The Infallible Rule Of Interpretation
Of Scripture(1)
By
Oswald T. Allis
"The infallible
rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself; and
therefore,
when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture
(which
is not manifold, but one) it may be searched and known by other places
that
speak more clearly." (2)
This rule has been called the " analogy of
Scripture
" or the "analogy of faith ". Its meaning and importance has
been well stated by Hodge:
"If the
Scriptures be what they claim to be, the word of God, they are the work
of one
mind, and that mind divine. From this it follows that Scripture cannot
contradict Scripture. God cannot teach in one place anything which is
inconsistent with what He teaches in another. Hence Scripture must
explain
Scripture. If a passage admits of different interpretations, that only
can be
the true one which agrees with what the Bible teaches elsewhere on the
same
subject." (3)
This great doctrine has been recognized and
accepted, more
or less clearly and consistently, by the Christian Church throughout
its
history. It has been a sign of heresy to reject or ignore any part or
portion
of Holy Writ. Thus the rejection of the Old Testament, in part or in
whole, was
one of the numerous errors of the Gnostics. Within comparatively recent
times-a
century or more-this doctrine has been challenged by two quite
different
groups, both claiming a place within the Christian Church.
From the
article:
MODERN DISPENSATIONALISM AND
THE DOCTRINE OF THE UNITY OF SCRIPTURE. By Oswald
T. Allis, former Professor of Old Testament in
Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia. Reprinted from The
Evangelical
Quarterly, January 1936.