JESUS CHRIST: GOD-MAN - Vital Christianity

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Later revelatory spokesmen also viewed their interpretation of contemporary revelatory
events to reflect so accurately God's moving of redemptive history toward its final climax that
they could view an event whose occurrence and meaning they reported to be a partial or
typological fulfillment of prophecy uttered by an earlier revelatory spokesman (e.g. Ac 2:16-21;
Joel 2:28-32 [Mt 3:1-5]).
In establishing the unity of the Bible, each literary unit of the Bible must be allowed to
contribute its teaching to every other literary unit.
Thus it is only as we handle Scripture through the literary-historical method of
interpretation that we come to a knowledge of divine revelation in the same way we come to
knowledge about everything else in our experience, namely, by a process of trying out various
possibilities until coherency or unity is attained.
We must grapple with difficult passages of Scripture until we find it fitting in with the
rest of Scripture. If we are unable to do so, we must humbly acknowledge our limited
understanding and allow for mystery as we recognize, as Paul did, that "we only see but a poor
reflection as in a mirror . . . [that we] know in part" (1 Co 13:12). Instead of pressing Scripture to
fit our own preconceived ideas or opinions, there are times when we must humbly bow before
Him whose Word is much greater than our understanding of it. We dare not come to conclusions
that contradict Scripture since God, who inspired Scripture, does not contradict Himself. We
must allow Scripture to interpret Scripture!
The Role of the Holy Spirit as Interpreter
What, if any place, does the Holy Spirit play in this issue of interpretation? Since it is the
Spirit of God who gave Scripture, He speaks in and through it. This is indispensable to sound
understanding. The Spirit does not replace the task of interpretation. After all, He speaks through
the text of Scripture. Knowledge of the text and its natural sense is thus demanded. Yet it is
possible to have this and still miss understanding in the deeper sense. This is where the help and
guidance of the Spirit are needed.
The Spirit is God's Spirit bearing witness to God's word and work in Jesus Christ. He
takes the word of Scripture and makes it clear to the heart, the mind and the will—the whole
man—in its total reach and dimension. God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.
A certain condition, therefore, is necessary in order to have a deep and fruitful experience
with the Word of God. The condition is our yielding to the enlightening of the Holy Spirit. The
Bible guards itself from presumption and scholarly unspirituality as its deeper truths are
luminous only to the illuminated (1 Co 2:14-15).