As Christians, the burden of teaching others must be that we see all truths in the Bible through the gospel. As Jay Adams says, “If what they hear you teach could be had in a Rotary Club, self-help group, or synagogue you are not preaching the message of the Bible.” It is our task is to teach others that the entire Bible is about the gospel. Failing to do that can lead to misunderstanding of how to grow in grace, turning people into Pharisees or leading them into despair. To a certain degree, all of us are teachers, therefore, it is good to ponder often if we are truly teaching our children the essential message of the Bible, or just trying to make them moral and respectable. Nothing less than the conversion of our children and those around us is at stake. So how do we read and teach the Bible?

Jesus himself teaches us that all Scriptures ultimately point to Him and are fulfilled through Him. There are two key places in the New Testament where Jesus teaches us how to interpret the Bible. The first is at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in John 5:31-47. The question there is one of authority. Jesus points to John the Baptist who tells the people who have gathered to hear him that he is not the Light that was promised, but that his ministry is a testimony about the Light. Further, Jesus tells the crowd who are literally marinated in Scripture that they have misread the Old Testament! Even though they know the grammar of the Bible better than most, these good religious folk are missing the point. Jesus tells them that knowing the Bible is not good enough. In fact, knowing the Bible may be worse than not knowing it at all because he said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.” They thought that because they knew the Bible it gave them a standing with God. Then he says something seminal, “These [the Old Testament writings] are the Scriptures that testify about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.” Here are people who say, “We believed Moses.” Which means, “We obey the Law of Moses; we keep the law.” Jesus then shows them that unless they see the law as pointing to Him they will misuse it to their own destruction. “If you be believed Moses, you will believe Me, for he wrote about Me.” In other words, you can’t even begin to understand the law and its place in Scripture till you understand that it points beyond itself to Jesus.

The second place Jesus teaches us how to interpret the Bible is on the Road to Emmaus. When Jesus came across two disciples who were utterly in despair because of Christ’s crucifixion, he responds, “How slow of heart to believe all the prophets have spoken.” And, beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:44-45) A short while after this conversation he meets his disciples in the upper room and begins to expose their confusion and places the blame on the fact they did not know how to read the Scriptures. “This is what I told you while I was still with you, 'Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.' ” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. Jesus was telling them that all Scripture is ultimately about Him and the salvation he won for his people!

Our Children’s Ministry curriculum is titled “Show Me Jesus” because it is written in such a way that, even to our youngest preschoolers, Jesus is revealed in every passage and story. For example, we do not teach about Daniel and say, “Let’s all be brave and strong like Daniel. We show them how Daniel relied on Jesus and was delivered by faith in the only One who can deliver. We teach that Daniel was courageous and strong, but he was weak without Jesus. The same applies to Samson and Joseph; all these figures point to and pre-figure the salvation that is to come. If people do not leave the teaching of St. Patrick Church saying, “My only hope is in Christ and on Him alone will I stand,” then we have failed as teachers of the Bible. This is true, whether we are pastor, a leader of ministry, a Sunday school teacher, or a parent.

If we fail to see that all of Scripture is about Jesus, then we will end up on one of two roads. The first is a moralistic interpretation of Scripture that leads to despair when we realize we can never be moral enough to fulfill it. The second is a path to self-righteousness that allows us to tell ourselves that we deserve God’s love and salvation because of our Biblical knowledge, church attendance, or service.

There is much moralism and pragmatism in our world today. There is little teaching that has at its heart the life-changing message of the cross. We are broken and unworthy people and no amount of trying or will power will make us good. Therefore, we must run to the cross in repentance and faith where we will find the God who is our righteousness and strength. This is the message we find in every nook and cranny of the Scripture.