missio

It’s been a while since I’ve written a ‘technical’ post, so here you go. A large part of my thinking on this subject has been shaped by a single message by Tim Keller, “Gospel and Ministry”, presented at the 2007 Gospel Coalition conference. You can find the message here: Gospel Coalition Media.

Where does one start with breaking down a piece of Scripture? Where should one start with breaking down Scripture for teaching? The answer should be simple here: we should start with the Word: both living (Christ) and written (Scripture).  One of my favorite verses regarding the matter, and is indeed used by Keller in his message as well is Luke 24:44.

“Then He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

All of Scripture, including the Old Testament, reveals Christ. Conversely, without Christ, Scripture is useless and just another “sacred” text, no different than the Koran or Bhagavad Gita. Keller makes a comment, and I vehemently concur, that a lot of times we as teachers go to the text looking for us and those we teach. What should we do, how should we act, etc. This is a works-based approach to Scripture. Instead, we should come to the text looking for Christ and His works. This is a  faith-based approach to Scripture; that is, it relies fully on the Gospel. There are some fundamental questions I ask when I approach a text:

• What does this text say about Christ?
• How does this text reveal Christ?
• Does Christ say something about this text in the New Testament?
• What does this revelation of Christ say about us?

Notice that I do not ask what the text says about us, but rather the revelation of Christ through the text should reveal something about us in relation to Christ.

In conclusion: our hermeneutic should always be Christ-centered, regardless of text or circumstance of presentation. More on this in future posts.