Many people have their methods of coming to a final conclusion concerning what they read in scripture. Does the bible instruct us on how to go about reading the words on its pages?
Leecappella
Leecappella
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Does The Bible Tell Us The Method of How To Read It?
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FOMWatts<><
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1 Corinthians 2:
9However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him" -- 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
11The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
We are able to understand God's Word by His Spirit. That is how we distinguish meaning and understanding form what we read. The Holy Spirit of God instills meaning in our hearts.
Blessings,
FOMWatts<><
9However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him" -- 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
11The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. 13This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 14The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.
We are able to understand God's Word by His Spirit. That is how we distinguish meaning and understanding form what we read. The Holy Spirit of God instills meaning in our hearts.
Blessings,
FOMWatts<><
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Fomwatts: I would agree with you. However, disagreements still do persist from those who feel genuinely led by the Spirit in their bible study. If two spiritual persons can show support biblically for what they believe whole heartedly, who determines who is correct? Is the issue to God really who is correct or is it whether or not two persons who love and seek Him can live together in spite of their differences?
Leecappella
Leecappella
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FOMWatts<><
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Then I would say, as the Bible does, that God will be the judge of those that teach. That is why the Bible tells those that choose to teach to be careful because they will be judged more harshly...
James 3:1
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
So I would say to those with opposing views to look hard at what they believe and what support they ahve and what god is truly showgin them through the scripture. After doing so, if they are still confident in their interpretation then they are willing to shoulder the responsibility of teaching what God has shown them to those that are under them.
1 Timothy 1:7
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
I would also warn both people that their are those that do nto know what they are talking about. They have what I like to call knowledge without zeal, that is they know a lot about God, but they do not know God and His character. You can twist WORDS into whatever you want them to say but you cannot twist GOD into anything other than Himself.
2 Peter 2:1
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought thembringing swift destruction on themselves.
I would also encourage them to watch out for the false teachers that ARE among us and to make sure that EVERYTHING they teach is in accordance with God's Word and not something that THEY like to think other than what God actually thinks.
Blessings,
FOMWatts<><
James 3:1
Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.
So I would say to those with opposing views to look hard at what they believe and what support they ahve and what god is truly showgin them through the scripture. After doing so, if they are still confident in their interpretation then they are willing to shoulder the responsibility of teaching what God has shown them to those that are under them.
1 Timothy 1:7
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
I would also warn both people that their are those that do nto know what they are talking about. They have what I like to call knowledge without zeal, that is they know a lot about God, but they do not know God and His character. You can twist WORDS into whatever you want them to say but you cannot twist GOD into anything other than Himself.
2 Peter 2:1
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought thembringing swift destruction on themselves.
I would also encourage them to watch out for the false teachers that ARE among us and to make sure that EVERYTHING they teach is in accordance with God's Word and not something that THEY like to think other than what God actually thinks.
Blessings,
FOMWatts<><
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The principles for interpreting the Bible are no different from the principles man has used throughout time when seeking to understand the meaning of any writings.
An axiom is a self-evident truth, a statement accepted as true for the sake of argument. Given the truth of an axiom, certain logical statements, or corollaries, can be drawn.
One self evident truth is the Bible is a book and it's written in languages spoken by people who wanted to communicate ideas to their readers. From this axiom a logical statement can be drawn that each Biblical writing, each word, sentence, and book, was recorded in written language and followed normal, grammatical meanings, including figurative language. Since it was written in the languages of the people (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek), it didn't have to be decoded or translated. Those who read it didn't have to read between the lines for something other than the normal meaning. This suggests that we shoudn't read the Bible with preconceived notions or ideas, but instead should let the Bible speak since it follows a normal literal method of interpretation.
For example the Old Testament prophesied that Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), that He would ride on a donkey (Zech. 9:9), that He would be punished for our sins (Isa. 53:4-8). He did all those things just as literally predicted.
This corollary also suggests that the goal of Bible interpretation should be to determine the original meaning of the text. If one person can make the Bible say one thing and another is allowed to make it say something else with neither being derived from the actual statement of Scripture, we destroy the ability of the Bible to communicate as a normal piece of literature.
In Christ,
Tracey
An axiom is a self-evident truth, a statement accepted as true for the sake of argument. Given the truth of an axiom, certain logical statements, or corollaries, can be drawn.
One self evident truth is the Bible is a book and it's written in languages spoken by people who wanted to communicate ideas to their readers. From this axiom a logical statement can be drawn that each Biblical writing, each word, sentence, and book, was recorded in written language and followed normal, grammatical meanings, including figurative language. Since it was written in the languages of the people (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek), it didn't have to be decoded or translated. Those who read it didn't have to read between the lines for something other than the normal meaning. This suggests that we shoudn't read the Bible with preconceived notions or ideas, but instead should let the Bible speak since it follows a normal literal method of interpretation.
For example the Old Testament prophesied that Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), that He would ride on a donkey (Zech. 9:9), that He would be punished for our sins (Isa. 53:4-8). He did all those things just as literally predicted.
This corollary also suggests that the goal of Bible interpretation should be to determine the original meaning of the text. If one person can make the Bible say one thing and another is allowed to make it say something else with neither being derived from the actual statement of Scripture, we destroy the ability of the Bible to communicate as a normal piece of literature.
In Christ,
Tracey
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leecappella said:
This is a major problem in Christianity. There are thousands of different Churches with an array of different doctrines. Since God is never-changing, there can only be 1 unchanging truth, correct? I believe that the authority to interpret the Scriptures lies within the magisterial teaching of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church established by Jesus while he was on Earth and given birth to at Pentecost.
There were approximately 350 years of time between the death of Christ and the first compilation of the Holy Scriptures at Church councils. People learned from the Apostles teachings, not all of which were written down. Many were orally handed down. The Apostles ordained Bishops, deacons, and presbyters. The Bishops then ordained other Bishops by the laying on of hands, and those bishops ordained others.... until the present day. Every Bishop in the Catholic Church has that succession to the time of the Apostles. The Apostles ruled on matters of the faith in Scriptures. Later their successors (bishops) met at ecumenical councils like Nicaea, Constantinople, Ephesus, etc... to rule on important matters such as ascertaining that arianism, pelagianism, and nestorianism were indeed heresy and not truth.
The Scriptures were compiled and at times disputes arose about the interpretation of scripture. Luckily, the Magisterium was there to rule on many of the later heresies using scripture as a guide to pronounce infallibly what the truth is. If each person can be led by the Holy Spirit and each person can come to their own conclusions, and each can claim to be right how do we know what the real truth is?
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