- How to Study the Bible
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- by Dr. Ken Matto
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- (Deu 11:16 KJV) Take heed to yourselves, that your
heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship
them;
As we enter into 2005, we go in with the realization that there is going to
be escalated attacks against Christianity. As we head toward the last day,
things will get harder for the true Christian. It is now more than ever that
we need to have discernment on every issue. We can no longer adopt the idea
that if my Pastor or my favorite radio preacher says it is so, then it must
be. The time for trusting them has long passed and the reason that God has
preserved His written Word for us in the King James Bible, is so we will
have a source book for testing the teachings that we will hear in the coming
days. God gave us one Bible, not three hundred. He also didn’t give us a
Bible that needs correcting by unbelieving publishers every six months
either.
We must become thoroughly acquainted with the Scriptures for our own
protection. I realize that many Christians have made a resolution that they
are going to read the Bible through this year but as soon as they get to
Leviticus, there goes the resolution. Too many would rather trust movies
like Mel Gibson’s Roman Catholic, Mystical, unscriptural, “The Passion” than
read the episode in Scripture. If you want to read the Biblical account of
what transpired at Calvary, then read Leviticus 3 & 4 and you will gain an
understanding of how the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was destroyed for us
as we read the way a sacrifice was handled.
There are 31,101 verses in the entire Bible and you can get through the year
by reading 85 verses every day or if you choose, read one chapter and then
try to absorb the material. You see, there is nothing written that we must
read through the Bible every year, yet there is much written on meditating
on the Word of God so that is the goal. A daily reading frenzy will not help
us grow stronger in the Scriptures. In fact, it would cause us to view
reading the Bible as a necessary chore. We read and soon as we are done, we
put it down and that is it till tomorrow. What have we gained by this
method? Nothing but tired eyes and frustration. I would like to offer some
suggestions on how to read and study your Bible to gain the most out of it.
1) Read small portions of Scripture. Smaller amounts of Scripture
will not overwhelm you. If your schedule tells you to read the book of
Ephesians on one day, how much do you think you are going to retain? If you
initially start out with about 10 verses, that would make retention much
better. Then you re-read them to get them into your mind. A Pastor friend of
mine Dr. Gabriel Otero stated that when he gets ready to teach through a
book of the Bible, he reads it through ten times. Small portions of
Scripture which are re-read will give you better understanding than trying
to rush through major portions. There is one thing we never find in the
Scriptures and that is Jesus rushing. Why should we?
2) Look at the context of the verses. One of the major reasons that
there are so many spurious teachings in Christianity is because verses are
taken out of context. We cannot pull verses out of the air to attempt to
justify or create pet doctrines. Here is an example:
(Rev 4:1 KJV) After this I looked, and, behold,
a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it
were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will
show thee things which must be hereafter. The
Dispensationalists use this verse as one of their “out of context” proof
texts of a pre-tribulation rapture. Do you know why they use this verse in
that manner? Simply because theologian quotes theologian quotes theologian
ad nauseum. So when this teaching started in the 1830’s, it has just been
parroted down to us today. Revelation 4:1 does not have anything to do with a
pre-tribulation rapture. That verse is the beginning of the vision which God
gave John. If you notice, every chapter of Revelation after four begins with
“and.” This is because it is one continuous vision.
3) Look at the words used. I would suggest that you pick up a
Strong’s Concordance and look at some of the words used in the portion of
Scripture which you read. Word studies are invaluable to understanding the
Scriptures. No, you do not need to be a Greek or Hebrew Scholar. The leg
work is already done for you. Words are very important since this is the
method God used to impart His truth to future generations. When the Bible
was completed in the first century, visions, dreams, and prophecies had also
ended. The Word of God would now be conveyed to the nations with the words
of God which were already written down. One of the gravest mistakes made by
many is that if they read a word in Scripture, they take it for granted that
that word means the same in every usage. Keep this principle in mind. Words
in the Bible are defined by their usage. Here is a quick example with the
word “All.” (Rom 5:18 KJV) Therefore as
by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by
the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification
of life. We see the word “all’ is used twice in
this verse. The first “all” speaks of the Adamic sin causing judgment to
come upon all men or every person on Earth. We know this from many other
verses in the Scriptures also. Now let us look at the second “all.” It
states that the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. In
other words, it seems to be saying that God’s Grace has come on every person
in the world. Is that true? The answer is no, God’s Grace has not been given
to the whole world but only to the Elect. So the first “all” refers to the
whole human race but the second “all” refers to the Elect of God only. This
is why words must be interpreted according to their usage. Word studies are
mandatory for proper understanding of Scripture.
4) Compare your conclusions with the rest of the Bible. There is one
thing we can be sure of and that is that the Bible will never contradict
itself. Whenever we come to a conclusion, we will find that other portions
of the Bible will corroborate the conclusion if it is indeed a correct
conclusion. Let us go back and look at the idea of the pre-tribulation
rapture. We know that this system teaches that there will be a rapture of
all the Saints before a seven year tribulation period. The question we must
ask is, does the rest of the Bible corroborate that teaching? Let us look at
some Scriptures.
(John 5:28-29 KJV) Marvel not at this:
for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear
his voice, {29} And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of
damnation.
(John 6:40 KJV) And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one
which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I
will raise him up at the last day.
Here we see three verses which teach something very different than a
pre-tribulation rapture. John 5:28-29 teaches that there is going to be a
general resurrection of both the wicked and the saved. That resurrection
will be simultaneous and when we add John 6:40, we know when that
resurrection will take place and that will be on the last day. In fact, John
6:40 is speaking about the believers. Dispensationalism teaches that the
saved will be raised 1,007 years before the wicked, however we read in John
5:28-29 that both the wicked and the saved are raised simultaneously. So who
do we believe? The prophecy books or do we believe what the Bible teaches?
The answer should be obvious but the majority of Christians choose to
believe the prophecy books and yet, the answer is made as plain as can be.
By allowing the Scriptures to confirm your conclusions, you are going to
find out that many of the theological systems which people believe in are
actually against Scripture instead of being in concert with it.
5) Adopt the correct conclusions. It does no good to study the Bible
and learn truth if there is not going to be an adoption of those truths.
This is probably the hardest part of Bible study. If for many years you have
been proclaiming a certain doctrine based on somebody else’s teachings and
then God shows you through the Scriptures that that particular belief was
error, you must teach the truthful conclusion and not the old error. It will
cost you, especially in your church. For some years I was a pre-tribulationalist
but when I found the truth of Amillenialism in the Scriptures, I was no
longer able to continue teaching that error. It meant getting rid of many
books in my library. This applies to every truth you learn in the
Scriptures.
I hope these five principles will help you increase your biblical
understanding. I know that when I read
the Bible, it is hard for me to read large passages because I am prone to
always looking up words within the passages I am reading. This is why I do
not feel guilty in teaching that smaller amounts of Scripture with
understanding will yield more spiritual fruit than large passages that are
rushed through just to get finished. (1/7/05)
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