Reading the Bible...

I have been truly blessed lately to be around people who have a deep hunger
for God's Word. I love being around people like that. It makes my job as a
Pastor\Teacher so much easier and so much fun. So I want to talk about the
Bible a little here. I want to clarify a few things and maybe help you
understand what you are reading a little better. There are six points I want
to make:

1. The Bible is true. You can always trust the Bible! It never contradicts
itself. So if you think you have found a contradiction go back and reread
the passages. Read them in their context. Dig deep and search your heart and
mind and see what is causing you to read those particular verses
incorrectly. The Bible is always true! Jesus says in John 17:17, "Sanctify
them in the truth; your word is truth."

2. We must read the Bible in the context of the Bible. If we truly want to
know what the Bible teaches we must read it in context. That means we don't
create a doctrine based only on one verse we read in the Bible. If you want
to know what a certain verse really means read the whole chapter; read the
whole book. This is why expository preaching is so important. Just because
some of the sermons in the Bible were not expository doesn't mean we should
not preach the Word that way (i.e. Acts 2). We must remember when Peter was
preaching at Pentecost he was preaching totally inspired by the Holy Spirit.
He was actually preaching the revelation of God's Word. Therefore we must
preach this revelation in its context. We must always want to know what the
Scripture is teaching! You can only get that in the context of Scripture
itself.

3. Read the Bible through the lens of the Bible. Let me explain: So many
times we read the Bible through the lens of our culture, our time, or our life
experiences. So we begin to try to translate the Bible and find meaning in
the Bible based solely off of what is happening in the world around us. This
is called eisegesis. Eisegesis is what's being done when someone interprets
the Bible according to notions that were born outside of the Bible. It's
when we read stuff into Scripture. This happens when we come to the Bible
with thoughts already in our minds, based on life, culture, and time, of what
the Bible is going to say. We do this so easily because of our sinful
nature. We must read the Bible through the lens of the Bible. This is called
exegesis. Exegesis is interpreting a text by way of thorough analysis of its
content. In its most basic biblically relevant meaning, exegesis means finding
out what the Spirit originally was saying in the Bible passage through its
author. Exegesis is what comes out of the Bible, as opposed to what is read
into it. We must pray before and as we read Scripture. We must pray for a
clear mind and focus totally on what the Bible is saying.

4. Ask questions when you read the Bible. First ask, who wrote this book of
the Bible? Who was the author writing to? Who is the audience? What is the
author trying to teach? What is going on at that time? Always ask who,
what, when, where and why questions when reading the Bible.

5. All of the Bible is about Jesus! Jesus makes this very clear: John 5:39 -
"You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal
life; and it is they that bear witness about me." Also in Luke 24:27 - "And
beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning himself." The Bible is about Jesus! He is
the Word (John 1)! Don't get sidetracked on the things going on outside of
what Jesus is doing. We so easily get sidetracked on things that have no
influence on our lives. We start trying to figure out how all of this fits into
our culture and our political world today and that does nothing for us. Read
the Bible and see what Jesus is saying, doing, and teaching! He is the King
of Kings and the Lord of Lords! Nothing can thwart His plans!

6. Then apply what you read. This is called hermeneutics. For Bible study,
hermeneutics is the way you discover meaning in the Bible for your
life and your era, faithfully taking the original intent into today's world.
When you read the Bible, you use ways to figure out what it means and how to
live it. We must be very careful with this, because we can naturally try to
apply the Scriptures before we actually know what they mean. This again goes
back to eisegesis. We will apply what we think the Bible says before we
actually study the Bible. Go to the Word with a blank slate, study it and
then ask yourself, "How does this apply to my life? How can I grow from this?
What is Jesus teaching me here through His Word?" These are questions we must
ask after we have studied the scriptures.

Keep up the good work! I love to watch people study the Word and grow each
and every day! What a blessing the Lord has given us!


PK