Some years ago my wife and 2 daughters were attending a Christian summer camp. One particular morning the main speaker was taking us through the account of Jesus’ feeding of the 5000(John 6:1-15). By focusing our attention on the boy with 5 loaves and 2 fish(John 6:8), the speaker made his main point by saying that even if we have little to offer, like this boy, God can take that little and multiply it.
By focusing on the boy, he missed the whole point of the passage because his art and skill of interpreting the Scripture(hermeneutics) was man-centered(anthropocentric) rather than God-centered(theocentric). I mean, after all, the Bible, the Word of God, is about God.
Just from a reading of the immediate context, the peoples’ response to Christ’s miraculous sign makes it clear that the passage is about who Christ is(John 6:14). And furthermore, the purpose for which John wrote this Gospel he makes plainly clear.
“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
John 20:30-31
John’s clear purpose statement is two-fold, introduced by the term “that”. His first purpose for writing was that his readers might believe who Jesus is, namely the Christ(the prophesied Messiah) and God in the flesh(“the Son of God”). Then his second purpose was that by believing in Christ his readers may have life in His name. As John wrote concerning Christ in his first epistle, “He is the true God and eternal life.”(1 John 5:20)
The 8 miraculous signs that the apostle John recorded was to accomplish this very purpose. And one of those signs to point people to who Christ is and thus to believe in Him was this account of the feeding of the 5000.
Recently someone was telling me they never understood why the story of David and Goliath was in the Bible. In other words, they could not understand the true meaning behind it. The person said they finally understood it when they heard a preacher explain that the story is there to help us fight the battles against our own Goliaths of fear, anxiety, anger, etc.
So let me ask you: Was that interpretation based upon a theocentric or anthropocentric hermeneutic? If you said anthropocentric, you are correct. But the reason it is anthropocentric is because the preacher spiritualised the passage rather than getting to the main point of this historical narrative.
So what’s the main point of David and Goliath? It’s about God fulfilling his promise that the Messiah, Jesus, would come through the seed of David.(2 Samuel 7:12-16; Matthew 1:1; Luke 1:32; Acts 13:22-23). And for that very reason God preserved David’s life when he fought Goliath. Humanly speaking, Goliath should have killed David(1 Samuel 17). But divinely speaking, he could not lay a finger on him.
Oh, and by the way, did you know that the book of Ruth was not about a love story between Ruth and Boaz? If your interpretation is based upon anthropocentric hermeneutics, then sure, it was a love story. But a proper biblical interpretation based upon theocentric hermeneutics says that the book of Ruth is once again about…Jesus Christ. Note how the book ends.
“Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmon, Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.”
Ruth 4:18-21
So Boaz was the great grandfather of David, through whom the kinsman-Redeemer, Jesus Christ, was promised to come. And that is why after David defeated Goliath, Saul inquired whose son David was, only to find out that he was the son of Jesse(1 Samuel 17:55-58), who just so happened to be the grandson of Boaz. What a coincidence, right? Not at all. Divine providence wonderfully orchestrating everything for God’s redemptive plan through Jesus Christ!
Pastor, preacher, Christian: Is your hermeneutic of God’s Word anthropocentric or theocentric? If anthropocentric, then you are misinterpreting. But if theocentric, you are accurately handling the word of truth.
“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”
2 Timothy 2:15
