"After writing the
foregoing, we read over again Dr. J. L. Neve’s graphic report of
the Missouri-Ohio-Iowa free conferences at Milwaukee and Detroit
in 1903-4. It would appear that they spent a large part of their
time in wrestling over methods of Biblical interpretation. Missouri
was against the doctrine of the 'Analogy of Faith;' the others
for it. We have no time to amplify on this matter
now. For our part, we do not hold up any objective rule by which
to interpret Scripture, nor do we feel obliged to “harmonize”
the various parts of the Bible; we believe they do not need to
be harmonized; they need simply to be understood, and then they
will be seen to be harmonious. If God is a unity, His revelation
will be like Himself. Therefore our simple
hermeneutical rule is to take each passage according to its
natural and literal meaning in connection with the context,
always reading enough to be sure of the author’s main
proposition. By applying this simple rule – it is the
rule of all true literary exposition – we do not find one
passage of Scripture teaching one thing, and another something
else. Of course, no brief Scripture verse teaches all the
doctrines of redemption. John 3:16, though called the “gospel in
nuce“ says nothing about vicarious atonement or the
resurrection. You must go to other parts of the Bible to find
those doctrines. But all portions of the Scripture are
complementary. One of the strongest evidences of the divine
authority and inspiration of the Bible is its organic unity."
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| Keyser also published books on birds. |
