How to Interpret the Bible

It is vitally important to properly understand how to interpret the Bible. This study examines what the Bible teaches regarding Bible interpretation.

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It is very important for every Christian to have the following truths firmly implanted within their minds:

Point #1 – The Bible is Truth From God

Point #2: The Sufficiency of Scripture

Point #3: The Bible is Spiritual

Point #4: The Whole Bible Concerns the Gospel

A Method for Bible Interpretation (5 Steps)

Step 1: Understand the Passage Within its Context

Step 2: Examine all Related Scriptures

Step 3: Compare Scripture with Scripture

Step 4: Can Christ / Gospel be Seen?

Step 5: Does Conclusion Harmonize with the Rest of the Bible?

Point #1 – The Bible is Truth From God

The first fundamental truth to understand concerning the Bible is that it is written by God through humans. This event is called ‘inspiration’. Consider the following passage:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

2 Tim 3:16‑17

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

2 Pet 1:20‑21

The Bible itself claims to be the inspired word of God, given by God through men. In short, it is God talking to mankind. There are many other Scriptures in the Bible that testify to the fact that the Bible is the inspired word of God (e.g. see 1 Pet 1:11. 1 Thess 4:15, 2 Pet 3:15-16, Mk 12:36, Heb 3:7-8, 2 Pet 1:21, Acts 1:16, 2:30-31, 4:25, 28:25, 2 Sam 23:2, etc). The term ‘inspiration’ is the Greek word theopneustos, literally meaning God-breathed. In other words, the Bible is actually from God and it comes from the Spirit (i.e. the meaning of the part of the word pneustos). This includes both the Old Testament, which is called Scripture (2 Tim 3:15, Mat 21:42, John 2:22, 7:42, etc, etc) and the New Testament, which is called Scripture (2 Pet 3:16, 1 Tim 5:18).

Without the fundamental truth that the Bible is actually from God, one will find themselves on the slippery slope of not knowing what to believer is true in the Bible, if anything. Although it cannot be completely, scientifically proved that the Bible is from God since without faith it is impossible to please Him (Heb 11:6), there is other evidence for the Bible being the word of God. Such things as its consistency over a great many years of writing the Bible, the uniqueness of the Bible, the fulfillment of its prophecy, the inexhaustible infinity of its message, the honesty of the Bible, and the convincing, convicting power of the Scriptures all testify to the fact that the Bible is the one and only word of God. Also, does it not just make obvious sense that if there is a God; He has left us a reliable text of what His will is? But, once again, we must come to the Bible in faith (Heb 11:6). Those who spend many hours in finding scientific explanations for why the Bible is the Word of God ultimately will fall short. There is an interesting passage in 1 Tim 6:3-5 that talks to this issue:

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness; He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.

1 Tim 6:3-5

We see in the above passage that if any man does not ‘consent’ to wholesome words, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, he is proud and knows nothing, doting about with various speculations and vain questions about the Bible. The word ‘consent’ is the Greek word ‘homologia’ or literally ‘same words’. In other words, the true teacher of the Word of God will agree with Jesus’ words, all His words. Of course, we find Jesus’ words as being the entire Bible itself since He is called the Word of God (John 1:1) and the Bible also teaches in 1 Pet 1:10-12 that the prophets that wrote the Bible spoke by the Spirit of Christ. The caution in 1 Tim 6:3-5 is that the proud person is one who does not agree completely with the Bible and use the Bible as his source for spiritual truth. The proud man will not trust the Bible to be his rule for life. This should also be a caution for the person who believes that the Bible ‘contains’ the Word of God but it is not completely the Word of God. If we start studying the Bible by only believing that certain parts of the Bible are truly the Word of God, we will fall into error. This ‘proud’ person would also need to include those people who would limit the depth of God’s Word. Those people who say that God’s Word is meant to be taken only in a simple, literal context and ‘search for no other meaning’ would clearly fall into the scope of 1 Tim 6:3-5.

Because, by faith, we believe that the Bible is completely the Word of God, it is important to understand in studying the Bible that it is historically true. Jesus referred to the Old Testament as historical fact. He talked about Jonah (Mat 12:39-40), Elijah (Mk 9:12-13), Moses (Mat 19:8) and many other events in the Old Testament as historical fact. In fact, Jesus said that not one jot or tittle of the law would pass away until all is fulfilled (Mat 5:18). He stated in John 10:35 that the Scripture cannot be broken. Also, Paul quoted Deuteronomy and Luke as Scripture (1 Tim 5:18) as well as Paul’s writings (2 Pet 3:16). We also find that the Bible declares that the Holy Spirit spoke through men (Mk 12:36 w/ Ps 110, Acts 1:16, Acts 4:24-25 w/ Ps 41, Ps 2, Heb 3:7, Heb 10:15-16). As we saw, Paul spoke by the Word of God (2 Pet 3:16, 1 Thess 4:15) and the apostles spoke by the Word of God (Mat 10:20, Acts 2:4).

The reasons why the Christian should be convinced of the historical veracity of the Bible will not be pursued further. A simple premise of the remainder of this work is that the Bible is the word of God and is true in all its accounts.

There are two types of Bible ‘criticism’ that needs to be briefly discussed and quickly discarded. The first is what is called ‘Higher Criticism’. This form of criticism exists in many seminaries and churches today. Higher criticism is basically the idea that the Bible was redacted or edited by various authors at different times in history. For example, they would teach that Genesis, for example, was not actually penned by Moses, but was re-written by different sources (a so-called J source for Jehovah and an E source for Elohim). This method of thought is actually continued all through the Bible resulting in statements such as: the story of David and Goliath was just a farce, the Book of Daniel is fiction, Paul not being the author of the epistles that bear his name in the Bible, etc. Higher criticism is a scholarly, humanistic attempt to ultimately deny that the Bible is actually the Word of God. They point to supposed contradictions in the Bible to prove their point. However, these ‘contradictions’ are not contradictions at all, but simply language in the Bible that God uses to cause us to study more until the passages in question are harmonized. These apparent contradictions can be harmonized with a correct method of interpretation.

Fortunately, ‘higher criticism’, although having significant extent throughout Christendom, is not completely rampant throughout those who call themselves Christians. Typically, it is held by those who hold doctrines about the Bible (e.g. the doctrine of salvation) that are not correct. However, this brings us to the other form of textual criticism: lower criticism, which is almost universally held throughout Christendom.

All Bible believing Christians find ‘higher criticism’ repugnant. However, by and large, most hold to lower (or textual) criticism. This criticism of the Bible basically believes that the Bible is the Word of God, however some ‘minor’ errors have crept into the Bible. To wrestle with this view, we must first understand that the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and a small part in Aramaic. The actual writings of the human authors of the Bible are called the ‘autographs’. The New Testament autographs were all written in Greek. As should be obvious, there are many ‘translations’ of the Bible into many languages and obviously these translations will have interpretation and translation errors. This is not what is meant by lower criticism. Lower criticism means that while the actual autographs (of which we do not have any) are perfect, the manuscripts of the early copies contained errors and therefore, the actual Word of God has been corrupted. This ‘lower criticism’ asserts that these errors do not significantly affect any meanings in the Bible nor do they affect any significant doctrine. However, they still hold that there are some errors in the Bible. For example, in 1 Cor 10:8, the Bible states that 23,000 people were destroyed in the plague of Israel due to their harlotry with Moab. In the actual historical account in Num 25:9, the amount who died is 24,000. The 23,000 number in 1 Cor 10:8 and the 24,000 number in Num 25:9 are consistent in the variety of manuscripts (or early copies) of the Bible. ‘Lower critics’ quickly point to this and say that the early copies of the Bible are corrupt and therefore, there are some minor errors in the Bible.

But, we must ask: would God allow this to happen? Would he allow His Word to become corrupted even a little bit? If we allow for this, what other errors have crept in? We know that words are important. However, when one examines these so-called errors, answers begin to appear. For example, in the plague of Israel discussed above, if it is true (which it is) that 24,000 perished, is it not also true that 23,000 perished? Well, of course, it is. But, why would God seemingly confuse His Word? We will examine this much more in this study, but suffice it to say that God uses numbers in the Bible in particular ways. The number 24 has a spiritual meaning as well as 23. Also, God has caused His Word to be penned in a ‘not so straight forward manner’ so that those with ears to hear will hear, and those without ears to hear, will not.

Another important point to know is that the Bible is called the Word of truth. That is, another name for the Bible is truth. When Jesus was before Pilate and Pilate asked what truth was (John 18:38), the answer can be found in the Bible. First, Jesus is truth (John 14:6, 1:14, John 18:37). Jesus is also the Word of God (John 1:1). The Bible calls itself the Word of truth (John 17:17, Eph 1:13, 4:21, Col 1:5, James 1:18, 2 Tim 2:15, 2 Thess 2:4,10, Heb 10:26, 1 John 3:18, Eph 6:14 w/ 1 Pet 1:13, Ro 3:4, Ps 119:160). To declare in our human wisdom, that the Bible is corrupted and not actually the Word of God asserts that the Bible is not true, at least in part. We ought to be extremely cautious of such a proud assertion since we are not ‘consenting’ to the Words of Christ (1 Tim 6:3-5). Again, to believe the Bible must be by faith (Heb 11:6).

Let us summarize where we are:

The Bible is the Word of God
The Bible is completely reliable for truth
Apparent contradictions in the Bible must be studied further to determine spiritual truth

Point #2: The Sufficiency of Scripture

Another important fact to understand is that the Bible itself is sufficient for truth about God. That is, God gave us precisely what we needed to know to develop us into greater holiness. The Bible does not need to rest upon other authorities such as the writings of men to be profitable (2 Tim 3:16‑17). As Christians, we are sufficient in Christ (Col 2:10). The Bible says that the sum of God’s word is truth (Ps 119:160). We should not rest our confidence in the wisdom of man (Jer 17:5, Ps 146:3, 1 Cor 1:20‑25,2:5), but rather in God.

We previously saw that the Bible is completely God’s Word. But, one may question whether there are other sources of divine truth. Some believe that the church holds equal authority with the Scriptures. They believe that the Scriptures alone are not God’s source of truth. Moreover, the church must be relied on to be able to interpret and understand the Bible. This teaching is very harmful to truth. For, how do we know that the particular church we are following is correct? Do we blindly follow them? If we do, we have actually placed our trust in the church’s teaching. We have removed our reliance on God for truth. The Bible is very clear that it is the Disciples of Christ who will know the truth and is set free by it (John 8:30-32). The Bible teaches us that a symptom of being saved is that we have the indwelling anointing (Holy Spirit) within us that teaches us truth and enlightens us to the Scriptures (1 John 2:20-27). It is the Holy Spirit who is our teacher, not the church (John 14:16, 15:16, 16:13). To trust the visible church for truth becomes a fatal flaw and is not commanded in Scripture. It is the invisible church (the true believers) that we can fellowship with and become stewards of truth.

Another area of concern in the study of the Bible is the use of commentaries. Unfortunately, most commentaries predominantly teach the need for man’s scholarly wisdom by their overuse of original languages, grammar, archaeology, and culture at the expense of Scripture. They may be a valuable resource as a confirmation to what we have been studying for ourselves in the Bible, but they should not be used as the source of our spiritual nourishment. Reading commentaries by themselves teach us what commentators believe, not necessarily what the Bible teaches. Moreover, the Scripture warns us concerning the development of many books that replace the wisdom of God’s word (Ecc 12:11‑13). This is not to say that there is not a place for commentaries and other reference works. A commentary based on God’s Word and the interpretation of Scripture with Scripture can be a valuable resource as long as all the references are thoroughly studied. However, the commentary should be used as a backup to our own reading, studying and comparison of Scripture with Scripture (2 Tim 2:15, 1 Cor 2:12-16).

As we shall see later, the Bible itself is it’s own commentary, dictionary, and reference tool. God has placed in the Scripture explanations of what He meant by the language He has used (e.g. Ro 9:25‑26). There are many quotations in the New Testament of things stated in the Old. In these cases, the New Testament serves as a commentary of the Old. God has also used words in a way in which He defines. Only by a careful study, comparing Scripture with Scripture, can we define these words and unlock beautiful depths of spiritual truth.

We find that the Scripture teaches us:

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Rev 22:18-19

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.

Deut 4:2

What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Deut 12:32

Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.

Pr 30:6

It should be obvious from these Scriptures that we are commanded not to add to or remove from the Word of God. If we believe that the Bible is the Word of God, we should, therefore, be very careful to not tamper with it. However, we live in a day where there all types of additions and removals are done to the Bible. We find that many add to the Word of God by claiming that their visions and dreams were sent to them from God. Also, the phenomenon of tongues should also be considered as an addition. More subtler additions would include Christian psychology and the traditions of man. Also, various scholarly studies that go beyond the teachings in the Bible would be an addition to the Bible. Also, in some parts of Christendom, other books (the Apocrypha) are added to the Bible. These hidden books in no way meet the test of being faithful to the rest of God’s Word. It is beyond the scope of this study to examine this further, but suffice it to say that a careful reading of these apocryphal books compared to the rest of the Bible should be evident to the enlightened child of God that they are not part of the Bible.

The Bible is removed from by teaching false doctrine. Errors concerning what the Bible teaches obviously remove the truth from the Bible. As we saw earlier, various textual criticisms also remove from the Word of God. These scholars who propound that the Bible is not completely the Word of God, but has been revised and re-written by various editors are removing from the Word of God. Also, many people compromise the Word of God by not preaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27-31, 2 Tim 4:3). In order to maintain supposed harmony, they compromise and squelch the more offensive parts of the Bible such as speaking of man’s sin or the fact of hell and damnation.

It is not the intent of this study to analyze all the false teachings that the Bible warns us of. However, it is hoped that the above Scriptures have underscored the fact that one must not add to (Rev 22:18, Deut 4:2, 12:32, Pr 30:6, John 15:15) or remove from (Deut 4:2, 12:32, Pr 30:6, 2 Tim 3:15‑17, Rev 22:18‑19, Acts 20:27) the Word of God.

Point #3: The Bible is Spiritual

It is important to understand that those things that happened to the Israelites were a pattern for our instruction. The Scripture teaches:

Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

1 Cor 10.1‑11

We find that the events in the Old Testament were written as an example to us so that we would not fall into the same error some in the Old Testament did. The Old Testament was given to us for an example of God’s salvation plan.

The Bible teaches that all Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for four things: doctrine, reproof correction, and training in righteousness (2 Tim 3:16). This agrees with what we discovered earlier that the Bible is the divine mechanism used by the Holy Spirit to lead believers into increasing holiness. All through the Bible, we find examples and statements on what the will of God is. Even obscure historical stories in the Old Testament can be full of moral lessons for us today. But, is there more that the Bible teaches us beyond historical or moral lessons? In fact, when we study the Bible, we find many immoral acts by men of God. For example, the great king David who was to be a type of David committed great immorality when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. Why would God put this type of information in the Bible? To answer this we must examine a slightly deeper dimension to the Bible: the spiritual dimension.

Did you ever wonder why that some people seem to be able to quickly grasp and understand Biblical truth while others seemed destined never to go beyond a mere historical understanding of the Bible? There have been very great men of the world that have done very impressive study into language construction in the Bible, archaeological studies and other cultural and historical studies. However, they never seem to have been able to grasp even basic Biblical truths concerning the fallen state of man and the beautiful Biblical truth of the Gospel. Why is this?

The Bible teaches us that God has chosen the weak, base and, foolish people of the earth to shame the mighty, wise and noble of the earth (see 1 Cor 1:25‑31). Praise God that our salvation does not rest on our physical capabilities or social standing. It rests completely on the grace of God.

Similarly, our understanding of the Bible does not rest on intellectual might. It rests on the illumination that the Holy Spirit gives to every Christian. In fact, the Bible teaches that the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit, since they are spiritually discerned (1 Cor 2:14). It is the Holy Spirit who teaches Christians spiritual truth (1 Cor 2:13, 1 John 2:26‑27, Ps 25:12‑14,32:8). Note the following Scriptures:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, and the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man, which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

1 Cor 2:9-11

For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you‑ward.

2 Cor 1:12

As should be seen in these verses above, the Spirit reveals truth to Christians. It is not by fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God.

The Bible is a spiritual book (John 6:63). While it is historically true and has many morally important lessons, the main import of the word of God is that it teaches Christians spiritual truth about his fallen state and his need for a Savior. God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). We cannot expect to understand spiritual truth by approaching the Bible as a natural unsaved man would. Assuming the unsaved man believes the Bible to be the word of God, he would naturally approach it from a historical and literal approach. But, is this the way that God designed the Bible to be studied and understood?

To worship God in spirit, we must approach the Bible from a spiritual viewpoint. We must recognize that the Bible is Jesus in written form and that the words that He spoke to us are spirit and life (John 6:63). The things of the natural do not profit. We must study the Bible from a spiritual perspective. Moreover, Jesus taught in parables (i.e. an illustration that contains deeper spiritual truth) and without a parable He did not teach (Mk 4:33‑34). A Spirit wrote the Bible. It is not written simply and straightforward so that just anybody could understand the deeper truths of God by studying the Bible only from a literal approach (see Mk 4:11‑12, Mat 13:10‑16). God has designed His word so that it takes diligent study (2 Tim 2:15) and the Holy Spirit to enable us to understand Biblical truth (1 Cor 2:9‑16). Therefore, we must understand that the Bible is not a simple book to be taken only literally. To understand it, we must trust God to give us the spiritual wisdom to understand it by comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

The Bible testifies that it is not a straightforward literal account. Although it is true that it is absolutely a historically accurate account and God has divinely protected the Bible, we find that its content is referred to in the following ways:

PARABLE – Hos 12:10, Num 23:7,18, 24:3,15-23, Job 27:1, 29:1, Mat 13:3-34, Mk 4:34

PROVERB – Pr 1:6, Ps 49:4, 2 Pet 2:22 w/ Pr 26:11 & John 10:6

SAYINGS – Ps 78:2, Pr 1:2, Num 12:8, Pr 4:10,20

RIDDLE – Pr 1:6, Ps 49:4, Jud 14:12-19, Ez 17:2

VISION – Acts 2:17, 10-11, Rev 9:17, Hos 12:10, Dan 2,4,7,8, 10:14, Ps 89:19, Pr 29:18, Is 1:1, 29:7, Ob 1, Ez 7:13,26, 12:22-27, Joel 2:28, Nah 1:1, Hab 2:2-3

DREAMS – Acts 2:17, Mat 2:12-22, Dan 2,4,7, Num 12:6, Gen 20:3-6, 31:10-11, 37, 40, 41, Is 29:7, Joel 2:28, Judges 7:13-15

SHADOW – Heb 10:1, 8:5, Col 2:17

MYSTERY- Mat 13:11, Mk 4:11, 1 Cor 2:7, 4:1, 13:2, 14:2, 15:51, Eph 1:9, 3:3-9, 5:32, 6:19, Col 1:26-27,2:2, 1 Tim 3:9, Rev 1:20,10:7, 17:5-7

FIGURE – Heb 9:9, 24, 1 Pet 3:21, Ro 5:14, Heb 11:19, Pr 1:6, John 16:25,29, 10:6

SIGNS and WONDERS – Lk 11:29-30, Rev 12:1, 15:1, Heb 2:4, 1 Cor 14:22, Acts 2:19-22, Ro 4:11, 15:19, etc

ALLEGORY – Gal 4:24

EXAMPLE – Jude 7, 1 Cor 10:6, Heb 4:11,8:5, James 5:10

SECRET – Ps 25:14, Pr 3:32

Two things should be observed from the above list of verses. First, there are many different words that describe the nature of the Bible. It surprises us that the Bible would be considered by God to be a ‘riddle, ‘hard saying’, figure, etc. The book of Proverbs is a great example where an entire book of the Bible is dedicated to allegorical sayings. Although many people only use the book of Proverbs in its ‘literal’ sense and therefore, only glean moral truths, it is intended to be taken spiritually since it is a proverb (meaning it is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning). Even a casual reading of the Bible should confirm that the Word of God is not a simple straightforward literal account. Its spiritual truth lies in the spiritual meaning that God has assigned to His Words, which can only be learned by comparing Scripture with Scripture (1 Cor 2:13). The second thing to be observed from the above list of verses is that there are so many of them. This idea that God’s word is mysterious is not an obscure truth. In fact, it is robustly called that in the Bible. One should remember that Bible says that without a parable did Jesus not speak (Mk 4:33-34). And we must remember that Jesus speaking is actually the entire Bible (1 Pet 1:10-12). Therefore, in one sense the Bible is a parable. This should not surprise us since God teaches us that the Bible’s truths are for those who have been given ears to hear (Mat 13:13-17). But, we also remember that the Gospel is a simple message of salvation for a wayward people (2 Cor 11:3). The message that Christ suffered to redeem His people is simple. However, God chooses to illustrate this simple truth in many beautiful ways in His Word.

But some may ask: does this not lead to utter confusion in understanding the Bible? That is, if we ‘spiritualize’ the Bible, will we not end up with a multitude of diverse opinions about Biblical truth? The answer to this is absolutely not (see John 14:26, 16:14‑15, 1 John 2:27)!

Point #4: The Whole Bible Concerns the Gospel

Another very important fact is to recognize that the entire Bible concerns the Gospel. There are many theologies that teach that the Old Testament is not as significant to Christianity today as the New Testament. They teach that it was primarily written to a people under a different ‘dispensation’ and therefore, does not have the same relevance as the New Testament.

This thinking, has resulted in the creation of much Bible ignorance today. Assume for the moment that the entire Bible is completely relevant to Christianity today. If the New Testament is emphasized over the Old, then the focus is only on approximately one‑fourth of the Bible while three‑fourths is left neglected. However, if the Bible is studied as a whole, beautiful truths begin to shine through consistently in the entire Bible. An obscure passage found in the New Testament turns out to have a ready solution as the Old Testament is studied. Similarly, those mysterious prophetic passages concerning Israel in the Old Testament will take on beautiful meaning and applicability to the church today.

There are a multitude of Old Testament references in the New Testament. Therefore, to understand the New Testament, one must also diligently study the Old. One cannot presume upon God that they have come to truth without diligently applying themselves to the study of God’s complete word.

The Bible is clear that the Gospel was pictured all throughout the Old Testament. In Luke 24:27, Jesus explained to the disciples on the road to Emmaus all things about Himself beginning with Moses and all the prophets. In other words, the Old Testament Scriptures testified of Jesus Christ and His work on earth. There are many other instances in the Bible that clearly indicate that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the message of the entire Bible including the Old Testament (e. g. 1 Pet 1:10‑12, 2 Pet 1:19‑21, John 5:39, Rev 19:10, Acts 7:38,52, Acts 3:16‑24, 26:6, Heb 12:25, 2 Tim 3:16, Heb 4:2, 9:5, Ro 3:2 1, Col 1:5, 2:16‑17, Gal 3:8, 4:21‑24, Ro 1:1‑3, etc). The reader is strongly encouraged to study these verses to be convinced in his own mind that the entire Bible concerns the Gospel. One Scripture that is interesting is the following:

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they, which testify of me.

John 5:39

When Jesus made this statement, he referred to the ‘Scriptures’, which relates to the entire Bible. It is an amazing fact that the whole Bible ultimately focuses toward Christ. Due to our limitations, we do not immediately see how all the Scriptures point to Him, but we patiently study the Scriptures waiting on God to open our eyes to truth by comparing Scripture with Scripture (1 Cor 2:13).

It should be noted that the Gospel also includes judgment for sin (Ro 2:16, Rev 14:6, Is 40:9, 2 Sam 4:10). In the 1 Cor 15:1-4 definition of the Gospel, we see that Christ died for sin. The Gospel, therefore, includes the fact that there is a penalty for sin. We also find that the Gospel is defined as freedom from sin and redemption from the slave market of sin (e.g. Ro 10:15-16, Is 52:7, Ro 15:18-20, Ro 1:1-6, 2 Thess 1:8, 1 Pet 4:17, 1 Thess 2:2-9, etc). Therefore, the Gospel involves the recognition of sin and the need for a Savior. It is interesting to note the following Scriptures that talks about the Gospel:

Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, (which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name: Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:

Ro 1:1-6

In Romans 1:1-6, we should be able to see that Paul describes some elements of the Gospel. These elements include that fact that the prophets promised Christ, He became flesh, and He was resurrected. Also, through the Gospel of Christ, Christians receive grace unto the obedience of the faith (sanctification). The point of Ro 1:1-6 is that the Gospel begins to take on other elements besides the simple formula that Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected for sins (1 Cor 15:1-4). Also, the prophets promised before the Gospel. That is, the prophets of the Old Testament also preached the Gospel of Christ. Although on the surface, the Old Testament may not appear to speak of Christ, careful examination of the Old Testament reveals that it is laced all through with information and pointers to Christ.

The following Scripture is even more striking:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

Mk 1:1

This Scripture teaches that the entire book of Mark (and the same may be said for any book of the Bible) is actually the Gospel. Therefore, everything that happened concerning the life of Christ as recorded in Mark must in some way point to the Gospel. We cannot limit the Gospel to only a few verses and then teach that there are other verses that are simply meant to be historical or moral.

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Lk 24:25-27

And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Lk 24:44-47

The above Scriptures from Luke are significant as well. We see that Christ expounded the things in the Scriptures about Himself. He began at Moses and all the prophets. It was all things that needed to be fulfilled. You see, the whole Bible points to Christ. We must not content ourselves with a superficial (and therefore, non-offensive – see Gal 1:10) understanding about the Bible. We must be willing to challenge ourselves concerning our view of the Bible and our willingness to spend the time and study required to learn from God (2 Tim 2:15).

The above facts are crucial to begin to see how to scripturally study the Bible! Unfortunately, many will say that the whole Bible points to Christ, but in practice, they refuse to search for Christ in any and all Scriptures. In a sense, by their actions, they believe that the Bible contains the Gospel, not that the Bible is the Gospel. In this sense, they limit God.

However, we find that the Bible says that God’s ways are unsearchable (Ro 11:33, Ps 145:3, Job 5:9, Eph 3:8). His ways are past finding out (Ro 11:33-36, Job 5:9, 9:10, 11:7, Ecc 3:11). In other words, no man can presume to be able to fully fathom his deep God’s truth is. To teach that one can read the Bible accounts and ‘seek no other sense’ than what is plain violates the assertion of Scripture that God is ‘past finding out’. This does not mean that one can apply his own rules in interpreting the Bible or that the Bible has different meanings for different people. But, what it does teach is that one should never seek to limit God by saying they have exhausted His truth on a matter.

In short, the Gospel contains all the ingredients involved with God’s work to redeem a wayward people. The Gospel can be defined easily as the whole Bible as it relates to redemption.

A Method for Biblical Interpretation (5 Steps)

Where do we go from here? We should now agree that the Bible is completely inspired of God. We should agree that the entire Bible is God’s word that effectively works in believers to make them grow in holiness (I Thess 2:13, 2 Pet 2:2, etc). We should agree that both the New and Old Testaments point to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. But, there are many historical passages that just do not seem to fit into the Gospel. There is just so much doom and gloom that God spoke to the Israelites in the Old Testament prophets. Is all this for us today?

In 2 Tim 3:16, the Bible teaches that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. That is, we must not take only part of the Scripture as divinely inspired, and assign other parts to human origin. Moreover, we must trust the Bible language to be divinely inspired. God Himself directly supervised the actual grammar and phraseology of the Bible so that all Scripture is inspired.

So then, how are we to interpret the Bible? The answer is that we must allow God’s Word to speak for itself. That is, God is the author of the Bible (see 2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:19-21, etc) and He is sovereign over how He defines His terms. In fact, the central rule of Bible study can be found in 1 Cor 2:13:

Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

1 Cor 2:13

We see that the things that we will learn from the Holy Spirit must be learned by comparing spiritual with spiritual. We cannot take the Bible which is spiritual (John 6:63) and try to compare it with what our own carnal minds think. If we do, we will end up with our own private interpretation of what the Scripture teaches (2 Pet 1:20). We will be speaking from ourselves and not from the Word of God (see John 7:18). We must be willing to examine all the information God gives us on a topic and examine it in its context and ultimately in the context of the whole Bible for its meaning. We must understand that the sum of God’s Word is truth (Ps 119:160). In other words, to come to truth, we must search the whole Bible to define what we read. We cannot take one verse and build a doctrine without considering all related verses.

Therefore, the premise of the remaining study will be this. We must trust God’s Word alone for truth. God alone is the source of spiritual truth. God’s Word is truth (John 17:17). In believing God’s Word, we must allow it to be its own dictionary. That is, when we come across a phrase that we do not understand or an analogy that seems so obscure, we must be willing to diligently search the entire Bible for truth.

Consider the following flowchart:

Word, Phrase, or Passage

Step 1 – Understand the Passage Within its Context

Step 2 -Examine all Related Scriptures

Step 3 – Compare Scripture with Scripture

Step 4 – Can Christ / Gospel be Clearly Seen?

(if not related, go back to step 2)

Step 5 – Does the Conclusion Harmonize with the rest of the Bible?

(if no, go back to step 2)

Truth

Step 1: Understand the Passage Within its Context

On the surface this may seem obvious and is generally agreed to by many, many theologians and historians. However, in practice there is much difference of opinion on this. Many believe that to truly understand the context of a passage, one needs to know the cultural, historical, political, sociological setting of the passage. For example, they will teach that to understand the life of Christ and the teachings of the New Testament, one needs to know the social conditions of Israel being under Roman rule. One would need to know about various local customs and manners in place at the time. The problem of course with this thinking is that it makes the Bible elusive from the common man. It resorts to the fact that man needs some time of scholarly teacher that understands customs of that day. However, these teachers only know about the conditions of those days based on what other men have taught them through the writing of books. This results in a negation of the Scriptural assertion that the Holy Spirit is the One who enlightens us (John 14:16, 15:16, 16:13, 1 John 2:20-27). It takes away from God’s enlightenment and gives human man an important part in understanding the context of the Bible.

An interesting example (one of many) that shows that reliance on man’s scholarly wisdom over simply trusting the Bible is that of the woman’s role in church. The Bible clearly teaches that women are to keep silence in the churches; they are not permitted to speak (1 Cor 14:33-34). Again, women are not to teach or have authority over man (1 Tim 2:11-12). However, many teachers of the Bible assert that this was written in the context of the first century after Christ and it was not intended to necessarily apply to other cultures. The absurdity of this conclusion should be obvious. This means that man has placed his analytical mind over what God proclaims in His Word.

However, it is true that one must take the Bible in its context. The only context that we need to understand for the Bible is the Bible itself. The Bible provides just enough information concerning the cultural, political and social setting that we need. One must read the Bible passage in enough depth (cross-checking with other parts of the Bible) to actually understand the historical truth that is presented. So, on the one hand, one must clearly take any Bible word, phrase, sentence, paragraph, chapter and book in its context. But that context is limited to the Bible itself and not to entities outside of the Bible.

Step 2: Examine all Related Scriptures

This brings us to the second step of Bible study. It is imperative that enough reading and meditating of the Bible be done to arrive at truth. All Scriptures on a particular topic should be examined and studied. This fact must not be too quickly dismissed. For example, we find in the 4 Gospels much overlapping and complementary material. One must look at all the Scriptures on a particular topic to come to truth. In the Gospels, there are many events that are discussed in more than one of the Gospels. Although some scholars use these differing accounts to try to prove discrepancies in the Bible, once and again, careful study proves that there are no contradictions. These apparent contradictions typically point to the fact that God has a deeper spiritual truth that needs to be gleaned.

We find interesting Scriptures that prove the need to carefully examine all Scriptures. First, we see that Pr 25:2 teaches us that it is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the honor of kings to search it out. In other words, Christians should spend much time in searching out the Scriptures. Christians are commanded to diligently study the Bible (2 Tim 2:15). The Word of Christ is dwell in us richly (Col 3:16). We are commanded to consider God’s testimonies (Ps 119:95). There are many other commands that we are to search out the Scriptures (Ps 1:2-4, 2 Tim 1:5, 1 Pet 1:10-13, Acts 2:42, Ps 112;1, 1 Thess 5:21, etc).

Use a Concordance!

But to examine all related Scriptures actually takes hard work. This is the point that we must be obedient to God and study hard (2 Tim 2:15). We must consider the ant and not be a sluggard (Pr 6:6-9, 10:26, 13:4, 15:19, Heb 6:12, Ecc 10:18). We must be diligent. In the time period we live in, we have great tools available to us to help us study the Bible. The most important tool to use is a concordance. This document is simply a listing of all the words used in the Bible in alphabetical order. Many Bibles have an abbreviated concordance in the back which simply is a cross-reference by word to where they are found in the Bible. However, for a proper study of the Bible, one should use a complete concordance such as Strong’s or Young’s. I personally recommend the Young’s Concordance. This is because the Young’s Concordance is sorted by word, but then is sub-sorted by the Greek or Hebrew word that is translated. For example, the word ‘know’ in the English is actually a translation of two primary Greek Words (i.e. ginosko, oida). Each of the Greek words has a slightly different nuance and therefore, it is important to know this. The other nice thing about the Young’s Concordance is that it has an index in the back of the Hebrew or Greek words, so that one can see if it was translated by multiple English words (which is usually the case). The bottom line is that the diligent student should want to compare Scripture with Scripture which includes words with words. Therefore, knowing which words in the Bible are the same words is extremely helpful. We will see how this operates in our practical example later.

Some reading this may feel a bit intimidated when a concordance is brought up, especially when discussing Greek and Hebrew words. They may feel that is their pastor’s job, or the job of a theologian. However, this is not true. It is every Christian’s task since we are commanded to be diligent to search the Scriptures and be as the Bereans were (Acts 17). In fact, the task is not as bad as it may seem. One does not need any real understanding of the Greek or Hebrew language to be able to compare the same words since they are translated into English. One just wants to be careful that he is comparing apples with apples and oranges with oranges. This is accomplished by checking for similar words in the concordance.

Step 3: Compare Scripture with Scripture

Which things also we speak not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

1 Cor 2:13

The above verse is the key to a consistent Biblical understanding. As enabled by the Holy Spirit we must compare spiritual with spiritual. But what does that mean? Simply put, the student of God’s word must compare Scripture with Scripture to come to truth. The Scriptures are spiritual since they are written by God Himself who is a Spirit (John 6:63). When we see a term or phrase in the Bible, we must diligently search the Bible to see how that term or phrase is used throughout Scripture. This is the Biblical method to Bible study and must never be under emphasized or underestimated. A concordance is of great help in this matter!

It is interesting to note in the context of 1 Cor 2:13, we see that the Holy Spirit was given to us so that we know the things of God (verse 12). We do not know them from human words of wisdom. Rather, we can only know them by the Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who is our teacher (John 14:26). It is the Holy Spirit who has anointed us to know God’s truth (1 John 2:20-27). But, how is it that God uses the Holy Spirit to teach us? Well, it’s only when we compare Scripture with Scripture that we come to truth. The literal rendering of 1 Cor 2:13 is this: “…which the Holy Spirit teaches, by spiritual, spiritual things comparing.” We see clearly from this verse that the method that the Holy Spirit uses to teach us truth is that we take which is spiritual (i.e. the words of the Bible – John 6:63), and we compare them to that which is spiritual (i.e. other words of the Bible). This is confirmed by the Old Testament reference to how God’s word is given to His people (Is 28:10-13). It is by “line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little, there a little” that spiritual truth is gleaned.

But, how often, when we study the Bible, that the first thing we think of to interpret a verse is what our minds think of. When Rev 6 states that there will be a judgment on the fourth of the earth with sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts, our minds immediately want to tell us that this involves physical war, physical hunger, disease, and animal attacks. However, we must not trust our minds. We must trust the mind of God as found in the Bible. When we look at these four sore judgments, we see that they are related to significant spiritual truths which are not necessarily physical. We must always interpret spiritual meanings by comparing Scripture to clearer ones. For example, we find in Rev 6:8 killing by famine. Because we realize that Revelation is a highly symbolic book, we must understand the spiritual meaning behind a famine. By comparing Scripture with Scripture, we find in Amos 8:11 that the famine God is concerned with is the famine for hearing the Word of God. Therefore, we tentatively consider that the famine in Rev 6:8 may refer to a famine of not hearing the Word of God. Of course, additional study and comparison of other Scriptures would be required to confirm this.

Moreover, when Jesus is referred to as the Lamb, what should we do with this metaphor? What is the significance of the Lamb? When we study the complete Scripture, we find that the Lamb is a picture of that great sacrifice on the Passover. When we see the purpose of the Lamb in the Passover, we find that its purpose was to save those who were under the blood of the Lamb on the doorway of their homes (Ex 12). We can see a further connection. The Passover was the event that marked the freedom of Israel from bondage to Egypt. We find the term bondage used in the New Testament concerning our condition before we are saved. We are in bondage to sin. In addition, there are many more important spiritual points that could be made about the Lamb and Passover which all point to significant spiritual truth about the Lord and His work of salvation.

The point of the above example is that we must diligently compare Scripture with Scripture consistently in order to come to spiritual truth on a matter. When we see terminology in the Bible, we must turn to other Scripture to define the meanings of the terms. We must resist the temptation to take the easy approach and first use commentaries, Greek grammar books and the like to see what someone thinks it means. We must turn to the Bible first for the source of our spiritual truth.

Step 4: Can Christ / Gospel be Seen?

This step in Bible study is one that many people stumble over. In fact, it is a significant area of error. Generally, many Bible believers will agree that the Bible must be taken in context (although many go too far by believing that the context includes extra-Biblical material). They also believe that all Scriptures must be examined on a topic. Some even realize that Scripture must be compared to Scripture to arrive at truth. But, they stop short in their Biblical interpretation. They generally believe that ‘if the plain sense of Scripture makes sense, then seek no other sense’. Or in other words, if they feel that they have understood the historical – grammatical meaning of a passage, there is no need to go on beyond that.

There is a fatal error with this belief. If the plain sense of a passage is understood as simply being a historical story, then there would be a huge portion of Scripture that simply becomes a moral teaching at most. For example, the history of National Israel is a plain literal account of various events. If we never go beyond that, we miss spiritual truths about the historical account. If we believe the many miracles of Christ are simply events that occurred that prove that He was God, then we miss many beautiful portraits of the Gospel. These are just the beginning of the limitations man places on God if he seeks no other sense than the plain sense.

People who believe that the Bible should not be searched out for additional spiritual meaning to passages actually place a limit on the Bible. They essentially state that they can exhaust the truth of God in their human reasoning of a passage. However, the Scriptures do not teach this at all.

God’s Ways are Past Finding Out

We find that the Bible says that God’s ways are unsearchable (Ro 11:33, Ps 145:3, Job 5:9, Eph 3:8). His ways are past finding out (Ro 11:33-36, Job 5:9, 9:10, 11:7, Ecc 3:11). In other words, no man can presume to be able to fully fathom his deep God’s truth is. To teach that one can read the Bible accounts and ‘seek no other sense’ than what is plain violates the assertion of Scripture that God is ‘past finding out’.

All Scripture is the Gospel

As we saw before under point # 4, the whole Bible points to Christ / Gospel. We saw that God uses many pictures of salvation. He calls His word a proverb, parable, riddle, sign, etc to highlights that one must approach His Word in a spiritual method by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Jesus told the Pharisees:

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

John 5:39

As we saw before, to limit this statement of Christ to only a few Old Testament Scriptures violates the meaning of this verse. We find that the entire Bible is one way or another ultimately has a spiritual meaning that points to Christ. Although this is an easy statement to make, it is harder to believe. However, when one starts studying the Bible, comparing Scripture with Scripture, and begins to discover how the Bible beautifully fits together and ultimately points to spiritual truth, then confirmation is made.

In my personal experience, I have met many people who consider themselves Bible believing, yet they do not believe that the entire Bible actually points to spiritual truth. They generally believe that there is spiritual truth in it, but there is other information that is valuable as historical information or for moral teaching. Therefore, they believe that part of the Bible points to Christ and spiritual truth. But, other parts do not. It is interesting, however, when deeper spiritual truth is pointed out to these people they generally cannot argue with the doctrinal conclusions or the Scriptures used. They just do not ‘feel comfortable’ with that interpretation of the Bible. This limit they place on God’s Word is actually a significant barrier to understanding God. It limits God’s truth and can easily lead to foolish questions since they are not willing to search the Scriptures and find Christ. We find commands in the Scriptures to avoid foolish questions (Titus 3:9, 1 Tim 1:4, 2 Tim 2:23). A foolish question arises when one is asking questions not related to what the spiritual focus of a passage implies. Because the wisdom of God comes by knowing the spiritual meaning of a passage (1 Cor 2:6-16), we ask a foolish question when we try to speculate on the literal passage. For example, many foolish debates have arisen concerning the creation account where there was light on the first day (Gen 1:3), yet the sun was not created until the fourth day (Gen 1:14-15). Many have spend needless hours of speculation concerning what was this physical light that was there before the sun was created. They may drift off into all types of speculations that really are not important at all. Although, we must believe that the light on the first day and the sun on the fourth day is absolutely historically true, we only glean spiritual value when we compare Scripture with Scripture. We find in 2 Cor 4:6, that God shined forth on the first day as a picture of the Gospel. In the darkness and chaos of a creation that God knew would be fallen, He shined forth with the Gospel. Christ was slain from the foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). In this simple example, we can see that by comparing Scripture with Scripture, we can glean wonderful truths that point to the Gospel, where if we focus on the historical story, we simply end up with foolish questions.

Step 5: Does Conclusion Harmonize with the Rest of the Bible?

Once the spiritual meaning has been determined (and it may not yet be determined due to God not yet enlightening the Scriptures), it must agree with all of Scripture. God is not the author of confusion, but of peace (1 Cor 14:33). His Word is truth (John 17:17). Therefore, there can be no errors in it and no contradictions if it truly His Word. When a conclusion is reached concerning the spiritual interpretation of a passage and it contradicts other clearer Scripture, then one can know that he has erred.

However, if the spiritual interpretation has been determined by collecting and comparing all relevant Scriptures on a topic and it harmonizes with other Biblical teaching, one can begin to rest assured that he has reached truth. We should always check our work of interpreting the Bible by comparing what we have concluded with other clearer Scriptures.

Bible Interpretation