You Really Can Understand Your Bible!
In one of my recent messages at church, we covered my life verse, “But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15). In that message I suggested eight aspects to “grow up” in our life and was challenged by a dear one to do a blog on each, so here is another one!
These are all important, but this one will undergird all the aspects we are to grow up to be like Jesus. That is to know and understand the Bible. The Bible is the Word of God. It is special, it is inspired by God, the Greek word is “God Breathed”.
“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”
2 Timothy 3:16,17
It was written by human authors, sharing eyewitness accounts and things revealed to them by God over about fifteen hundred years. “Men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God” (2 Peter 1:21). Jesus Christ is the center of everything. The Old Testament looks forward to Him, the New Testament tells His story and about His great invention, the church, making disciples until He comes again and sets up His kingdom.
The beauty of it, is, since it is God’s word it is our absolute standard, something we can always count on when everything else is shaky. Simply put, it is true. God is true, and always speaks the truth, and it is His word. “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Jesus said, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31,32).
The Bible has been translated into most of the languages in the world. Originally it was written in Hebrew and Greek, with a small portion in Aramaic. The most widely distributed English version has been the King James Version, originally translated in 1611 with several revisions, and it is still commonly found. The language is rather like reading Shakespeare, so most would want a translation with more contemporary English. I would recommend you do this; I remember Shakespeare was a workout in high school English!
If you like the feel of old English, there is the New King James Version. I would recommend the New American Standard, or The English Standard Version, there are a lot of good ones available.
I would suggest just read it. Since Jesus is the center of the Bible I would recommend reading the four gospels first, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Despite what you may have heard, it is not complicated to understand, and you need not look for mysteries and allegories, or worse yet, codes of some sort. Such theories are really nonsense. The stories you will read really happened to real people in real time. If something is a parable or a story that illustrates something it will either say so, or be obvious. Sure, you’ll have questions, but most of it will be obvious, and you will be fascinated with Jesus Christ.
The general rule as we go to the Bible, is to read it and take it literally, according to the normal use of language. Sure there are figures of speech, “a land flowing with milk and honey” is a prosperous land, you are not slogging through milk and honey! But you can trust the normal use of language. The other considerations are grammar, context, and history.
You will find most of the Bible quite clear, but remember it is a unity, and it was revealed over 1500 years, so history is important. The dietary laws for the Jews in the Old Testament were quite important, but God specifically abolished them in the New Testament, that’s what I mean by considering history. Being God’s word, it is accurate on any subject to which it speaks.
Devote yourself to getting this book, don’t let it gather dust. By faith, when I see what the Bible says and go with it, I will not go wrong. Learn it, enjoy it, put it into practice!
