Accurate Bible Study

One thing in Bible study you always have to be careful about it not putting words in the scriptures that are not there. The word “hermeneutics” is the science and art of interpreting the Bible. This does not mean to interpret it in a way that fits your beliefs or motives, but what is the true message of the passage. What is the author’s intended message. The Bible is perfect and absolutely true and inspired in it’s original writings (2 Timothy 3:16). So we must seek to know the authors intended meaning. If you don’t have the meaning of the scriptures, then you don’t have the scriptures. Now two more words to know are “exegeses” and “eisegesis”. “Ex” is out, “eis” is in. We want to have good “exegesis”, that is to draw out the proper meaning of the text. We do not want a poor application and force our thoughts into a passage. We need to let the Bible speak for itself, not us speaking for the Bible….Does that make sense? This is pretty rare today. When was the last time you heard a preacher, pastor, priest, bishop, just teach the scripture and say “Here is the text, here is what it says, now here’s how we apply it.” The pastor’s real help other than understanding and proclaiming the Word of God is to help us understand how to apply it properly. It is very easy in this step to again leave the meaning of the text and apply our own meaning and application. Because the preachers words were first set up with the reading of the scriptures, people are easily fooled into thinking what the man is saying is biblical. Watch for this carefully. In application make sure it is still proper application of the principals attained through the proper understanding of the text.

I believe it is so important for Christians to know HOW to study their Bibles. If you just rake the surface you will get leaves, but if you dig deep you will get diamonds. I would guess 98% of most Bible reading is just on the surface, without the Christian practicing good hermeneutics. The Christian can easily come to wrong understandings and thoughts this way.

The next thing I think is so important is to have a sound doctrine. We must know scripture well. We all have these pre-suppositions we bring to the table when we sit down to read. Let’s call it our “grid work” we filter all things through. How you view a passage is often influenced by what you believe is true before you ever begin to read the text. Throw your thoughts of what you know out the window before you begin and let the Word of God speak clearly and fill your mind with accurate information. Let pure doctrine come from a clear understanding of the Bible. The less junk you have in your “grid work” the better the word of God will be filtered to your heart and mind.

So the goal is a literal, historical and grammatical understanding of the text. Take the text at face value in normal and plain sense (literal). Next, understand the historical situation facing the author and his audience (historical). Finally, study the meaning of words and the sentence structure and the rules of grammar. Watch for transitional words like, “but, therefore, so that”. A good study Bible is so helpful in your daily reading. I definitely recommend the MacArthur Study Bible. Don’t read for quantity, but quality. Read for understanding and then apply it to your life. Measure all that you are taught and told about the Christian life by the Bible. 2 Peter 2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Colossians 2:8 “ See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ”.

May the Holy Spirit teach us and lead us in Truth. Don’t forget to pray before, during, and after you read since it is God (the Spirit) who is our Teacher.