Learning To Interpret the Bible: Christ Is the Light

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
II Corinthians 4:6

In biblical parlance, God refers to the unfolding of human history with the metaphor of a sunrise, (Matt. 4:16; 11:11; Jn. 1:4-5, 7-8; 5:35-36; 8:12; II Pet. 1:19-21, etc.). This picture implies that in the days of the Old Covenant, the horizon began to show the faint light of a new day. This light shining into the darkness climbed heavenward more and more as the centuries unfolded. Nevertheless, it was not until the days of Christ's incarnation that the dawning light of God's self-revelation reached its full height. In the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ we behold the brilliance of the noonday sun pouring out all its glorious beams in full strength.

This reality has much to teach us about how to properly read and interpret the Bible. One basic truth is that we are in the best position to interpret the Old Testament clearly and properly when we interpret it according to the New Testament. In other words, we do not use the shadows (Old Testament) to judge the light (New Testament), but rather we use the light (New Testament) to properly see and understand the shadows (Old Testament).

This simply means that we must strive to interpret all things by use of the fullness of light which God has provided in his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the measure of all things (i.e. the cornerstone; Eph. 2:20). Jesus is the centerpiece of God’s self-revelation and the defining center of redemptive history, (II Cor. 4:6). Christ is the light whose instruction shines brilliantly backward upon the days of shadow and anticipation (Old Testament) and thus enables us to more fully and properly see their original and unchanging divine intention, (Jn. 5:39; Ps. 118:22-23; Rev. 19:10).

Much error results when this rule of biblical interpretation is disregarded.

“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.”
John 5:39