The Bible is a book of revealed facts. All biblical interpretations are human inferences developed through the ages. The Bible has been used to prop up various Church creeds, various Church doctrines and formularies, and the respective views of various denominations. As a result, the Bible is almost never read as a whole, but in mere fragments.
I believe every Christian should learn how to study the Bible properly. I recently read an eye-opening book titled How to Study the Bible by Henry Dunn, from which I have learned some very important points about studying the Bible. This eye-opening book can be accessed at archive.org.
First of all, Christians ought to ask the following questions when studying the Bible:
- For what purpose was the text written?
- What were the precise words?
- To whom were the words addressed?
- Under what circumstances were the words spoken?
It is necessary to ask those questions because very few Christians realize that the Prophets to Israel of old do not apply to people of this generation, that warnings of temporal calamity to God’s favoured nation should not be construed as threatenings of eternal woe, and that words spoken or promises made to the Apostles do not apply by projection to today’s Church ministers. For example, Christ gave the Apostles the power to forgive sins, but that power died with the Apostles. No one has such power today.
Secondly, owing to the omissions, mistranslations, and interpolations, Christians need to read more than one version of the Bible to get a proper meaning of the text in question. For example, many modern Bible versions intentionally omitted the second part of Luke 4:4, without which the meaning of Jesus’ saying is incomplete:
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” (NIV)
Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” (NET)
Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One shall not live by bread alone.’” (NABRE)
Thirdly, Christians should always read the whole chapter when studying the Bible. Many people cherry-pick Bible verses and adapt them to their own purposes. For example, some people blame God for the world’s evil because of the KJV mistranslation of Isaiah 45:7, which states:
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
Because of this mistranslation. some people believe that God created evil people like Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot. A better translation of Isaiah 45:7 would be:
I form the light, and create darkness: I bring prosperity and calamity: I the LORD do all these things.
Furthermore, Christians ought to remember that Isaiah 45 applies only to Israel, not the rest of the world.
I have read the Bible on my own a few times, and I had naively thought that I had some understanding of the inspired words. I was wrong. I am glad that I came across great Christian writers such as Henry Dunn, Charles Erdman, Robert Anderson, to name a few. As Christians living in the present world, we are fortunate that we have free access to many great Christian books that help us not only to understand the inspired words better but also to see the perversion and exaggeration of Scripture.
Mary W. Ng 