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John 5:39–40
“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”
Our study of Scripture must be thoughtful, done in reliance on the Holy Spirit and using Scripture to interpret Scripture while paying attention to both what the Bible says explicitly and the good and necessary consequences of God’s Word (Mark 12:18–27; 1 Cor. 2:6–15; Heb. 2:5–9). These principles, of course, assume that there is an inherent unity to Scripture, that it ultimately teaches the same truth even if it does so in such a way as to help us see that the truth is multifaceted. Where, then, do we find the unity of Scripture? The Christian answer to this question is that we find the unity of Scripture in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Finding the unity of Scripture in the Lord Jesus Christ means that we see Him as the heart of the biblical message. Everything in Scripture exists to direct us to Christ and to cultivate faith in Christ and love for Christ. What holds Scripture together is its unified teaching about our Savior. The Bible makes this clear in several passages. In John 5:39–40, for example, we read about one of the debates between the Lord and the Jews wherein He stressed that the Scriptures bear witness about Him. We can also look to the short summaries of God’s Word found in places such as 1 Timothy 3:16. In that passage, Paul sums up the mystery of godliness revealed in Scripture as the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In saying that the unity of Scripture is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, we do not mean that the Bible’s teaching on other subjects is not unified. Rather, we are taking seriously Paul’s statement that in Christ all things hold together (Col. 1:17). All creation exists for, is sustained by, and finds significance in our Savior. Given that reality, God’s special revelation must also be unified in Jesus. All truth holds together in Him, including every individual fact taught in Scripture.
Looking to Christ for the unity of Scripture does not require us to speak only of Christ and His person and work. It does mean that as we consider the teaching of Scripture on any one subject, we must at some point consider it in relation to Christ. When studying the Bible’s revelation about God, we must remember that Jesus, as the incarnate God, embodies this teaching. If we are thinking about what the Bible says about human beings, we must look to the Savior’s obedience and love as the exemplar of what the Lord created us to be. No matter what specific text we are reading, we do not interpret it adequately if we never look at it with respect to Christ.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
John Calvin comments, “We ought to read the Scriptures with the express design of finding Christ in them.” In finding Christ in the Scriptures, we are also finding God and man, for our Savior is both God and man. In finding Christ, we are getting a window into the Holy Trinity, for Christ is the Son of God sent by the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord is the key to the Scriptures.
For further study
- Psalm 110
- Isaiah 52:13–53:12
- John 1:43–51
- Romans 1:1–7
The bible in a year
- Exodus 22–24
- Matthew 20:17–34