Don’t Let the Bible Scare You
By: Karen Abeyta
“This doesn’t make sense, but what else could it mean?” my husband asked. “No one who lives in him keeps on sinning” (1 John 3:6). The verse seemed straightforward, but we all sin. How can John say that no one who believes in Him keeps on sinning? Yikes! Maybe I’m not living in Christ? Or maybe John means habitual sin?
Have you ever felt confused, frustrated, or unsure while reading the Bible? I know I have. Knowing some basic principles will help you feel confident in understanding what you read so that you can apply God’s Word to your life.
Before we dig in, a brief word about the reliability of Scripture; 2 Timothy 3:16 says, “All Scripture is God-breathed.” God supervised the writing process such that each author of the Bible wrote down His exact words. The Bible tells us that “Every word of God is flawless” (Prov. 30:5), so we know that it does not contain errors.
So where do we begin? Here are 11 basic principles:
1. Pray
As with most things in life, we should begin with prayer. God wants us to understand His Word. We should ask Him, through His Holy Spirit, to guide and teach us as we read.
2. Always Keep Verses in Their Context
In my early days of Bible reading, I would pluck an encouraging verse out of the Bible like a tweet. For example, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer. 29:11).
Little did I know (since I only read part of the chapter), God’s plan included the Israelites remaining in exile for another 70 years.
While we might find comfort in individual verses, we may inadvertently believe something that either God didn’t promise, or that He promised only to someone else in their immediate context. Both scenarios can lead to confusion and disappointment.
To read a verse in context, first look at the sentence in which it occurs. Then read the whole paragraph. Next, look at the chapter the paragraph falls within, and then the book of the Bible. You can also look at the other books written by that author and finally, whether the verse comes from the Old or New Testament.
3. Dig into the Root Language
Good news: you don’t need to learn Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. Read Scripture slowly (in English) and see if certain words give you pause. Sometimes, an English word fails to capture the nuance of the original word. A lexicon, such as the one at Biblehub.com, shows the meaning of the translated word.
For example, in Psalm 23:6, David writes “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” I wondered what it meant to have His love follow me. When I looked up the Hebrew word for follow, the word meant “to pursue or chase after.” Wow. So, God’s love doesn’t just trail after me like a golden retriever. He plans to pursue me with His love. That added information gave me much more comfort than my initial understanding of the verse.
Historical sources, such as a Bible dictionary or a book on the history of the Near East, can help you to understand the cultural context of the Bible. Knowing who sat on the Roman emperor’s throne and whether or not he persecuted Christians can shed light on certain passages.
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