History of Redemption and Biblical
Interpretation
Joseph Tong, Ph.D.
Published
in www.GlobalMissiology.org
“Contextualization” - January 2010.
General speaking, there are
three major elements in hermeneutics and biblical interpretation, i.e. Revelation,
Inspiration, and History of Salvation, parallel to the three principles of the Reformation, sola
scriptura, sola fidei, and sola gratia, Revelation,
A.
Revelation
Revelation is God’s free act of communication, by which, God in his
pleasure
discloses his own mystery to man so man may
have sound knowledge of Him.
B.
Inspiration
Inspiration is a special mode of revelation in
which God allows his word to be
recorded in the form of human language, and under
the operation of the Holy Spirit, God guides and preserves his servants to
allow his revelation in the process of inscripturation to be without error nor fallible.
For this reason we say that revelation and inspiration are merciful acts of God
in which and by which he allows human mind to come to close contact with his
mind and to let his mind enter and change human mind. The last of all is the
history of salvation.
C.
History of Salvation
Salvation
is the focus and content of God’s eternal plan in which God deals with
his people along his creation by way of
revelation and inspiration, it bears different nature. History of salvation,
theologically speaking, is God’s redemptive operation so that man may have a
concrete, correct and accurate understanding of God’s plan and will without
excuses. For this reason, history of salvation also bears significant mandate
and task in biblical interpretation. In other words, the revealed and inspired
Word of God must be interpreted and understood in the historical context of
God’s salvation for man.
II.
CLARIFICATION
AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE HISTORY OF SALVATION
History of Salvation, or redemptive
history, is an unseen line permeating the inspired Word of God throughout the
Bible in the course of God’s revelation from beginning to the end. Beginning from God’s creation in the Old
Testament, God prepares and preserves eternal salvation for his people in
Christ. God carried on this plan and continues expressing itself in the coming
of Christ, the founding of Church upon the death and the resurrection of
Christ, and proceeds to materialize its dominion throughout the world, from the
Church age untill the Eschaton, i.e. the realization of the Kingdom of heaven
at the second coming of Christ.
In other words, history of salvation
is the process and the consummation of the
III.
HISTORY
OF SALVATION AND ITS INTERPRETIVE MEANING
A. Christocentric
or soteriocentric hermeneutical principle in biblical interpretation
By affirming God’s
redemptive work in the history of salvation, one stresses the fact that he who
wants to know the truth needs to understand it in the category and context of
the redemptive work of God in history. In other words, apart from salvation in
history, no one can understand the truth. This is what we meant by
Christocentric or soteriocentric hermeneutic principle in biblical
interpretation, as reflected in the words of Paul, where he states: “ For by him (Christ) were all things
created. . .. by him, and for him,
he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of
the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that
in all things he might have the preeminence.” (
In fact, Christ, the Son of
God, who has once came to this word in the form of human fresh, is the
foundation of creation and all that is, it is also the foundation of the
meaning for creation and all that is. For this reason, we say, though universe
may declare God’s mighty power in terms of general revelation; yet creation may
not reveal nor express God’s love and righteousness without Christ and his
salvation in human history. It then follows, there is no meaning of existence
without Christ and his salvation. For this reason, Paul continues to say: For it pleased the Father that in him
should all fulness dwell; and, having made peace through the blood of his
cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him. . . whether they be
things in earth, or things in heaven. (Col. 1:19-20)
As God has reconciled all
that exist to himself in the redemptive work completed in Christ. Therefore,
only through Christ’s salvation we are enabled to know the mind of God who
creates heaven and earth. As such, salvation, and salvation in Christ alone
guarantees us the correct reading of God’s revelation and inspiration. This is
why the saying, “apart from Christ and his cross, the truth finds no interpretation;
and asides from salvation of Christ, all meanings becomes futile and absurd.”
Life, its meaning and purpose, can only be understood and explained when man
lives in a condition where conciliation was obtained in the redemptive work of
Christ. This is exactly where salvation and redemptive history finds its
pivotal place in hermeneutical and biblical interpretation.
B. Human
quest for meaning
Theologically
speaking, the interpretive function of history of salvation has been mostly
limited within the domain of salvation, religion and morality. Nevertheless,
once the meaning and the extent of salvation in Christ was fully understood,
then its interpretive function can never be limited in that particular sphere.
On the contrary, it shall be understood as having significance to cover all and
any existence. Therefore, its interpretive function automatically covers every
sphere of human lives.
In
other words, in dealing with anything about human meaning and value, we need to
begin with the redemptive history of Christ. In so doing, we shall see that a basic
aspect of human existence and activity is the quest for meaning; thus the task
of biblical interpretation is paramount in such a quest. Without due
consideration on the history of salvation, no ultimate meaning can be found and
all efforts in the quest will be fruitless and futile.
In
fact, when we examine the operation of human mind, we see that the mind starts
its thought process with certain perspective, standing point or orientation as
its operation base and motivation power. The starting point in the course of
human thought and knowledge is never accidental nor mere incidental. It is a
preconditioned choice. Furthermore, the success of Science and its quest for
the truth and research of the reality always finds its affirmation in the
process of its self-negation when it comes to a complete understanding of man’s
true and real salvation. It is in here the self and its development begins to
realize the need of redemption. In is then in the beginning and at the end as
well, man realizes that any human activity becomes tragedy of merciless
self-destruction without salvation.
C. Meaning and Salvation
No one can deny the reality
of tragic hardship in human existence. Nevertheless, in the midst of all
complicated pursuit for complex meaning of human existence, we see a continuous
thirst for salvation and deliverance for human existence, both present and
beyond. All this pursuits finally find definite and solace answer in the
salvation of Christ. For this, Paul exclaimed without reservation that:“in
him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in him,
which is the head of all principality and power.” (
IV.
THE
APPLICATION OF THE HISTORY OF SALVATION IN HERMENEUTICS AND BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
A. Purpose
of proclaiming God’s Word
Speaking from the Church and
its pastoral ministry, biblical interpretation is one of the most important
tasks of the Church. Whatever works in the field of mission and evangelism, the
Church found the meaning of its existence mainly depends on its in
understanding and expounding of the truth through its reading and its
interpretation of the Bible. Knowing that the end of biblical interpretation is
nothing other than to implant the revelation and the truth (God has inspired in
the Bible) in the heart of God’s children, the Church proclaims the Word with
the purposes to equip God’s people: to be living witnesses for God’s truth, to
do his will, and to establish the kingdom of God on earth. It is for this
reason the preaching of the Word and its interpretation becomes the first and
utmost important task of the Church, especially its pulpit ministry.
B. Hermeneutical principles
and biblical interpretation
In
order to accomplish such an important task, the Church, throughout its long
struggle for existence in history, discovers and sets up certain definite
hermeneutical principles to rid itself off possible fallible practices in
hermeneutics. Among others, the principle of scriptura scripturae interpres
is of the utmost basic and important.
It is in this context, the Church begins to see the significance of the
history of salvation in hermeneutics and biblical interpretation: Without
history of salvation the principle of scriptura scripturae interpres has
no context.
V.
MAJOR
FOCI OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION
Assuming divine plan of
salvation as the one and only system and line of thought in the course of God’s
dealing with man, we shall conclude that the completion and continuation of
God’s salvation for man becomes the heuristic key to God’s revelation and
inspiration. In this score, we further conclude that history of salvation is a
basic principle of biblical interpretation; it is exactly the one that has the
scriptura scripturae principle at its heart as well as its framework of
operation. For this reason the application of history of salvation in biblical
interpretation have the following major focuses:
A. The
revelation of God’s eternal plan and its way of completion.
In affirming the history of salvation, we declare
that all that which were recorded in the Bible are founded upon God’s promise
of salvation in Christ and the process of its completion at his dead and
resurrection. It is within such a system, God reveals his nature, mighty power,
justice, love, and mercy to man. And it is also within such a context men are
assured of having the knowledge of the truth and salvation through the inspired
word of the God in the Bible. Under such a framework, we come to know God and
his salvation in Christ. Further,
under the promised work of the Holy Spirit, we are also assured of proper and
correct reading of God’s general and special revelation in the context of the
salvation God has given us in Christ that brings unto salvation and its
proclamation.
B. The
significance of the Church in Salvation history.
Hermeneutically speaking, Christ and the
Church are basic keys to biblical interpretation. As the Church is the concrete
realization of God’s plan of salvation in the world, it has eventually becomes
the platform and context where the truth can be found and interpreted. The
community of believers finds the meaning of the truth under the witness of the
Holy Spirit and the preaching and guidance of its pastors. It is in this
context, pastors and believers experience and testify to the process of the
pastoral intercourse when the word of God is preaches and affirm the
existential meaning of the word of God. It is here the inscripturated word
becomes the living word of the living God for our live through its reading and
interpretation.
If one finds biblical reading does not bring
living message to the Church, then it must be caused by the fact that it has
departed from having Christ and the Church at its heuristic key and
interpretive context. Consequently, the results of such reading and preaching
are likened as apples of
gold without pictures of silver, fall on the ground and rotten away. (Prov.25:
11)
C. The
need and the affirmation of the live experience of God’s people in redemptive
history
(1) The legitimacy of the live experience of
God’s people as a part and continuation of the history of salvation
With proper reading and understanding of God’s
redemptive history, we learned that the people of God consist of all God’s
chosen people in the Old Testament and the saints of the Net Testament. They
also include all present and future believers. These people forms the assembly
of the Messiah, is the
(2) The simplicity and
universality of the history of salvation
In fact, the existence of the Church certifies
to the simplicity and universality of the history of salvation. Because there
is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, God’s
salvation in Christ is sole and simple (Acts
4:12). The Church is Christ’s
one and only bride, as anyone who called upon the name of Christ is
incorporated into the body of the Church, having Christ as her head. For this
reason, the Truth and the word of God is affirmed in the body of the Church
through the work of the Holy Spirit. It is in this affirmation on the
simplicity and universality of salvation in Christ, the interpretation and
understanding of the Truth of believers everywhere may meet and be absorbed
into the same river of the Christian truth throughout ages. Detailed
understanding and interpretation of the Bible may vary from place to place and
time to time, nevertheless all these difference and variety shall be overcome
by the torrent of unity of the Truth as the river flows as the times goes by.
The Truth shall prevail without discount until the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the
waters cover the sea. (Isa 11: 9
Hab.2:14)
It is exactly for such a reason the live
experiences of the saints and their understanding of biblical truth through out
the ages are essential parts of Christian witnesses to the word of God and its
interpretation, though they are not necessary foundation for biblical
interpretation. If fact, the live experiences of God’s people on the word of
God is exactly the continuation of God’s history of salvation, they are some of
the causes for our praise and worship.
(3). History of salvation
serves as a link between Christian live experience and the word of God
Though the testimonies of the believer’s live
experiences can never be treated as foundation of faith and its proclamation,
nevertheless they are the continuation of the history of salvation in time and
space, and as such, it shall be counted as a part of the fruit and witness of
the operation of the Spirit through word of God in his Church so far they are
incorporated into the course of the history of salvation. Therefore, the Church
should not neglect such an important link in the course of its interpretation
of the Bible in the proper application of history of salvation in order to open
our mind and heart so we may bring thanksgivings and glory unto God. In other
words, in the course of biblical reading and interpretation, it is totally all
right to use Christian witness in for as it is incorporated into the proper
understanding of the history of salvation and exposition of the word of God.
VI.
CONCLUSION
The Church acknowledges
many principles of biblical interpretation, yet none of them can operate
without proper consideration of Christ and his redemption. In fact, without
Christ and his redemption, where shall we find true meaning and value for human
life? This is our indispensable affirmation of christological and
soteriological principles in biblical interpretation.
The fact that meaning and
value can only be materially found in the realization of the salvation history
in Christ, we speak from the standpoint of God’s revelation, God has made
Christ our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (I Cor 1:30).
For this we exclaim, whom has we in heaven but him and whom shall we desire
beside him in this earth? (Ps. 73:25).
We are redeemed and made
whole in Christ. We have experienced and have become witnesses of the history
of salvation. Therefore, as biblical readers and interpreters, how can we
expound the Word of God without Christ and his salvation in our heart? For this
reason, we shall not be ashamed of the Gospel, as it is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone who believes. (Romans 1:16) This is exactly one of the
most important characteristics of being a messenger of the Gospel and being
called true evangelicals where we give proper recognition to the history of
salvation in biblical interpretation.