How to interpret the scriptures?

arunangelo said:

Jesus is the word of God become flesh (John 1:14). In other words, in Jesus the scriptures became a reality. Therefore, to find the true meanings of the scriptures and have eternal life we must do what Jesus did (John 5:39).

Jesus preached the good news to the poor, healed the sick and brokenhearted and sacrificed his life so that those who betrayed him and were unfaithful to him may have eternal life (Luke 4:18 & Isaiah 61:1). He bore our affliction and oppression silently (Isaiah 53: 5 &7); healed and forgave sinners; and befriended Judas, although he knew that Juda would betray him. Furthermore, during his suffering and death he forgave his persecutors (Luke 23:34); was concerned about the suffering they would bring upon themselves by their sins rather than his own suffering (Luke 23:28). Through his chastisement he freed us from sin and put his spirit into our heart. We must, therefore, love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34-35); quietly bear each other’s burdens, forgive without any limit (Matt. 18:22); stay faithful to our marriage vows, even when there is betrayal and unfaithfulness; bind each other’s wounds; be a servant to others (John 13:14); and never condemn or give up on another human being.

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Hard to argue with that.

arunangelo said:

Jesus is the word of God become flesh (John 1:14). In other words, in Jesus the scriptures became a reality. Therefore, to find the true meanings of the scriptures and have eternal life we must do what Jesus did (John 5:39).

Jesus preached the good news to the poor, healed the sick and brokenhearted and sacrificed his life so that those who betrayed him and were unfaithful to him may have eternal life (Luke 4:18 & Isaiah 61:1). He bore our affliction and oppression silently (Isaiah 53: 5 &7); healed and forgave sinners; and befriended Judas, although he knew that Juda would betray him. Furthermore, during his suffering and death he forgave his persecutors (Luke 23:34); was concerned about the suffering they would bring upon themselves by their sins rather than his own suffering (Luke 23:28). Through his chastisement he freed us from sin and put his spirit into our heart. We must, therefore, love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34-35); quietly bear each other’s burdens, forgive without any limit (Matt. 18:22); stay faithful to our marriage vows, even when there is betrayal and unfaithfulness; bind each other’s wounds; be a servant to others (John 13:14); and never condemn or give up on another human being.

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What you quoted below is impossible to do.

We must, therefore, love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34-35); quietly bear each other’s burdens, forgive without any limit (Matt. 18:22);

How can anyone love others as Jesus loved humanity?

arunangelo said:

Jesus is the word of God become flesh (John 1:14). In other words, in Jesus the scriptures became a reality. Therefore, to find the true meanings of the scriptures and have eternal life we must do what Jesus did (John 5:39).

Jesus preached the good news to the poor, healed the sick and brokenhearted and sacrificed his life so that those who betrayed him and were unfaithful to him may have eternal life (Luke 4:18 & Isaiah 61:1). He bore our affliction and oppression silently (Isaiah 53: 5 &7); healed and forgave sinners; and befriended Judas, although he knew that Juda would betray him. Furthermore, during his suffering and death he forgave his persecutors (Luke 23:34); was concerned about the suffering they would bring upon themselves by their sins rather than his own suffering (Luke 23:28). Through his chastisement he freed us from sin and put his spirit into our heart. We must, therefore, love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34-35); quietly bear each other’s burdens, forgive without any limit (Matt. 18:22); stay faithful to our marriage vows, even when there is betrayal and unfaithfulness; bind each other’s wounds; be a servant to others (John 13:14); and never condemn or give up on another human being.

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The Targum is an Aramaic translation of the OT where they often paraphrased to add sense to text (Nehemiah 8:8), which gives us a good glimpse of how they understood the text at that time. For example, if they thought a passage was alluding to the Messiah, then they would directly say that. One of the things that they did in order to avoid anthropomorphizing God was to us the word "Memra" in place of human characteristics, which is also translated as "Logos" or "Word", so the Word is the human personification of God's character traits.

The Bible often uses the same terms to describe the character traits of God as it does to describe the character traits of God's law, which is because it is God's instructions for how to express His character traits, such as with it being holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12). So Jesus is the exact expression of God's nature (Hebrews 1:3), or as you put it, in Jesus the the Scriptures became reality. He began his ministry with the Gospel message calling people to repent from our sins for the Kingdom of God is at hand, and the Mosaic Law was how his audience knew what sin is. He expressed only the character traits of the Father through his actions and was that looked like was sinless obedience to the Mosaic Law.

Here are some examples from the Targum:

Targum Genesis 1:27 And the Word of the Lord created man in His likeness, in the likeness of the presence of the Lord He created him, the male and his yoke-fellow He created them.

Targum Genesis 3:8 And they heard the voice of the Word of the Lord God walking in the garden in the repose of the day; and Adam and his wife hid themselves from before the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Targum Genesis 7:16 And they coming entered, male and female, of all flesh unto him, as the Lord had instructed him; and the Word of the Lord covered over the door of the ark upon the face thereof.

In other words, the Targum attributes all of creation to the Word of the Lord, so everything was made through the Word and without the Word there was nothing made that has been made. So there is a striking resemblance between the opening of John's Gospel and the Targum of Genesis 1, whereupon John then sequentially listed six attributes that the Word of the Lord was considered to have had, so by identifying Jesus as the Word he was definitely making a connection with an already existing concept.

Philo was an Alexandrian Jew who was roughly contemporary with Jesus, but probably never met him. He wrote:

"...the most universal of all things is God; and in the second place the Word of God (Allegorical Interpretation, II, 86)

"...the shadow of God is His Word, which He used like an instrument when He was making the world..." (Allegorical Interpretation, III, 96)

"This same Word is continually a suppliant to the immortal God on behalf of the mortal race, which is exposed to affliction and misery; and is also the ambassador, sent by the Ruler of all, to the subject race...neither being uncreated as God, nor yet created as you, but being in the midst between these two extremities..." (Who is the Heir of Divine Things, 205-6)

arunangelo said:

Jesus is the word of God become flesh (John 1:14). In other words, in Jesus the scriptures became a reality. Therefore, to find the true meanings of the scriptures and have eternal life we must do what Jesus did (John 5:39)...

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Jesus became the Truth before he did what you mentioned. So, the idea is to become true from your innermost being, by merging with it via unconditional faith, before you can administer the truth; which sets the human condition free, and restores/heals it to its original state.

How to interpret the scriptures?
Only the truth can interpret the scriptures truthfully.

It is pointless to try and interpret them using our own thoughts and feelings, for both are distorted by the 'self' (which we must offer up as a sacrifice for what is true). To do this requires unconditional faith (loving what we know is true). Once 'self' has been surrendered, even from moment to moment, the Truth can take its place. Then our thoughts and feelings will come from Truth, and not from our-self. Truth precedes thoughts and feelings, and it is only this way, can we interpret the scriptures truthfully.

arunangelo said:

Jesus is the word of God become flesh (John 1:14). In other words, in Jesus the scriptures became a reality. Therefore, to find the true meanings of the scriptures and have eternal life we must do what Jesus did (John 5:39).

Jesus preached the good news to the poor, healed the sick and brokenhearted and sacrificed his life so that those who betrayed him and were unfaithful to him may have eternal life (Luke 4:18 & Isaiah 61:1). He bore our affliction and oppression silently (Isaiah 53: 5 &7); healed and forgave sinners; and befriended Judas, although he knew that Juda would betray him. Furthermore, during his suffering and death he forgave his persecutors (Luke 23:34); was concerned about the suffering they would bring upon themselves by their sins rather than his own suffering (Luke 23:28). Through his chastisement he freed us from sin and put his spirit into our heart. We must, therefore, love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34-35); quietly bear each other’s burdens, forgive without any limit (Matt. 18:22); stay faithful to our marriage vows, even when there is betrayal and unfaithfulness; bind each other’s wounds; be a servant to others (John 13:14); and never condemn or give up on another human being.

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I totally agree. That is the best post I have read regarding how we should interpret the scriptures.

arunangelo said:

Jesus is the word of God become flesh (John 1:14). In other words, in Jesus the scriptures became a reality. Therefore, to find the true meanings of the scriptures and have eternal life we must do what Jesus did (John 5:39).

Jesus preached the good news to the poor, healed the sick and brokenhearted and sacrificed his life so that those who betrayed him and were unfaithful to him may have eternal life (Luke 4:18 & Isaiah 61:1). He bore our affliction and oppression silently (Isaiah 53: 5 &7); healed and forgave sinners; and befriended Judas, although he knew that Juda would betray him. Furthermore, during his suffering and death he forgave his persecutors (Luke 23:34); was concerned about the suffering they would bring upon themselves by their sins rather than his own suffering (Luke 23:28). Through his chastisement he freed us from sin and put his spirit into our heart. We must, therefore, love one another as he has loved us (John 13:34-35); quietly bear each other’s burdens, forgive without any limit (Matt. 18:22); stay faithful to our marriage vows, even when there is betrayal and unfaithfulness; bind each other’s wounds; be a servant to others (John 13:14); and never condemn or give up on another human being.

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Yea people often get stuck in these four gospels not realising these was given new gospel by Paul after Jews which Jesus preached to rejected it , and to provoke them to jelousy he offered to gentiles FREE salvation . So yea all you said was true for Jews when gospel of kingdom was preached but that's not for us today