TWELVE RULES FOR BIBLE
STUDY
Why is the Bible the most misunderstood book in all history?
The most twisted, distorted, maligned, misrepresented and
lied-about book there is? Because people refuse to believe
it means exactly what it says! Apply these simple basic
rules and you will begin to really understand the plain
truth of God's Word!
WHAT are we? Were we put on earth for a PURPOSE? And WHAT is
that purpose? WHY are human lives empty, discontented,
unhappy? How may human life become HAPPY, FILLED with
interest, ABUNDANT, successful, prosperous? WHAT is the real
cause of wars, and THE WAY to world peace?
WHAT lies on after death -- what is THE WAY to a happy,
abundant, ETERNAL life? No book ever written, except the
Holy Bible, REVEALS THE ANSWERS to these fundamental
questions of life!
Yet, why do we find such confusion -- such disagreement as
to what it says? WHY don't the hundreds of differing church
denominations and sects AGREE on what their acknowledged
textbook SAYS? WHY do so many individuals, capable of
understanding almost any OTHER book, say: "I just CAN'T
understand the BIBLE"?
Study for Yourself
You yourself need to understand HOW to get the most out of
God's Word.
You need to KNOW that GOD DOES EXIST -- and you need to KNOW
that THE BIBLE IS GOD'S INSPIRED WORD! If you are in any
doubt about these two basic points, write immediately for
our free booklets, "Is
God a Mystery?" and "Bible,
Fact or Fiction." Before even beginning to seriously STUDY the Bible,
you must realize that your Creator is the Divine author of
it!
In Bible study, as well as with anything else, there is a
RIGHT and a WRONG WAY to accomplish. There are certain rules
which, if followed, will give you a more thorough
understanding of God's Word -- leave you with fewer
questions, begin to help you think and act as God does
because you understand what He says in His Word.
The following rules are not necessarily in order -- they are
certainly not ALL the rules of Bible study -- but they are
BASIC and IMPORTANT and will help you gain the Truth from
God's Word.
1. Pray for Guidance
FIRST, before you even open the Bible, you must ask God in
PRAYER to open your mind to His Word in the study that you
intend to make. David was a man after God's own heart -- he
studied that portion of God's Word which was available to
him in his day. He meditated, thought about and considered
God's laws and His ways. He was close to God in every way
and yet many times throughout the Psalms we read how David
ASKED God to GUIDE him in his study, to OPEN his mind, to
REVEAL His Truth.
TEACH ME, O Lord, the way of thy statutes; and I shall keep
it unto the end. GIVE ME understanding, and I shall keep thy
law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. MAKE ME TO
GO in the path of thy commandments; for therein do I
delight. INCLINE MY HEART unto thy testimonies, and not to
covetousness ... STABLISH THY WORD unto thy servant, who is
devoted to thy fear ... Behold, I have longed after thy
precepts: QUICKEN ME in thy righteousness" (Ps. 119:33-40).
Without sincerely and believingly asking GOD'S DIRECTION in
your Bible study -- without seeking GOD'S Kingdom and His
righteousness first (Matt. 6:33) -- Bible study of itself
would be futile. Just as you can worship God in vain (Mark
7:7), so you can study His Word in vain! Many wise and
intelligent men have made a life study of God's Word in its
original languages, and profited nothing from it!
Men like Moffatt, who TRANSLATED THE ENTIRE BIBLE from
Genesis to Revelation -- certainly HE studied God's Word,
but he did not get the Message, he did not understand the
Gospel -- even in the introduction to his translation he
explains how he feels the Old Testament is a compilation of
Jewish literature! Adam Clarke wrote six volumes of
commentary on NEARLY EVERY VERSE IN THE BIBLE -- yet not by
any stretch of the imagination could he be construed to have
understood God's Plan.
The study and work that men of this intelligence have
contributed CAN be HELPFUL TO US. But not because of any
special intelligence that we may have -- only because we
have asked God to open our minds and give us HIS
understanding of His Word.
Formal Education Not Necessary
Don't use the excuse that you have not had enough education,
or that you are NOT INTELLIGENT ENOUGH to really study God's
Word. God tells us plainly that it is not the wise, the
mighty or the noble that He is calling to an understanding
of His word now -- read 1 Corinthians 1:25-27.
Take for granted that you do not know OF YOURSELF how to
understand the Plan of God -- that's why you must ASK Him to
make it plain!
If all that was needed to understand God's Word were BRAINS,
then a vast number of the people of the world would have a
thorough understanding of God's Word! God says, "... they
are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge"
(Jer. 4:22). As long as you know HOW TO READ, you get down
on your knees and sincerely ask God to guide you in a study
of His Word. He will open your mind to understand things
that the most intelligent minds of mankind have not been
able to understand. PRAYER will open to you an understanding
of God's Word that Einstein did not have. PRAYER will open
your mind to understand God's Word in a way that the
graduates of Harvard and Yale, Oxford and Cambridge, the
great universities of Europe and Asia, are not able to
understand.
PRAYER -- your contact with God -- is important in the
beginning of your study of His Word. Without this contact
with God, you may spend endless hours of studying His Word
like a Pharisee.
The time spent in memorization of how many verses there are
in the Bible will be of NO AVAIL at the return of Jesus
Christ! ONLY THAT PART OF HIS WORD WHICH YOU HAVE MADE A
PART OF YOUR VERY CHARACTER WILL BE OF ANY ACCOUNT TO YOU!
HEART-FELT PRAYER for God's guidance in your own personal
Bible study will insure success!
2. Attitude Must Be for
Self-Correction
This SECOND rule really goes hand-in-hand with the first.
Before you rise from your knees in prayer, you should fully
recognize in your own mind and heart that your PURPOSE for
this Bible study is not just to gain academic knowledge, not
only to prove or disprove a certain doctrine or fact -- but
to get you closer to the stature of the fullness of the very
character of Jesus Christ. The only way this can be done is
for the CARNAL YOU TO BE CORRECTED!
God's Word is written directly to each of us as an
individual -- it is personal, direct -- and as far as our
achieving salvation is concerned has nothing to do with
anybody else on the face of the earth!
Therefore your attitude should be the same as Jeremiah's. In
fact, since you're going to be STUDYING the Bible, turn to
Jeremiah 10:23 and read two verses there meaningfully and as
part of your prayer! "O Lord, I know that the way of man is
NOT IN HIMSELF: it is NOT IN MAN that walketh to direct his
steps. O Lord, CORRECT ME, but with JUDGMENT; not in thine
anger, lest thou bring me to nothing."
Don't just go through this mechanically, really mean it!
Don't just do this because this article SAYS to do it, but
because YOU WANT CORRECTION FROM YOUR CREATOR!
How? For your attitude to be proper in your approach to
God's Word, turn to one other scripture. This passage will
aid you in understanding what your approach should be -- in
educating your attitude to be right before you begin. "Thus
saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and
where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath
mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the
Lord: but TO THIS MAN WILL I LOOK, even to him that is poor
and of a contrite spirit, and TREMBLETH AT MY WORD ... Hear
the word of the Lord, YE THAT TREMBLE AT HIS WORD!" (Isa.
66:1-2, 5.)
This Bible that you are studying is the very MIND AND
THOUGHTS OF YOUR CREATOR-GOD! It is not to be argued about.
It is not meant to be a club to chastise OTHER people with!
In other words, if you are a husband, DO NOT use Ephesians
5:22 as a weapon against your wife -- or, if you are a wife,
DO NOT use Ephesians 5:25 as a weapon against your husband!
But each of you as husband or wife apply TO YOURSELF AND
YOURSELF ONLY that scripture which refers to YOU!
3. Prove All Things
This THIRD rule is in a way an extension of the proper
attitude of rule number two. Your approach to God's Word
should be COMPLETELY POSITIVE! The example given by the
Bereans in Acts 17:11 -- "These were more noble 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" -- this was a POSITIVE
attitude! The Bereans were not searching the Scriptures to
prove Paul was WRONG! They were NOT negative, angry, bitter.
So if you have heard something about the Bible that you do
not fully understand, your approach in your own personal
Bible study should be to prove that it IS so.
The common MISunderstanding of I Thessalonians 5:21 which
says, "Prove all things," is that this PROOF must entail a
deep research into the Hebrew or Greek backgrounds, and into
encyclopedias and historical references, lexicons and musty
historical records. This is erroneous. If your research
takes you into references of this sort, and you are
endeavoring to PROVE POSITIVELY God's Truth, this is
perfectly all right -- but it is NOT ALWAYS NECESSARY.
This word "PROVE," is POSITIVE. That is the one main point
of this particular law of Bible study. But the word itself
means, TO PUT TO THE TEST. There are PROVING grounds on
which the modern automobiles manufactured in Detroit are
TESTED. In the parable Jesus Christ uses regarding the
wedding supper, there is a reference to a man who had just
bought five yoke of oxen. The excuse he gave for not coming
to the supper was that he wanted to PROVE these oxen (Luke
14:19). This is the SAME GREEK WORD as used in I
Thessalonians 5:21. Yet this man did not mean that he was
going to go to his local library and look up in some
dictionary a description of oxen to find out for sure
WHETHER THEY WERE OXEN -- it meant he wanted to be excused
from the wedding supper so that he might take the oxen out
to the field, yoke them up, hook a plow behind them and find
out whether they would be able to do what oxen are supposed
to be able to do! This is basically what God means in 1
Thessalonians 5:21.
For example, God commands us in the book of Malachi to prove
Him in tithing. What He wants us to DO is not to technically
search lexicons to find out Greek and Hebrew derivations,
but -- just as the principle is throughout the entire Bible
-- to DO WHAT HE SAYS TO DO. "Bring ye all the tithes into
the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and
PROVE ME (TEST ME) now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if
I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out
a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive
it" (Mal. 3:10). This is a POSITIVE GOING FORWARD, a finding
out of what God DOES say, not a search for ERROR or DISproof.
4. Bible Never
Contradicts Itself
If you have difficulty in understanding any particular
scripture -- if it SEEMS to say something different from
another scripture, you may just need to study further.
Always remember beyond any shadow of a doubt the principle
of rule FOUR: that GOD NEVER CONTRADICTS HIMSELF. Therefore,
either your understanding of the particular scripture or the
translation that you are reading is incorrect or
misunderstood.
Malachi 3:6 -- "For I am the Lord, I CHANGE NOT; therefore
ye sons of Jacob are not consumed" -- MEANS what it says.
Hebrews 13:8 -- "Jesus Christ THE SAME yesterday, and to
day, and for ever" -- MEANS what it says.
The very SOURCE of truth is God's Word (John 17:17) -- and
unless your approach to it, your study of it is from this
point of view you will never gain any understanding from it.
Let's notice an APPARENT contradiction appearing in Proverbs
26:4, 5 -- verse four reads "ANSWER NOT a fool ACCORDING to
his folly." Yet, the very next verse tells us, "ANSWER a
fool ACCORDING to his folly."
Actually, these two verses are not contradictory -- BUT
COMPLEMENTARY! The use of either verse -- that is, its
principle applied to a particular use -- depends on the SET
OF CIRCUMSTANCES. Both these verses contain gems of wisdom
that each one of us needs to learn to properly apply in
answering other people's questions.
The LAST PART OF EACH VERSE holds the KEY which unlocks the
meaning of these verses -- and shows them to be PRACTICAL,
USABLE and wise PRINCIPLES.
Verse four reads, "Answer not a fool according to his folly,
LEST THOU ALSO BE LIKE UNTO HIM." The last part of the verse
holds the KEY: don't degrade yourself by descending to HIS
LEVEL in an ARGUMENT! Don't harangue -- don't bite back --
don't try to "ARGUE BACK" with someone who is obviously
trying to stir contention.
The perfect example of this is found in Luke 20:1-8. Here
Christ was teaching in the temple. The Pharisees came to Him
with these words: "Tell us, BY WHAT AUTHORITY doest thou
these things? or WHO is he that gave thee this authority?"
Quite obviously, they weren't interested in learning
anything -- they weren't coming as humble individuals
hungering after new knowledge. THEY WERE THERE TO ARGUE WITH
CHRIST!
Notice, how Christ handled the situation.
"And he answered and said unto them, I will also ASK YOU ONE
thing; AND ANSWER ME: The baptism of John, was it from
heaven, or of men?
"And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say,
From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?
"But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us:
for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.
"And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was.
"And Jesus said unto them, NEITHER TELL I YOU by what
authority I do these things" (Luke 20:3-8).
Christ answered their question with a QUESTION! To answer
their question directly would have only resulted in a verbal
battle. An argument would have ensued. Christ avoided strife
by NOT ANSWERING THEM ACCORDING TO THEIR FOLLY.
Now, understand verse five in Proverbs 26. Again, the last
part of the verse holds the KEY: "Answer a fool according to
his folly, LEST HE BE WISE IN HIS OWN CONCEIT."
In this case -- if you don't answer his question -- if you
don't accept his challenge -- he is going to THINK HIMSELF
to be wise!
The Apostle Paul had this problem. FALSE APOSTLES in Corinth
were claiming THEY WERE the TRUE APOSTLES of Christ. The
CONGREGATION was being LED ASTRAY!
Now was not the time for silence -- or clever questions! Now
was the time to SMASH the contentions -- to ANSWER these
false apostles!
Notice II Corinthians 11:23 -- and how he answered these
FOOLISH men.
"Are they ministers of Christ? (I SPEAK AS A FOOL) I am
more; in labours MORE ABUNDANT, in stripes above measure, in
prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.
"Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."
Paul showed the people HE was their true minister! He
ANSWERED and DEBUNKED the claims of these other men.
There is no contradiction! But rather much wisdom in these
two verses. Wisdom we need to APPLY IN OUR DAILY LIVES!
5. What DOES the Bible
Say?
This FIFTH rule of Bible study often solves many problems.
Many times our misunderstanding comes from the CONFUSION
THAT THIS WORLD CAUSES -- from a misinterpretation, a direct
TWISTING of a scripture to conform to the doctrines of
demons promulgated by Satan's ministers.
"Woe unto them that CALL evil good, and good evil; that PUT
darkness for light, and light for darkness; that PUT bitter
for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are WISE
IN THEIR OWN EYES, and prudent in THEIR OWN sight"! (Isa.
5:20-23.) Many who CLAIM to be representatives of God, the
INTERPRETERS of His Word, TWIST and WREST that Word to their
own destruction and the destruction of their hearers.
So always remember to ask yourself -- AND, ANSWER -- the
question: "What DOES the BIBLE say?"
John 3:6 is a good example of this. "That which is born of
the flesh IS flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit IS
spirit." This is a very clear scripture, explaining that
flesh is flesh and Spirit is spirit! That's what the Bible
says! But that's not what PEOPLE SAY the Bible says!
Sometimes you may have to refer to a reference work (which
we will cover under a separate rule) for scriptures such as
1 John 5:7.
Or perhaps a note in the MARGIN of your Bible will help you
understand a scripture that SEEMS to contradict what you
know to be the truth. Take the example of Luke 17:20-21 --
"The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither
shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, THE
KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU." Here, the Bible DOES say,
"The kingdom of God is WITHIN you." But here it is only the
King James TRANSLATION which says this -- not necessarily
God's exact Word. So, since it is not clear in the KING
JAMES Translation, other aids are necessary to find out what
it does say.
This leads automatically to the next rule of Bible study,
rule number SIX.
6. Check the Context
Context means, con -- WITH, text -- TEXT. In order to check
the context you merely read the TEXTS WHICH COME WITH the
text that is in question. You read the texts BEFORE and the
TEXTS AFTER. In this example of Luke 17:21, you need to also
ask yourself a number of questions regarding the context.
The text that is with (CON) Luke 17:21, is Luke 17:20! This
verse JUST BEFORE answers the question regarding Verse 21,
but in order to ANSWER that question you must ASK yourself
the question, "WHO?"
In other words you must ask yourself, if "the Kingdom of God
is WITHIN you" -- WHO is the YOU that the Bible is referring
to? In this case verse 20 explains that it is the PHARISEES!
Now you KNOW that certainly Jesus Christ wasn't saying that
the Kingdom of God is inside of PHARISEES! Therefore, the
con (WITH) text helps you to see that there must be a
MISTRANSLATION in this particular verse.
And sure enough, when you check the margin of your Bible you
will find that the word "within" should be translated
"among" -- referring to Jesus Himself as a Representative of
God's Kingdom who was at that time "among" the Pharisees!
In order to understand any scripture thoroughly, in its
context, you need to ask yourself -- and answer for yourself
-- all the following questions: WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? WHY? WHO?
HOW? When you have answered these questions regarding any
particular text, and you have read all of the accompanying
texts, WITH the text in question, YOU WILL HAVE GOD'S ANSWER
TO THE PROBLEM.
Many people misunderstand Mark 7:19 -- thinking that in this
place unclean meats were cleansed by Christ -- simply
because they do not read the context. In this case the
context is the ENTIRE CHAPTER. You must go back from verse
19, until you begin to find the subject about which verse 19
is talking. That subject has to do with whether or not to
wash your hands ceremonially before you eat, and has nothing
to do with whether the food you eat is clean or unclean
according to the laws of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.
There are even LIES written in the Bible and you have to be
careful that you ask yourself EXACTLY what the Bible says in
the ENTIRETY of the context of any one statement. THE BIBLE
SAYS, "Ye shall NOT surely die" (Gen. 3:4). This is a
BIBLICAL statement! But in order to find out whether it's
true or not you have to find out WHO said it. In this
particular case the same verse explains that Satan the Devil
said it, but in order to find out whether it is true or not
(because sometimes even Satan tells
the truth) you have to go back in the CONTEXT
until you come to Genesis 2:17 where the Creator-God is
quoted as saying, "THOU SHALT SURELY DIE!" -- then you know
what the BIBLE, IN ITS ENTIRETY AND IN ITS TRUTH, DOES SAY!
Why is the Bible the most misunderstood book in all history?
The most twisted, distorted, maligned, misrepresented and
lied-about book there is? Because people refuse to believe
it means exactly what it says! This second installment
explains twelve simple, basic rules to help you understand
the plain truth of God's Word!
Do YOU UNDERSTAND the Bible when you read it? Or, have you
not even bothered to study your Bible because you felt it
was out-of-date? Because the old English is difficult to
understand? Or because you felt the Bible was SUPPOSED TO BE
MYSTERIOUS.
You Can Understand!
The Bible is the instruction book of the One who created
you. It is His instruction TO YOU, explaining clearly and
plainly how you can have a happy, filled-with-interest,
abundant and successful life! God's Word reveals the purpose
for your being! It explains the REASON for human suffering.
It explains WHEN and WHY and HOW GOD IS going to intervene
to relieve that suffering! It therefore ought to be the one
book everyone should understand! But why has it been so
grievously misunderstood? Because almost no one, it seems,
has been willing to apply the twelve rules of Bible study.
In last month's PLAIN TRUTH, the first six of the twelve
simple, basic rules of Bible study were explained
thoroughly. If you are a new reader and missed this first
article because you were not on The PLAIN TRUTH mailing list
last month, just write and ask for the August issue of The
PLAIN TRUTH -- it will be sent to you just as freely as you
received this issue.
The First Six Rules
To summarize, briefly, before going on to the seventh rule
of Bible study, here are the first six rules: ONE -- Pray
for guidance. Two -- Be willing to accept correction. THREE
-- Prove all things. FOUR -- Realize the Bible never
contradicts itself. FIVE -- Be sure to read the Bible
exactly as it is written. SIX -- Check the context carefully
-- that is, read all the scriptures around any particular
verse in question.
This brings us to rule number seven.
7. Get All the Scriptures
No one scripture can OF ITSELF, taken OUT OF CONTEXT, be
used to establish the Truth. "Knowing this first, that no
prophecy of the scripture is of any PRIVATE interpretation"
(2 Peter 1:20).
God has put His Bible together in a very unusual manner. He
has written it so that men could study it intricately in its
original languages, poring over its pages for their entire
lifetime -- AND YET NEVER COME TO A KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH.
Many people have memorized great sections of the Bible and
yet not come to realize what those sections mean. You must
take the whole Bible in its entire context, getting ALL OF
THE SCRIPTURES in that Bible ON ANY ONE SUBJECT BEFORE you
can come to the knowledge of that particular subject from
God's point of view.
"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 ...."
That is how the converted mind is to study the Bible. Yet,
when the unconverted study God's Word a little here and a
little there they are STILL NOT ABLE TO UNDERSTAND the
Message of God's Truth because they do not have His Holy
Spirit guiding them. That Holy Spirit -- the very mind and
understanding of God -- is the power that inspired those
words in the first place, and WITHOUT THAT SPIRIT TO INSPIRE
THE UNDERSTANDING, THE DOOR TO THE WORD OF GOD REMAINS SHUT!
(The Holy Spirit is given ONLY to those who OBEY God -- Acts
5:32.) Continuing from Isaiah: "... But the word of the Lord
WAS unto them {those who DISOBEY} precept upon precept,
precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a
little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall
backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken" (Isa.
28:9-10, 13).
Oftentimes people think that the Bible is CONTRADICTING
itself when actually all it is doing is SUPPLEMENTING
itself. A good example of this is found in Matthew 27:37 as
compared to Luke 23:38. Here Matthew and Luke APPEAR to
contradict one another in their statements as to what was
written on the sign affixed to the stake upon which Jesus
Christ was crucified.
Now while you're going through this article, just take time
to GET YOUR BIBLE and USE this example to PROVE that getting
ALL of the scriptures on any one subject WILL give you God's
understanding on it. In order to find out WHAT was written
on that sign, WHO wrote it, and HOW MANY languages it was
written in, you will need to put at least four scriptures
together, not just two. So turn first to Matthew 27:37, and
WRITE DOWN what the Bible says was written on that sign.
Then, GO RIGHT ON to Mark l5:26 and write beneath what you
have written what MARK says was written on that sign. Then
do the same with Luke 23:38 and also John 19:19. Put them
all together and you will see what was written on that sign.
If ONE of these scriptures were left out you would not know
that it was PILATE who did the writing. If TWO of these
scriptures were left out you would not know that the writing
was originally done in THREE LANGUAGES. These four bits of
information, each from a different author, supply us with a
complete record of what was written there originally. No one
scripture contradicts the other -- each only serves to
complement and round out the information of the other.
8. Let the Bible Interpret
the Bible
So many people write in to The WORLD TOMORROW and comment
how much they enjoy MR. ARMSTRONG'S INTERPRETATION of the
Bible. Over and over again you will hear Mr. Armstrong
explain to the radio audience that it is NOT HIS
INTERPRETATION that is being heard over The WORLD TOMORROW,
BUT ONLY PLAIN BIBLE TRUTH!
In your edition of the King James Bible the book of
Revelation will probably be entitled, "The Revelation of ST.
JOHN THE DIVINE." This is an excellent example of MAN'S
INTERPRETATION. Now in order for you to understand WHAT the
book of Revelation IS -- WHOSE revelation it is, TO WHOM it
was written and WHAT it is about -- all you have to do is
read the first few verses of THE BOOK ITSELF! In fact the
very first words of the very first verse DIRECTLY CONTRADICT
MAN'S INTERPRETATION of the Bible with the plain Bible
statement that this book is, THE REVELATION OF JESUS
CHRIST!" (Rev. 1:1.)
Romans 3:4 is a good clear principle to live by in this
EIGHTH rule of Bible study -- "... let GOD be true, but
every man a liar."
This book of Revelation has long been an enigma to the
people of the world -- GOD SAYS it is a book of REVELATION.
THE WORLD SAYS it is a book of HIDDEN MYSTERY. PEOPLE have
come up with many weird interpretations for the book of
Revelation -- yet the book of Revelation is VIVID in its own
clear description and needs no interpretation! Continue in
Revelation 1:
As you read in verse 12 that John saw seven GOLDEN
CANDLESTICKS, you don't have to WONDER what these seven
golden candlesticks are -- all you have to do is READ ON
until you come, in the CONTEXT, to verse 20 and that verse
tells you plainly that the seven candlesticks ARE the seven
churches. In verse 16 it states that John saw SEVEN STARS in
the hand of the Son of man. There is no need to go into
great, eloquent illustrations of what the seven stars are,
because again verse 20 reveals the plain Bible truth -- no
interpretation necessary -- that the seven stars ARE the
angels of the seven churches. And so it goes through the
rest of the Bible.
All you have to do is be patient and search God's Word and
you will come up with God's clear answers to the muddled
questions of mankind.
9. Don't Put Vague
Scriptures First
Perhaps a better general statement of this NINTH RULE of
Bible study would be: NEVER ESTABLISH ADOCTRINE BY A VAGUE
OR DIFFICULT-TO-BE-UNDERSTOOD SCRIPTURE.
Too many people ASSUME that the vision which Peter had
regarding the unclean beasts lowered to him on a sheet
affirms that God "cleansed" unclean meat. Because they TAKE
OUT OF CONTEXT a verse, unclean of itself, that says, "What
God hath cleansed, that call not thou common" (Acts 10:15).
However, all they need to do is read on TWO MORE VERSES and
verse 17 very plainly says that PETER HIMSELF DOUBTED what
the vision meant when he saw it -- he didn't jump to any
conclusions, but vague-scripture quoters are eager to!
Further reading in the same chapter will explain what Peter
finally came to understand about the vision -- read verse
28: "God hath showed me {by means of this vision} that I
SHOULD NOT CALL ANY MAN COMMON OR UNCLEAN."
Don't overlook TENTH rule.
10. Use Several
Translations
In Matthew 27:46 Jesus Christ, while hanging on the stake
before He died, used the ARAMAIC translation of the first
verse of Psalm 22. Even though the original Word of God was
inspired in the Hebrew or the Greek, God has allowed it to
be translated into nearly every language spoken by mankind.
If we were going to be particular about which language we
used or which translation, then we would all have to learn
Hebrew and Greek and study the Bible in its original
languages.
The King James Version was written 353 years ago. In the
time since, the English language has undergone many changes.
Sometimes those texts which are vague and unclear in the
King James can be cleared up very easily by just reading a
MORE MODERN TRANSLATION, such as the Moffatt or the Revised
Standard Version.
There is one thing to note about the King James translation
and that is regarding italics. This word ITALIC is written
in italics. Words that look like this in your King James
Version are NOT in the original languages but are SUPPLIED
by the translators. So everywhere in the King James Version
where you notice words in italics they are supplied to help
you understand the meaning of the sentence. However, since
the translators were carnally minded, they did not always
supply the words correctly. So some of these words in
italics are incorrect and do not help but rather hinder your
understanding.
On the other hand, NOT ALL OF THE WORDS WHICH ARE SUPPLIED
by the translators are in italics. Take I John 5:7 for
instance, where the reference to three who bear witness in
heaven is a completely erroneous reference inserted by a
monk-copyist in the Middle Ages. The fact is this particular
verse appears only in the King James Version and is in NONE
of the other translations of the Bible.
Often these difficulties will be cleared up by merely
reading another translation and comparing it to the King
James. Any questions arising after a thorough reading
through several translations of any one verse will be few,
and can be handled by studying further in Bible helps.
If there are WORDS that you have difficulty in
understanding, remember not only to look them up in an
English dictionary such as Webster's, but if possible in A
BIBLE DICTIONARY OR IN STRONG'S CONCORDANCE so that you can
see what the meaning of the word in the original is.
Sometimes people will look up a word in a modern dictionary
and find a definition that is not at all the SENSE of the
word as used in the King James Version. Take for example the
word "conversation" in I Peter 3. Conversation to us today
means talking between two people. A modern dictionary will
give this definition. However, in the time of King James
this particular word meant THE ENTIRE CONDUCT of a person
and that is the meaning in the BIBLE usage of this word. In
order to understand it then, you need to understand the
meaning of the ORIGINAL word, and not just the meaning in a
modern dictionary.
But this leads to our ELEVENTH rule.
11. Don't Establish
Doctrine With "Bible Helps"
"Clarke's Commentary" and the commentary by Jamieson,
Fausset and Brown are good reference works -- as is Halley's
"Pocket Bible Handbook". Sometimes in the back of Bibles
there will be sections called "Bible Helps." Even the
marginal references in your Bible, which SOMETIMES prove to
be very helpful, are often misleading. These "helps" often
turn out to be the insidious instruction of Satan himself
and they may lead you astray.
Therefore, all of these Bible helps should be used ONLY to
establish historical or grammatical facts related to the
Bible and MUST NOT be used TO ESTABLISH DOCTRINE OR TO
INTERPRET THE MEANING OF THE BIBLE ITSELF. The chain
reference in my Bible in the center of the two columns at
Revelation 1:10 says, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day
..." and by the Lord's day there is a little "z". In the
column by the "z" there are two scriptural references -- one
to Acts 20:7 and the other to 1 Corinthians 16:2 which both
refer to the FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK but have nothing to do
with the Lord's day which is explained in the rest of the
book of Revelation.
Yet to find out what the BIBLE says about what day Jesus
Christ is Lord of, read Mark 2:27-28! "And he said unto
them, the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the
sabbath: therefore THE SON OF MAN IS LORD ALSO OF THE
SABBATH."
So, with Bible helps you must remember to use them only for
technical facts and not for interpretative facts. And now,
rule TWELVE:
12. Mark Your Bible!
Perhaps you have thought the Bible should not be marked. But
realize that what is HOLY about the Bible is not the paper,
ink and leather out of which it is made, but the WORDS OF
TRUTH the SPIRITUAL FACTS! Any PHYSICAL tool you can employ
-- such as marking with a pen or colored pencils -- to help
you remember and apply the spiritual truths in your life, is
right with God! He expects you to USE His written Word to
worship HIM -- not physical paper ant ink! Sometimes we hold
back from marking the Bible and think that we'll do it later
-- especially when we're listening to a point that we need
to remember about a particular scripture -- but we never
seem to get around to it. It's always so difficult to get
out the pencil and ruler, and have our hands clean. So I
have found over years of experience that the best way to
mark the Bible is to JUST MARK IT!
When you find out for instance that the word "conversation"
in 1 Peter 3:1 ought to be "conduct," the thing you need to
do is to IMMEDIATELY WRITE DOWN "conduct" in the margin and
draw a little line and circle the word "conversation" in the
verse. This way you will always remember.
Use These Rules
Apply these twelve rules diligently, and your Bible study
will be both interesting and rewarding.
back to the top |