Sandman: “Allowing Gods Word to interpret itself is how I roll.”
I’ve heard the claim that we should let the Bible interpret the Bible a number of times. I’ve always found that this means that the interpretation to come is arbitrary. I’ve never known it to lead to a solid result. It is a slogan that sounds good but has no precise meaning.
This is what I developed many years ago in and it is what I hand out to new believers. It’s not a complete format, but in its raw form it’s what I utilize in my study. Agree or disagree... it works for me.
RESEARCH KEYS:
The first key is laid out in
John16:13a Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, it will guide you into all truth (or one truth)…..guiding doesn’t happen without you moving….you need to study.
The second underline key to research is to
ALWAYS “read what is written” . Not what you think is written, and not what you already believe is written…….. but what is written.
When the Bible states “about 120” (
Act 1:15) it is not 120 …it may be 119 …it may be 121 but it is not 120.
The Bible interprets itself and fits together like an intricate jigsaw puzzle. It is up to us to see how it fits by rightly dividing the Word of truth. We do NOT interpret the Bible; we see how the Bible interprets itself with the various keys and principle of biblical research.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Rightly divide is not synonymous with interpret…God has magnified His Word above all His name (
Psa 138:2) Drawing conclusion(s) based on your assumption or desire to prove your theory is elevating yourself above God. If it’s not supported by rightly dividing the Word it is human speculation…..
KISS Keep
it
simple
saints. You don’t need to look for hidden messages within the scripture. If you are a mathematical genius or an astronomical geek you can certainly have a field day with numerical and planetary truths that God has encrypted within scripture…But if you can absorb the greatness of what Christ accomplished and what God made unto us through His sacrifice ….. your walk in resurrection perfection will be on the level of the apostle Paul.
1.) IN THE VERSE
a.) 80% of the bible interprets itself in the verse where it is written.
b.) Words in the verse must be understood according to the meaning of the words at the time of usage.
c.) Difficult verses must be understood in light of clear verses ….relating to the same subject
d.) Any one verse must always be in harmony with scripture relating to the identical subject
e.) One scripture may not tell all the details; other scripture may add to it without contradicting each other. Scripture build-up {especially in the Gospels} helps to illuminate the complete message. One gospel may give an event from a certain perspective where another will fill in certain detail.
2.) IN THE CONTEXT
a.) If the Word does not interpret itself the verse…. context will determine the meaning of the verse or verses in question.
b.) Context as related to whom it is written or the specific subject can be determined by either the immediate context, or remoter context.
c.) The context relating to the same or similar: subject must be kept within the administrative boundaries. You cannot correlate in part or in whole the same subject from two separate dispensations (administrations) unless they relate directly and are identical. This is primary applicable when trying to mix or correlate the gospels with the Grace administration.
D.) Pronouns are crucial when reading the context of scripture. Watch for pronouns which are used to differentiate between groups or individuals of events or situations.
3.) PREVIOUS USAGE
When you have a word that neither the verse nor the context determines its interpretation, going back to the first usage of that word will generally illuminate its meaning. Checking the first use of that word in the verse should determine its meaning; the meaning will remain the same throughout,
UNLESS it is given a new definition in which case that will carry the consideration.
(Keep in mind….when searching for the first use of word…. the books of the Bible are not in chronological order)
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
LITTLE WORDS WITH BIG MEANINGS:
Prepositions and conjunctions are especially important when directing the flow of thought in context.
a.) The use of the article
“THE” must be carefully noted especially when dealing with the subject of holy spirit. (
more on the article at the bottom)
b.) The word “
ALL” is used just as it is used today, context will determine its meaning, whether it is “
ALL” without exception, or “
ALL” with distinction.
c.) The use of “
but” and “
not” must be recognized for the degree of contrast or negation they signify in a passage.
TIME WORDS must be carefully noted in regard to whether an event occurs in the past, present, or future. Some words like
Then are subtle but indicate a period of time
IN THE BEGINNING
The word
beginning or
in the beginning must be carefully examined to determine which beginning. At times this refers to Genesis, other times it refers to the beginning of an event in an administration; context will determine the value of the word. For example: The first 3 chapters of 1 John “
in the beginning” is used 9 or 10 times and references Pentecost.
TO WHOM IS IT WRITTEN
There are only three groups of people that God addresses in the Bible
Jews, Gentiles, or Church of God …….
ALL THOSE LITTLE THINGS
Punctuation, capitalization, chapter headings, chapter divisions, and verse divisions were all added by translators. They are extremely helpful, but they are not “given by inspiration of God” The majority of these thing have been well supplied, but there are a good number of areas where they are inaccurate. Always rely on the context to determine the truth
CUSTOMS AND CULTURES
The Bible is riddled with references to the everyday customs of the time in which it was written. We should become familiar with the manner of life, idioms, orientalism’s, customs, and culture to properly understand scripture.
FIGURES OF SPEACH
There are 219 figures of speech known in the world…. at least 214 of them are used in the Bible. It is not imperative to know these, but helpful in research and study. E. W. Bullinger has documented most all these
figures of speech with scriptural reference, which makes it easy to look up. Figures of speech are used by God to put emphasis on that particular passage or account. (“
Figures of Speech Used in the Bible”….Book by E. W. Bullinger)
GREEK & HEBREW
You do not have to know these languages to verify the truths in the Word of God. There is an abundance of resources online (MMS that have been translated) that you can use to verify the translation thereof and most of the resources have included the parsing.
Learning both the Greek and Hebrew grammar would be a great asset to your study and research, as the grammar for each is very different from that of English.
The article in the Greek is a classic example:
The Greeks do not need
the article to make the noun definite as used in English. In the Greek a substantive is definite without the article……
The article originally came from the demonstrative pronoun such as “this” or “that” ….which calls attention
with special emphasis to a designated object. Its function is to point out an object or draw attention to it….. It is used with a word that makes the word stand out distinctly. Whenever the Greeks used
the article, it points out individual identity…. and it marks a specific object of thought.
The Greeks used the article with infinitives, adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and clauses …..or even with whole sentences….. We do not have a corresponding English usage or anything even remotely similar.
When the article
hē appears in Greek ….it always signals some special significance. And we need to look at the matter from the Greek point of view, not the English, if we are to discover the reason that
the article is used.
