HOLY SCRIPTURES. 2nd Timothy 3:15 How much we owe to God’s written Word: We are born into God's family through the Word [1 Pet. 1:23]; our souls are made alive through the Word [Ps. 119:50]; we grow spiritually through the Word [1 Pet. 2:2]; our souls are nourished by the Word [Deut. 8:3]; our minds are enlightened through the Word [Ps. 119:130]; our hearts find comfort in the Word [Rom. 15:4]; we are renewed in our living through the Word [Col. 3:10]; we are established in truth through the Word [John 17:17]; we conquer our enemies through the Word [Rev. 12:11], and we are sanctified by the Word [John 17:17].
As long as we live on earth, we will experience rejection from others. We don’t need to defend ourselves because [1] if we are wrong, we have no defense, and [2] if we are right, we don’t need one. The Lord Jesus, when He was reviled, did not revile in return. Rejection is a two-way street; you receive it and you give it. Billy Graham once prayed when he was disturbed by the doubts of his friend, Charles Templeton, “Father, I am going to accept Thy Word by faith. I am going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word.”
Faith is a rational response to the evidence of God’s self-revelation in nature, human history, the Scriptures, and His resurrected Son. Faith is not about fooling yourself into becoming a better person, but about trusting God who can transform you into what He desires.
General Principles to consider when reading the scriptures:
- The Bible is authoritative: God or one of His representatives states God’s mind and will.
- The Bible interprets itself: Compare scripture with scripture. Don’t add or subtract.
- Saving faith and the Holy Spirit are necessary: Understanding is impossible without this.
- Interpret personal experience in the light of scripture, not scripture in the light of personal experience: We cannot say, “This happened, therefore it must be true,” but rather, “This is true, therefore this happened.”
- Biblical examples are authoritative only when supported by a command: The believer can do what the Bible does not prohibit.
- The primary purpose of the Bible is to change our lives, not increase our knowledge.
- Each Christian has the right and responsibility to investigate and interpret the Bible for himself.
- Church history is necessary but not decisive in the interpretation of scripture: The Bible determines what the church teaches.
- The Bible is relevant for every generation.
- Scripture has only one meaning and should be taken literally: Examples – reconciliation; redemption.
- Interpret words in harmony with their meaning when written: Changers of money – banks?
- Interpret a word in relation to its sentence and context: “faith” – the faith; conviction; trust; promise.
- Interpret a passage in harmony with its context: Material surrounding it; the book; the whole of scripture; the culture.
- When an inanimate object describes a living being, it is figurative: “I am the Light; bread; door…” “You are light; salt; palm tree; cedar.
- When an expression is out of character with what is described, it is figurative: Dogs, lions, lambs, sheep, and foxes.
- Principal figures and parts of parables represent certain realities: Stick with the parable's purpose, not the parable's side issues.
- Interpret prophecies in the literal, historical sense unless it is clear they are symbolic.
- Scripture historically can only be understood in the light of biblical history: The book of Galatians, for instance, is understood in the light of its historical background.
- Both Old and New Testaments are essential to God’s revelation: Unity of scripture.
- Events become symbols of spiritual truth only if they are designated in the Bible: The Red Sea is baptism, and the Rock is Christ.
- Understand what a passage says before drawing doctrinal conclusions.
- A doctrine is not biblical unless it sums up and includes everything the scriptures say about it.
- When two doctrines appear to be contradictions, accept both in confidence that there is a higher unity: The Trinity, the dual nature of Christ, and the existence of evil.
- When a teaching is implied, it may be considered biblical when other passages support it: The resurrection in the Old Testament – a] God is the God of the living; God is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are among the living. b] Women partaking of the Lord’s Supper – The Corinthian church received instruction on the Lord’s Supper; women were a part of the Corinthian church; women take part in the Lord’s Supper. c] Employer wants you as an employee; he has had you on this job; he wants you on this job today.