Knowing Christ
We’ve recently launched into a study of Christology in an attempt to emphasize the importance of the person and work of Christ as it relates to the salvation of humanity. In doing so we have chosen to approach this study through the lens of Biblical theology because it enables us to discover how any Bible text relates to ourselves.
Christ gives us the underlying pattern of biblical theology in that He reveals the central concern of the Bible in the relationship of God to his creation, and in particular to mankind.
As Christians, we should be interested in the proper interpretation of the Bible so that we know and understand what God is saying to us all through his Word. Without some understanding of the overall plan or structure of the Bible it is difficult to correctly relate the various parts of the Bible to ourselves.
In order to know how any part of the Bible relates to us, we must answer two prior questions: How does the text in question relate to us, and how do we relate to Christ? Since Christ is the truth, God’s final and fullest word to mankind, all other words in the Bible are given their final meaning by him. The same Christ gives us our final meaning and defines the significance of our existence in terms of our relationship to him.
Another way of stating this is that Jesus Christ is the one mediator between God and man (1st Tim 2:5).
There is no direct word from the Father to you or me. Every word of the Father comes to us through the person and work of Jesus.
- Jesus Christ is the link between every part of the bible and ourselves
“We Start With The Gospel”
We can examine the Word of God for the content of Christ’s gospel and for the clues to its relationship with all other parts of the Bible. We do this in response to the lordship of Christ, recognizing that he dictates to us the terms for understanding the bible.
As to the content of his message, Jesus tells us that its central theme is the coming of the kingdom of God.
We begin with Christ because we are redeemed under the new covenant. All other references to covenant in the Bible must be understood in relation to the new covenant.
- The gospel is the word about Jesus Christ and what he did for us in order to restore us to a right relationship with God.
Contents of this blog were gleaned from the book “According To Plan” by Graeme Goldsworthy