Dr. Henrietta C. Mears - Founders of Our Faith: Genesis through Deuteronomy: From Creation to the Promised Land

Dr. Henrietta C. Mears

Dr. Henrietta C. Mears was the director of Christian Education at Hollywood Presbyterian Church for many years and the founder of Gospel Light Publications, Gospel Light Worldwide, and the Forest Home Christian Conference Center in the San Bernardino Mountains of California. In this capacity, Mears put together a highly successful three-year high school curriculum on the whole Bible, which serves as the foundation for this study guide series.

Mears was a modern-day champion of the Christo-centric interpretation of the Bible, whereby Christ is considered to be the center of all the themes of both the Old and New Testaments. At a time when others were centered on historicism, the evolution of the idea of monotheism, genre studies or the study of the communities out of which certain writings were presumed to arise, Henrietta steadfastly kept the focus on Jesus. In this persistent attention to the centrality of Jesus Christ, Henrietta was in good company: This same impulse has been found in the best thinkers of the Church throughout the centuriesincluding Augustine, Basil the Great and John Chrysostomand it had its start in the Bible itself.

The following is an original article by Dr. Henrietta C. Mears titled The Bible: Christo-centric. Read it carefullyit packs a lot of punch!

The Bible: Christo-centric

There is one principal subject of the Bible to which every other subject is related. The Bible is Christo-centric. Take Christ out of the Old Testament and the whole structure falls apart. The Book, from Genesis to Revelation, has but one themethe Bible speaks only of Jesus Christ. You remember Paul said to the Corinthians, I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). That is the theme of the Bible from beginning to end.

T HE K EY THAT U NLOCKS

The subject of the Old Testament is the same as the New. Each complements the other. Neither is complete without the other. They both are the witness that God has borne concerning His Son (1 John 5:9, ASV). No one can ever understand the Bible unless he sees Christ on every page. He is the One who solves the difficulties in interpretation. He is the key that unlocks every page.

There is a story told of some knights coming to an old castle. The gate was closed and locked. How they wished they could get within the walls, but they could not climb over them. They found a bunch of keys, and eagerly tried each one. How they worked and struggled, but the gate did not respond. Finally, they put in one of the keys, and the great lock came open without the slightest difficulty. Do you suppose those men doubted for a moment that they had found the right key?

This old story reminds us of men going to the Bible. It seems like a Book of Mystery to them. They have tried every key to open it, but every key has failed. The key of man's wisdom has been tried to unlock its treasures, but without success. There is, however, one key that even the humblest can put into the lock, and with Him the gate of understanding opens. Shall we doubt then that Christ is the right key? He is more than the key. He says, I am the Way, and the Truth (John 14:6).

T HE P ICTURE THAT R EVEALS

Two little boys were trying to put a puzzle map together. It was a map of the United States. After they had been struggling awhile, one of the little fellows said, I don't know what a country looks like, but I do know what a man looks like. And so with that they turned it on the other side and with ease put together the face of Abraham Lincoln. It was not hard for them to find where the eye, the ear, the mouth and the forehead went. After it was completed, they turned it over and what do you suppose they found? Yes, the map of the United States.

If you can only find the picture of Christ in the Bible, you will find that the things which seem to puzzle you fit in perfect harmony with the whole. Christ said on one occasion, Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me (John 5:39). If we do not find Christ when we study the Scriptures, we study in vain.