One of my favorite childhood books is Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery. Generations of Canadian girls have grown up following the adventures of the young Anne. L.M. Montgomery wrote other novels, poems and short stories. The short story “The Hurrying of Ludovic” in Chronicles of Avonlea begins this way:
Anne Shirley was curled up on the window seat of Theodora Dix’s sitting-room one Saturday evening, looking dreamily afar at some fair starland beyond the hills of sunset. Anne was visiting for a fortnight of her vacation at Echo Lodge, where Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Irving were spending the summer, and she often ran over to the old Dix homestead to chat for awhile with Theodora.
For the fan of Anne of Green Gables the first two words of this opening paragraph brings back a flood of memories. You remember the day Matthew brought Anne home to Marilla, the grudge Anne held against Gilbert, the friendship between Anne and Diana, the time she dyed her hair, or the time she almost drowned. If you followed Anne’s story through the sequels you sat in on her first teaching post in Avonlea, laughed at the adventures of Davy and Dora, followed the story of Miss Lavender and little Paul Irving and enchanted vision of Echo Lodge. With the name “Anne Shirley” all the adventures, mishaps and encounters of her story came back. If you were to read “The Hurrying of Ludovic” without having read Anne of Green Gables you would miss all the nuance attached to Anne Shirley. L.M. Montgomery wrote the story of Ludovic and Theodora with Anne’s story in mind. She deliberately drew connections between the stories. The more familiar you are with her writing the easier it is to see the connections and the more enjoyable your reading experience will be.
So what does this have to do with reading the Bible? While the Bible is made of a collection of stories, poetry, law, proverbs, letters, etc. written over 1500 years by 40 different authors in three different languages, it tells one unified story. And since the Bible tells one unified story, it is important to remember that one part is connected to another part. The books of the Bible were not written or preserved in isolation. They are meant to be understood not only in light of their immediate historical and literary context but also in light of the rest of the Bible.
Quotes and allusions are one way that the biblical authors help the reader see these connections. For example, when Jesus claimed, “I am the vine, you are the branches” in John 15, he was not just using an ordinary agricultural metaphor. He was alluding to a metaphor that his audience would have recognized from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah compared the people of Israel to a vineyard that did not produce fruit and he warned that God would bring judgment against them like a gardener uproots vines that do not produce fruit. Knowing this allusion to the book of Isaiah helps the reader of John’s gospel understand Jesus’ use of the metaphor in John 15. He’s saying that the only way to be rescued from God’s judgment and to produce the godly fruit that God is looking for is to stay connected to the life-giving vine, Jesus himself.
Interpreting a passage in light of the whole of scripture is particularly important when dealing with hard passages where it is either unclear what the author meant or it appears to contradict other passages. James 2:24 is a good example of this. James, pointing to Abraham as the example, writes “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.” If this was all you read, you might think that in order to be saved you have to do certain righteous works. But the rest of scripture indicates otherwise. Paul very emphatically claims that a person is saved by faith alone. In Romans 3:28 he says, “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” He too points to Abraham as an example. The passage in James, therefore, needs to be interpreted in light of Romans. And Romans needs to be interpreted in light of James. What did James intend for his audience? What did Paul intend for his audience? How are they different? How are they the same? On further study and reflection we realize that Paul is concerned about requirements for salvation imposed on Gentiles by Jews who insisted that the Gentiles needed to become Jewish before they could be saved. James, however, is focused on those who would suggest that it doesn’t matter how you live. He wants them to understand that faith in Jesus should change how they live. It should lead them to righteous living.
One part of the Bible helps us understand another part. The more familiar you are with the whole story of the Bible, the easier it becomes to discover connections that add depth of understanding and to find clarity where there was once confusion.
To help you use the whole of scripture to interpret a passage consider the following questions:
Where does this passage fit in the overall story of the Bible?
What other books address the same topic? What do they say about it?
Are there other examples in scripture that correspond to what the passage teaches?
Are there examples that would seem to contradict what the passage teaches?
What allusions are made in the passage? Where are they from?
Does the author use a quote? Where is it from? What is the original context and meaning of the quote? How does it contribute to the point the author makes?