How to Study the Scriptures (Part 1)
In this modern church age, it seems that the main problem facing the church is a lack of knowledge of God’s word. Solomon once stated that there is nothing new under the sun. The problem we face today in the church is identical to the situation the Bible addresses in Hosea 4:6-9
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. 7 " The more they increased, The more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame. 8 They eat up the sin of My people; They set their heart on their iniquity. 9 And it shall be: like people, like priest. So I will punish them for their ways, And reward them for their deeds.
God hasn’t changed since this passage was written. God still requires His people to have knowledge of His word and those who reject knowledge are rejected by God. We live in a microwave society. We want instant knowledge and an effortless Christianity. People don’t mind having a 5 minute devotional but very few will take the time to seek God. The lack of knowledge and understanding of the word is the destruction of the church. The modern church is in serious trouble and no one has eyes to see the declining situation of Christianity in the church. Unfortunately you have to have knowledge to recognize the error and the church has been dumbed down to the point where true biblical knowledge is a rarity.
In the New Testament church, the apostles put a great emphasis on each individual’s responsibility to know the scriptures, but over the years the shift has gradually departed from personal discipline to stadium Christianity. We want to sit, watch, and cheer but never join the battle. We want our faith to be fast, on time, and neatly packaged so that all we have to do is sit down, get fed and be on our way. This may work for McDonalds but it will not work for true faith. No one can be spiritually healthy on spiritual fast food. There are personal disciplines involved that we must apply to our lives if we are to truly walk by faith. It is a command to study the word of God and if we are to be in God’s will we must obey this basic command. Consider these two passages:
2 Timothy 3: 16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 Timothy 2: 15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Everyone wants to know the secrets of the faith but the real secret is that God reveals Himself to those who seek Him through His word. If we do not obey God’s command to seek Him and study His word, we can’t expect God to reveal the mysteries of God’s kingdom and we can’t expect to see the power of God working within our lives. God doesn’t show Himself strong on behalf of those who try to buy His favor through so-called seeds of faith. The power of God is given to those who fulfill this passage in 2 Chronicles 16:9a
For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. (KJV)
There is only one way to fulfill this passage – study the word. Our heart is purified by the word of God. Consider Psalm 119:9-12
9 How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. 10 With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! 11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You! 12 Blessed are You, O LORD! Teach me Your statutes!
How can you be cleansed so your heart is perfect toward God? By studying the word of God and taking heed to the word. This is affirmed by Jesus Christ in John 15:3-4
3 "You are already
clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in
Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in
the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
…
7 "If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what
you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 "By this My Father is
glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
You are first cleansed by the word and then through abiding in the word and hiding the word in your heart, your heart will be perfect toward God and will have the promise that God will hear and answer your prayers (See also 1 John 5:14-15). This is not a prayer of covetousness where we ask God to fulfill our greed, but rather we abide in Him through knowledge of His word, see the will of God as we set our heart to accomplish His will and then we pray with God given desires knowing that this is the will of God and know that he will answer. The focus of this promise is to bear fruit as we accomplish our desire to glorify God as we grow in our own discipleship. The foundation of our faith must be on the word in order for anything to work as God has designed it.
Because the average church member has lost sight of their role in studying the word, they have also lost sight of their role in God’s plan. For this reason people begin to look at church leaders as their source for truth and as the anointed ones who do God’s work. This is not biblical for the bread of life is in our own hands and the work is what we are all called to do.
Understanding Truth
One of the things I find frustrating is that Christians have been taught and conditioned not to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to them. We have not only lost confidence in the Spirit of God, but we are actually discouraged from listening to the Holy Spirit by the common church thought of the day. First look at Proverbs 2:
1 My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, 2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding;
The world is a noisy place and everything beckons for your attention, but God calls softly. Everyone is looking for grand productions, loud proclamations, and big events, but God calls with a still small voice that can only be heard by those who stop and listen for His voice. When Elijah lost focus and fell into a depression, God called out to him. God passed by and Elijah saw a great earthquake, a consuming fire, and a wind so mighty that it split rocks. However, God said that He was not in the powerful earthquake, nor the consuming fire, nor the mighty wind. Elijah then heard a still small voice that revealed the call of God and His will. You too must stop and listen for God’s voice – not with a radio, tape series or a shouting preacher. While God does indeed equip and use individuals to teach His people the word, God reveals Himself to you through the quietness of studying His word with a heart to seek. This is reiterated in Isaiah 55:1-3
"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. 3 Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you…
If you do not incline your ear, you will not hear. The picture is to cup your ear and listen diligently. Have you ever heard a faint sound that you had to position your ear, stop and listen carefully to pick up? This is what the Bible is teaching. We are to study the word by removing ourselves from the daily distractions and seek the word as we listen to what God is teaching us.
In the modern church people are taught not to listen for that still small voice. We are taught to get a study guide, commentary or rely on study notes where someone has told us what to believe. In fact, when the scripture speaks to a topic that is contrary to the commonly held belief, people have been conditioned to seek understanding through their Scofield commentaries or Life Application Bible notes rather than seeking understanding through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. I have seen several times where the commentary contradicted the scriptures and people just assume that what they see with their eyes is wrong and the commentary is right.
In truth, if you study the Bible and have a broad view that you can draw from, each individual verse will be self-evident in its meaning and the Holy Spirit will reveal the application. Many years ago I was writing a study that contradicted what I had always been taught. I thought, “Who am I to rebut this common belief? Surely all those who are teaching me can’t be wrong.” I thought I was being radical and didn’t have much confidence that I was correct in my understanding. I decided to go to some of the old great preachers of the past and see what they thought on my topic of study. I found a sermon by Charles Spurgeon on the same topic and as I read the sermon I was almost shocked. Though his wording was different, he was preaching the exact same message. How could the common belief be so radically different than what was preached 120 years earlier yet what I saw was identical to what the preachers of the past saw? I drew much encouragement from this discovery but I also began to ponder why there was such differences in so many modern beliefs. The problem is not in the scripture, nor is it in interpreting the scripture. Look at 2 Peter 1:20-21
20 knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, 21 for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
The scripture is not interpreted by the individual, so the problem must not be in understanding the scripture but in how we view the scripture. Since the scripture was given by the Holy Spirit to those who wrote them down, the scripture must also be interpreted by the Holy Spirit to those who read it. I have found that the problem is not that people misinterpret, but that they do not trust what God is revealing through the scripture but instead bring in outside influences.
This is why I have completely changed my views on commentaries and study Bibles. I once read commentaries, listened to preachers and used other helps to understand the Bible. I no longer do this. When I study the Bible, I do not consult any other source but instead I look to other passages of scripture to gain insight. Every time doctrine falls into error it is because opinions outside of the scripture have come in and tainted our understanding. When you hear a doctrine, ask yourself this question, “If I did not know about this doctrine and had no outside influence, is it possible to draw this conclusion based on scripture alone?” Let me give an example:
Joyce Myers, Kenneth Hagin, and several other Word of Faith hold the doctrine that Jesus had to suffer in hell for sins. Consider this quote that is similar to what is taught by almost all Word of Faith teachers:
“There is no hope of anyone going
to heaven unless they believe this truth. You cannot go to heaven unless you
believe with all your heart that Jesus took your place. He became your
substitute and took all the punishment you deserve. He bore all your sins. He
paid the debt you owe…Jesus went to hell for you. He died for you. He paid for
your sins.”
“The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make” (Page 43, 1996-Edition)
In her 1991 edition of this book, Joyce wrote:
“There is no hope of anyone going to heaven unless they believe this truth I am presenting. You cannot go to heaven unless you believe with all your heart that Jesus took your place in hell” ‘The Most Important Decision You Will Ever Make’, 1991 pg. 3
This was heavily criticized and she slightly altered the wording to give wiggle room, but she still states that Jesus paid your debt in hell. On page 42 of the new edition she states, “His spirit went to hell because that is where we deserved to go”. She and the other Word of Faith teachers still teach that Jesus bought your redemption by suffering in hell for you; they have just eliminated the requirement for you to believe this to be saved. Joyce did not come up with this doctrine. As far as I can tell, Kenneth Hagin (the founder of the modern Word of Faith movement) popularized this doctrine. When teaching this same message on her sermon, ‘What Happened from the Cross to The Throne?’, Joyce acknowledges that this does not come from the scripture:
“The Bible can’t even find any way to explain this. Not really. That’s why you’ve got to get it by revelation.”
True biblical doctrine finds its origin in the word and is confirmed by the word. This is why the Bible praises those who searched the scripture to validate the doctrine of Christ. The question we should ask is, “Can we find anything in the scripture that even implies that Jesus suffered in hell and does the Bible teach redemption beyond the cross?” The answer is, “No”.
The only thing we are told about Jesus’ descent is that He preached to the spirits in prison and claimed the keys of death and the grave. It is also important to note that the Bible never says that Jesus went to Gehenna but to Hades. When Jesus warned people about the fire of Hell, it was the Greek word Gehenna which was a vile place outside of Jerusalem in the valley of Hinnom where dead animals, filth and every vile thing was dumped and burned. It was a horrible place and everyone in Israel understood the word picture Jesus was painting when He warned against the fire of Gehenna where the worm does not die. This is translated into the word ‘hell’ and in the KJV, the word ‘Hades’ is also translated as hell. These are two completely different meanings. Hades was the grave, but Gehenna represented torment and horror.
The Bible says that Jesus has the keys of Hades and death (Revelation 1:8) and that Jesus was not left in Hades (Acts 2:27, 31). This is a direct fulfillment of the prophecy of Psalm 16:10, “For You will not leave my soul in Sheol (the grave), nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” This is foretelling of the resurrection of Christ whose body was not allowed to remain in the grave and decay. The apostles used this passage repeatedly to show the Jews that this was written by David but did not apply to David. This was the foretelling of Jesus rising from the grave. It is impossible to draw the conclusion that Jesus was punished in Hell from the scripture alone because the scripture does not teach this. Each time our redemption is mentioned, it is ALWAYS through the cross and NEVER in hell. Here are three examples:
Acts 20: 28 "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
Colossians 1: 19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.
Colossians 2: 13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Here is the true message of salvation: if you do not believe that Jesus paid your debt on the cross and receive that gift of salvation without mixture, you cannot be saved. Anything more than the gospel message of the cross is pollution of the word and a false gospel. Anything less than the gospel of the cross is a false gospel.
If you will separate yourself from all influences that draw you away from the word, your doctrine will truly be sound. What the Christian needs to do is study the word without mixture and without man made influences. I have seen people read a scripture that gives clear instruction or proclaims an unmistakable doctrine and then say, “But my Bible commentary says this…” or “Pastor so-in-so says this”, and they disbelieve the scriptures because it conflicts with what the ‘experts’ are teaching.
It is a fact that over time various doctrines creep into a denomination and are taken as gospel even though these beliefs are not taught in scripture. An influential pastor or teacher brings in an outside opinion that re-interprets a passage and those who are taught repeat the teaching and in time it is widely accepted even if it isn’t taught in scripture. Sometimes these pet beliefs are relatively harmless but often they can alter the way we look at scripture and miss the important truths that are clearly taught. Church traditions are often treated as though they are the word of God even if they conflict with the Bible. I served in a ministry that conducted services in several housing projects. After approximately 3 or 4 years, the church hired a new pastor. He soon applied a rule where new believers could not be baptized unless they joined the main church. Since we brought the church to the projects, this was not a reasonable rule. We disputed this rule and were told by the new pastor, “I don’t care what the Bible says, this is how we do it in a Baptist church”. In other words, the tradition he came from held a higher value than the scriptures.
Another foolish example of traditions was a church where a friend of mine was an interim pastor. He turned out to be a perfect fit for the church. He loved the church and the church loved him, but the local association had a rule that an interim pastor could not be called as a full time pastor. He was clearly called to serve and they believed he was sent by God, but rules were rules so they had to select another pastor. What scripture is this based on? Because of meaningless traditions that have been adopted over the years, the church chose to reject the pastor they believed was called by God because of a man made rule. This was the same problem that Jesus warned against when the religious leaders in Israel added to the word with their own, man-made traditions. Look at Mark 7:6-8
6 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' 8 "For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men…
The church today often falls into the same trap. We lay aside the commandments and the word of God when it conflicts with our beliefs that are born out of man-made traditions. Christians need to look to the scriptures as their authority rather than worthless traditions. Christians need to trust the Spirit of God rather than the words of men. We have trained people not to listen to the Spirit and even reject the Spirit. When what God reveals conflicts with what we have always believed or been taught, we are conditioned to unwittingly reject the scripture. We need to trust the Spirit for the Bible tells us that scripture is Spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14). Consider this passage from 1 John 2:
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
…
26 These things I have written to you concerning those who try to deceive you. 27 But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him.
God has truly ordained teachers for the scriptures make this clear; however, you are not dependent on a teacher to reveal truth to you. In fact, when what you are being taught conflicts with scripture, the Spirit gives you discernment and you will recognize error by the discomfort of the Holy Spirit warning your heart. People are still deceived because they over rule the Holy Spirit by rejecting the warning and siding with the teacher. We are persuaded to reject the Spirit of discernment by being offered something that appeals to our flesh like wealth and other temptations that we desire. I have also heard false teachers say things like, “That feeling is only your fear of the new thing God is doing”. If you cannot clearly see what is being taught in scripture without outside information, you should be very, very cautious about any doctrine. The Bible warns that we are not to add to His word or He will rebuke us and call us a liar (Proverbs 30:6). Those who love the lie are also condemned in scripture (Revelation 22:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12). False doctrine is almost always an out of context passage ‘plus’ the teachers so-called revelation from God.
If you separate yourself and study the scripture, you will not be led astray. Charles Spurgeon is not the standard or revealer of truth. While it was encouraging to see that he saw the same things that I see, his teachings cannot stand in the place of the Holy Spirit. All the respected teachers of the world do not determine truth or become ones who interpret the Bible. I once quoted well respected teachers as evidence that a doctrine was true as do most modern day teachers. I observed this method of biblical study among my peers and among those who I respected and just blindly followed the same path. I now see the value of withdrawing to the scriptures to allow the Spirit of God to reveal truth.
In this modern age, we have approached doctrine like a game of whisper. The game of whisper is where you whisper a message in someone’s ear and they whisper to the next person. The more people the message goes through, the more distorted the message becomes. Often times the message comes back to you completely different than the original message. This is how erroneous doctrine propagates. Each time we use a third party to quote, we slightly alter the original message. To be true to scripture, we must continuously return to the scripture as our source and our standard. If each teacher validates their doctrine by scripture alone, then there is little opportunity to deviate from scripture. Instead of saying, “So-n-so said…”, we should be saying, “This specific scripture says…”.
When I hear someone teach or preach, I don’t want to hear, “Charles Stanley says…”, or “John Calvin wrote...”, or even “Charles Spurgeon preached…”. I want to hear, “The Bible says…”. If a doctrine is not affirmed by scripture, then it is just an opinion. While there are times when our opinion can add to a study, an opinion is not on par with scripture. It is ok to be inspired by a message, but we return to the scriptures to determine truth. Just like the Bereans in Acts 17, we should receive the word and then search the scriptures daily to see if these things are true. We have put too much trust in man and instead of searching the scriptures to see what is true, we look to a man to tell us what is true. And as I said before, the church even goes as far as to reject the clear teaching of the Bible and trusts commentaries, preachers and teachers over the plainly stated text of scriptures. When the church’s doctrine is in conflict with scripture, people have a tendency to explain away the scripture instead of drawing truth from scripture. It is as though we tell ourselves, “We know the commonly held belief is true, therefore the scripture is in question”, instead of believing that all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.
You have the power to understand scripture and you must constantly return to scripture as your standard for understanding all things. That power does not come from you, but from the Holy Spirit that is given to you when you receive Christ as Savior and Lord. From this point you MUST commit yourself to study for it is truly the only way to interpret scripture. Scripture is interpreted through scripture but the instructions of scripture and its application to our lives is by the Holy Spirit. The interpretation does not change but our ability to understand does as we increase our knowledge and learn how to listen to the Spirit of God. The key to interpretation is study.
How to Study
The first key to understanding scripture is found in 2 Timothy 2:
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
It is vital to diligently study the word of God. The word ‘diligent’ is translated into the word ‘study’ in the KJV. This comes from the Greek word ‘spoudazo’ which means to exert one’s self, or to give diligence. The scripture is instructing us to exert ourselves to know the scriptures. This is not something we do in passing with our spare time, but to exert or act with strenuous effort to know the word. We must study the scriptures with great effort so that we know the word and can rightly divide the truth.
Also take note that the Bible is not instructing you to interpret the scripture but to divide it rightly. The Bible doesn’t need interpreting for the meaning is plain if read in context. I once had a discussion with someone who was trying to say that the Bible allowed them to live a sinful lifestyle and claimed the Bible did not condemn what they were doing. I opened the Bible and said, “Read this passage”. After they read it, they said, “That is just your interpretation!” I didn’t interpret anything; I merely asked this person to read it. Obviously this person’s interpretation was the same as mine. The problem is not in understanding the words of the scripture, but understanding how it applies to our lives and discerning the instructions received from the word. The key is to receive the word and to give heed to it. Consider Proverbs 19:
20 Listen to counsel and receive instruction, That you may be wise in your latter days.
Unless you study the word with a listening heart, you can’t receive instruction. To receive is not just to read, but to accept it and apply it to your life. It is not merely to read it, but to give attention to what God is teaching in the word. Look at Proverbs 4:20-23
20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. 21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; 22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh. 23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.
Is this not study? What does it mean to not let the word depart from your eyes? If you study a little here and a little there, you will miss the richness of God’s instructions. You are to diligently study and not allow the word to depart from your eyes. As you make a diligent effort to keep the word before you and apply it by keeping it continually in your heart, God has promised that they will be life to you. The challenge of the word is not that it is hard to understand, but hard to apply. Human nature wants to feed our flesh, but when we live by the Spirit, we must deny the flesh as we apply the plainly stated word of truth. This is explained in Proverbs 8:5-9
5 O you simple ones, understand prudence, And you fools, be of an understanding heart. 6 Listen, for I will speak of excellent things, And from the opening of my lips will come right things; 7 For my mouth will speak truth; Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8 All the words of my mouth are with righteousness; Nothing crooked or perverse is in them. 9 They are all plain to him who understands, And right to those who find knowledge.
The word of God is plainly stated and can be understood by those who find knowledge. How do we find knowledge? By studying the word. God does not contradict Himself but makes truth plain and we see the harmony of scripture as God reveals instruction to us as we diligently put forth the effort to know His word. For some reason we consider it a great sacrifice of service to spend a few minutes a week studying. In truth, we do not serve God by studying; we allow God to do us a service by growing us in understanding when we study. We don’t study to get a reward, studying is the reward. Why is it that we can understand the value of putting our life on hold for 4, 8 or 12 years to get a college degree that only benefits our business life, but we can’t see the value of setting aside an hour a day to study the word. People will sacrifice every waking moment to get a degree but studying the word is too great a sacrifice because we have to give up a TV show that adds no value to life?
The individual believer has the power to study the word and through diligent study, each one can know how to rightly divide the word of truth. To rightly divide the word is to know how the word applies to the word, how to draw a passage out in its context to the passages around it, how to divide a truth in context of the entirety of scripture and how to accurately draw doctrine (or instructional teaching) from the word of truth. Don’t let the word ‘doctrine’ scare you for doctrine only means the teaching of scripture. We are not talking about theological debates, but understanding what God is giving you as an instruction and how it applies to your individual life.
There are many great theologians that do not have a clue as to how to rightly divide the word of truth. This does not come through education or degrees, but only through diligently studying the word and listening to God’s Spirit as He reveals instruction from the plainly stated word. You do not need to know dispensationalism, eschatology, hermeneutics, or any theological terms to fully understand the Bible. True doctrine is the plainly stated word of truth and its application to our lives. Sound doctrine is not reserved for the theologian, but the common believer who seeks to know God and live in an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
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