Christ Himself is Crucial to Our Understanding of Scripture

When Jesus rose from the dead, He accompanied two disillusioned believers on the way to Emmaus. Hiding His identity from His crest-fallen followers, Jesus asked Cleopas and his partner to explain why they were sad:

"Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?

"And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:

"And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.

"But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done." (Luke 24: 18-22)

As Pastor Prince pointed out in one sermon, their primary focus was not Jesus Christ the Messiah, but the (political) redemption of Israel.

For the remainder of their travel to Emmaus, Joseph corrected their focus:

"Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken:

"Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?

"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. " (Luke 24: 25-27)

They did not believe, and they did not believe all that the prophets had spoken of the Messiah, and not just of Himself but what He was called to suffer and the glory which He entered. Christ Himself, His Cross, His Suffering, His Resurrection: these are the focus of Scriptures, these are crucial to our understanding of all that we read in the Bible. When we understand that through Him, through His death, through His life, we are freed from death in our trespasses and receive His life, we are set free form potential errors, strifes, and dissensions over doctrines, traditions, and hierarchies.

If there is a discrepancy in scripture, if there is a misunderstanding, if there is any difficult, look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our Faith. Any reading, any argument, which does not give Him the Highest place and prominence must be reevaluated and reviewed in light of Himself.