by Richard Barcellos
#1 The Holy Spirit is the Only Infallible Interpreter of Holy Scripture.
As an example of this principle, John Owen says, “The only unique, public, authentic, and infallible interpreter of Scripture is none other than the Author of Scripture Himself . . . that is, God the Holy Spirit. Nehemiah Coxe says, “. . . the best interpreter of the Old Testament is the Holy Spirit speaking to us in the new. …later texts shed interpretive light on earlier texts
#2 The Analogy of the Scriptures (Analogia Scripturae)
“The infallible rule of interpretation of scripture is the scripture itself . . .” (2LCF 1.9).
#3 The Analogy of Faith (Analogia Fidei)
The infallible rule of interpretation of scripture is the scripture itself; and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any scripture, (which is not manifold, but one,) it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly. (2LCF 1.9)
#4 The Scope of the Scriptures (Scopus Scripturae)
Coxe said, “. . . in all our search after the mind of God in the Holy Scriptures we are to manage our inquiries with reference to Christ.
Their Christocentric interpretation of the Bible was a principle derived from the Bible itself, and an application of sola Scriptura to the issue of hermeneutics. In other words, they viewed the Bible’s authority as extending to how we interpret the Bible. Or it could be stated this way: they saw the authority of Scripture extending to the interpretation of Scripture.