The notion that the Bible is too difficult and mysterious to be understood is a misconception. The Bible has been given and preserved for the very purpose of teaching and guiding man. God is not a God of confusion. With honesty and diligent study, His word can be comprehended.
Here are three points to keep in mind when you are studying the Bible. Failure to practice any of these can result in confusion over or misunderstanding of a Bible passage.
1) Observe the subject at hand. To properly understand a verse or several verses in the Bible, you must get a feel for the context that you find it in. This is only common sense. Suppose that you are sitting in a park. Two women walk by and you overhear them talking about their husbands. A few minutes later they walk by again and you hear one woman say, “I took him to the doctor and he recommended that he be put to sleep”. In light of what you heard before you might be tempted to jump to the conclusion the woman is planning to dispose of her husband. Yet, the fact is that the women had changed the subject of conversation from husbands to dogs. Without an understanding of the context of the conversation, it is easy to be confused.
The same is true with studying the Bible. You just can’t open up to a page, read a statement, and expect to come away with the right idea. You must read each statement of the Bible within the context in which it is found. Read several verses before and after each statement. A good practice is read the entire page on which you find the statement. Determine the general subject at hand. Look for the main idea. Then you will have a feel for the environment in which the statement is found. Then you will be closer to properly comprehending the phrase under consideration.
2) Harmonize all passages that are related to a subject. One of the most dangerous things that you can do is to zero in on one passage and ignore others that are related to it. Satan did this when he used Scripture to try and persuade Jesus to jump off the temple and test God’s care (read Matthew 4:5-7). Jesus clarified the passage that Satan used by quoting another. Thus, Jesus showed the importance of combining or harmonizing all passages that have to do with a given subject.
Often people quote John 3:16 to explain what we are to do to receive salvation through Christ. That passage teaches us that if we believe in Christ we can be saved. Yet, the Bible says more about our salvation. Mark 16:16 states, “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved;…” The Bible teaches that both belief and baptism are necessary for salvation. Unless you combine all that the Bible says on a given subject, you will come up short on what God wants you to know.
3) Lay aside what you have been taught by men and let the Bible speak for itself. Many people are confused in their study of the Bible because they read things in it which do not conform to what they have previously been taught. There are a lot of strange ideas floating around in the religious world. And, if you expect the Bible to correspond withall that you hear from religious teachers you are going to end up frustrated.
One very important step that is necessary in order for you to fully grasp the teaching of the Bible is to put aside the teachings of men. Go into your Bible study with a clean slate. Let God chisel on your mind and engrave on your heart through His Word. As long as you hang on to human teachings that clash with the Bible you will never come to a complete understanding of the Scriptures.
Phillip Mullins