The Life Foundations
Nexus
WHAT YOU ABSOLUTELY
NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE
By Dr. Michael J. Bisconti
Do you need a college
education to understand the Bible?
No. If you can read, you can
understand most of the Bible without any special knowledge or training. However, there is about 5% of the Bible that
requires more than the ability to read.
II Peter 3:15-16 says:
(15) And account that the longsuffering of our
Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the
wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;
(16) As also in all his epistles, speaking in
them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which
they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction.
Verse 15 tells us who
Peter is talking about. He is talking
about the Apostle Paul. In verse 16,
Peter refers to Paul’s epistles (letters), which make up a part of the New
Testament. Peter says that in Paul’s
letters, letters to churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Philipi, and
Colossae, there were some things “hard to be understood.” So, the Bible itself tells us that
everything in the Bible is not easy to understand. Peter tells us what is needed to understand these difficult (hard
to be understood) passages AND THE REST OF THE BIBLE. What is needed is “learning” and “stability.” Note that Peter says that those who are
“unlearned and unstable,” the opposite of “learned and stable,” are unable to
understand the difficult (hard to be understood) passages in the Bible AND they
are unable to understand the rest of the Bible, the easy passages in the Bible
(“also the other scriptures”).
Peter tells us the
importance of “stability.” Stability is
consistency (faithfulness) in doing what is right, in doing the will of
God. The ability to understand the
things of God requires instruction from WITHOUT, instruction from the Bible, and
the operation (purposeful activity) of God (God the Holy Spirit) WITHIN. NOW, THE HOLY SPIRIT ONLY WORKS IN THOSE WHO
ARE STABLE, IN THOSE WHO LIVE CONSISTENT LIVES, THAT IS, CONSISTENTLY
RIGHTEOUS LIVES. (Of course, God,
being merciful and kind, makes exceptions when the need is great enough but
these exceptions are by a higher and unfathomable wisdom of God that makes it
impossible for us to ever predict whether such exceptions will occur.) The key thing to remember about stability is
this:
THERE IS NO POINT IN
ATTEMPTING TO UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE UNTIL YOU HAVE DETERMINED IN YOUR HEART TO
LIVE A CONSISTENTLY RIGHTEOUS LIFE.
The other thing that is
needed to understand difficult (hard to be understood), and easy, passages in
the Bible is “learning.” Learning is
“knowledge.” Well, what “knowledge”
does one need? Christians in the time
of Peter and Paul did not have the printed, “Bible study” resources that we
have available today – commentaries, Bible dictionaries, concordances, etc.,
etc. What they did have were pastors
and teachers. These pastors and
teachers provided the same type of information that we have available in the
printed, Bible study resources of our time.
Acts 8:26-35 says:
(26) And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip,
saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from
Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
(27) And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of
Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians,
who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to
worship,
(28) Was returning, and sitting in his chariot
read Esaias the prophet.
(29) Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near,
and join thyself to this chariot.
(30) And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him
read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
(31) And he said, How can I, except some man
should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
(32) The place of the scripture which he read was
this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his
shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
(33) In his humiliation his judgment was taken
away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the
earth.
(34) And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I
pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
(35) Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at
the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.
This passage tells us
that an Ethiopian man (verse 27) was reading the “Book of Isaiah” in the Bible
(verse 28). The man could not FULLY
understand what he was reading (verse 30).
He obviously had a PARTIAL understanding of what he was reading because
he knew that the passage he was reading was talking about “himself [Isaiah],
or…some other man” (verse 34). Philip,
one of the first deacons, taught the Ethiopian man the prophetic meaning of the
passage. The Ethiopian had to be taught
that there was a man named Jesus and that this man was not only a man but that
he was also the Son of God. Note that
Philip had to provide the Ethiopian man with HISTORICAL INFORMATION. In our time, we will find historical
information in Bible dictionaries, among other places.
It is not our purpose in
this article to provide a detailed discussion of “Bible references to Bible
dictionaries,” “Bible references to Bible commentaries,” “Bible references to
Bible concordances,” etc., etc. You can
try to eke out this (relatively inconsiderable [not worth consideration])
information for yourself. What you need
to know is this:
FIRST, YOU CAN OBTAIN
COMPUTER VERSIONS OF ALL OF THE BIBLE STUDY AIDS LISTED BELOW FOR FREE AT:
PLEASE NOTE THAT WE
DO NOT AGREE WITH ABSOLUTELY EVERY VIEW EXPRESSED AT THIS WEBSITE. HOWEVER, WE WOULD BE REMISS IF WE DID NOT
THANK MR. RICK MEYERS FOR HIS GENEROUS, EXCELLENT, AND, WE DARE SAY,
INCREDIBLE…CONTRIBUTION TO THE WORK OF THE LORD.
HERE ARE THE BIBLE STUDY
AIDS YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE ENTIRE BIBLE:
INDISPENSABLE
(MUST HAVE)
THE BIBLE STUDY AID YOU
NEED MOST IS A KING JAMES DICTIONARY, WHICH CONTAINS THE OVER 800 WORDS
THAT HAVE CHANGED IN MEANING SINCE THE KING JAMES VERSION OF THE BIBLE WAS
TRANSLATED.
HELPFUL BUT NOT NECESSARILY
INDISPENSABLE
(YOU CAN USUALLY DO WITHOUT
THESE)
ADDITIONAL HELP CAN BE
OBTAINED FROM A BIBLE DICTIONARY, A BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA, AND A BIBLE
COMMENTARY. THESE BOOKS CONTAIN THE
WRITINGS OF BIBLE SCHOLARS.
SAVE TIME BUT NOT INDISPENSABLE
(YOU CAN DO WITHOUT THESE BUT A
CONCORDANCE USUALLY SAVES A LOT OF TIME)
FINALLY, A CONCORDANCE
AND A TOPICAL BIBLE WILL SAVE YOU TIME.
A CONCORDANCE GIVES AN ALPHABETICAL INDEX OF SOME OR ALL OF THE
WORDS IN THE BIBLE AND LISTS A NUMBER OF VERSE REFERENCES, POSSIBLY EVERY VERSE
REFERENCE, WHERE EACH WORD IS FOUND. A TOPICAL
BIBLE IS SIMILAR EXCEPT THAT IT INCLUDES THE ACTUAL VERSES (UNDER THE NAMES
OF TOPICS) RATHER THAN JUST THE REFERENCES TO THE VERSES. A TOPICAL BIBLE IS NOT NECESSARILY AS
COMPLETE AS A CONCORDANCE.