Authority. Before you are ready to study the Bible you must accept it as the Word of God and therefore as absolutely infallible and correctly inspired in every detail.
You must accept the whole Bible as the final authority on every subject it deals with. The Bible claims for itself divine infallible authority and this holds good for each and everyone of its books- 2 Tim.3:16, 2 Pet.1:19-21.
If you are born from above you should not have any trouble at all believing the Word of God in its entirety, even if you do not understand most of it. The believer accepts God's Word by Faith, not only by reason -Heb.11:3.
No Private Interpretation. Scripture cannot contradict itself for it was written by holy men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. All Scripture must agree so if you find a passage which seems to contradict another passage it is your failure to understand it correctly.
Allow the whole body of revelation on any subject to be the answer, not a single passage. Hang no doctrine on a single, isolated Scripture. If you cannot reconcile the contradiction skip over it at present, study something else and the first thing you know in the course of your Bible study some other passage will suddenly illuminate the difficult one. Do not try to force a meaning on any passage, wait and go on with your study until the light breaks.
No Scripture is of private interpretation-2 Pet.1:20-21.
Selective Reading. 1 Timothy 4:13.
Paul the Apostle, writing to Timothy exhorts him to 'Till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine....', in other words, Paul is exhorting Timothy to 'devote' himself...
This exhortation implies that Timothy should 'be careful what you are reading', choose your reading material with great care. Do not be a casual reader.
That is a problem with many believers. While the Bible is our textbook of authority the average believer needs help from others and from other sources and needs to be taught by teachers to systematically study the Word profitably.
The Ethiopian eunuch had the Scriptures but could not understand them, so when Philip asked him he answered 'How can I, except some man should guide me'.
Rightly Divide the Word-2 Tim.2:15.
The expression 'rightly divide' comes from the Old Testament and means to 'Cut Straight'.
When the offerer of a sacrifice brought a sacrifice it was divided into three parts-except the whole burnt offering.
One part was offered to God, another part was given to the one who brought the offering and the third part went to the priest, so we have the expression 'Rightly Divide'. It means to give to each that which belongs to his.
In Bible study be careful that you give to the Church that which belongs to the Body of Christ, to Israel that which belongs to Israel, to the Gentile that which belongs to the Gentile. Just as the sacrifice was divided into three parts, so too the Bible tells us that there are three kinds of people in this world.
In 1 Cor.10:32, we have, 'Give no offence neither to the Jew, not to the Gentiles not to the Church of God'. In Bible study first of all ascertain who God is speaking to before you make your application. Do not mix Israel and the Church, Faith and works, Law and Grace, the Church and the Kingdom, Heaven and the Millennium. Only foolishness and confusion can result from such handling of the Scriptures.
All the Scriptures are for us but they were not all given to us. Example, God told Noah to build an Ark but He never told you to do it. We may draw many lessons and practical applications from all these for 'All these tings happened to them for examples and are written for our admonition' - 1 Cor.10:11.
While they are for us they certainly were not written to us. Always inquire therefore whom God is
speaking to and then believe it literally. (To be continued)
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