Hi everyone. So, I want to study and understand the bible. What are some tips that will help me get the right interpretation?
There're so many disagreement over what scripture says, how does one find the truth?
Thanks.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.” - Bruce Lee
You cannot interpret the bible, to do so is to come up with "we are the only ones, and Jesus only died for us and we are the only ones going to heaven" This is how 33.500 denominations came about from interpreting the bible. You never interpret the bible, you let the bible interpret itself.
If I was to give you a coloring book and you opened it up to connect the dots and their was dots 1-100 and you started with your pencil and you connected dot 1 and then dot 2 and then dot 3 and then dot 4 and then dot 5 and then dot 6 and so on and so forth till connecting and reaching the final dot numbered 100, and the image shown in the dots was mickey mouse. Then in comes bill and bill throws out 10 dots because he doesn't like them and draws a picture of Popeye the sailor man, then in comes Steve and Steve throws out dots 20-47 because he thinks dots 20-47 are errors and instead draws Bugs Bunny,
So what do we do and whom do we agree with ? Do we agree with Bill or Steve or do we go with the book and its dots ? Most people would say I'm for Bill and if Bill says something then I'm backing Bill all the way, others say I'm for Steve and I'm backing Steve all the way because Steve is a good guy and I like Steve. Well what about the book and the dots ? Well who cares about the book and its dots I'm from Bill and I'm for Steve. This illustration is a classic example of what is going on in the churches, people throwing out the bible saying this verse is in error and only the verses I like are the true verses, either the bible is the 100 % word of God or it can not be trusted. Remember the bible comes first and it will always over rule Bill, Steve and the rest of them !
1. Don't force religious dogma into passages, let the bible interpret itself
2. Be aware that the bible has connectors all through the bible, examples are (grapes,wine, vines, blood, wrath, cup, wine press, drunk) -
revelation 14:19, genesis 49:11,
John 18:11,
,Deuteronomy 32:32 , Revelation 19:15, Revelation 16:19, Isaiah 51:22,
Jeremiah 25:15-17, Psalms 75:8, Jeremiah 51:7 etc.
Another one is ( serpent ,dragon, heads, water) Revelation 12:9, psalms 74:13-14, Ezekiel 29:2-3, Isaiah 27:1, Revelation 12:3, revelation 12:9. It should be noted that modern versions get rid of the word dragon, that is why I stick to the KJV.
I watched Steve Gregg on youtube teaching revelation from a bible and he had to constantly refer to the King James because modern translators got rid of the
Apocalyptic literature in modern translations that the apostle John wrote. Just being honest here, I myself own a KJV, ESV, and NKJV.
3. You could buy a wide margin bible which allows you to write notes on the side of the verses for example, I took my pen and beside Genesis 1:2 I drew an arrow and about 20 connecting verses to the side, like I typed up above
4. A highlighter is also a good tool to highlight bible verses that stand out to you, I use a dry highlighter so it doesn't smudge the paper up, I use Sharpie gel Highlighter you can get it out walmart for about $3 and it doesn't bleed through the pages.
5, Bible commentary what I do is pay attention to the bracketed verses. And have my bible close by to look up all the bracketed verses, this has really helped me understand the bible, I also have learned how to leave the man's opinion behind in the book. I can do the same thing with any denomination, most people state "My momma was a baptist, my daddy was a baptist grandpa was a baptist, I'm baptist born and baptist bread and I'll be a baptist till I'm dead. Insert any denomination in there whether it be Pentecostal, Methodist, church of Christ etc. most people only listen to a certain denomination because we have been trained to do so.
However I can listen to independent fundamental baptist preach, southern baptist preach, Pentecostal preach, church of Christ preach, as well as various other denominations and take the knowledge from the sermon while leaving the man's opinion behind. I quoted Bruce Lee up top, because he was one of the first training MMA, he knew that one style was not enough and no one martial arts denomination had total truth and that in a real fight Karate alone wasn't enough or boxing alone wasn't enough so he took from the styles, kicking from karate, finger jabs from wing chun, legs strikes from muay thai, grappling from Judo etc. And all martial arts denominations had worthless techniques one example is Kata which is worthless for fighting so he through Kata out.
6. I use blue letter bible on the internet to look up words, for example if I don't understand a word being used such as "iniquity" I go to blue letter bible and look the word up and it shows me the Hebrew or Greek word and then lexicon below it, I do own a strong's concordance but I find blue letter more quicker and sufficient
7. using a free online dictionary like thefreedictionary or Websters dictionary also pays off for example I once done a word study on 2 Timothy 3;2-5 and started looking up words like boasters, disobedient, heady, traitors etc. and ended up spending 2 hours messing round with it, the dictionary is a great tool, in fact there is a baptist seminary close by me that they have all students buy and bring to class a dictionary to use, and I can see why, it's an invaluable tool
8. Pay attention to things you wouldn't normally pay attention to in the bible, especially the 12 tribes in the old testament. For example most people don't know that Israel split into two nations the southern kingdom and the Northern kingdom, The southern kingdom is called "The House of Judah" which consist of the tribes of Judah, Levi, Benjamin. "The Northern kingdom" is called "The House of Israel" which consists of the other 9 tribes. You will see those words "The House Of Israel" in the new testament, whenever you see either of these houses take a mental note, "The House Of Israel" is used all through the new testament. It should also be noted a Jew does not mean any Hebrew Israelite, a Jew is one who comes from Judah, whether it be from the tribe of Judah or The House Of Judah this is why Paul calls himself a Jew in the new testament because he was a Benjaminite of the House of Judah.
9. Pay close attention to who is speaking and who the audience is