Understanding the Bible

     Over the years, some have  given up on trying to interpret the Word of God, feeling it is too complex and difficult to understand.  Many would shy away from taking a stand on any Biblical issue because they see so many different people believing so many different things about the same Scriptures.  The truth is, God inspired the Bible to be written.  This means He is the author, not man.  It is important to understand that God did intend the Scripture to be studied and properly interpreted and understood by all believers.  God is not a God of confusion, and would not have inspired a verse of Scripture to be penned that had contradictory or ambiguous meanings.  

     An interesting and necessary aspect of interpreting and understanding the Scripture is mentioned by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:14-16, "But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ.  But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.".  The only way to truly understand Scripture is to place your faith in Jesus Christ.  Part of placing your faith in Christ is trusting in Him for your salvation and not yourself, your works, rules or regulations.  Accepting Christ as your savior lifts the 'veil' from the eyes and hearts of the reader of the Word.

     I often marvel at the extreme distance people wander from the true and obvious meaning of a passage of Scripture.  Many will hold to obscure interpretations of Scripture as if their very life depended on it.  Why?  Because they either have no genuine saving relationship with Christ or have not been taught how to properly understand Scripture.

     There is a right and a wrong way interpret and understand the Word of God.  It is our responsibility as a Christian to strive to understand and properly interpret Scripture.  Andrew Kulikovsky writes,

 "there is a great deal contained in the Bible that many Bible-believing Christians do in fact agree on - the reason why there are so many different interpretations is because interpreters don't follow any sensible or consistent method. This naturally leads to inaccurate, inconsistent, illogical and naive interpretations.  With so many different interpretations available, how is anyone supposed to know which is the correct one? By examining the nature of the Bible, the events it records and how it was written, it is possible to come up with a method of interpretation that is sensible and understandable."

     The process of properly interpreting and understanding the Bible is more involved than simply reading a verse and consulting a few Christian friends.  The key part of proper interpretation of the Bible is the word 'proper'.  The Bible can, and has been, misinterpreted by many, well intentioned readers.   But the Bible CAN and MUST be properly interpreted by all Christians.  Proper and correct interpretation of the Holy Scriptures is essential to understanding what God is teaching us through His Word.  As an individual follower of Christ, it is essential to have a personal, intimate knowledge of the Bible.  Without a personal understanding of the Scriptures, individualsare more prone to fall into the trap of false teachings and legalism.  A great deal of legalism comes from well intentioned Christians misunderstanding and misinterpreting God's Word.

     I encourage you to take a few days or a few weeks to intently study 'hermeneutics' (the study of properly interpreting the Scriptures).  Listed below are a number of different resources to guide you along the path of properly understanding Scripture. 

"Basics of Biblical Interpretation"  

     The topics that follow are the basics needed to begin down the path of proper interpretation of the Scriptures.  More indepth resources are listed below.

Exegesis 

     'Exegesis' is a term that means "to draw the meaning out of" a given text. The opposite of exegesis is a term called 'eisegesis', which means to read one's own interpretation into a given text.  For the most part, exegesis tends to be an attempt to view the text objectively, while eisegesis implies more subjectivity.  To give an example of 'eisegesis' (bringing one's own interpretation into the Biblical text), a person may have a particular belief about something, to justify that belief, they may then look into the Bible for a verse or verses that apparently support their belief.  If no verses are found, they may pull some verses out of context or take other incorrect means to justify their belief.  A more proper way to interpret Scripture is to come to the Bible without an agenda or preset beliefs.  While reading, allow Jesus to speak to you through His Word.  A proper interpretation of the Scriptures allows the Word of God to 'speak' to you and not you 'speak' to the Word of God. 

Argument from absence

     A great deal of legalistic thought and teaching comes from this improper method of understanding Scripture.  The argument from absence method implies that if the Bible DOES NOT mention something, then it is sinful.  For example, one of the items on our legalism list is 'musical instruments should not be played in church'.  This belief is based on the fact that the New Testament never directly mentions the use of musical instruments in church, which is true.  The incorrect implication is that instruments are thereby sinful to use.  But, there are things that are NOT mentioned in Scripture that ARE sinful (i.e. internet porn, abortion, etc).  So how do you know what 'unmentioned' actions in the Bible are sinful or not?  Properly interpreting the PRINCIPLES taught in the Bible.

     The Bible is full of awesome 'principles for living'.  These principles guide us on the path of following and growing closer to Christ.  A few examples of such principles are:

• 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'" (Matt. 4:4)
• The 'Beatitudes' found in Matthew 5
• The parables told by Jesus in the four gospels.
• "but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:28)

• "And He (Jesus) said to him, " 'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.'  "This is the great and foremost commandment.  "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'  "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:36-40)

     These principles govern and guide our lives as followers of Christ.  When the Bible is silent on an issue, you must search Scripture for principles that will give you instruction on the sinful or unsinful nature of that issue.  For example, the Bible never mentions using a PA or sound system in church services or gatherings of believers.  Are sound systems therefore sinful?  Using the 'argument from absence' method, the answer would be yes.  But, are there any principles of Scripture that address this issue and make it improper?  None that I am aware of.  Therefore, you can safely assume that using a sound system at church is not sinful.  

     As a student of the Bible, you are personally responsible to learn and properly understand the Bible.  If someone teaches something that you feel may come from an 'argument from absence', you must search the Scripture to find a answer for yourself.  Don't simply rely on a Pastor or individuals 'word for it'.

Context

   Learning and applying the proper context is absolutely essential to understanding Scripture.  To know the 'context' of a particular scripture is to know:

• The circumstances (historical, political, spiritual, etc.) surrounding a certain Scripture.
• The use or placement of a certain verse in light of the surrounding verses, chapters and books of Scripture.
• The way that verse was 'meant' to be interpreted.

     Many false statements can be found if Scripture is taken out of it's context.  Many cults find their doctrines from misinterpreted, out of context Scriptures.  For example, the Jehovah's Witnesses (a non-Christian cult) do not and will not receive blood transfusions in the event of medical need.  I was surprised when a witness told me that this was a Scriptural teaching.  She quoted for me: 

Leviticus 17:14, "For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the sons of Israel, 'You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.' "

This verse and a few others like it (Genesis 9:3-4; Leviticus 7:26-27; Deuteronomy 12:22-24) talk about regulations concerning blood.  To understand the context of these verses, we must ask ourselves what these regulations were directly referring to.  To do this you may have to read a whole chapter, a whole book or maybe a number of books.  In this case, the context of these regulations concerns food and the actual eating of blood in meat.  There is no indication from the immediate context of these verses that they have even the slightest relations to the transfusing of blood in a medical procedure.  As addressed above, we should look to see if any principles of Scripture would teach us not to take part in a procedure that would transfuse or intermix blood in a medical procedure.  There are none.  So the Jehovah's witnesses watch loved ones die and children pass away because they will not let them take blood transfusions.  All this is done because Scripture was not properly interpreted and understood using the most basic of interpretive tools.

     But, even in mainline Christianity, well meaning Christians many times ignore the context of a Scripture.  An example of this is discussed on the 'legalism list' under the listing "Christians should not use titles, such as 'Reverend', 'Pastor', 'Father', etc.".  Take a few minutes and read that article for information about properly interpreting the context of a Scripture.

     Understanding the proper context of a Scripture involves research and reading on the part of the interpreter.  I won't lie to you, doing it right is harder, but it is essential!  There are also many great Bible study tools available online and in Christian book stores.  Please read the section below concerning commentaries and other study tools. 

Original languages

     The Bible was originally written in three languages: Hebrew and Aramaic for the Old Testament and Greek for the New Testament.   Any quality English version of the Bible we have today is the result of translating the original languages into English.  The major problem with any translation from the original languages is that it is impossible to translate all the nuances and 'feeling' of certain words and phrases.  A good example of this is found in the book of Psalms.  In the original Hebrew, many of the verses rhymed, since the Psalms were often set to music.  It is difficult if not impossible to translate words that rhyme in one language into rhyming words in another language.  Now this does not change the meaning of the verses in any way, just some of the 'personality' of the verse. 

     Most of the modern English translations, such as the New International Version, The New American Standard Bible, New Living Translation and Contemporary English Version are all very dependable and well translated versions.  The NASB is known as being one of the most accurate English translations and is, at the same time, very easy to understand.   These version will represent the best in Biblical scholarship and translation from the original texts.  Although widely used, and in some cases a topic of profound legalism (see the legalism list), the King James Version is not the most accurate English translation.  The biggest shortcoming of the KJV is it's use of a significantly outdated version of English.  The use of this old English makes a clear understanding and interpretation of the text very difficult.  If the KJV is your preference in Bible versions, it is highly recommended you accompany it with another modern translation for assistance in reading.

     When seeking to properly understand Scripture, it may be necessary to seek the aid of a Bible dictionary or other book to help you more completely understand a particular word's meaning in the original languages.  Studying a key words meaning in the original languages will usually bring a deeper and more clear understanding of the text your are reading.

Commentaries and other study guides

  Items will be added to this section on an ongoing basis

• The NET Bible - This new scholarly translation of the original languages of Scripture is highly recommended.  Here are some features that make this translation such a powerful resource for the serious student of Scripture:
  • Accurate and faithful interpretation of the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.
  • Excellent and extensive translator and scholar notes.  Over 60,000 total!  This feature is unique to the NET bible.
  • Distributed free in HTML, .exe. and Word format.  Very impressive copyright philosophy.

  Find the NET (New English Translation) Bible HERE

The article was written by Pastor Adam R. Parchert in 2006 for www.freefromlegalism.com.  This article can be copied and reused under conditions that it is not altered or edited in any way and is distributed free of charge.