What is of interest here is that, in the introduction to this reader (pages 2-3), I most clearly lay out how I interpret Scripture, and the main concerns I pay attention to when seeking to understand what God has revealed to us through Scripture. I have written elsewhere about how I apply the Biblical laws to our ethical life, and how Scriptural difficulties are worked out when we see Scripture as a process of Developmental Revelation, which is on a trajectory that is fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. In this understanding, to use words spoken by Martin Luther King Jr.: The Moral Arc of History (and Scripture) is long, but it trends toward Justice. This view has been shaped by voices as diverse as CS Lewis (in terms of overall narrative development of History), NT Wright (in terms of looking at the Old Testament from the perspective of the New Testament), Rabbi Jonathan Sacks (in his work on confronting violence in the Torah).
Yet, these are all facets of my overall approach to Scripture, which I lay out in the introduction to my Daily Hebrew/Greek Reader. I will humbly confess that the text selections in this reader reflect my individual bias and theological interests as the compiler. These texts are largely drawn from my own "canon within the canon", and represent what I find to the high points of the trajectory that Holy Scripture leads us to: Namely the person of God incarnate, Jesus the Messiah. For instance, Romans 10.4 tells us “τέλος γὰρ νόμου Χριστὸς εἰς δικαιοσύνην παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι”: The completion of the Law is Christ leading to righteousness for all who are faithful (cf. 2Ti 3.14-17; John 5.39; 20.30-31; Rom 15.4; Heb 4.12).
It is true that Scripture has layers of meaning which we must be careful in interpreting (cf. Mark 4.33-34; Gal 3-4; Rom 5.14; 10.1-5; Heb 11.19; Col 2.17; 1Co 10.2-4; Acts 17.11; John 5.39; 2Ti 2.15), and Scripture's meaning can be difficult to understand at times (cf. 2Pe 3.15-16; Heb 5.11). Yet, the goal of Scripture is to unite us with the God of Love who is embodied in Christ, so that we may grow in Christlike Love, until all of Creation is healed and reunited with God in Love. Scripture, in fits and starts, sometimes clearly, sometimes opaquely, points to Jesus Christ as the universal Savior of all, who inspires us with Love for all, and who reveals God's desire and ability to redeem and restore all things through the death and resurrection of Christ.
Whether they admit it or not, every Bible interpreter has a "canon within a canon" of texts which forms the lens through which they interpret the rest of Scripture. This is because the ideas found in Scripture develop over time, just like everything else in life and society, reaching fulfillment not in a grand unified system of ideas and laws, but in the Divine person of Jesus. Thus some parts of Scripture are "weightier" or more important than others; Some parts more fully disclose the Christward trajectory of Scripture, while others obscure this trajectory; And some parts are rendered obsolete by the coming of God's fullness and mercy in Christ. For instance, see Mat 5.17-20; 22.36-40; 23.18-23; Mar 2.21-3.6; 7.1-23; Luk 10.42; Act 15; Rom 10.4; 13.9; 1Co 13; 15.3; 2Co 3.3-6; 5.17; Gal 5.14; Eph 1.10; 2.15; Col 1.18; 2.8-23; 3.13; 1Pe 3.8; Jam 2.8-13; Heb 7.11-19; 8.7-13; 9.9-10; 10.1-9; 12.27.
And so, Scripture functions as a sign pointing us to fulfillment in Christ, but it is not perfect in itself. Nothing is perfect and complete except the Ultimate Reality of God in Christ, in whom we find our perfection and completion. And while there may be enduring and universal values at work within the texts of Scripture, those values can and do get enacted in very different ways over time. For instance, it is a universal value that God’s People should worship God alone and conduct themselves in ways that leave no question as to which God they are worshipping. In Torah, this value meant absolutely avoiding meat sacrificed to idols, and even abstaining from “unclean” animals, such as pork, associated with pagan cults. Yet, in places such as 1Corinthians 8 and Romans 14, the same universal value leads Paul to say that it is permissible to eat any kind of meat, even meat sacrificed to idols, because there is only one God and all food is sanctified by the conscience of the person devoted to that one God.
Thus, I have sought to focus on texts which present the universal values of Scripture most clearly, and which most straightforwardly show us the Christward trajectory the Bible points us toward. With this in mind, one of the fundamental interpretive choices we have in understanding the trajectory of the Biblical Story is whether we will allow texts of limitation and exclusion to interpret and restrict texts of universal love and salvation, or whether we will allow the universal texts to expand and fulfill the horizon of the texts of exclusion and limitation.
For instance, when we encounter texts about judgment, retribution, and damnation, will we see these as “the end of the story” with no hope or redemption beyond the act of Divine condemnation? If we do this, then we will understand texts such as John 3.16 as saying God only loves the “world” of his elect, and everyone else is excluded forever. Or, conversely, will we allow universal texts such as John 3.16-17 and 1Corinthians 15.22 to take the lead in interpreting texts of judgment? If we do this, then we might understand Divine judgment as ultimately redemptive, a phase in the story of salvation that hopefully leads to the reconciliation of all things in heaven and earth in Christ (cf. Col. 1.20).
I have consciously chosen this latter interpretive path, and thus understand the texts as universally and inclusively as I can, while staying centered on the concrete person of Jesus of Nazareth, in whom the universal love of God is fully incarnated. The thematic scope and sequence of this "canon" is best encountered by actually reading the texts in the reader, and looking through the thematic outlines found on the next two pages. I understand if this “canon within a canon" may be different from the reader's expectation, or even seen as idiosyncratic. Nevertheless, this Scripture Reader is intended to show how the great Christological and Trinitarian passages of Scripture find their fulfillment in a universal vision of God's Love and Salvation. It is my prayer that these texts would not only help those who use it maintain their Hebrew and Greek skills, but also help them draw them closer to the God whom these texts point us to.
In the end, this entire viewpoint is summarized in a verse by William Blake, quoted in chapter 12 of Jonathan Sack's excellent book "Not in God's Name: Confronting Religious Violence":
Both read the Bible day and night
But thou read’st black where I read white.
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