You must approach your Bible from the vantage point of the bigger story, which is, “salvation history”.  It is the redemptive story of God.  In the end, it is all about God.  He is above, behind, under, over, and beyond the Bible.  God stands independently of the Bible.  God and the Bible are not the same.  The Bible points us to God through Christ.  If it does not, it’s simply a religious book of rules and regulations.  And if you believe that the Bible is “inspired” by God (2 Timothy 3:16) then you must read as it comes from the heart of God.  Like any love letter, this one comes from a Person.

As we approach the Bible from the larger story we then read it and interpret it in light of this BIG story.  If you do you’ll avoid three traps:

1. You won’t get trapped in a legalistic hermeneutic– a rigid interpretation of passages, and an inevitable reductionist approach to Scripture that puts God’s Word in a box- instead of unleashing it’s awesome mystery and power into our lives.

2. You avoid the tendency to remove the Holy Spirit from the dynamic work of interpretation and application of the Word in our lives TODAY.  Often we approach the Scriptures without the inward working of the Spirit- and an awareness that God is STILL and always at work in our lives (He didn’t stop moving, talking, guiding us when the Bible was completed).  We start to read it as a Guidebook on HOW to join Him- in this very same story we see in the Bible- in OUR day!  How exciting is that!?  When you woke up today you found yourself in the SAME Story- this HUGE narrative that we see in the Bible.  It’s still going on!

3. Finally, you avoid isolation from your brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ who may not agree with your interpretation of specific details of certain passages- instead you have the ability to embrace believers who hold to the CORE like you do and you can love them and encourage them and join them in God’s redemptive work in our world.  Yes, debate them in love and with respect if we need to, but serve with them even if we disagree on NON-core issues.   Too often we broaden the “core” beyond what God ever intended.  If you want to know what’s core, go to 1 Corinthians 15:3-5.