The Bible is a big book. We need help if we are to make sense of it. This is why people write Bible commentaries and study Bibles.
Commentaries and study Bibles illuminate scripture by describing the context. They ask questions like, who was this verse written too, when, and why?
Any preacher worth their salt will tell you that we need to read the Bible in context, but what is the proper context? Jesus is. He is the Living Word who gives meaning to the written word.
This seems obvious, no? But it is not common practice.
Many commentators interpret scripture through historical, cultural, or linguistic lenses. Others adopt a prophetic or dispensational approach.
A lens, or hermeneutic, is a tool for making meaning or constructing a story. If your lens helps you to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, it’s a good lens. But if your lens distracts you from Jesus, it’s a dud. Here’s an example:
If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions. (Matthew 6:15)
This famous passage comes from the Sermon on the Mount. How do we read it? Here are three lenses we might use:
1. The lens of law
“It seems obvious that Jesus is preaching law: You have to forgive to be forgiven (Matt. 6:14). That’s not a suggestion, but a command with penalties for noncompliance. Fail to forgive, and you will be condemned by God.”
This law-based interpretation is often heard but it is not good news. The law of conditional forgiveness is bad news for anyone who has been molested, abused, or mistreated. It is bad news for the rape victim and the young child who has been trafficked into slavery. How do you forgive the unforgivable?
And if we are sinners because we harbor unforgiveness, what does that make God? If he doesn’t forgive us, he’s either a sinner or a hypocrite. Something doesn’t add up.
2. The lens of works
“Jesus is selling salvation. If you want mercy you have to earn it. You are saved by works of forgiveness.”
Like the law interpretation, this message of works is bad news. No one can be justified or made right with God through their works. Our best is not good enough.
We have used two bad lens to draw two bad conclusions. Thankfully, there is one more lens.
3. The lens of the new covenant
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preached law to people who lived under the old law-keeping covenant. He elevated the law so that they would see their need for grace. Then on the cross, he satisfied the righteous requirements of the law on our behalf.
On the night he rose from the dead, Jesus instructed the disciples to preach the good news of unconditional forgiveness (Luke 24:47) and they did (e.g., Acts 13:38). In the new covenant we are not forgiven on account of our law-keeping or acts of forgiveness. We are completely and eternally forgiven in accordance with the riches of God’s grace (Eph. 1:7).
Do you see? Before the cross, law. After the cross, grace. Before the cross, you. After the cross, Jesus.
Why do I need a new covenant Bible commentary?
Because what you see in the Bible depends on the lens you are wearing. Read scripture through a law lens and you will find rules and laws from start to finish. Read scripture through a works lens and you will find no end to the works you must do.
But read the Bible through a new covenant lens and you will see Jesus and find grace for your need.
There really ought to be no debate about this. The New Testament writers make it clear that we are not to wear lenses of law or works. “We are under grace, not law” (Rom. 6:14). “We are justified by faith, not works” (Rom. 3:28, Gal. 2:16).
Yet many Christians are wearing the wrong lenses and as a result they are condemned (through law) or exhausted (through dead works). If this is you, the problem is not your faulty faith or lack of zeal; it’s your lens. You need to read the Bible through the lens of the new covenant.
And this is where a grace-based commentary can help.
The next time you read a scripture that leaves you fearful, anxious, or uncertain about your Father’s love, I encourage you to look it up on the Grace Commentary. Get a grace-based interpretation and be set free.
A new year is a good time for new habits. Ditch those commentaries that leave you confused and condemned and switch to the Grace Commentary (it’s free!).
