Theological term
Analogy of Scripture
8 sermons · All terms
Getting the Garden Right — Dr. Richard Barcellos | Why Genesis 1–3 Matters for Everything
Genesis 1–3 is not merely the Bible's opening chapter but the theological foundation upon which the covenant of works, the divine rest, and the entire eschatological structure of Scripture are built. Richard Barcellos surveys the argument of his book 'Getting the Garden Right,' contending that New Covenant theology and progressive covenantalism go wrong precisely where they fail to reckon with Adam's probationary status under the covenant of works and the eschatological significance of God's Sabbath rest as a state into which the obedient image-bearer was to enter. The discussion ranges from hermeneutical method — the necessity of allowing the New Testament to illuminate the Genesis narrative — to the typological continuity of the Sabbath from creation ordinance through the resurrection of Christ to the weekly Lord's Day. Listeners are pressed to take the primary sources of the Reformed tradition seriously and to see that whatever Adam failed to attain, Christ secured, bringing many sons to the glory that is better than the beginning.
CTF 2024 Session 6: Further Explorations in Scripture Interpretation
Christ is the scope of the whole of Scripture — this is the claim Peter makes in Acts 3 and unpacks theologically in 1 Peter 1:10–12, and it is the claim this session presses upon interpreters of the Bible today. Beginning with Peter's sermon in Acts 3 and moving to his mature reflection in 1 Peter 1, the lecture traces how God spoke through the writing prophets from Moses onward concerning the sufferings and glory of Christ, how those prophets studied one another's writings in search of a fuller understanding, and how the coming of Christ together with the New Testament's explanatory revelation made explicit what was implicit in the Old Testament all along. The session closes with several hermeneutical implications: the analogy of Scripture is not a Reformation invention but a prophetic practice; the Old Testament contains a surplus of divinely embedded meaning that awaits later revelation to unveil; and subsequent revelation does not reinterpret the Old Testament but fulfils and illuminates the meaning that was always there.
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures, Part 2
What does it mean to interpret the Bible correctly, and how does the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith guide that task? Working through paragraphs 5 to 10 of Chapter 1, this study introduces the discipline of hermeneutics — the science of biblical interpretation — by tracing six principles the Confession sets forth: the scope of Scripture (the glory of God in the salvation of sinners through Christ), the sufficiency of Scripture (expressly stated and necessarily implied), the perspicuity of Scripture (clear enough for the unlearned on all saving matters), the translation of Scripture (grounded in divine inspiration and providential preservation), the interpretation of Scripture (the analogy of Scripture and the analogy of faith), and the finality of Scripture (Holy Scripture as the supreme judge over all councils, creeds, and private opinion). The practical burden is that a faulty hermeneutic produces bad doctrine, and that reading the Old Testament through the lens the New Testament apostles themselves provide is not optional but the pattern Christ himself commanded.
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures, Part 2
Paragraphs 5–10 of the Second London Confession's first chapter contain an implicit hermeneutical program that governs all responsible reading of Scripture. This session works through those paragraphs to identify six distinct interpretive principles: the Christocentric scope of all Scripture, the extent and finality of Scripture's sufficiency, the perspicuity of Scripture for salvation, the availability of Scripture through faithful translation, the analogy of Scripture and faith as the rule of interpretation, and the supreme judicial authority of Scripture over all human councils and traditions. The practical thrust is that every reader, learned or unlearned, is equipped by ordinary means and the Spirit's illumination to understand what God has revealed — and that bad presuppositions inevitably produce bad theology.
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures, Part 2
Hermeneutics — the science of biblical interpretation — stands at the center of this study through paragraphs 5 to 10 of Chapter 1 of the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith. The session works through five principles: the scope of Scripture (Christ as its organizing center), the sufficiency of Scripture (including good and necessary consequences), the perspicuity of Scripture, the availability of Scripture through faithful translation, and the two classical interpretive rules — the analogy of Scripture and the analogy of faith. The study closes by defending the proper use of creeds, confessions, and the writings of faithful theologians as gifts Christ has given to his church, while insisting that Holy Scripture alone is the supreme and final judge in all controversies of religion.
Of the Holy Scriptures (2LCF 1.5-10)
The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith, paragraphs 5–10, sets out a comprehensive doctrine of Holy Scripture, and this study draws out the hermeneutical principles embedded in each paragraph. The scope of Scripture is theocentric and Christocentric — all of it tends toward the glory of God through the mission of Christ — and every other interpretive concern flows from that governing conviction. The sufficiency of Scripture encompasses both explicit texts and implicit doctrine derived by good and necessary consequence, while the perspicuity of Scripture assures even the unlearned that the things necessary for salvation are clearly propounded. The analogy of Scripture and the analogy of faith together form the infallible rule by which obscure passages are interpreted through clearer ones and through the theological sense of the whole.
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
Peter's question about the limits of forgiveness — 'up to seven times?' — draws from Christ the parable of a servant forgiven an astronomically unpayable debt who then seizes a fellow servant over a trifling sum. This sermon works through Matthew 18:21–35 in three movements: the setting of Peter's question, the three scenes of the parable itself, and the concluding verdict of verse 35. The central argument is that the forgiven community must be a forgiving community — not by counting to 490, but by forgiving without counting — and that a professing Christian who withholds forgiveness from a repentant brother thereby gives evidence that he himself has never truly received the grace of God.
2LCF Chapter 1 - Of the Holy Scriptures, Part 2
What does it mean to interpret Scripture rightly, and why does it matter? This Bible study exposition of 2 Timothy 3:16–17 (part 2) builds on the prior week's treatment of the doctrine of Scripture to address the discipline of hermeneutics — the principles, laws, and methods of biblical interpretation. Eight basic principles are set forth: Scripture's interpretation is a spiritual exercise requiring Spirit-dependent prayer; the text's meaning is objective, not reader-relative; the grammatical-historical method governs exegesis; context is paramount; Scripture is its own best interpreter; literary genre must be recognized; the relationship between the Old and New Testaments must be understood; and the interpreter is not alone but stands within the community of the church's gifted teachers across the centuries. The governing application is that every believer, not merely the ordained minister, must handle the Word of God accurately rather than twisting it to suit preferred meanings.