Nicholas Piotrowski’s In All the Scriptures is an introduction on how Christians should read and understand the Bible. His goal is to teach Christians how to read the Bible carefully and responsibly. They will do this by paying attention to its literary, historical, and Christ-centered contexts instead of treating it as a collection of random verses or favorite “life texts.” The way we interpret the Bible affects our theology, preaching, and everyday Christian life.
Piotrowski warns that people often read their own opinions into the Bible instead of listening to what the text actually says. He argues that poor interpretation can lead to weak theology, unhealthy churches, and even harmful behavior. In effect, “we will create ‘God’ in our own image…what [we] think God is like” based on what we have learned from “our culture, upbringing, and experience” (6).
Instead, when we teach or explain something from the Bible we want our listeners to say, “I am convinced because I can see how the text should be read, and this is a valid conclusion” (6). We don’t want them to hear nice sermons but have no idea who to read the passage just taught on.
Interpreting the Bible is both science and art. Good methods need to be paired with wisdom on how texts go together and practice with discovering which interpretations bring valid conclusions. But interpreting the Bible shouldn’t be a complete mystery. Piotrowski insists that Scripture itself teaches us how to read Scripture and that Jesus and the biblical authors should be our main examples.
Book Summary
In the first chapter, Piotrowski introduces a major problem that arises with biblical interpretation: many readers see themselves in the Bible instead of seeing what God is actually saying. Piotrowski argues that without good hermeneutics, people will misunderstand God, build weak theology, and apply Scripture in unhealthy ways.
The second chapter explains that Jesus and the apostles read the Old Testament by paying attention to its literary and historical setting and by recognizing how it pointed forward to Christ. Piotrowski believes Christians should learn how to interpret Scripture by following the example of Jesus and the apostles.
Chapters three and four focus on literary and historical contexts. Piotrowski ties in his study of ecology into hermeneutics. Similar to how the sea life, nutrients, and temperature in Europe are affected by the Gulf Stream, so are later chapters in a book affecte by the “nutrients” planted in the first chapter of that book (or in the Bible!).
Piotrowski encourages readers to study entire books of the Bible instead of taking individual verses out of context. He writes, “Confidence in our interpretations comes when we can make sense of all the parts of the book (yes, all!) in light of the rest of the book” (77).
He also explains why understanding the historical background matters and offers practical advice on using study Bibles, commentaries, and other resources wisely without losing your “sane imagination” (112). These two chapters are quite practical for newer Bible students.
Chapters five and six explain how the Old Testament points to Christ. Piotrowski argues that God’s plan throughout history leads to Jesus and that many repeated patterns in Scripture were intentionally designed by God (called typology). He gives a broad sweep of the two Testaments and shows how they are fulfilled in Jesus. He respects the original meaning of the Old Testament and how texts point us to Jesus, which we can understand through their literary and historical contexts.
Chapter seven focuses on understanding texts according to its specific genre and how that then fits into the Bible’s storyline. Parables, for instance, “are imbued with the language of the kingdom” and “are not acontextual” (224). Like genealogies, they :need to be understood… as wrapped into the larger narratives that are concerned with the covenantal state of affairs” (224). They are “integrally wrapped into the developing narrative in critical ways (224–25).
The final chapter focuses on applying Scripture. Piotrowski argues what many Christians have experienced, that we often rush to application before we have understood the text correctly. He asks three questions: What is the Bible?; what kinds of application should we expect from such a book?; and Who are we and where are we in history? We apply things to ourselves individually and within the church community. And we can do this because we know what to do (which in itself, knowing is application). Varying texts work as a prism to point us to different aspects of the gospel.
Recommended?
Piotrowski has given us a very helpful book on hermeneutucs that is closely focuses on the literary flow of individual texts and where they sit in the entire stream of the Bible. He even shows how application does not-should not be turned into allegory to be applied to our lives. Though I’ve read many similar books, there is a lot here I will want to go through again. Piotrowski’s focus is the same as mine, as I always try to keep the whole Bible in mind. This book will be helpful for seminary students, but because Piotrowski is very readable, it will be accessible to pastors, church leaders, and serious lay Christians too.
Buy it on Amazon or from IVP Academic
Lagniappe
- Author: Nicholas Piotrowski
- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: IVP Academic (December 2021)
Disclosure: I received this book free from IVP Academic. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.
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