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The Anabaptist view of Biblical interpretation is Christocentric. For all Anabaptists, Christ was the center of Scripture. Christ is the cohesive Person and “principle” in all the Scriptures and the “key” to understanding Scripture, both Old and New Testaments. Anabaptists said that the written Word, no matter how well it is interpreted or understood, is a dead letter in the heart until the living Word (Christ) and the HS gives life and meaning to it through its application to the person’s life. The Bible, as interpreted by the life and teaching of Christ, is the final authority for Christian living and the standard by which believers must measure their lives.
The Anabaptist view of Biblical interpretation sees Biblical revelation as progressive. As a summary of the difference between the two camps, sixteenth-century “mainline” Protestant reformers (Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, Bucer, Bullinger) said the Old and New Testaments are on an “equal plane of authority,” while the Anabaptists said that the New Testament supersedes the Old Testament. Since Christ is the central figure in Scripture and the final/ultimate revealer of God and God’s will, Anabaptists argued that we must see Biblical revelation as progressive. Scripture is not a “flat book.”
The Anabaptist view of Biblical interpretation says that the testimony of committed believers throughout the history of the Church, including the consensus of the local church, is the only adequate context and forum for Biblical interpretation.
The Anabaptist/Christian view of Biblical interpretation places living (doing, obeying, orthopraxy) alongside believing certain truths (orthodoxy, doctrine) and sees right living as the necessary result of right believing. In other words, we evaluate whether a person believes right by whether the person lives right.