LET THE BIBLE INTERPRET ITSELF

 In our quest for God’s truth we often find many disagreements among believers. It is a sad fact that we often disagree on so many biblical issues. The first rule to find God’s truth is to allow the Bible to interpret itself. We need to look at the verses in the context of the immediate issue they are addressing. Next we need to look for scriptures that witness to what is being said. Thirdly, we need to look at the Bible as one complete book--not just as Old Testament and New Testament--it is one complete book that reveals the mind of God and His plan for creation.

Many Christians discount the Old Testament and just focus on the New Testament. This is cutting out more than half of God’s word. I like to look at the Old Testament as revealing the ways of God and the New Testament as revealing the acts of God through Yeshua:

 The LORD performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. Psalm 103.6-8

 These verses in Psalm 103 express it clearly. Moses sought God’s presence and had a deep personal relationship with God. The Israelites did not want to get that close to God:

 All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance. Then they said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die." Exodus 20.18-19

 In other words, rather than seeking the Lord themselves, and reading the word, people have a tendency to go to the pastor or priest and ask them what they should do. We let someone else do our thinking for us. The Israelites had a chance to get to know God’s ways and they blew it. “You go talk to God, Moses, we’ll do what you tell us. We don’t have time to get to know God that closely.” They knew God’s acts, but they didn’t know His ways.

 Most times these are the same people who will argue scripture with you but have no clue as to what the scriptures really say--they are just parroting what they’ve heard from someone else. If you want to know the Almighty you must search the scriptures yourself and wait in His presence for understanding.

 Allowing scripture to interpret itself means this: It is not to be based on one verse. Take things in context with the verses surrounding the verse. Then look for more verses and their context. Do they confirm what you believe you are seeing? The Bible is our instruction manual. The difference is that we must search all scriptures, both O.T and N.T. to interpret as a whole. Isolated verses are not allowing the Bible to interpret itself—all verses and paragraphs on the topic do!

God will lead you into truth if you will allow Him to. Answers will not always come right away. We need to search the scriptures for understanding of what God is trying to say. A great method for this is to do word studies. For instance, look up all the references to the word death. What does the Bible say about death? Then look up the word sleep and see how the two words can be used in the same context. All you need is a good Bible Concordance and you can find all the scriptures with the specific word you are studying.

 It also helps to study written history concerning the issue you’re studying. History will fill in many details which will prove what is true or not.

 As you pray and meditate on the verses that contain these words you will begin to hear God’s voice and interpretation. This can take days, weeks, or even months. What is the hurry? You want truth--you sometimes have to wait for it (Isaiah 40.31). I have waited more than a year on the Lord for a complete answer on many of my questions.

 The answer should witness to your spirit and you should be able to find confirmation from other people and sources on the question at hand. Even then, you will find others who disagree. If you are diligently trying to allow the word to interpret itself you should be receiving the Lord’s truth on the issue. Some will just refuse to hear and will hang unto their preconceived beliefs and traditions that are unsubstantiated in the word.

 I can respect people disagreeing with me--but they need to show me clear biblical references that support their positions. So many just talk, twist the written word, use one verse, and refuse to allow the Bible to interpret itself. Show me your entire collection of verses or I will just shake the dust off my feet and move on!