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How to interpret the bible


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the following are some excerpts from a lesson I did on how to understand the bible, feel free to comment on them, I will post new points as time goes by:

 

The word study in 2 Timothy 2:15 means to be diligent.

The phrase rightly dividing in Greek has the idea of making a straight cut.

It seems to give me the idea of precision.

We need precision, carefulness, and diligence when interpreting the bible because it is like no other book.

2 Peter 1:20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.

21  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

 

The phrase “of any private interpretation” has been somewhat debated.

One ideas is that none of the scriptures were man’s opinions and ideas, they were given by God.

the other idea is that because the scriptures were breathed out by God, that we have no right to interpret them any way that we like, or in your own manner.

 

there are a lot of people that try to make the bible say what they want it to say.

 

2 Peter 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;

16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

That word “wrest” has the idea of bringing something into submission, or to twist something to fit your own agenda. The idea is that there are some people who take the scriptures and wrestle and try to force them into their own ideas and agenda, and they do this to their own destruction.

 

Proverbs 2:1My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;

2  So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;

3  Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;

4  If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;

5  Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.

6  For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

 

Looking for silver and gold is something that requires a lot of diligence and definitely is not something that will be done successfully if it’s done carelessly and lazily.

 

Just some simple points when looking for silver and when studying the bible

  1. It should be done systematically
  2. It should be studied minutely and carefully
  3. Tools should be used, and I will point you to some tools you can use in bible study
  4. it should be done persistently

 

I say all that to say, that we should be extra careful and diligent when interpreting the scriptures, I have cringed over the years and noticed a lot of lack of diligence in interpreting the bible, whether it’s from articles I have read on the internet, or listening to what people are teaching in IFB churches.

 

So I want to give you some principles and helps in interpreting the word of God accurately.

 

  1. You need to be saved

 

9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

10  But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11  For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12  Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

13  Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

When a person gets saved, God gives them his Holy Spirit, and his Holy Spirit reveals spiritual truth and helps that person understand the word of God.

It was amazing to me how much clearer the bible became after I got saved, if you are going to really study and understand the bible you need to get saved.

Edited by Jordan Kurecki
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1 hour ago, Salyan said:

Pardon?

Fixed. Sorry, computers try to correct everything nowadays, sometimes autocorrect really messes things up! 

 

2. Interpret what the Bible says literally.

The Bible was meant to be understood literally, some have said: “if the plain sense makes sense, then seek no other sense”.

This is not to say that the bible does not use metaphors and figures of speech, but usually these are obvious and there are hint words such as “like” or “as”.

Now don’t get me wrong, the Bible has a lot of spiritual pictures of events for us and even those we should really be careful about, The Bible will never have a spiritual picture of something that is not CLEARLY and LITERALLY stated somewhere else in the bible. but some people go to the extent that they ignore the literal meaning for a hidden spiritual meaning. I don’t believe God wants us to look for hidden, under the surface,  meanings in the scriptures.

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3. Context is King

Context is so important

a dictionary definition of context is:

the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood and assessed.

So whenever you are looking at a verse or phrase or word in the bible, here are some questions you need to ask:

Who is the audience?

What are the circumstances surrounding it?

What is the setting?

What was the author trying to communicate to his audience?

What genre of scripture is this? Historical? Poetical? Historical? Doctrinal?

What cultural customs are being referenced?

(Manners and Customs of Bible Lands by Fred Wright and Manners and customs of Bible Times by Ralph Gower, also Smith’s Bible dictionary)

What do the surrounding verses teach and say?

In 1551, French printer Robert Stephanus added verse numbers to the chapter divisions inserted in Scripture in the 13th century. This made navigating the text much easier, of course, but it caused a problem, too.

The numbering of individual sentences (or even phrases, sometimes), tempts readers to take the text as a collection of discrete statements having meaning and application in isolation from the larger work. Ergo, “How does this verse apply to my life?”

But God did not give the Bible as a collection of aphorisms—short, pithy, helpful statements—to be applied piecemeal to our lives.4 He gave historical accounts, descriptions of events, biographies, poems, sermons, letters, and the like. The meaning of the parts of a passage is connected to the meaning of the whole.

Meaning flows from the larger unit to the smaller unit. The sentence helps us understand the meaning of an individual word in the sentence. The paragraph helps us understand what the sentence means. The chapter helps us understand the paragraph’s role in the larger narrative. And the genre and historical context help us understand the book.

Proper understanding of the whole, therefore, is key to understanding the meaning of—and the proper application of—the parts. We cannot simply isolate a sentence or two and ask, “How can I stick this line into my life?” Instead, we have to follow the flow of thought to know how the broader passage speaks to the particulars of our individual experience.”

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4. Grammar is important

 

Yes English grammar is important!

Grammar: the whole system and structure of a language

We could say Grammar is the “science” of the way a language communicates.

The English language (and every other langauge) follows patterns and rules

You need to know these rules and understand how English grammar works if you are going to properly understand the bible. I am not saying you have to be able to explain and label and define each concept and part of english grammar, but you need to be aware of the rules of grammar and have a practical understanding of it.

 

Maybe you say well I’m not just not good at grammar, well you know what? you need to be because grammar is all about communication and God wants to communicate with you. So if you are not good at English grammar, then you need to brush up and learn. If you want to be simple and ignorant that’s your choice, or if your too lazy to learn grammar than that’s fine too, but God gave you a book to read to communicate with you to better your life, and you are the one who will be missing out if you make that choice.

an excellent resource for English grammar is the book “our mother tongue, a guide to English grammar” by Nancy Wilson, it’s written from a Christian perspective.

 

Now, in grammar, we need to take note of things like:

-Pronouns, who are the pronouns referring to? What is the antecedent? Go to 2 Timothy 2:21, who is the "these" in "purge himself from these”?

-Tense of verbs, are they past? present? future? what tense do you see here?: he that believeth on me HATH (present tense) everlasting life.

-Are nouns singular or plural? thee and thou are singular, ye and you are plurals

-Commas, sometimes commas introduce a word or phrase that is modifying the word or phrase before it, commas are often a hint of a modifying clause but not always

Romans 8:28-29 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Notice the phrase “that love God” that is modifying “them” and it is telling us who all things work together good for. also notice the phrase “he also did predestinate” this phrase is modifying and commenting on “whom he did foreknow”. God’s predestination is based on foreknowledge, and this will help keep you from falling into the errors of Calvinism.

-Colons signify that the two thoughts are related and connected.

Proverbs 29:18  Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

the book of proverbs and in other places in the bible, they use something called “parallelism" where they use two statements to either complement and explain each other, or to contrast with each other.

 

There are two problems with the way most people preach this passage and understand it:

  1. they ignore the Hebrew parallel that is hinted at by the English usage of the comma.
  2. they assume they understand the word “vision” and are looking at it from our modern English understanding and connotations of the word
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5. Define words properly

When defining words, context is always so important.

Context defines the meaning of words.

You cannot define a word in one context and force that definition of the word onto every other place the word is used because words can have a range of meaning depending upon the context.

an example is the word for.

For can mean “because of” “in order to get” “on behalf of”

 

He went to jail for stealing

He went to work for a paycheck

He went to the store for his wife

Another thing to realize is that we have a tendency to apply our own modern english understanding and connotations to the English of our King James Bible which was translated in 1611. Now some words in the English language have changed in meaning and connotation. Let just say though that I don’t think that means we need to switch to a modern version, because they have a lot of problems even though they are in more modern english. Our King James Bible is very accurate and is a very reliable translation and I believe it is the most accurate.

However there are some words that we don’t always understand properly. Realize that you probably have some preconceived ideas about words or phrases in the bible. for example:

Conversation: Behavior

Without (Outside of)

reins (kidneys)

mansion John 14 (Noah Webster 1828 dictionary says mansion means a dwelling)

I remember reading one source that said “in bible culture a mansion was an apartment attached to a father’s house, when the father saw that the work was complete and sufficient he would release the son and without warning the son could go and fetch his bride”

This is why I like to refer to Hebrew and Greek Lexicons because quite often they will clear up my misunderstandings of English words.

 

Look at Acts 2:38

There is a passage in the Gospels where Jesus says the people repent “at” the preaching of Jonah and the word “at” is the same Greek word here in Acts 2:38 as “for”

There is another passage where Jesus healed a leper and told him to offer a sacrifice “for” his cleansing.

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59 minutes ago, Jim_Alaska said:

Off topic humor: I really doubt that "he worked for a paycheck."  They had not been invented.   :sorry:

Other than my bad sense of humor, thank you for posting this information. I, for one, can benefit by it.

 I shook my head at this post.. lol

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III. Instruments and Tools for understanding the scriptures

  1. Use the right translation (KJV)

A. The KJV is based on the correct underlying Hebrew and Greek texts, while your modern versions are based on corrupt texts edited by heretics.

For example, the ESV and NASB are translated from the Nestle Aland Greek text, let me tell you about the people who edited this text:

“KURT ALAND denied the verbal inspiration of the Bible and wanted to see all denominations united into one “body” by the acceptance of a new ecumenical canon of Scripture which would take into account the Catholic apocryphal books (The Problem of the New Testament Canon, pp. 6,7,30-33). “

Aland does not believe in verbal inspiration of the Bible, and that the Old Testament and the gospels are full of myths that were not inspired by God but merely a naturalistic process. Kurt Aland does not believe that the canon of Scripture is complete or settled.”

Eberhard Nestle (1851-1913)

“Nestle, of the popular Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament (nearly 30 different editions now), rejected the infallibility of the Bible, and believed it was no more than a normal piece of literature. He claimed that authors of the New Testament never expected their writings to be read by others let alone be taken as the authoritative word of God.”

wayoflife.org has an excellent article with extensive documentation of the heretics and apostates behind textual criticism, it’s titled “Textual criticism drawn from the wells of infidelity”

B. The KJV is based on a better translation philosophy

The KJV is what is called a formal translation which means the words are translated accurately and precisely with an equivalent word or phrase

some bibles like the NIV are translated with a dynamic equivalent, meaning the translator tries to figure out what the passage means, and then put that into the translation. It's more interpretation than translation at times.

 

For example, Jesus wept, might be translated in a dynamic version as Jesus was sad.

While it might be true that Jesus was sad, that’s not what God said, God said that Jesus wept.

Some extreme examples would be translating Jesus as the guinea pig of God instead of Lamb of God. This is called a cultural substitute.

Now let me say that some bibles like the ESV and the NASB claim to be literal translations, and I have found some problems with them. for example Romans 6:6 says our old man was crucified with Christ, the Greek word for man is the word “anthropas” and it means man, it’s where we get out word Anthropology from. But the NASB and the ESV translate this verse as “our old self was crucified with him” that is NOT an accurate translation and is a minor form of a dynamic translation. I was looking at a version called the Modern English Version, which claims to be modern revision of the KJV, in 2 Timothy 2:4 where it says “no man that warmth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life” the MEV said “no man that engages in active warfare entangles himself in civilian affairs ” the problem is the idea of civilian affairs is not found in the Greek, it’s an interpretation of the passage that was passed on as translation. the word “life” in the KJV, however, is there and comes from the word “bios” where we get our word biology.

I say all that to say that after being at BBTI and doing all my linguistic studies, and looking up many words and passages and comparing many versions, I have found the KJV to be a much more faithful and accurate to what God actually said in the Hebrew and Greek inspired texts.

C. The Translators of the KJV were incredible scholars

-Lancelot Andrews

He was the president or director of the Westminster group that translated twelve books altogether, from Genesis to 2 Kings.

he acquired most of the modern languages of Europe at the University of Cambridge.

Lancelot Andrews' manual for his private devotions, prepared by himself, is wholly in the Greek language.

"Such was his skill in all languages, especially the Oriental, that had he been present at the confusion of tongues at Babel, he might have served as interpreter-general."

was conversant with FIFTEEN LANGUAGES."

-William Bedwell

was also in the Westminster group translating the books of Genesis through 2 Kings from the Hebrew into the English.

an eminent Oriental scholar

his fame for Arabic learning was so great that scholars sought him out for assistance. To him belongs, as

McClure stated:

"the honor of being the first who considerably promoted and revived the study of the Arabic language and literature in Europe." [op. cit., p. 101]

in Antwerp, in 1612, he published in quarto an edition of the Epistles of St. John in Arabic with a Latin version.

for many years he was engaged in compiling an Arabic lexicon in three volumes

Dr. Bedwell also began a Persian dictionary,

-Miles Smith

was in Company Three, the Oxford Group. That group translated a total of seventeen books, from Isaiah through Malachi.

he went through the Greek and Latin Fathers, making his annotations on them all.

so expert was he in the Chaldee, the Syriac and the Arabic, that they were almost as familiar as his native tongue.

-John Bois one of the NT translators

at the age of 5 he read the bible in Hebrew!

They say the KING JAMES BIBLE TRANSLATORS were inferior and didn't have the privilege of all the learning we have today. The truth is absolutely the reverse. We don't have the privilege of all the learning that they had. Ask if any of the translators of the modern versions have read the Bible through at the age of five! They probably couldn't even read at five. Then put those other two words on the end--"IN HEBREW" and see what they say to that.

in the chambers of Dr. Downe, the chief university lecturer in the Greek language, Bois read with him twelve Greek authors in prose--the hardest that could be found both for dialect and phrase. It was a common practice for this young man to read and study in the University Library at four a.m. and stay without intermission until eight in the evening, a total of sixteen hours straight

“The translators revived” by Alexander McClure has extensive documentation of the qualifications of the KJV translators

D. the KJV used a better and more thorough translation technique

the translators were broken up into groups, of 5-6, the group was tasked with a section of the scriptures for examples from Genesis-2 Kings, Each translator in the group translate the action on his own, then the whole group came together and translated their section together, then that group would send their translation to all of the other groups and they would look over the translation, and if there were any disputes they would discuss them, then they would send the translation to a final group made up of the best of the KJV translators, one of them was that guy John Bois who read the bible in Hebrew at age 5. So you see how thorough it was. this is very different from how it is done today.

Edited by Jordan Kurecki
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On 9/7/2018 at 2:03 PM, Jordan Kurecki said:

 I shook my head at this post.. lol

I'm sorry Bro. Jordan, my odd sense of humor often leads me to somewhat bizarre thoughts when I see certain things in writing. When I saw your words about "working for a paycheck" my bizarre mind immediately conjured up a picture of a person in that time period trying to find a non-existent bank to deposit his Papyrus check in. 

In the future I will try t not derail your serious posts with comments such as this.  :4_13_14:

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2. Use good study tools

 

  1. Get a study bible or reference bible

-I am using a King James Study bible by Nelson, previously it was called the Liberty Annotated Study bible, it has good comments and notes, I like that the center columns have explanations of words and such. It does however criticize the wording of the KJV sometimes, but the theological notes are sound  and are Baptist, Dispensational, Pre millennial and conservative in nature.

 

-the Defined KJV from Bible for Today, it has uncommon, archaic, and hard words defined in footnotes.

 

-AMG’s Key Word Study bible

Has good and decent study notes, some of the words in the text are coded to strong’s numbering system and in the back of the bible there is a Hebrew and Greek dictionary with extensive word studies that you can look words up. Sometimes the KJV translation choices are criticized and you have to be careful about that.

 

-the Thompson Chain Reference Bible, has great chain references, very good for topical studies, have to be careful because it does not interpret Revelation literally.

 

Study Bibles are not infallible, but they can definitely be very helpful.

 

-At the very least a good wide margin bible, or bible with cross references is helpful, I would encourage you to take notes in your bible, when you learn new things, or when you look up the meanings of words, write them down, it will help you remember and will always be there when you are looking at a verse.

 

B. Use Commentaries

 

Like any other tool commentaries are not infallible and have to be judged according to the scriptures and filtered through the bible, they do contain errors.

But realize they also can be very helpful

wayoflife.org has an excellent article on bible commentaries, just go to their site and int he search bar type in “commentaries”

if you want to ask me after class or church about commentaries or any other tools we talk about today, I would be glad to talk with you.

 

C. Use Dictionaries

-Noah Webster’s 1828 dictionary of English

-Oxford’s English Dictionary

D. Use Lexicons (Dictionaries in other languages)

For Hebrew I use Brown Driver Briggs Hebrew Lexicon

For Greek I sometimes reference Thayer’s Greek Lexicon

My Favorite Lexicon is in both Hebrew and Greek and it’s called “The Complete Word Study Dictionary” by AMG Publishers

Some people like Strong’s Concordance, I don’t use it a whole lot, but many other people do.

E. Get a Bible dictionary or Encyclopedia

Way of Life Encyclopedia of Christianity

Smith’s Bible Dictionary

F. Make use of modern technology

E-sword is my favorite program, I use it on my computer, and also in my iPad and Iphone, it has tons of stuff, for example you can get the KJV text with every word coded to Strongs numbering system and then with just a click you can look up the meaning of a Greek or Hebrew word, on there you can get at least 29 Free commentaries, 10 different dictionaries (including Smith’s bible dictionary and Websters 1828 English dictionary), 3 different free bible language lexicons, around 40 free reference books, a handful of free devotionals, I love E-sword. There are also other programs like Olive Tree, or Sword searcher, I think E-sword is the best so much so that I paid for it twice and it’s super incredibly cheap, the computer edition is free though.

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3. Read the Bible


One of the simplest ways to understand and study the bible is simply by reading it

 

  1. Establish a daily time for reading the bible
  2. Establish a place for reading the Bible, preferably a place without noise and distraction
  3. Have a reading plan, read the Bible systematically


I supposed I knew my Bible, Reading piecemeal, hit or miss, 

Now a bit of John or Matthew, 

Now a snatch of Genesis, Certain chapters of Isaiah, 

Certain Psalms (the twenty-third) Twelfth of Romans, First of Proverbs-- Yes, I thought I knew the Word! But I found that thorough reading Was a different thing to do, 

And the way was unfamiliar When I read the Bible through. 

You who like to play at Bible, Dip and dabble, here and there. 

Just before you kneel aweary, And yawn through a hurried prayer; 

You who treat the Crown of Writings As you treat no other book-- Just a paragraph disjointed, 

Just a crude impatient look-- 

Try a worthier procedure 

Try a broad and steady view; 

You will kneel in very rapture When you read the Bible through! 

-- Amos R. Wells

D. Read with attention and for understanding don’t just read words, concentrate!


Psalm 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 


Meditate means to speak with yourself ,to ponder, to think about. 


E. Don’t be discourage if you don’t understand everything or if you don’t feel like your “getting something out of it”



JC Ryle:


"This is a crafty temptation of the devil. At one stage he says, "do not read the Bible at all." At another he says, "Your reading does you no good: give it up." Are you that man? I feel for you from the bottom of my soul. Let me try to do you good.


Do not think you are getting no good from the Bible, merely because you do not see that good day by day. The greatest effects are often silent, quiet, and hard to detect at the time they are being produced. Think of the influence of the moon upon the earth, and of the air upon the human lungs.


Remember how silently the dew falls, and how unperceptively the grass grows. There may be far more going on than you think in your soul by your Bible-reading.


The Word may be gradually producing deep "impressions" on your heart, of which you are not presently aware. Often when the memory is retaining no facts, the character of a man is receiving some everlasting impression. Is sin becoming every year more hateful to you? Is Christ becoming every year more precious? Is holiness becoming every year more lovely and desirable in your eyes? If these things are so, take courage. The Bible is doing you good, though you may not be able to trace it out day by day.


The Bible may be restraining you from some sin or delusion into which you would otherwise run. It may be daily keeping you back, and hedging you up, and preventing many a false step. Yes, you might soon find this out to your hurt, if you were to cease reading the Word! The very familiarity of blessings sometimes makes us insensible to their value. Resist the devil. Settle it in your mind as an established rule, that, whether you feel it at the moment or not, you are inhaling spiritual health by reading the Bible, and unknowingly becoming more strong."

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  Early in my Christian life, I read a coupla "study Bibles", & soon decided I was just reading someone else's "take" on Scripture, & that I didn't always agree with their opinions. So, I simply started studying Scripture on my own, asking for the HOLY SPIRIT to help me understand its TRUE meanings. I read eleven different English Bible translations, from Wycliffe's onward, cover-to-cover, reading some of them through several times.

  I have learned that Scripture is MOSTLY-LITERAL, & what symbolism there is always stands for something literal.

 

I simply don't use study Bibles any more; instead, I STUDY THE BIBLE for myself!

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9 minutes ago, robycop3 said:

I read eleven different English Bible translations, 

Could you please list the eleven Bible translations and tell us which ones are better than the Authorized Version?

 

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 Sure, Alan!

Wycliffe's

Tyndale's

"Great" bible

Geneva

Bishop's

AV 1611

Young's Literal Translation

RV of 1881

NKJV

NASV

ESV

Plus, some bogus versions, such as Blanco's "Clear Word Bible" & the Jabroney False Witless' "New World Translation". I read them for entertainment, not serious study.

I haven't read the NIV through, as I don't care for paraphrased translations. I read part of "The Message, but when I came across its scatology in 1 Samuel 20:30, I knew it was not a good edition.

  As for being better than the KJV, the NKJV, NASV, & ESV are better, as they don't contain the KJV's goofs & booboos, and are in OUR language style.

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