Figure 2. Understanding Jesus and Understanding Scripture Thus we have a kind of “circle” of understanding, often described as a “hermeneutical circle.” In the words of Joel Green, “What has happened with Jesus can be understood only in the light of the Scriptures, yet the Scriptures themselves can be understood only in the light of what has happened with Jesus. These two are mutually informing.”4 But the word “circle,” perhaps because of the connotation with the idea of a “vicious circle,” tends