This is an excellent book on the art and science of how to work through the narrative arc of scripture. Graves illustrates his approach with discussions of five examples from the Scriptures: personal and communal responsibility; sacrificial offerings; insiders and outsiders; marriage, polygamy, and divorce; and the afterlife. Graves tracks the detail from Creation, through the Law, Prophets and Wisdom then works through the New Testament, paying attention to the historical context. At the end of each topic, the author provides a number of principles that can be discerned in the application of the Scriptures to our times. I found the discussion on the afterlife particularly useful and informative. The great strength of this book is that the authors' method is extremely well illustrated. However, while each topic provides a useful working example of the method, I felt that one or two more current and challenging topics would have taken this book from good to outstanding. A chapter on sexuality/LGBTQ+ and gender would have multiplied the usefulness of this book as would a chapter on the environment. I think that this book will be useful to Pastors, Teachers, Students of Scripture and anyone wanting to understand the flow of the Bible and how it speaks to us today.

In "How Scripture Interprets Scripture," Michael Graves demonstrates how inner-biblical exegesis can be a useful model for contemporary believers to apply in their study of the Bible. Graves states that biblical authors often interact with earlier biblical texts when writing in their own contemporary contexts resulting in an expanded or fuller revelation of God’s truth. From his findings on inner-biblical exegesis, the author presents four basic considerations that Christians ought to possess when studying Scripture. Firstly, the Bible is authoritative and relevant to believers of every era and thus we should strive to gain wisdom and spiritual maturity by studying the Bible with reverence and expectation. This first point implies that those who claim to have God’s Word as the standard for their lives must engage in the task of faithful interpretation in order to crystallize the meaning and application of Scripture. It is because the Bible is written over many centuries by authors with vastly different backgrounds and circumstances than our own that require us to dutifully labour in the interpretative process. Secondly, we need to familiarize ourselves with the historical and cultural contexts of the biblical text as the first step in studying Scripture. When we miss this step, the conclusions that we draw becomes tainted by our own modern conceptions of what the passage ought to mean without fully comprehending why the text was written and its message to the original audience. Furthermore, we need to correctly identify the genre of the text as the meaning of the passage can be immensely different as poetry as opposed to historical narrative. In addition, we need to identify the location of the text in redemptive history to understand the particular contributions that the biblical author makes to the Bible’s grand story. Next, we need to broaden our study beyond the specific text being studied to explore how the subject is addressed in other parts of the Bible. By doing so, we can avoid missing other valid and important perspectives of scriptural truth that the Spirit reveals at various points in redemptive history. As the entire Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, the central truths of our faith ought not to contradict despite the diversity of the authorial and contextual backgrounds of the biblical books. In fact, Graves points out such diversity allow us to appreciate the complexity of the issues that we need to wrestle with to live holy, righteous lives. Lastly, we need to ensure that we properly identify the core teachings of the Bible to establish a coherent theological framework for biblical interpretation. The synthesis of such a framework centers upon the life and teachings of Jesus as the living Word who personifies the essence of the written Word. This does not mean that we ignore the specific circumstantial message that the biblical author is conveying in a particular text but we need to ensure that our interpretation is compatible with the core truths that Jesus proclaims. Graves suggests that church tradition, our local church, and human reason are all key resources that we ought to utilize in keeping our interpretation of the Bible in check. To illustrate how these four principles work together, the author analyzes five major topics including personal and corporate responsibility, insiders and outsiders, marriage, polygamy and divorce, sacrificial offerings, and the afterlife. In each chapter, the author first demonstrates the teachings of each applicable biblical text along with their historical, literary, and cultural context. Next, Graves attempts to link later biblical texts with earlier ones to identify areas in which inner-biblical interpretation occurs. The final stage is to establish a cohesive understanding of how these various texts come together and interact with the central values of Jesus’ teachings.

I recommend this book as a practical resource for Christians who struggle to interpret and apply Scripture as it is indeed a complex task to engage thoroughly with the Bible. Many new and even mature Christians may view biblical interpretation to be a chore rather than a blessing. The ensuing result is that these believers either concentrate on relatively straight-forward passages that offer simple moral lessons or attempt to interpret the Bible in haphazard ways that offer up conclusions incompatible with Scripture’s core teachings. Another temptation is to overly rely on resources such as commentaries, sermons, or lectures to provide us with a shortcut to the crux of a passage. Graves argues that every Christian should embrace the honour and privilege of studying God’s Word as timeless truth that is relevant to every part of our lives. However, this also means that we have a duty to examine each text with care, reverence, and effort. Such careful study involves searching the whole canon to establish a coherent understanding of the Bible’s teaching on a particular subject. Furthermore, we ought to be sensitive to the cultural and historical contexts of the text being studied so that we accurately understand the interactions and interrelationships in play. Moreover, we need to be equipped with a cohesive understanding of Jesus’ core teachings so that we can relate each biblical passage to our contemporary lives. We need not be embarrassed or discouraged when we encounter areas of tension on challenging topics such as polygamy, slavery, or divorce as we can trust God’s Word to be infallible, inerrant, and life-giving. Rather, as we approach each text with sincerity and humility, we prayerfully ask the Spirit to open our spiritual eyes to discover the treasures within the biblical text and to inflame our hearts to obey God’s commands as found in His Word.

I was provided a free copy of this book from the publisher.