Selling Water by the River - No One Comes to the Bible without a Lens

More from Shane Hipps' book, Selling Water By the River:

In his chapter about how we read and understand scripture, Hipps talks about the lenses through which we read:

"No one comes to the Bible or life without a lens...A lens can be a set of assumptions or beliefs that we have...When it comes to the Bible, religious authorities usually tell us which lenses we should use. We learn what to believe about the Bible as a way to help us understand how to read it. We are also taught what to be afraid of or angry about..."

The author goes ahead to list the first set of biblical lenses he was given, which included such things as "The Bible is flat; no teaching or doctrine in the Bible is privileged above another...The Bible is unified in its message...God doesn't speak outside the Bible..." (Authority figures also taught him what lenses he should NOT look through at the Bible.)

"Our lenses - our assumptions, our way of seeing the world - shape the way we interpret the Bible and how we relate to God and those in the world around us... When we see our lenses, we can evaluate them consciously...An examination of our lenses is not a process of changing the Bible, the world, or truth; it is a process of changing ourselves. 

"The most limited Bible interpreter is one who claims to have no lens.

"Even Jesus, the Son of God, made deliberate use of a lens..." Shane Hipps goes on to illustrate this by showing how Jesus elevated certain scriptures over others. The Pharisees tried to trick Him by asking which was the greatest commandment believing that the only correct answer could be that all the commandments are the greatest. But Jesus didn't hesitate to respond in a way that shows His understanding that some commandments carry more weight than others and that all of them should be understood in the light of the two commandments to love God and our neighbor...

"The implications of what Jesus says here are enormous and often overlooked. He is actually showing us that he has a lens - a set of assumptions. He doesn't see the Bible as flat...

"We all have lenses, but not all lenses are created equal. Some help us see more, some cause us to see less...Perhaps this Jesus-centered lens is one we should adopt. One that elevates love of God, and love of neighbor and self as the interpretive keys to the Bible."