Sound doctrine comes from Christ
One important thing to internalize when trying to understand Scripture is that truth comes from Christ. That is, if you want to figure out what Scripture is saying you need to study the life of Jesus Christ.
Let us examine a few verses to establish this.
Rom 2:20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth,
The Law was the initial embodiment of true knowledge of God. It gave a rough picture of what God was like.
Jn 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
A more complete edition of true knowledge of God became available when Jesus came on the scene.
Jn 1:17 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
The truth that came through Jesus superseded the truth that came through the Law. Further, it also made known the graciousness of God. That is, it showed God as a Father who was willing to help you to be all that He expected you to be.
Jn 14:6 Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
This truth was concerning knowledge of God i.e. the Father.
Eph 4:21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
Col 2:2-3 that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Mt 11:27 "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Jn 8:19 So they were saying to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also."
Jn 18:37 Therefore Pilate said to Him, "So You are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
Jesus is the source of knowledge of, an example of, and a proclaimer of, and an exact representation of, what God was like.
Jesus is the true representation of God’s nature, will and desire (Jn 14:7-9; Heb 1:3). Until Jesus came, the truth about God’s nature, will and desire, as revealed to man was in the form of the words in the Old Testament (Rom 2:20).
Then the Word became flesh and displayed to man what the written words of the Old Testament meant and what the written words of the New Testament would mean. Jesus came into the world to testify to the truth (Jn 18:37). Not just any truth, but the truth about what God is like, what He has done, is doing, and will do in the future, and how that affects us. John and the other disciples saw the glory of this truth being displayed as Jesus dwelt among them (Jn 1:14). That is what John means when he says that truth became known (i.e. was realized) through Jesus Christ (Jn 1:17).
Just like how video file (like a .mpeg file for example) is just a bunch of zeros and ones but when viewed through a mpeg player you can actually see the movie, in the same way, the Bible, when viewed through the life of Jesus, is no longer a meaningless list of descriptions of God but an actual description of what God is like.
Therefore, if we want to understand the truth about who God is, what He has done, is doing, and will do in the future, and how that affects us, then we must let the life of Jesus define what we read elsewhere in the Bible.
The point is this: if you want to correctly interpret Scripture you must use Jesus’ life as the key that unlocks the secrets of what Scripture means.
For example, if you want to understand what the definition of love in 1 Cor 13 means you must compare it with how Jesus displayed love while on the earth. If you want to understand what the word ‘humility’ means when used in the Bible you must see how Jesus displayed humility while on the earth.
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