All the conditions that the Messiah had to fulfill are foretold in Scripture. One central question remains: Why did the “experts in the scriptures” fail to recognize Jesus? Even back then, the Pharisees and scribes rejected Jesus based on their own interpretation. In the Gospel of John, chapter 7, it becomes clear that the unbelief of the people's leaders was based on their own understanding of the Scriptures. They believed they had to protect the people from Jesus and rejected him with the Scriptures in hand. It is not the Bible that is the problem, but its interpretation.
Even today, many who know the Bible reject Christ because they don't really understand it. Often it is those we consider less faithful or pagans who are open to the message. To understand the phenomenon of misinterpretation, let's look at the principle of interpretation. Every reader has “glasses” through which he interprets what he reads. Either he looks at himself from the perspective of truth (“I am a creature”) and can interpret the word correctly, or he reads it through the lens of lies (“I am God”). In this case, reading it is of no use because it is misinterpreted. Since we are all born with these false glasses, we need a spiritual compass outside ourselves. This helps us not to fall into the trap of false interpretations and to interpret something into the Scriptures that is not there.
On what foundation do you base your faith in Scripture? Do you have a clear standard for understanding the Word of God? The key to correct understanding lies in the knowledge of the human condition at birth and the unchanging basic principles of all things (structure and functions), fed by love. In the end it will be as it was then: the Gentiles will accept Jesus. What this means in detail is the subject of the eighth part of our series “Themes in the Gospel of John”.