I am so glad to make you know the basic thing about how to interpret the Bible correctly. When I received Jesus as my Lord and Savior I was told to read bible and pray. Whenever I read the Bible I could not understand some of the things, I went to my pastor/ elders and they used to explain me at times, but sometimes they would tell me “though you don’t understand it keep on reading”.
Today the greatest problem of believer’s spiritual growth is they fail to understand bible correctly and because of this they do not mature.
Some people take a word and give their meaning to the scriptures the way they want. A word has a full meaning in a sentence and a sentence has its full meaning in a paragraph and a paragraph has its full meaning in a chapter and a chapter in a book.
Reasons why people fail to interpret the Bible correctly.
- People read the Bible in the context of their culture.
- People read the Bible according to the situation they are going in.
- People understand the scriptures according to their experiences.
Important things to note in interpreting the Bible correctly.
1. The Bible was not written to you personally. You are not the original recipient of the Bible. Many a times we think it is written to us, you might apply the word of God/scriptures to your life. I too believe that the Bible/scriptures are so powerful even today to do miracles and change the situations and circumstance but I want to help you to apply it correctly.
2. The bible consists of 66 books,
- 39 from Old Testament, 27 from New Testament.
The whole Old Testament consists of History about the love of God to the people whom He had chosen and how His chosen ones turned against Him and prophecies about Jesus Christ.
- New Testament consists of 27 books;
4 – Gospels (Mostly consists of Jesus birth, His earthly ministry, death and resurrection) It is about Jesus Christ.
Note: The gospels are about Jesus Christ but it was not written by Jesus Himself.
- Acts: A History book (Early Church)
- Paul’s 9 Letters to Churches: (1- Romans, 2- Corinthians, 1- Galatians, 1- Ephesians, 1- Philippians, 1- Colossians, 2- Thessalonians)
- Paul’s 4 personal letters to his fellow workman: (2- Timothy, 1- Titus, 1- Philemon)
- Hebrews: History book
- 7 General Epistles: (1- James, 2- Peter, 3- John, 1- Jude)
- 1 Prophetic book: (Revelation)
The bible was written by nearly 40 authors but one director the Holy Spirit (God). The bible is the divine book; everything in it is God’s breath. 2 Tim 3:16: All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.
Rules to Interpret Bible:
1. Exegesis/Observe: In order to understand the scriptures it is very important to know the background of the book.
Who wrote it?
When was it written?
What was the situation when it was written?
What about the politics, who was ruling then?
Who was worshipped and why?
After doing all the background study, read scriptures as if you were the original recipient.
2. Hermeneutics/Interpretation: After observing, you will understand what it meant to them then now think about what it means to you now?
3. Application: just apply to your life, to your family, to your situation by believing and confessing the word of God.
To do good Bible studies use the following tools/ resources:
- Bible dictionary
- Bible encyclopedia
- Bible commentaries
- Bible translations
- Bible concordance
Enjoy the power of God’s word!!!
Love n Blessings,
Jeevan n Leena
