Since every word in the Bible is the Word of God, how do we understand what God is saying?
- Believe: Seeing is not believing and understanding is not believing. Believing is seeing and understanding.
- God says what He means and means what He says: Our Creator does not play mind games with us. He speaks directly and plainly because He wants us to understand. Unless an obvious metaphor or allegory is being used, read the Word of God literally.
- Context: From micro (little) to macro (big) and from macro to micro. Be sure to understand the context of the word within the verse, the verse within the passage, the passage within the chapter, the chapter within the Book, and the Book within the Bible. Incorrect context will lead to mis-understanding and error/false doctrine.
- Scripture interprets Scripture: The Author and Teacher (John 14:26, John 15:26, John 16:13) of the very words of God interprets His words, man does not. The Word of God is not the subject of a private interpretation by any person; The Author interprets His Word for us. Jesus Christ is the Central Topic of Scripture (John 5:39 with Psalm 40:7-8 and Hebrews 10:7). With ready minds, man is to search the Scriptures to learn the Truth (Acts 17:11, John 14:6).
- Time and effort: There is no substitute for time and effort to study, rightly divide, and understand the Word of God. And the Lord will reward your time and effort with understanding.
- Study the right Bible: Translators of the original Hebrew and Greek manuscripts into English used a variety of methods. Word-for-word (e.g. KJV, NKJV, NASB). Thought-for-thought (e.g. NIV). Paraphrase (e.g. New Living Translation), which is tantamount to putting words in God’s mouth. Since every word in the Bible is God-breathed and every word is true (Titus 1:2), every word is important. Study a word-for-word translation.
And since Jesus Christ is the Living Word, the Word of God is about Him…
Who He is, what He did, what He said.