Today I want to get into actually reading the Bible. We have discussed key things to understand ahead of time and prepare our hearts and minds to approach the scriptures in the past 3 articles, but now let's get to the TEXT itself.

As I have stated before, many people read the Bible for years and years and still after years and years have very little understanding of what God is actually revealing in his word. They seem unable to uncover the many riches of Christ and the kingdom of God that are hidden within the word. This is very sad to me and I believe completely unnecessary. With just a few key reading tips, many years of much fruitlessness can be avoided.

So let me give you the most basic key to beginning to come to know the REAL truth of the word of God. This key is so simple it should be obvious. And yet, honestly, it took me about 8 years of seriously reading the Bible to finally consciously come to realize what this key was. And sadly, I have met many who have never come to this most basic key.

Here it is:

PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION to what the text ACTUALLY SAYS! (not what you think it means).

Many people want quick answers and quick spiritual power boosts and often read the Bible looking for an interpretation that speaks to them. Or often we read the Bible through the level of our OWN UNDERSTANDING and KNOWLEDGE and then jump to conclusions about what a text means based on OUR OWN UNDERSTANDING. These are huge mistakes that lead to many wrong interpretations and false doctrine. The first most basic key when reading the text is pay CAREFUL attention to what the Bible ACTUALLY says. If I could get every true Christian to just do this when reading their Bibles, over the next 3 years we would see such a revival of love for God and his word and such an abundance of true revelation to the body of Christ it would astound us. The first job of a good Bible reader is to be a careful observer of the actual words, not a quick interpreter of a passage. This wrong way of reading the Bible and interpreting the word too quickly is like a bad detective rushing into a complex crime scene and looking at a few things hastily and jumping to the conclusion of having solved the case within a couple of minutes. This would be absolute foolishness and quite dangerous. 

How much more when dealing with the eternal word of the living God?

Please, let us learn to be patient. Let us learn to be like good detectives. Yes, we are not alone. Yes, the Spirit of God is with us (if we truly are born again); and yes, some things in the Bible are quite simple and straightforward and don't require tons of time and meditation to come to the basic truth that it is saying. However, let us just be careful to pay attention to what the text ACTUALLY says and give the pre-eminent honour to what IT SAYS before we start trying to interpret it in light of our understanding. By the way, if you interpret the Bible in light of YOUR understanding, your interpretation will always be WRONG. In Proverbs, we are commanded to NOT lean to our own understanding, but rather to trust in the LORD with all our hearts.  Solomon was talking about keeping God's law and retaining it in our hearts. This is how we trust God: by listening, hiding, and taking heed to HIS WORD (what he ACTUALLY SAYS) not our thoughts. All through the first few chapters of Proverbs the Spirit of God (through Solomon) is crying out to his son to HEAR, RECEIVE, HIDE, KEEP, the words of God in our hearts and lives. Before we will ever understand the word, we are to RECEIVE them AS THEY ARE. This is the path to TRUE UNDERSTANDING. I hear many people talk about "their interpretation" of a passage. Listen, our interpretations will ALWAYS be WRONG. We don't want to interpret the Bible, we want to RECEIVE GOD's interpretation on a passage/text. We don't want to come to a conclusion of what a text means, we want to receive REVELATION FROM GOD on what the truth from the text is. (and by the way, God doesn't contradict himself; so there is no way 2 contradicting conclusions about the same text can both be from God; God's word is not a "free-for-all" to make it say whatever we want it to say).  

Let me give a couple of examples of common texts and give the common "interpretation" that millions of people repeat and teach. And then let us just consider for a moment what the text actually says and what we can learn from them.

TEXT #1:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." - John 14:6

Common interpretation: "Jesus is the ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN."

While this is a true statement, and we could argue and possibly deduce this truth from the context, this is NOT WHAT THE TEXT ACTUALLY SAYS. First off, the word "heaven" is not even in the text. In the common interpretation, the main goal and object of the statement is HEAVEN. However, "heaven" is not even in the text.

If we pay careful attention to the text itself we will first see that Jesus is the main subject of the text. "I AM". And he is not JUST the WAY (yes, he is the Way); but if all we take away from this text is that Jesus is the way then we are missing the full revelation of what Jesus ACTUALLY SAID. He is THE WAY; he is THE TRUTH; he is THE LIFE. These 3 points are huge revelations that really help connect and unlock so many other texts throughout the scriptures. To ignore the latter two points is to cut yourself so short from what God is trying to reveal. (By the way, notice the order that Christ gave those three in: First: WAY; Second: TRUTH; Third: LIFE; there might be a significance in the order of these things.... he doesn't say life, way, truth...). The next important thing that the text actually says is that "NO MAN cometh unto the Father..." This truth is not so much about heaven, as it is about coming to God the Father himself. He's talking about having the honour of coming into the presence and abode of the Father himself.  And he states that "NO MAN COMETH UNTO THE FATHER..." Now, he will give the one exception, but he is stating a clear and definitive rule: NO MAN can come directly to the Father on his own. It is absolutely impossible. Now from searching the scriptures, we can understand that Jesus is also talking about being reconciled to the Father and being accepted by him into a new and better covenant and relationship with the Father; however, from the text itself we can understand the absolute truth that the rule is that NO ONE can come to the Father.  

The last thing we can see from this text is the ONE EXCEPTION on how people CAN come to the Father. And there is only 1 WAY (THE WAY), and it is only by JESUS! "...but by me." So notice, the goal is not to go to heaven. The goal is to come to the Father (approach him, be accepted by him and reconciled to him). And notice, just like the text started with JESUS and who he is, the text ENDS with JESUS as the ONLY way to the Father! So can you see how much richer and fuller the actual text is than the cheap quick interpretation that most people just quickly read this text to mean. And while I would agree that people's interpretation is a true statement: "Jesus is the only way to heaven", I would argue that that is not really exactly what Jesus was trying to convey. Again, the goal is not a PLACE; but in the text (according to what Jesus actually said), the goal and object is a PERSON: The FATHER! And in order to get to the Father it all starts and ends with the Son. John is not focused on the place so much as he is focused on the Person: His identity and true relationship with HIM!  

TEXT #2:

"And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

Common Interpretation: "Accept Jesus as your personal Saviour and you can know that you are going to heaven."

Now, I don't want to go too in-depth here, so let's try to keep this somewhat brief. Notice the words of the actual text in comparison with the common interpretation. Notice the following words that DO NOT even appear in the text: "accept, personal, saviour, know, heaven." Now, I am not coming against everything per se in that interpretation, but it is FAR from the mark of what Paul & Silas actually told the Philippian jailor. First off, Paul said "Believe". Believe and accept are not the same thing. I can accept something that I do not really believe in. The main call here is not to accept, but to BELIEVE. The interpretation says to accept Jesus AS your personal Saviour. So notice, we are accepting Jesus as something, we are accepting him in a particular role (MY PERSONAL SAVIOUR; of course, it's all about ME). However, that is not what Paul preached here or ANYWHERE else in the scriptures. Rather, we don't see the main goal is to accept Jesus AS a particular and specific role; but rather it is to BELIEVE ON JESUS. The main goal of what Paul actually said is to BELIEVE ON HIM! Again, notice how JESUS is the main importance: the person of JESUS (not just accepting him in one specific role). And yet, Paul didn't just say "BELIEVE ON JESUS". That statement would technically be true. But Paul didn't deliver the message that way (as most modern Christians will only talk about "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" but never bow to him as the Lord.). Let's pay careful attention to what he actually says. So yes, the jailor was to BELIEVE on JESUS; but Paul says to believe on "the Lord Jesus Christ..." So he is not revealed here as Savior in his title (although he will save as the rest of the text will reveal). But here, the primary title and position he is given (upon which men are to believe on him) is LORD and CHRIST. What's interesting is that those 2 exact terms are what Peter preached to the entire nation of Israel on Pentecost back in Acts 2:36. Now I don't want to prove to you what these 2 words mean, you can search the scriptures yourself to prove what these titles mean; but Lord is "one who owns and and oversees a domain with absolute authority." And "Christ" is the same word as "Messiah" which means "Anointed" and refers to the King that would arise out of the lineage of David but would be the Son of God himself and would rule the entire earth with a rod of iron given to him by his Father God. (There is more that goes into who "Christ" is, but that is the primary focus of Christ throughout the scriptures: the Anointed One who would reign over all and defeat all his enemies.). Ok, so Paul doesn't say personal Saviour and he doesn't say accept. He says BELIEVE, and the object of the man's belief (or faith) is to be ON the LORD JESUS CHRIST.

If the jailor will BELIEVE on the LORD Jesus Christ, then Paul gives him the guarantee that HE SHALL BE SAVED along with his house. Now this brings up a few other interesting points worth considering that we might consider in a future article. But for right now, we don't have time to explore those thoughts...

So for now, I just want to make the simple point very clear. This truly is the most basic step to reading the Bible accurately so that we can come to GOD's TRUTH from his WORD. And once again it is:

PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION TO WHAT THE TEXT ACTUALLY SAYS!

Don't be hasty. Don't jump to conclusions. Be a careful detective and consider what the scriptures actually state. Allow the Spirit of Truth within you to guide you into the truth. Let him OPEN UP the wonderful words of LIFE so that you may behold the beauty of our great God and Father and our wonderful Lord Jesus Christ! Don't insert your own thoughts into the text. Don't insert your own opinions. Let God unveil his word in his time as you are ready to receive it. Choose to believe it whether or not it makes sense. Let him lead you to other verses with similar thoughts to help confirm what he is showing you. But don't rush to any conclusions. Be patient, and DRINK IN HIS WORD!

"How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you." - Proverbs 1:22-23

"My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee... Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God." - Proverbs 2:1,5

"I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word... Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." - Psalm 119:16,18

"Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar." - Proverbs 30:5-6