A Christological Hermeneutic

Yesterday, Pete said that there were two Greek terms that would come in useful as we explore hearing God in the Bible. Today we’ll consider the second term: hermeneutics.

‘Hermeneutics is the particular key you use to unlock the meaning of the text. I sometimes think of it as the pair of glasses you put on to read the Bible.’

‘On the road to Emmaus, Jesus introduces a brand-new hermeneutical model that sets the hearts of his listeners on fire. We are told that he ‘explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself’ (italics mine). Earlier, in John 5:39, he said of the Bible, ‘these are the very Scriptures that testify about me’. Jesus reframed the Old Testament (his Bible) entirely in the light of his own life, death and resurrection.

…But Jesus isn’t just teaching here about himself from the Bible; he’s also teaching about the Bible itself, modeling the way in which we are now to read it in the light of his existence and through the lens, therefore, of the Gospels. This approach, known as the Christological hermeneutic, is one of the most radical and exciting keys to biblical understanding I’ve ever found. Radical because it gets to the root of the Christian faith. If we truly believe that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus changes everything, that must surely and especially include the way we read the Bible? And it’s exciting too because a Christological hermeneutic enables us to catch glimpses and hear whispers of our Lord on every page of the Bible.

The Christological hermeneutic means that we read the Old Testament in the light of the New Testament, and the later New Testament epistles in the light of the Gospels. So, for example, the apparent brutality of God’s instruction to Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac is reframed completely by the moment, centuries later, when God himself sacrifices his only begotten Son on the cross…

The ultimate challenge of a Jesus-centred hermeneutic is that it makes love the lens through which we must henceforth read, interpret and apply all Scripture. No wonder the hearts of the couple on the road to Emmaus burned within them! Jesus makes the Bible God’s love letter to our souls.’

Lord, today I ask for a renewed mind: to see Jesus at the heart of scripture, and to experience your love for me in him. I read through Hebrews 1, focusing on beholding Jesus.

Amen.