Jesus Focus | Knowable Word

Reading the Bible Like Jesus

February 26, 2025 By Peter Krol

Matthew Harmon thinks we should should read the Bible the way Jesus did, since obeying him should include obeying his instruction regarding the Scriptures.

If Jesus Christ is the fullest revelation of God, it makes sense that he’d be the person we look to for guidance on how to read the Bible. Not only should we have the same view of the Bible that Jesus had, but we should read it the way he read it.

And perhaps among other things, that at least means that we should view the Bible as:

Fulfilling the Two Great Commandments
A Narrative That Points to Him

Check it out!

Follow the Bible’s Larger Story

February 12, 2025 By Peter Krol

To help guide you to stronger, more delightful Bible reading, Stephen Kneale offers four guiding principles:

What does this say about Jesus?
How does this fit with/relate to other passages?
Read it knowing God ordained events as part of his story
Let the clear interpret the less clear

Kneale writes:

Though we affirm the perspicuity of scripture and the fundamental clarity of its essential message, the ever-present issue when reading the Bible is this: how do I know I am reading it rightly? It is all too easy to read ourselves into the story when it isn’t necessarily about us, miss the main point of a passage or just badly misread what is said altogether. Whilst utter interpretative perfection is unlikely to any of us, there are some helpful guiding principles that can keep us on the right track with any passage of scripture.

While these are not the only principles that could or should guide your Bible reading, they represent some good habits to develop as you go.

Check it out!

Let the Gospel Connect the Dots in Your Bible Reading

August 21, 2024 By Peter Krol

This helpful piece Lara d’Entremont will help you connect the dots in your Bible reading. You know, when you’re reading all the different stories, poems, and prophecies, and you’re not sure how such a hodgepodge of texts fits together. The thread that ties it all up is the gospel.

She writes:

Maybe you read the Bible like this: The Old Testament is law and wrath, but when Jesus finally appeared in the New Testament, everything became about grace and good news. Then the Bible ends with some rules and promises and a terrifying and cryptic picture of the end times and eternity.

The best we can do is say that we’re not really sure what this means. Perhaps God was angrier back then; Israel is special; you’re David and your problem is Goliath; Jesus saves; follow these rules; and you’re unsure how it will all go down, but you’ll be walking on gold pavement. Sound accurate? Can you relate?

Check it out!

4 Psalms You May Not Have Realized Were About Christ

July 31, 2024 By Peter Krol

Last week, I shared an article by Christopher Ash about Jesus as the lead singer of the psalms. I can’t help but follow up this week with another article by Ash entitled, “4 Psalms You Didn’t Realize Point to Christ.”

Ash considers:

Psalm 1 – the man who meditates constantly on God’s word
Psalm 6 – the innocent sufferer who can drive evildoers away
Psalm 109 – perhaps the harshest of the psalms of cursing against the wicked
Psalm 145 – perpetual praise offered to the Lord

All four psalms only make real sense if Jesus Christ is the lead singer.

Check it out!

In the Psalms, Jesus is the Lead Singer

July 24, 2024 By Peter Krol

Christopher Ash explains how the Psalms were intended to be read from a Christ-centered perspective.

Perhaps the greatest blessing of a Christ-centered reading is that it frees me from being imprisoned into thinking that the Psalms are all about me. No, they are not all about me! They are all about Jesus Christ in his flawless human nature and his incomparable divine nature. They revolve around Jesus, who sang the Psalms as a significant part of his life of faith and prayer and praise on earth.

I remember seeing on the wall of a church the words of Psalm 20:4: “May [the Lord] grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans!” How wonderful, you might think. The Bible promises me all that my heart desires. Until you read the psalm and realize that Psalm 20 is a prayer for the king in David’s line. Ultimately, it is a prayer that Jesus will have his heart’s desire granted and that his plans will be fulfilled. And they will!

The Psalms are not all about me. If I think they are, I will end up disillusioned. But when I grasp that they are all about Christ, my heart lifts in joy that he is the blessed Man and I belong to him.

That is but one of the blessings of reading the Psalms in light of the fact that Jesus is lead singer. The other blessings are:

You can sing in tune with the gospel.
You can sing every line of every song.
You can sing for joy in Jesus.

Check it out!

Substitution and Application

May 10, 2024 By Peter Krol

A firm grasp on Jesus, the Lamb of God, will take your application skills to the next level.

Substitution

The Bible paints a glorious portrait of Jesus as one who “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). Jesus is the one who “knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21). “He committed no sin” (1 Peter 2:22), and “in him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5).

When Jesus began his ministry, John the Baptist called him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). As the Lamb of God, Jesus fulfilled the role of the Old Testament sacrifices, especially the Passover lamb, which involved offering a lamb “without blemish, a male a year old” (ex 12:5) and whose blood would be displayed so judgment could pass the people by.

Those with the courage to attribute all hope of salvation to the enthroned Father and to the Lamb (Rev 7:10) will find their clothes washed white in the Lamb’s blood (Rev 7:14). God “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).

The New Testament regularly portrays Jesus as trading places with sinners to grant them new life. The leper who could not enter towns gets to speak to the priest, while Jesus is no longer able to enter the town (Mark 1:40-45). The Rich One becomes poor so the poor might by his poverty become rich (2 Cor 8:9). The Wise One became as a fool so fools might become wise in him (1 Cor 1:20-31). The Righteous One became sin so sinner could become righteous in him (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus died so others could have life (Matt 27:50-54).

Help with Application

So how does this doctrine help us to improve at applying the Bible?

In nearly any text, you can ask “substitution” questions with respect to the author’s main point:

How has Jesus obeyed this text perfectly, and how do we fall short in our obedience?
What hope does it give you to know that Jesus has obeyed God in this area?
How does Jesus’ obedience free you up from trying to be perfect yourself?
Now that God already sees you as righteous through Christ, how does that motivate you to make progress in obedience yourself?
How can you set aside your fear and/or self-righteousness in this area?
How does the grace of Christ motivate you to be more gracious toward others?
How can you put Jesus on display, testifying about him for the world to see?
What sort of God would rescue sinners and grant them such free forgiveness? How does this inspire you to praise and serve him?
How has Jesus removed the stigma and pressure of the law, freeing you to obey without fear?
How does this text inflame your love for Jesus and your embrace of his work on your behalf?
How can you behold Jesus in his perfect obedience and free forgiveness?

I am intentionally sidestepping matters of creation, gifts, strengths, law, and hope for the future when I ask these questions. That’s not because such matters are unimportant, but only because the focus of this post is on the substitution of Jesus Christ for sinners.

Sometimes, robust reflection on Christ’s substitution for sinners will give us ample material to speak into the issues of our age: grace, patience, shame, identity, self-esteem, fear, anxiety, discouragement, depression—to name just a few.

Deepen your grasp of Jesus Christ’s substitution for sinners, and you’ll take your application skills to the next level.

The Law’s End and Application

April 26, 2024 By Peter Krol

A firm grasp on the goal of God’s law will take your application skills to the next level.

The End of the Law

When lamenting his countrymen’s replacement of God’s righteousness with their own, the apostle Paul makes a remarkable statement:

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
Romans 10:4

This phrase—”the end of the law”—does not mean that Jesus has brought the law to end. No, the word “end” here has the connotation of goal or purpose. Paul’s point is not the law’s mortality but its purpose.

According to the argument of Romans 9:30-10:4, Jews have been seeking righteousness before God but have failed to find it. But those who have found it are Gentiles who weren’t seeking it. How can that be? Because by and large, the Jews have sought their own righteousness through works of the law. And many Gentiles found God’s righteousness by trusting in Jesus Christ.

The reason this state has befallen the Jewish people of Paul’s day is because they have failed to understand the law’s purpose. The law of Moses was never given to make people righteous before God but to lead them to faith in Christ. Miss that purpose and you’re bound to misuse the law. In Romans 10:5-13, Paul demonstrates this purpose from the law itself.

So the law is not a bad thing, as long as we recognize its purpose. It cannot make sinners acceptable to God. It cannot vindicate the people of God against the enemies of God. It is a good gift from God to help people come to trust in Jesus. (And, as I showed last week, to show us how life works best.)

Help with Application

So how does this doctrine help us to improve at applying the Bible?

In nearly any text, you can ask “end of the law” questions with respect to the author’s main point:

What has God commanded in this text, and how do you and I measure up to that standard?
What does that command reveal about the character of God and of his Christ?
If we view Jesus as law giver, what does this command show us he cares about? Why?
If we view Jesus as law keeper, what does this command show us about what he came to do? Why?
How does this command expose the need of humanity for a king and savior?
How did Jesus live out or make use of this command in his ministry?
What kind of world would result from the new age Jesus brought, where this command in kept as it ought to be?
What would submission to King Jesus look like according to this passage? How can we make more progress in such submission?

I am intentionally sidestepping matters of creation, gifts, strengths, grace, and redemption when I ask these questions. That’s not because such matters are unimportant, but only because the focus of this post is on the purpose of God’s law to show us Christ and his righteousness.

Sometimes, robust reflection on the end or purpose of God’s law will give us ample material to speak into the issues of our age: politics, leadership, authority, liberty, influence—to name just a few.

Deepen your grasp of the proper purpose of the law, and you’ll take your application skills to the next level.

Can You Focus on the Bible Too Much?

September 22, 2023 By Peter Krol

In a recent conversation, a respectable gentleman accused me of coming dangerously close to “bibliolatry.” Bibliolatry means “worshiping the book,” and the term usually refers to the practice of revering the Bible too highly. According to Wikipedia (that never-ending fount of contemporary insight), the term may characterize “either extreme devotion to the Bible or the doctrine of biblical inerrancy.”

I’ve heard such comments before, particularly from young people who want to follow God but who don’t want to study the Bible. The thinking goes like this: “The Bible is good, but you shouldn’t focus on it too much.”

Now the argument isn’t always sophomoric. Some time ago, the evangelical philosopher J.P. Moreland delivered a paper to the Evangelical Theological Society, arguing against “the idea that the Bible is the sole source of knowledge of God, morality, and a host of related important items.” He’s concerned with Christians who take the Bible to be “the sole source of authority for faith and practice. Applied to inerrancy, the notion is that the Bible is the sole source of such knowledge and authority.” Moreland clearly believes the Bible to be both inerrant and final in its authority. But, he says, if Christians consider it to be the only authority for faith and practice—that is, for the Christian life—they are “over-committed” to it.

So is it possible (and unhelpful) to focus too much on the Bible?

The Easy Answer

Of course it’s possible.

Jesus often clashed with other teachers who focused too much on the Bible. In one noteworthy example, he staked the following claim:

You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.
John 5:39-40

In one sense, Jesus hoped they’d focus more on him than on the Scriptures.

The Difficult Answer

But in another sense, Jesus clearly drew attention to himself by drawing more attention to the Scriptures. Notice the immediately preceding verses:

And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent.
John 5:37-38

Jesus accused the Bible-focusers of not hearing God’s voice. They didn’t see his form. He had already borne witness to the Messiah in his word, but that word hadn’t landed in their hearts. They read the Bible. They studied it and memorized it. But they didn’t believe in Jesus, its principal subject.

Jesus goes on to say, “I do not receive glory from people…How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God” (John 5:41-44)? They loved the Bible because it gave them glory. They could win at Bible Trivia. People spoke highly of their knowledge and authority in spiritual matters. They had earned titles of honor and respect, and, as a result, the general public revered them

Jesus wanted them to seek glory, just not their own. They should seek the glory that comes from the only God. That is, they should seek Jesus, the one who came from God (John 5:37) and revealed his glory (John 1:14). And how would they do this? Not by abandoning the Scriptures but by reading them more—more clearly, more frequently, more passionately. “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (John 5:46).

In other words, the solution for “over-commitment” to the Bible is not to reduce your commitment to the Bible. The solution is to take your commitment to the Bible in a different direction: toward Jesus.

In that sense, it’s not possible to focus too much on the Bible. Not unless it’s possible to focus too much on Jesus.

Thanks for visiting Knowable Word! If you like this article, you might be interested in receiving regular updates from us. You can sign up for our email list (enter your address in the box on the upper right of this page), follow us on Facebook or Twitter, or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Seeing Jesus in the Proverbs

August 10, 2022 By Peter Krol

Because the book of Proverbs is full of practical wisdom, it has been a popular favorite through the ages. Even unbelievers attempt to pilfer its riches for self-help advice in business, finance, and influence. But for those who trust Jesus’ words—that the entire Old Testament was about him (Luke 24:44-47)—Proverbs presents quite a challenge. What does this book teach us about the Lord Jesus?

Here is an article from Nicholas Batzig that provides much help. Batzig discusses numerous strategies by which we may draw legitimate connections between the revelation in Proverbs and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here is a taste:

When I was in seminary I read through a chapter of Proverbs every day. At some point I realized that many of the Proverbs were couched in the same language as the Ten Commandments. In fact, one could argue that the Proverbs are a commentary on how the Ten Commandments work themselves out in the lives of God’s people and the world at large. If we understand the different uses of the Law in redemptive-history, we begin to understand the relationship between the Proverbs and the believer’s need for Christ. While the Proverbs will function exclusively in a pedagogical manner for unbelievers (i.e. driving them to Christ for forgiveness), they will also continue to do so in the life of the believer.

I believe Batzig is sometimes a little hasty in going to Christ, without first explaining how the original Old Covenant audience would have understood the book. For example, I would not agree that whenever Proverbs speaks of “the righteous person,” it is speaking always and only about the Messiah Jesus (since none of us can be truly righteous). Scholar Bruce Waltke has helpfully shown that the concept of “the righteous” in the Proverbs simply refers to one who is willing to disadvantage themselves in order to advantage others; it did not originally refer to forensic righteousness in the sense that Paul uses the term.

But with that said, Batzig’s strategies and examples remain very helpful for drawing helpful and legitimate connections to the person and work of Christ. If you wish to read Proverbs like a Christian, I highly commend the article.

Check it out!

Arise My Love — Part 3: Application

December 17, 2021 By Peter Krol

I’ve already shown you some of my observation and interpretation of Song of Songs 2:8-3:5, which led me to the following as the poet’s main point: A couple’s purpose in pursuing a romantic relationship ought to be the movement from separated togetherness to the mutual possession of marriage. Now it’s time to connect this main point to the gospel of Jesus Christ so I can apply it to today.

Gospel Connection

I try to avoid following my imagination from any old detail in the text to the message about Jesus. Instead, an important discipline to develop is to reflect on how the main point of the passage directs us to the gospel. In the case of the Song of Songs, I do not want to ignore or bypass a literal reference of the text to human relationships. But I also can’t avoid the fact that the Bible clearly describes how human relationships are meant to be pictures of God’s relationship with his people (e.g. Hos 1-3, Eph 5:22-33).

Therefore, the clear and selfless direction of a godly romance (toward the mutual possession of marriage) ought to be a signpost pointing the way to Jesus’ clear and selfless pursuit of his bride, the church. When Jesus invites people into a relationship with him, he’s not messing with them from selfish motives, but he’s wooing them into a covenant of mutual possession. He became a man and died to overcome our separation from him, so we can now be his forever. Because of his pursuit, through death and resurrection, the chief promise of God’s covenant is now fulfilled; the Song’s “my beloved is mine and I am his” becomes our “he is our God and we are his people.”

Application

Now that we’ve considered the main point through the lens of the gospel, how will I apply it today? Application is always tricky because it depends so much on context. And my context — situation, circumstances — differs from yours.

But here’s what has struck me as I’ve studied this text: I’m mostly impacted by it personally in the outward heart and outward hands boxes on the application matrix. In particular, I have an opportunity show my children the problems with the world’s way of mating, and to show them the delightful glory of God’s plans for his people. I want to dig into this passage with my children to show them how delightful God’s plan for mating is. I want to expose the failure of the world to find true delight in exchange for cheap counterfeits (hooking up, one-night stands, etc.). I want to draw the connection between how we mate as Christians, and what that tells the world about Christ’s love for his people.

In particular, we don’t date people just to feel close to them or to have fun being together. We date in order to purse a clear and selfless direction toward marriage. That is, the purpose of dating (or whatever we want to call it) is to discover whether marriage is a good idea.

And we can navigate the ups and downs and awkwardness of human romance because we stand fast in the reality that Christ is ours and we are his. He will never let us down, reject us, or break up with those who trust him.