The Bible has been interpreted reliably into our own language. Yet we have to interpret the meaning of those words before we can apply them to our lives. That is why we have so many denominations, and offshoots of the Christian religion, and false religions and cults, etc. Everyone has a different interpretation. And when people disagree someone HAS to be wrong. So there are a few things we need to keep in mind.
For one, we need to understand what the Bible is and Who it is from and Why. We need to be able to see the overall scope, intent, and purpose of the Bible. That is why we need to study it all.
There is no place for dogmatism in Bible Study. The complete and total study of the Bible comes first and THEN dogmatism may come later. But the problem in entering into Bible study is that dogmatism closes the mind and once that is done you have learned all you are ever going to learn.
Just as one denomination, that calls itself non-denominational, is hung up on acts 2:28, and insists that verse says you MUST be baptised in water, and not only that, but in thier own Church. Whether that is true or not should be the scope of serious Bible study, because their is one little Greek Word there that could make all the difference in the world. That is why, for those of us who are not fluent in Greek and Hebrew MUST have an exhaustive concordance with a Greek and Hebrew dictionary. Then once we have ALL the facts and information available to us, we will be able to make an informed decision about what to believe.
We must realize, also, that although all Scripture was not written TO us it most definitely written FOR us; though the INTERPRETATION was for another people of another time, the APPLICATION is for us in our time.
Just as God told Joshua to "Arise and cross over this Jordan" He was speaking to Joshua, and does not expect us to travel to Israel and cross the Jordan river. The interpretation was for him, but when you go and study those passages in Joshua you can readily see there is an application for us today, in fact, I would imagine several applications.
Dr. David Cooper summed it up beautifully when it comes to interpretation.
"When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at it's primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the fact of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise."
Crawl into that statement and soak in that a while and Bible Study will be much easier.
For one, we need to understand what the Bible is and Who it is from and Why. We need to be able to see the overall scope, intent, and purpose of the Bible. That is why we need to study it all.
There is no place for dogmatism in Bible Study. The complete and total study of the Bible comes first and THEN dogmatism may come later. But the problem in entering into Bible study is that dogmatism closes the mind and once that is done you have learned all you are ever going to learn.
Just as one denomination, that calls itself non-denominational, is hung up on acts 2:28, and insists that verse says you MUST be baptised in water, and not only that, but in thier own Church. Whether that is true or not should be the scope of serious Bible study, because their is one little Greek Word there that could make all the difference in the world. That is why, for those of us who are not fluent in Greek and Hebrew MUST have an exhaustive concordance with a Greek and Hebrew dictionary. Then once we have ALL the facts and information available to us, we will be able to make an informed decision about what to believe.
We must realize, also, that although all Scripture was not written TO us it most definitely written FOR us; though the INTERPRETATION was for another people of another time, the APPLICATION is for us in our time.
Just as God told Joshua to "Arise and cross over this Jordan" He was speaking to Joshua, and does not expect us to travel to Israel and cross the Jordan river. The interpretation was for him, but when you go and study those passages in Joshua you can readily see there is an application for us today, in fact, I would imagine several applications.
Dr. David Cooper summed it up beautifully when it comes to interpretation.
"When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at it's primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the fact of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise."
Crawl into that statement and soak in that a while and Bible Study will be much easier.
