Scripture interprets Scripture

Be Strong in the Grace has an excellent post, in this age of weird scripture-twisting by far-our fanatics, on Luther's principles of biblical interpretation, to which at least confessional Lutherans continue to subscribe today:

1. The Bible in its entirety is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. The Scriptures are to be used to interpret Scripture. The Holy Spirit is the true interpreter of the Bible. The Holy Scriptures are profitable "for teaching, for refutation, for correction adn for training in righteousness." The Bible is the supreme and final authority in all theological matters.

2. The entire Bible is christocentric. The Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament. Christ is the center of the Bible and of all interpretation. The centrality of justification by faith is the chief article of biblical revelation. In the Holy Scriptures, God speaks a word of Law and a word of Gospel.

3. The Bible comes to us in human speech, so the laws of human speech (grammar, syntax) are to be observed. (This point illustrates the importance of knowing Hebrew and Greek.)

4. All doctrines must be based on clear passages. Obscure, figurative, and symbolic passages are to be understood in the light of clear passages.

5. Scripture is to be interpreted by the Analogy of Faith (the sum total of all clear passages).

6. No passage is to be taken out of its context.

7. Each passage has one Spirit-intended meaning (Note: To clarify a point which understandably confused one reader, this does not mean that there are not plenty of cases in which that meaning is symbolic- as in, for example, the Passover lamb being a type, or prophetic symbol- of Christ. It simply denies the notion that each Scripture passage has a variety of non-literal "senses-" an idea current in Luther's day- as well as the notion that there are obscure, privately-discerned meanings to passages not readily accessible to anyone following the guidelines above).

Common sense, really. But if these principles were consistently followed, doctrinal differences among Christians would be far fewer.