Jesus has given a great promise to us in John 8:32. He said, “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” We know we can understand the word of God because of this promise. Jesus keeps his promises (Hebrews 10:23). We know we can understand the Bible, because we are commanded to do it (Ephesians 5:17). As we read the Scriptures, we should ask ourselves certain questions.
Who is speaking?
The Bible says in Job 2:9, “Curse God and die.” The rest of the Bible teaches us to worship God, not to curse him! Which one are we to do? After reading Job 2:9-10, we should ask ourselves, “Who is speaking?” The answer is, Job’s wife. She told Job to “curse God and die,” and was speaking foolishly. Psalm 14:1 says, “There is no God.” But again, who is speaking? The verse shows this is the statement of a fool.
In Acts 4:18, we read a command to not “speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.” We are not to obey this command. Why not? Because when we read the chapter, and ask ourselves who is speaking, as we read, we learn that the enemies of Christianity gave this command. Therefore we teach, because Jesus gave the command to teach (Matthew 28:19-20).
Who is the speaker speaking to?
The Bible says, “Make thee an ark of gopher wood” (Genesis 6:14). Must everyone today make an ark? If not, why not? No one today must build an ark, because God was not talking to everyone. God was talking to Noah only.
Luke 18:22 says, “Sell all that thou hast …” To follow Jesus, must we sell all we have? The answer is no, because Jesus was only talking to a certain ruler (Luke 18:18). It is important to know who the speaker was talking to.
Especially is this important to a sinner, who wants to be saved. In the Bible, never is an alien sinner told to pray to God for the forgiveness of his sins. Only children of God are commanded to pray for forgiveness of sin.
When was it written? When was it spoken?
In Leviticus 11, God told the Israelites what meats they could eat, and what meats were sinful for them to eat. Is it still sinful for them, or anyone else, to eat certain meats? We do not obey Leviticus 11 today, because it is in the Old Testament (Romans 7:4). We are not under the law of Moses today (Galatians 3:24-25). We obey the law of Christ today (Galatians 6:2).
After Jesus built his church, Paul wrote that “every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:1-5). It is impossible to obey both Leviticus 11 and 1 Timothy 4:4 at the same time, so which should we do? Answer the question, “When was it written,” and then we know to obey 1 Timothy 4:4.
What is the context?
No person wants their words taken out of context, yet many ignore the context of words and sentences in the Bible. To correctly understand, we must learn what the paragraph or context is. The story is told of someone who believed it was a sin to eat watermelons. He said it was a sin, because the Bible says, “What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder (Mark 10:9). If we know the context of Mark 10, then this is a funny story, for Jesus was talking about marriage, not about watermelons.
Is it literal or figurative?
The Bible should always be understood literally, unless it is impossible to take it literally, or unless the writer tells us the words are figurative. Some try to escape the truth by passing it off as figurative. We must love the truth enough to take the Bible for what it says. Even if we do not like it, we should have enough respect for God to believe and accept his word, and then obey it, no questions asked. A good example of this is seen in Mary in Luke 1:1-20.
Jesus said, “I am the door” (John 10:9). Jesus is a person, not a literal door. Therefore the word “door” must be figurative and not literal. Jesus is teaching us that we must enter him in order to be saved (John 10:9). The book of Revelation is understood many different ways. Much of this confusion would be eliminated, if everyone would understand the book figuratively. Why should be believe it is figurative? Because the very first verse says it is “signified.”
What else does the Bible say on the subject?
Regardless of what subject we study from the Bible, it is very important to learn everything the Bible teaches on that subject! Why? If we learn everything the Bible teaches on a certain subject, except for one thing, that one thing we do not know, may be the very thing that keeps us from understanding the truth.
For example, Jesus died, was buried, and was raised from the dead. After his resurrection, he appeared to certain people. If we only read the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, we would believe and teach that Jesus never appeared to a large crowd of people, after he came forth from the grave. We would not know the truth on the subject until we read 1 Corinthians 15:4-6. There Paul tells of him appearing to more than 500 at one time.
Failing to learn everything the Bible says about a subject has caused religious division in the world. We will not have unity until all of us accept everything the Bible teaches on each and every subject. Not only does true fellowship with one another depend on this, but our being in fellowship with God depends on whether or not we believe and teach and obey the truth. (2 John 9 and John 8:32 and John 14:15).
We must take the word of God for what it says!
Some teach there is no need in being concerned with the exact words of the Bible. God is concerned and gives us a warning! We will be lost if we “add unto,” or “take away from” his word (Revelation 22:18-19).
We walk on dangerous ground if we read a passage of scripture and say, “I do not believe it” (John 12:48). The disciples did not understand Jesus, because they did not accept his exact words. In Mark 9:31 Jesus told them he would be killed and would rise the third day. The next verse says, “But they understood not that saying …”
We need to pay attention to the words, and even to the tense of the verbs. The Sadducees did not believe man had a spirit. Jesus pointed out their error by the tense of a verb in the Scriptures. The scripture did not say, “I was.” The scripture said, “I am the God of Abraham” (Matthew 22:32).
Not only are the words of the Bible important, each letter in a word is of equal importance. This can be seen in Galatians 3:16. What Paul said depended on whether or not a word has a “s” on the end of it. Thus we learn that, not only are the words of the Bible inspired, but also each letter is inspired! God is concerned with both the words and the letters, Paul was also concerned, and we today should have the same reverence and respect for The Holy Book!