teaching, ed. Ed Stetzer, 5-6.
Dr. Block’s concern is weighty: When interpreters read the Bible with Christ as the key, are they muting the Bible by forcing it to say what it doesn’t intend to say?
We must acknowledge that it is possible to read the Bible wrongly with Christ as the key. This can happen for many reasons: (1) because we do not understand Christ rightly; (2) because we have misinterpreted the text; (3) because we have not labored to understand the text; etc.
Yet, we still insist that we must interpret the Bible with Christ as the key because the Bible demands that we do so. This call requires the Holy Spirit, great skill, diligent study, and teachers and partners along the way. The fact that some have failed to fulfill this call well does not diminish the fact that this biblical call is both real and possible. The Bible demands that we read with Christ as the key. Therefore, we can and we must do so.
In the next two steps, we will look together at Scripture to see how the whole Bible and specific texts ground this call.
Do you have any concerns about interpreting the Bible with Christ as the key?
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How have you seen pastors and other Bible interpreters fulfill this call well?
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