How to Understand The Bible

[Mark H. Stevens, Th.D]

Read the book of the Bible you are going to study multiple times. The only way to correctly understand the parts of a book is to have an understanding of its purpose and major themes.

[Chaplain Pat Harris]

I would think that in order to understand the Bible, one would need to learn How To Study the Bible.

Meaning vs. Significance

You have probably heard it said, "the Bible means difference things to different people" or that "the Bible has as many meanings as there are people who read it." You may even have heard of people who resist being taught from the Bible with an excuse like, "people can make that book say anything they want." Or, you may have been a part of some group study in which each person present was asked to describe "what this passage means to you." As innocent - or as acceptable as such ideas may seem, it is important to understand that such attitudes represent subtle but serious threats to the importance of Bible study in the life of the church.

Herein lies the problem: if any given passage from the Bible can legitimately "mean" anything - if there is no such thing as a "valid" or "preferred" reading of a text's "meaning" - both the authority and the relevancy of the Bible are indirectly threatened. In other words, if a passage does not possess a meaning (singular) but many meanings (plural), then the Bible cannot serve as a reliable source of stable truth. The "truth" in the text constantly changes. Therefore, the Bible can no longer be considered a vehicle of truth in any absolute or unchanging sense. Secondly, if there are as many meanings in the passage as there a readers, the meaning is determined by the reader or receiver of the text and not by the author or sender ("All Scripture is God-breathed"); the authority of the Bible is made null and void when meaning is no longer determined by the author but relocated within the receiver. Individual experience is made to sit in judgment over the Bible for the Bible no longer has the authority or the ability to transcend and judge individual experience.

However, in most cases, some will intend to communicate something not only quite different but legitimate. Usually, we simply have not learned how to clearly express a subtle but crucial distinction. We throw the word "meaning" around too loosely. We are merely doing an inadequate job of communicating the belief that while any given passage possesses a stable "meaning" (in the singular sense), the "significance" of that meaning for the life of the reader may vary (in the plural sense). Any passage of scripture may have a different significance for my life than it does for yours but this does not mean the meaning of that passage changes.

For example, two different individuals may be studying Jesus' parable about the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:10-14). Both should be able to discern that the meaning of the parable is probably about our need for and dependence upon the grace of God. But the significance of that meaning may vary according to the reader. For one who takes undue pride in his own righteousness (like the Pharisee), the parable should be taken as a challenge to humility. But for one who is acutely aware of his own inadequacies before God (like the tax collector), the parable probably offers comfort and hope. This legitimate distinction between the meaning of a text and the significance of a text is usually what people are trying to describe when making comments like those described above.

To preserve the integrity of meaning, however, one goal must remain primary. It will serve a foundational purpose in relationship to all of the other goals of Bible study. If we lose sight of or fail to build upon this foundational goal we will not only be violating sound principles of textual interpretation but find ourselves in danger of reading our own ideas into the text rather than discovering the truth which God seeks to convey to us. This goal is referred to as the primary A.I.M. of Bible study: Author's Intended Meaning

Understanding the A.I.M. is not the only goal. Nor are the goals of Bible study limited to understanding goals. It is important for us to understand that Bible study is an activity which encompasses both the meaning and significance of the text and which addresses not only our understanding of the text and which addresses not only our understanding of doctrine but the holiness of our lives, the faithfulness of our service and the intimacy of our personal relationship with God. To recognize the foundational role which the author's intended meaning plays, we should always progress from meaning to significance. But as we do so, we should keep in mind that in studying the Bible, we should eventually work our way through no less than 3 progressive objectives.

Exposition = to expose or uncover the meaning of the text.

Interpretation = the act of building a bridge between the word of the past and the world of the present.

Application = both exposition and interpretation should lead you to this goal. Here one seeks to understand not merely the general relevance for people in his own day, but the specific relevance of a passage for his personal life. Here one is motivated not simply by his own desire for understanding, but by his desire to please God with his life and to be a faithful servant. Personal life applications will, of course, be found within the "umbrella" of the general relevance of the passage for our times. But only your personal life circumstances can determine the significance of a text for your life. Here there can be no substitute for meditation and reflection.

[Hezekiah Ben Israel]

You read the book line upon line precept upon precept here a little there a little.

Isaiah 28:8-15 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean. Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: