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How to Study the Scriptures Three quick notes before we start:
It should be without saying that the original intent of Scripture is best studied as close as possible to the writer of each book in question - as close as possible to the wet ink gliding across that blank scroll in the first place. We cannot go back in time to sit next to the prophet or saint as he was writing Scripture, but we can get as close as possible. And I would recommend using the BibleHub app on your phone, or BibleHub.com on your desktop. There, you can find almost every English translation available, along with the Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Concordance. Back in the day, I was using the Young’s and the Strong’s Concordances in book form. I still use them. They’re each as heavy and as thick as a telephone book! Remember those? Let’s begin. First and foremost, take a look at this scripture:
Therefore, we can only conclude that Scripture interprets itself. Some falsely believe that this means that the holy spirit within each individual interprets the Bible for them as they read it, even if they are reading it for the first time. A lot of people claim to interpret the Bible in this way, but the only problem is that they often disagree with one another. So, they can’t all be right because truth cannot contradict itself. Yes, the holy spirit has its place on many levels. When it comes to biblical interpretation, it can remind you of relevant verses which often help you to see how and where Scripture interprets itself. And I’ll point to this verse to prove that:
Some might say, “See? It is the holy spirit that teaches you all things. So, why do we need the Bible at all?” Read it again. How does the holy spirit teach you all things? By reminding you of all things which Messiah said to you. Messiah himself is referred to as the Word in the flesh. See John 1:14. Need I point out that one cannot be reminded of something which he has not heard in the first place?
So, you must become acquainted with the Word of God if you expect the holy spirit gift to remind you of things you’ve read in the past, so you can see how the Bible interprets itself.
The bottom line, again, is that Scripture interprets itself. One last quote from Yeshua Messiah to share at this juncture, and let it marinate in your mind:
Think about how that applies to your biblical research efforts. Start with an intelligent question, research it thoroughly, and eventually, you will find an intelligent answer.
Then next question is this: The English translation of the Bible which you hold in your hand, is it the unadulterated, pure, reliable Word of God? The answer may shock you. The answer is no. But, the pure Word of God is still available to you with some extra effort on your part. Don’t get me wrong. You can still learn a lot of truth just from the English version you hold in your hand, but some of the translation is incorrect, or fuzzy, or just not clear. And there are many words, and in a few instances, entire verses, that were inserted after the fact, but which were not in the original, ancient texts. That’s not just me saying that, the foot notes of your own Bible say that. The truth is there, but you must work harder to uncover it.
The King James version uses the word “study”, “Study to show thyself approved unto God . . .” And it continues: “. . . a workman that needeth not to be ashamed . . .” Why are the workers not ashamed? Because they are being diligent in their studies. In what work are they being diligent? In the work of “rightly dividing the word of truth.” What does “dividing” mean exactly in this context, “rightly dividing the word of truth”? The answer is common sense. Look at all the ways it can be divided. Punctuation is one. Did you know that the original Hebrew Old Testament, and Greek and Aramaic New Testament had no punctuation? That’s right. Keep that in mind when you are reading Scripture. Any punctuation you see are mere suggestions. Sometimes, one comma in the wrong position can distort the original intent completely. For example, which punctuation is more accurate, the one which reads:
Or this version with the comma moved one word to the right:
What’s the difference? One little comma can change the whole meaning. Was the man with Yeshua in paradise on the same day they were crucified, or was Messiah talking about a future time, like after the general resurrection of the dead as described in the Book of Revelation? We are not going to go down a doctrinal rabbit hole here. The point is that all punctuation in our modern Bibles are based solely on conjecture and may not always be accurate to the original intent of any given passage, because there was no punctuation in Scripture when they were originally written. What other ways can the word of truth be rightly divided? We see that the Bible is divided into two main sections: the Old Testament, and the New Testament. Between the two, there was 400 years of silence after the last Old Testament prophet, Malachi, died. There was also the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. There are different administrations within the ages of human history, like the administration of the law, as was administered under the leadership of Moses, and then we entered the administration of grace as administered by Yeshua Messiah.
Why is it so important to consider these different periods, ages and administrations when you are reading your Bible? Because, otherwise, you will be reading Numbers 15:32-36, for example, where a man who was gathering sticks on the Sabbath was sentenced by Moses to be stoned to death, you might think that applies to us in our present age. It does not:
The death sentence described in Numbers seems harsh to us today, but this is a question we can dig into at some other juncture.
As we have just seen above, there are different covenants and administrations within the ages of human history, even some to come in the near or distant future. So, when reading and understanding Scripture, the first thing you must ask is: to whom is this certain section written? Because what you are reading may not apply to you directly, as we have seen in Numbers 15:32-36, you might, otherwise, think it’s okay to stone someone to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. To reiterate, because this is a vital building block to biblical understanding and research: Not every Bible book, section, chapter and verse is specifically written to you. When Bible students don’t understand this point, they can find themselves getting confused. Why does one place in Scripture say that we are saved by grace, not by works, while in the Book of Revelation it says this?
The answer is that this does not apply to believers in the grace administration. It applies to unbelievers. There are two resurrections. This is about the dead who were raised after the second resurrection, but before the second death. There is still hope for unbelievers before the final, last, ultimate death. Why? Because Yahweh’s mercy endures forever. See an earlier verse from that same chapter:
All this may seem complicated to a new student of Scripture, but the simple conclusion is that the Word of God does not contradict itself, it’s just speaking to different audiences at different times, or speaking of a different group of people who are experiencing something in a different age.
Another way the Bible interprets itself is in the way it uses a word or a phrase. If you have ten clear verses in the Bible detailing a certain principal, doctrine, prophesy or whatever, but there is one outlier that seems to contradict, obviously, your first order of business would be to dissect the one outlier. Same would hold true if you had 40 clear verses, and five outliers, you would dissect the five outliers first. But how do you dissect a verse or a sentence in the Bible? First, you must come to terms with the fact that the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew, and the New Testament was originally written in Aramaic and ancient Greek. Very little of the original Aramaic has survived for general referencing and study, so the closest we can come to studying the original New Testament texts would be to access the ancient Greek texts, which one can gain obtain through the Young’s and the Strong’s Concordances, which also includes the Hebrew Old Testament. While there are certain advantages to the Young’s, the Strong’s is the most comprehensive and the most useful. Let’s look into an example of a certain verse that seems to contradict Scripture on a given topic. We’ll dissect that verse and compare its words to the way the Bible uses those words in general. And we’ll see if it really contradicts, or if it was just in the way it was translated. In Matthew 5:22b Yeshua says:
But in Matthew 23:17a Yeshua says:
Isn’t that a contradiction? No, because in Matthew 5:22b, the Greek word translated into “fool” is “mōre”, and it only has one occurrence in the Bible. No other verse to compare to. But in Matthew 23:17a, the Greek word for “fool” is “mōroi” which literally means “dull, stupid, foolish”, not just “fool”. It occurs 12 times in Scripture, translated into English as fool (1), foolish (7), foolish things (1), foolishness (1), fools (2). Predominantly, it was translated as foolish and foolishness. Simply put, it’s the difference between whether you are calling someone “a fool”, or if you are just saying, “You are acting foolishly.” No contradiction there at all. But the above example shows the basic method of examining biblical usage of a word to sort out what otherwise might seem like a contradiction. It serves to reveal the original intent of the text you’re looking at, and to establish firmly original doctrine as taught by the original writers of all the books of the Bible.
We encourage Bible students to take a fresh look at Scripture and be flexible on common doctrines we’ve been raised to believe. Should you find that a certain, beloved doctrine you were taught from childhood, under closer scrutiny, no longer appears to be supported by Scripture, have the mental fortitude to be prepared to let it go. True, original biblical doctrines from antiquity, are generally simple and easy to understand, even simple enough for children:
We don’t want to become like corrupt scribes and Pharisees of Yeshua’s day, where he said of them:
Meaning that they have no problem incorporating difficult and convoluted things but have difficulty accepting simple truths. But biblical doctrine is easy to be intreated, that is, reasonable, simple, easily persuadable, and without contradiction.
What I don’t want to get into here on this site is a lot of complicated arguments over prophesies and convoluted doctrines, especially relating to concepts that are not essential to salvation.
On the other hand, simple, sound doctrine relating to salvation should be thoroughly researched and fervently defended.
Okay, so we’ve established the first and most important part of our mission here on YahMyGod.com, to teach the commonsense principals of biblical interpretation, so that each of us can research on our own to enhance our understanding without contradicting Scripture (or each other, for that matter). |
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