CAN THE BIBLE BE UNDERSTOOD? There was a time when the Christian church did not permit the laity to read the Bible. Only the clergy had access to copies of God’s Word. It was thought that only the learned and better educated could rightly understand the Bible. However, this reasoning is not in accord with the Bible. What is the first basic rule for knowledge of truth? “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” John7:17 To understand the Bible one must study the scriptures, Read 2Timothy2:15. Ask God for help as David did in Psalms119:18. Rule1: Study the Bible reverently with a sincere desire to know and to practice the truth. What is truth? “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” John17:17 Rule 2: Accept the Bible as God’s voice to you. Read John 10:27, 28 and 1 Thessalonians2:13 How can one find the truth on a particular subject? “Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.” Isaiah 28:9, 10. Read also 1 Corinthians2:13, 14. Remember that the evidence of truth is in the Bible itself. One scripture can be the key to unlock the meaning of other scriptures. When one studies the Scriptures he discovers various Bible writers touch on similar subjects. This is much like a puzzle to find the Bible’s full teaching on a given subject one gathers together all the various authors have written on a given topic. What was the method Jesus used when endeavoring to find the truth? “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning him. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” Luke24:27, 44, 45. Rule 3: The Bible is its own best commentary. In what way were the Bereans nobler than the people at Thessalonica? “These were nobler than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” Acts17:11. Read also John 5:39. Rule 4: There should be perseverance in research. What warning about the Book of Revelation helps us to see how serious it is to add to or to subtract from God’s Word? “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophesy of this book. If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophesy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in the book.” Revelation 22:18,19. Rule 5: There is to be no adding or taking away from what the Bible says. Read Proverbs 30:5,6 and Deuteronomy 4:2. The text refers not only to cutting out or writing in material but also to making the Bible say what it does not say or denying what it truly affirms by false interpretation. Therefore we must let the total Bible speak and from the weight of the evidence conclude what it teaches. Conclusion Remember that “the secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.” Deuteronomy 29:29. There are some things hard to understand (2 Peter 3:16, 17) However the essential truths can be understood.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 10:25:25 +0000
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