Basics of Bible Interpretation - RayStedman.org

The Last Word
There are some who become so preoccupied with textual criticism that they never seem to
get to the text of scripture. And though most of us are not likely to get caught in that trap, there is
a similar danger we must be alert to avoid. It is this: we can become so involved in the detail of
Bible study and interpretation that we may miss the point of it all. The point is that we may
know, in living reality, the One upon whom it focuses, the Lord Jesus Christ. If we miss him, in
all the unsurpassed value of his work for us and in us, we are only engaging in pointless
exegetical exercise.
In some ways, the current tempest revolving around the question of biblical inerrancy can
assume the same significance, and I wonder if we are not trying to catch a straw in the wind. It is
possible for us to make the Bible the battleground of our orthodoxy and be unspiritual in the
process. All of us know people who “believe the Bible from cover to cover,” but whose lives
show little evidence of a living relationship with the Lord it seeks to present.
And lest I be misunderstood, I personally have no doubt about the Bible’s inerrancy. But that
doctrinal assertion does not make me Christ-like. For no matter with what passionate conviction
we hold to the utter trustworthiness of the Bible and contend for its inerrancy, we need to
recognize that it is only an instrument in the hands of God (although an immensely valuable one)
to bring us to the fullness of life in Christ. It is the incorruptible seed through which we
experience new birth; it is the mirror which shows us what we are really like; it is the sword of
the Spirit by which the enemy of our souls may be defeated; it is the lamp which lights our
pathway through life—and much more—because it relates us in love and in power to the One
who has made us his inheritance.
No wonder, then, the apostle prays:
…that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of
wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts
enlightened, that you may know
1) what is the hope to which he has called you,
2) what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and
3) what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe according to the
working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from
the dead and made him...far above all rule and authority and dominion... and put all
things under his feet, and has made him head over all things for the church, which is
his body… (Ephesians 1:17-22).
How thankful we should be for the objective revelation, the Word of God, and the subjective
illuminating ministry of the Spirit of God—both dedicated to the same end, to make the Lord
Jesus a living reality in our lives!
That’s why God has given us his words to live by.
Basics Of Bible Interpretation – page 123