Luther and christocentric reading

...this Christocentric view of scripture was a hallmark of Martin Luther's approach to the Bible. Luther insisted that "the source" of scripture is the "cross of Christ," to which, when the reader is led, "then he will surely strike the center." Bloesch notes that Luther also spoke of certain biblical passages as hard nuts whose shells had to be cracked by throwing them against the rock of Christ, which would then produce their "delicious kernel." According to Luther, "Christ is the Lord of Scripture." And again, "Scripture is to be understood...for Christ. Hence it must either be referred to him, or it must not be held to be true Scripture." Yet again, Luther declared: "The whole scripture is about Christ alone everywhere, if we look to its inner meaning, though superficially it may sound different."

Christian Smith, The Bible Made Impossible (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2011), 106.

John Stott and the purpose of scripture

The Bible is primarily a book neither of science, nor of literature, nor of philosophy, but of salvation...The salvation for which the Bible instructs us is available "through faith in Christ Jesus." Therefore, since scripture concerns a salvation and salvation is through Christ, Scirpture is full of Christ. Jesus himself thus understood the nature and function of the Bible. "The Scriptures," he said, "testify about me."...Our savior Jesus Christ himself (in terms of promise and fulfillment) is Scripture's unifying theme.

John Stott in Christian Smith, The Bible Made Impossible (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2011), 103

Christ-centered reading

For one thing, seeing Christ as central compels us to always try to make sense of everyting we read in any part of scripture in light of our larger knowledge of who God is in Jesus Christ. We do not then read scripture devotionally to try to find tidbits there that are "meaningful to" or that "speak to" us, wherever we are in our personal subjective spiritual experiences. We do not read scripture as detached historians trying to judge its technical accuracy in recounting events. We do not read scripture as a vast collection of infallible propositions whose meanings and implications can be understood on their own particular terms. We only, always, and everywhere read scripture in view of its real subject matter: Jesus Christ...Thus, the great Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon (1834-92) wrote, "O you who open your Bibles and want to understand a text, the way to get into the meaning of a text is through the door, Christ."

Christian Smith, The Bible Made Impossible (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2011), 98