9:13. And in Matthew 12:7, "But if ye had known what this meaneth...". God wants
us to learn what scripture means. However, since the beginning, a war against truth
has been raging (John 8:44). In this conflict, we are commanded to be not conformed
to this world. Rather, we are to be transformed by the word (Romans12:2). Mainly I
use the KJV (1611) translation. During study I may consult the NKJV (1982), ASV
(1901) or NASB (1960), to sense the meaning. Since some things in scripture are
hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:16), spiritual thinking is required (I Corinthians 2:14-16).
Therefore, let us consider the A-B-C's of how to study the scriptures.
shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you..." (Matthew 7:7). Ignorance and
pride makes people afraid to ask, seek, and knock (Mark 9:32). Many fail to seek God
because "they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God" (John 12:43).
After three years of the Master's teaching, the apostles still needed it when Jesus
"opened their understanding" of the cross (Luke 24:38,45). The gospel is understood
only when one is willing to open their mind and listen. "The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction" (Proverbs 1:7).
God will "draw him" who truly seeks Christ (John 6:44). Those who go about
surmising and supposing are lost (1 Tim. 6:3-5). Those like the prophet Samuel, who
would be saved by God, have the attitude: "Speak; for thy servant heareth" (I Sam 3:
10). In Luke 9:44, Jesus said: “Let these sayings sink down into your ears..."
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” ...”Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst
after righteousness: for they shall be filled” (Matthew 5:3,6). Jesus said blessed are
the “poor in spirit”. That literally means “like a beggar”. Although many would be
ashamed to beg for physical bread (Luke 16:3; cf Psalm 37:25), to be saved one must
be willing to beg God for spiritual food (Job 23:12). Without God, we are in the total
poverty of sin (Romans 3:10-18,23). Therefore, an honest and good soul will come to
God with the “hunger and thirst” of a beggar who has nothing. Searching the
scriptures makes a person noble (Acts 17:11). When done in humility, meditation on
God's law brings prosperity (Psalm 1:3). Without humility, knowledge and know-how
are in vain (I Timothy 6:3-4). The apostle Paul did not regard himself as having
arrived, but said: "I press on..." (Philippians 3:12-14). A know-it-all attitude, even
when one is correct, quenches the spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:19-21); and hardens the
pride (Hebrews 3:12-15); and blocks the memory (Mark 8:14-18); and sows strife
(Titus 3:9). Exalting Christ is the aim above possessing knowledge (I Corinthians 8:1).
And in Ephesians 3:14-21, we read that the purpose of gaining knowledge is to glorify
God.
troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner salutation this should be”
(Luke 1:29). As the birth of Jesus was being foretold, Mary “cast in her mind” what
the salutation was. Why? Because she needed to know if this was from God. The
devil can make promises. So when we are learning the Word, we need to first know
who was speaking to whom, why, and what it meant to them. Consider the message
when it was received by Adam and Eve, by the Hebrews, by Ruth, the apostles, the
Colossians, or Timothy. After we know something about what it meant to them in
those Bible times, then we are ready to more perfectly understand the meaning to us
now. In a stage production, the “cast” is the line up of characters. The people in the
Bible are part of recorded history. The Bible is true to the core (Psalm 12:6; 19:7), but
not every deed is to be imitated. When we know why God told Noah to build an ark,
then we know we do not have to build an ark, but we will follow the principle of
obedience. When we know why God sent that angel to Mary, we understand it was
for something that happened once, the birth of a Savior. And yet, when Paul preached
to the philosophers at Athens, Greece (Acts 17:16-31), he told them that God "now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent" (v.30). That command was not only to
those men then, but to all accountable people now (Acts 2:38). After we know who
was communicating and why, then we can apply what it means to us.
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth"
(2 Timothy 2:15). Failing to rightly divide the word can make a lifetime of study in
vain. In Acts 13:27, people had been reading the prophets every week, yet they still
desired to slay the One of whom the prophets spoke, the Savior. But rightly dividing
the word approves one unto God, and builds confidence. To "rightly divide” the
word of truth means to handle scripture in the right way (Proverbs 15:2). The wrong
way is to dilute it, and deceive with dishonest intent (2 Corinthians 4:2; 2:17). The
right way is to observe the context. Context means “weave together”. The context is
the meanings that are woven together at that place in the scripture. Questions to ask
are: What? Why? When? How? Where? Who? The God-inspired author will often tell
the purpose of a Bible Book in the first chapter. For instance, in Proverbs 1:1-6, we
are given the purpose of the book of Proverbs. We can be thankful for the study
convenience of Chapter, Paragraph, and Verse divisions in Bibles today. A Bible
Dictionary can divide the meaning into subjects, and words. It can also break down
the meaning of Old Testaments words given "in the Hebrew tongue", as well as New
Testament words given "in the Greek tongue" (cf. Revelation 9:11). A Bible
Handbook can tell us more about people, places, and things. Students of the word also
need to respect the time line of the Bible. This includes three religious ages: the family
age from Adam to Moses; the nation age from Moses to Christ; and the worldwide age
from Christ to the end (Romans 5:14-15; John 1:17; Hebrews 1:1-2). We can
understand the meaning of a Bible passage when we know its immediate context, its
role in the Old or the New Testament, and its place in the overall purpose of God
(Romans 15:4; Galatians 3:19-29; Ephesians 3:8-11).
of my righteousness: Thou has enlarged me when I was in distress: have mercy upon
me, and hear my prayer" (Psalm 4:1). Humbly seeking the will of God enlarges the
mind and character. All of God's commandments are sure, and the sum of them is
exceedingly broad (Psalm 119:86,96). Those who study need to ask: "What saith the
scriptures?" (Romans 4:3). A subject is expounded not by one verse, but by all the
Bible may say about it. A Bible Concordance can direct you to any and every verse
containing a certain word. Jesus is "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the
first and the last" (Revelation 22:13). Therefore, from the beginning in Genesis 1:1 to
the end in Revelation 22:21, scripture truth is one harmonious whole. When viewed as
a whole, the Bible is one context. So when people use pieces of scripture to pick
fights, in God's sight they are "as one that beateth the air" (1 Corinthians 9:26).
Instead, when scriptures are found difficult, use that a tool for deeper digging into
God's gold mine (Proverbs 2:1-6). To those who say there is no God, or that truth
cannot be known, Jesus said: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you
free" (John 8:32). When praying to the Father, Jesus revealed: "Thy word is truth"
(John 17:17). As you learn the scriptures, you will know the power of God (Matthew
22:29.
unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you
in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father" (John 16:25). In the
Bible, a proverb, or a figure, symbolizes a meaning. For instance, the first man
Adam was a "figure" of the last Adam - Jesus (Roman 5:14; 1 Corinthians
15:45). The flood water under Noah's ark was a "like figure" of new testament
water baptism (1 Peter 3:21). Proverbs 1:6 says, "To understand a proverb, and
the interpretation; the words of the wide, and their dark sayings." To learn what
figurative scripture means, one must figure out what the figure means. It was
good for us that Jesus contrasted proverbs with plain speaking. Faulty thinking
can lead to strange behavior, when figurative speech is not acknowledged. Where
Jesus says, "I am the door" (John 10:9), an untaught and unstable soul may go
worship a literal door! Wild people raising terror and killing and hijacking God's
name, have not rightly divided the word of truth. They may fail to figure out
figurative speech, or they may try to take away plain commands by dubbing them
with a figurative meaning. Jesus called them "thieves and robbers" (John 10:8),
and said that His sheep will not follow them. So why does the bible use proverbs,
and parables, and metaphors, allegories, numerology, hyperbole, and satire? In
Matthew 13:13-17, Jesus tells the purpose of parables. Basically, it is: 1) To
reveal truth to the humble who will seek it, and 2) To conceal it from the arrogant
proud who pretend they already know enough. Those who will learn what it
means will ask, listen, read, think, learn, work, and grow. Those who refuse to be
taught twist the scripture to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). They do not
want to think, and they do not want to change. "The legs of the lame are not
equal: so is a parable in the mouth of fools" (Proverbs 26:7). While "the mouth of
the wicked poureth out evil things," nevertheless, "The heart of the righteous
studieth to answer" (Proverbs 15:28)
learn of Him (Matthew 11:29), so the reward of that learning is glorious (2 Corinthians
1:20). While "the way of transgressors is hard" (Proverbs 13:15), Christ eases the
yoke of those who take His upon them. How a soul learns determines where that soul
will go (Revelation 22:14-21). Those who are afraid of truth will not prove what they
believe. And those who do not understand the law have no business teaching it (1
Timothy 1:6-8). A stricter judgment is warned against those who teach God's word to
others, and so says, "Be not many masters" (James 3:1). All Christians can help spread
the gospel, but not all are ready to be teachers. Everyone is to learn. Those who do
will reap. Those who endure some spiritual thinking will reap reward that is "sweeter
than honey" and "more precious than much fine gold" (Psalm 19:10). Salvation from
sin with the hope of heaven is the eternal reward. By His gospel (2 Thessalonians
2:14), Christ calls true seekers in one body and one hope (Ephesians 4:4f). Not into a
sect of man (Acts 24:5,14), but He calls into the "churches of Christ" (Romans
16:16). Thus, may you "be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth,
and length, and depth, and height: And to know the love of Christ, which passeth
knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Ephesians 3:18-19).