“… which are some things hard to understand, which … people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures” (2 Pet 3:16, NKJ)
According to the verse above it is possible to read Scripture incorrectly. Today we’ll look at a few principles that spell out how the Word of God should be read correctly. By using the Bible’s “user instructions” a believer can ensure that God is indeed speaking to you through the Word.
We have already placed a lot of emphasis on the most important principle in reading and interpretation: you can only read the Word under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (Matt 22:29; Luke 24:45; 2 Cor 3:14-16). For someone who is not born again, Scripture remains closed and it has to be explained (Acts 8:35; 18:28; 28:23; Luke 24:27). Even then they will have difficulty understanding it, or they might not understand it at all (Matt 13:13, 19; 1 Cor 2:14). Even a degree in theology is worthless for someone who is not born again – despite all his knowledge, he cannot understand the Bible. Alas, it remains a closed book for him.
Secondly, you must understand that Scripture is divided into two covenants. Strictly speaking, our division of the books in the Bible as they are presented is not correct. The Old Covenant actually only ends when Jesus is raised from the dead, in other words with Matt 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20. Only then the New Covenant begins. Everything before this must therefore also be read as part of another dispensation, in the light of Christ who has to fulfill it (Matt 5:17)! Throughout Matt 5 Jesus tries to explain this “other” manner of reading the Old Testament by using Himself as the New Testament Fulfiller. For example, in verse 21-22: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgement.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” This same principle He also explains in terms of other law-related prescriptions. Thus, even if the Bible spells out certain things, you must, if it is Old Covenant, read it within its fulfilment in Christ. It is therefore incorrect to just take verses out of the Old Covenant and present them as isolated guidelines – they must be read through the filter of the New Covenant.
Thirdly: everything that is written in the Word cannot necessarily be claimed. Many huge misunderstandings, dashed hopes and worse things have happened because people supposedly “stood on the Word”. You can only take a promise or conviction from the Word if the Holy Spirit Himself gives it to you. Many people have long lists of promises that they hold on to, but these promises were never given by the Holy Spirit. For example: someone is sick and I would like to console him, so I go and look for Scriptures about healing. It is misuse of Scripture, and even borders on witchcraft. Don’t use the Word of God as a book of good wishes – not all the promises are necessarily for you. You can and must ONLY stand on a promise if God has given it to you personally or prophetically.
- Sela: Re-examine all the Scriptures that you are standing on to see if they truly come from God.
- Lees: 1 Sam 16; Ps 138; Luke 13
- Memorise: Luke 13:24
