Interpretation Matters Series, Part 10

You finish reading Genesis 23 and sigh. You’ve barely started your read-the-Bible-in-a-year plan, and you’re already discouraged. You haven’t even made it to Leviticus yet! So Abraham’s wife Sarah died at 127 years old, and Abraham bought a field with a cave to bury her. What does that have to do with me or Jesus? you wonder, flipping to the New Testament. I wish I could just read about Jesus.

Even if you’ve never been told so, you may have a nagging sense that everything in the Bible is about Jesus—but how? If you’ve been taught that the whole Bible is about Jesus, you may be even more frustrated. You’re supposed to connect everything in the Bible to Jesus, but how?!

Look for the Normal Meaning

Do you need to allegorize the Old Testament as symbolically referring only to spiritual realities? Or find Jesus’ name in every verse, maybe with numerical codes? No. In fact, that would violate the text’s normal sense and the author’s intended meaning.

When understood normally, the easiest Old Testament passages to interpret Christologically are those that have direct or explicit connections to Jesus and the New Testament. These include:

• Prophecies about Jesus (like Psalm 22 or Isaiah 53)
• Preparations for Jesus’ work (like the Old Testament sacrifices and feasts)
• Promises fulfilled by Jesus (like the gift of the Spirit in Joel 2)
• Passages quoted or alluded to in the New Testament (like Zechariah 12:10 and John 19:37)

Does Genesis 23 have any direct connection to Jesus or the New Testament? Yes! Hebrews 11:11-16 tells us that Sarah lived and died in faith, looking forward to the hope of a heavenly home. Jesus prepares this home for believers and will take us there at his return.

Look for God’s Character

For any passage, look for God’s character. Because Jesus is God, you can then consider how he displayed that characteristic in his first coming, or how he will display it at his second coming.

Genesis 23 shows that God doesn’t fulfill his promises with the same methods or timing we expect. Abraham and Sarah had to wait in faith on a promised son, land, and blessing (Genesis 12:1-3), and they never saw all of that in their earthly lifetime. Has Jesus made promises that you are waiting on him to fulfill? We, too, must wait in faith for Christ to fulfill them in his way and time.

Look for Connections to the Bible’s Big Story

You should also plug every passage and its themes into the trajectory of the Bible’s overarching story: Creation, Fall, Redemption, New Creation. Jesus isn’t mentioned in every passage, but every passage relates to him because they’re all part of the same Christ-centered story. Jesus isn’t in every passage, but every passage either points toward him or flows from him.

As part of this, consider what aspect of our fallen condition a passage addresses. Does it mention a sin you need to forsake or an effect of the fall you experience? Genesis 23 clearly addresses death. Yet Sarah herself was part of God’s answer to death. From her family line would come Jesus—destroyer of death, giver of eternal life, antithesis of and solution to everything fallen.

Look for Typology

Typology is a potentially complex piece of Christological interpretation. The best discussion I’ve heard on it comes from James M. Hamilton, Jr.

The repetition of these patterns creates a kind of template that represents the type of thing God does or the type of thing that happens to God’s people. When we start thinking about what typically happens, we are dealing with typology, and since this is what has typically happened in the past, we begin to expect that this is the type of thing God will do in the future. (What is Biblical Theology?, 37)

Our imaginations can run wild and create illegitimate types, so we have to be careful. The trees in Genesis 23 aren’t symbols of the cross. Neither are Abraham’s 318 men (Genesis 14:14) or Samson’s outstretched arms (Judges16:29).

Hamilton gives two criteria for types: 1) historical correspondence, or the ways that real people, events, or institutions match each other; and 2) escalation from the first instance to the fulfillment (67). Typology is like foreshadowing in literature, except with real people, events, and institutions. Legitimate examples include Adam, the Exodus, Moses, the Jewish feasts, and the temple.

A Few Principles for the Road

As always, depend on the Holy Spirit. He’s the specific member of the Godhead who reveals Christ’s glory to you in the Old Testament (2 Corinthians 3:15-18). Also, good preaching that does this can help you learn how to do it yourself. You can find many great, Christ-centered preachers online, but those are no substitute for a Bible-teaching, Christ-centered local church.

Finally, patiently practice. You won’t be an expert at this immediately, but the more you practice, the more you’ll grow in your ability to connect all of the Bible to Jesus. I urge you to take the time and effort needed to do this. The payoff is worth the work.

Keeping your eyes on Christ helps you stay humbly dependent on his grace instead of trying to earn God’s favor through works (legalism), viewing Christianity as mere rule-keeping (moralism), or attempting to live the Christian life through self-effort. Most of all, this helps you view Bible study as part of your relationship with Jesus instead of merely checking it off a list or learning doctrines.

I remember when my Bible college professors began to help me understand how the Bible centers on Christ. It was like going on a vacation and seeing new, breathtaking sights at each turn. That’s what made me fall in love with studying the Old Testament! It’s a wonderful journey that I’m still taking. As you practice these principles, I pray God would do the same for you.