If we affirm that the Scriptures exist to reveal Jesus Christ, that he is at the heart of a proper interpretation of the Bible, or that we are called to a gospel-centered ministry, are we then communicating that we are more focused on the person of Jesus than on the triune God? Do we have a deficient hermeneutic?
I have received this criticism from an acquaintance before. Wishing to take this warning seriously, I took the time to examine the question more deeply.
First, when we speak of the centrality of Christ in Scripture, we must be clear that his ministry is inseparable from the other two persons of the Trinity. One cannot separate Jesus from the Trinity. God is one in three persons. These persons are united in the trinitarian mystery and cannot be isolated from one another as though they acted independently.
The Son exists from all eternity in his divinity within the Trinity. When we pray in Jesus’ name, we do not neglect the Father, for the biblical notion of Jesus’ intercession before the Father on our behalf is implicit.
Second, the ministry of Christ, particularly at the cross, is accomplished according to the purposes and will of the Father. It is also the Father who raised him from the dead. Luke is very clear on this point: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up…” (Acts 2:23–24).
Furthermore, the Holy Spirit applies to our hearts, by faith, the power of these truths in order to bring about our new birth. Indeed, without a God in three persons, the cross would lose all its theological meaning: God would simply have died.
Moreover, Luke shows us Jesus himself, referencing the entire Old Testament, saying to the disciples after his resurrection: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).
Whether Genesis, the Psalms, or Jeremiah, these books concerned the Lord Jesus. The Christocentric hermeneutical task may not be easy to carry out, but it exists. Even if some interpreters take shortcuts and go astray, the principle nonetheless remains true and legitimate.
Furthermore, whether through prophecy, typology, or the great themes of biblical revelation, Jesus Christ always appears within the framework of the divine plan deployed by our triune God. Drawing on the ideas of Kevin Vanhoozer from his book, Mere Christian Hermeneutics, I would say: To read Scripture theologically is to follow the letter of the text according to God’s intention, in the context of the canon, to its Christological fulfilment within the history of redemption.
Our Christian walk is lived by the life of God, in union with Christ, and as the temple of the Holy Spirit. Whether we speak of union with Christ, redemption, or substitution, it is biblically impossible to address these doctrines without accounting for the trinitarian reality. Although we are deeply grateful for penal substitution and for the gospel of Jesus Christ, a mature faith—one that manifests itself through works—takes account of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
It is therefore erroneous to believe that these expressions or concepts, when understood in all their richness, manifest a Christian faith excessively or exclusively centered on the person of Christ.
However, a weak hermeneutic will have an impact not only on our study of the text but also, by extension, on our individual and corporate worship, as well as on our understanding of sanctification. To understand that Christ is at the heart of God’s redemptive plan is to understand that without grace, the Christian life is moralistic—it will be motivated to obedience by fear rather than by the ineffable love of God. It will seek to erase sin visible on the surface, instead of attacking it at the root in the heart that needs repentance and faith.
Should we remain vigilant when studying the inspired text? Of course—our Christocentric reading could blind us and cause us to miss the presence and roles of the Father and the Spirit in the great redemptive plan.
May our hermeneutics lead us toward practices that honour the triune God who is revealed in the Word. Although we hold to the Christocentric lens, may our reading and study of the Scriptures guide us to worship our thrice-holy God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—never forgetting that the Spirit glorifies the Son, and that the Son glorifies the Father, that he might be all in all (Rom. 11:36).
