Basic Elements of Christianity
Understanding the Holy Bible, Part 1
19(4/24)
Basic Elements of Christianity
Understanding the Holy Bible, Part 1
19(4/24)
Since the Holy Bible is God's revelation of Himself and of His will to man, it makes sense that He would desire us to understand it. While many things, especially those relating to salvation, are easily understood, some other things are not. The written Word is designed to save us, but it is also designed to tantalize those who love God to study it. Ask any true child of God that has walked with Christ for some time and they will tell you they keep finding new (to them) treasures in the Holy Bible that delight and nourish their spirit!
There are at least two things you will want to do as you study the Holy Bible: discover the levels of meaning of what you are reading and how God wants to apply what you have learned to your life. It could be said there are factual aspects and the devotional aspects of a passage. You will want to strive to be accurate in both.
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I Must Tell You This! Until the sixth grade I had great academic grades. However, I did something wrong for which I was arrested for. That was a terrible mental blow to me since I had let my parents down. I don't have room here for my full testimony, but suffice it to say at this point my mental state was very negative. My grades dropped. I almost failed one grade. When in high school, I anticipated taking the chemistry class but, when I did, I hardly understood anything. After some time I knew my chances of becoming a scientist were very slim. When I was a senior in high school and applied to three colleges, I was rejected by all three. However, I committed my life to Christ in January 1970. A couple of weeks later I felt God's call to the ministry. I applied to one, and only one, school--Northeast Bible Institute (NBI), Green Lane, PA. I was accepted. One of the classes I took was Biblical Hermeneutics--Holy Bible Interpretation. As I sat in the first session a broad smile came to my face as I, with great joy, heard my instructor say that hermeneutics is a science! So, after giving up on being a scientist, God sent me in that direction after all. It is always a great joy for me to apply hermeneutical principles to passages that God has directed me to use in ministry to the people He has entrusted me with. |
As a brief example as to what I mean when I say levels of meaning, look at Mark 1:40-42. Just on the surface we can see a simple fact: a leper asked to be healed and Christ healed him. But I'm sure you can already see more--the deep desire on the part of the leper to be healed, the deep desire on the part of Christ to heal and the fact that Christ did heal him. But there is even more than that!
The devotional aspects also range from what we see on the surface to deep, life changing truths. In brief, from Mark 1:40-42 we see, among many other things, our need for humility, persistence, sincerity, reverence and commitment. We see on the part of Christ His desire, compassion, mercy, love, authority, power, and intimacy— just to name a few.
Though a whole lot more can be said about the passage, the object of this lesson and the next is to give you four sets of principles to follow in order to improve your knowledge of the Holy Bible and apply it to your life. You will see this is not a series of technical methods, but one of God given order and godly reason used by the godly down through the ages.
You will not always have to use, or have the means to use, every principle you learn about. However, it is helpful to know about all these principles. There is a lot of information to learn in this lesson and the next, but it will prepare you for the coming lessons and those times when you will be confronted by skeptics. It is very important that you learn how to correctly understand the Holy Bible.
First, let us look at the . . .
First and foremost is . . .
The best thing we can do is to let the Holy Bible speak for itself. If we come across something that seems to be against what others have told us, we need to lay aside what was planted in our mind and by faith embrace what the Holy Bible says.
"Faith is a fundamental attitude toward the word of God without which an interpreter is totally disqualified. This faith must not be a mere intellectual faith, but also a faith of the heart which involves a commitment of ourselves to that which we believe, John 7:17."—Walter Beuttler.2
Remember in earlier lessons you learned you were primarily spirit and your spirit is the real you that lasts for ever. You also learned that since God subsists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and you subsist as body, soul and spirit, you and God have something in common--you and God are spirit.
You also learned that the Holy Bible was "given by inspiration of God," which can be said as "God-breathed." The image in this section shows you this word in Greek, transliterated and pronounced, so you will see a special connection with the Holy Spirit.
In 2 Timothy 3:16 the phrase "given by inspiration of God" is one word in the Greek which is simply a combination of "God" and "breathed." To say the last part of that word in Greek we would say "noos-tos," and that is the part of the word that expresses the term "breathed." This "noos-tos" is akin to pneuma (spirit). Pneuma can also be translated as breath.
Since the Holy Bible is a spiritual (God-breathed) Book and we are spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, as noted in John 16:13, guides us into all truth. The Holy Spirit will illuminate a passage for us as we seek God. Also, if we listen carefully, there will be times we will sense God telling us certain things about a passage. So . . .
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The following is a list of some of the versions I have read either entirely or in part, and my thoughts of each. You may skip this section if you like and simply use it as a reference. You will not be quizzed on this section. The Amplified Bible brings out additional possible renderings of words and phrases. Though this work amplifies words for us, we are to keep in mind that due to the context of any one verse in question, all of its amplifications of a word may not apply. In my examination of the Amplified I have noted elsewhere its erroneous note on Proverbs 8 concerning wisdom. The Contemporary English Version is not worth your while. I have read various passages in the OT and what this translation does is to destroy the beauty of Hebrew poetry. I liken it to crushing a butterfly. Douay-Rheims is a Roman Catholic (RC) translation which came into being in part to counteract the Protestant versions produced in Protestant Reformation times. There are some passages in it that bolster the RC tradition that states Mary only had one child, Jesus. However, the actual text shows he did have half brothers. New American Standard (NASB)-- I had enjoyed this for awhile until I found a few passages untrue to the actual text. The New International Version (NIV)-- The NIV NT was released while I was being trained at Bible institute during the early 70's. It was declared by some as the best translation yet, and I believed what I was told. The NIV deals with international English. That point was made real to me in a passage in Song of Solomon. "Browse" can mean to "Feed". In most American's minds, "browse" means to look. For numerous years I would use the NIV without question and accept its rendering of the text above what the KJV had. However, in the course of attempting to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses, and researching various passages on certain topics, especially marriage and divorce, I found the NIV untrue to the Greek in many locations. In some cases, I feel that the translation committee made some changes for clarity. However, in the area of marriage and divorce, for certain reasons based on the actual text, I suspect bias toward a liberal approach in translating. The NIV greatly failed on this point in 1 Cor. 7. At one point, the NIV chose "divorce" instead of "loosed"(KJV), and, checking the Greek, the KJV was correct, and there were no variants at all for that passage! In regard to the subordination of the Son of God, the NIV makes it absolutely difficult to adequately explain this to a Jehovah's Witness because it strays from the Greek. Trinitarians have no problems with such passages, but the deviation from the actual Greek supplies areas of argument from Jehovah's Witnesses. In regard to the OT, I have not discovered anything amiss as of yet, but the NIV's deviance from the actual Greek for the NT has caused me to reject it as a workable, usable, trustworthy translation. The New World Translation: As noted elsewhere, sometimes a translation is created so people can attempt to make the Holy Bible say what they want it to say. One of the greatest examples of this is the NWT by the Watchtower Society (Jehovah's Witnesses). For one thing, hooked on the thought that the Name of God just has to be Jehovah (however, it is most likely Yahweh), they often translate the Greek word kurios (Lord) in the NT as Jehovah. Essentially, kurios means Lord and that is it. The only time you can be sure it is denoting the divine Name is when the NT quotes or alludes to an OT passage that contains the name, YHWH. However, the Watchtower Society often translates the word kurios as Jehovah when it should be left as Lord, and drops "Jehovah" when it becomes inconvenient. In the case of an OT quote or allusion, they should have followed their desire to use "Jehovah" for Philippians 2:10-11, for part of it is derived from Isa. 45:22-25. Of course they would not for they would have to admit that Yahweh and Jesus are the same. It is not publicly known who "translated" the NWT. Probably this is not unlike their founder, Charles Taze Russell who, according to Walter Martin3, perjured himself in a court case when he indicated he could read Greek. Under examination he could not even name the letters of the Greek alphabet when he was shown them. There is much more to show in regard to the NWT. An educated, honest evaluation of the NWT would soon bring one to the obvious conclusion that it is riddled with error and bias. The Revised Standard Version (RSV)-- I have never finished reading this one. To me it was difficult to enjoy and was like eating a dried steak! In preparing this lesson, I also came across a scathing rebuke levied against it by Evans4 regarding its translation of 2 Tim. 3:16. Today's English Version, Good News For Modern Man, the New English Bible are weak in holding true to the actual text. |
As stated earlier, I would recommend the New King James (NKJV), the King James Version specifically the Authorized Version (AV) of 1769, and works by Jay Green like the KJ3. The NKJV eliminates much of the archaic language of the KJV.
This leads me to explain why there are translations or versions. The OT was written mostly in Hebrew and the balance in Aramaic. Most of the NT was written in Koine (common) Greek. At least Matthew and maybe the epistle to the Hebrews were possibly originally written in Aramaic, but the entire NT has been preserved in Koine Greek. So, the Holy Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. You can easily memorize that fact because by taking the first letter of each language in order you can spell HAG! Currently there are over 200 languages in the world and everyone should have the Word of God in their own language. Most of the billions of people do not understand Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek.
If you look at an edition of the KJV, you will see terms and phrases you would not recognize. The reason is because languages change over the years, and usually change for the worse. When I was a little tyke in the 50's, "gay" meant happy. Today, society has corrupted it to mean "homosexual." If you were to go back in time to 1810, you would not hear anyone speak of "smog," but you do today. So, looking at the KJV you might come across a word like "peradventure." Today, we say "perhaps." Today we say "conversation" when we are referring to people talking. Back then the word meant one's "manner of living." Also, if you are using the KJV, you will come across words that many of those in the United States consider vulgar today, but were not considered vulgar when the translation was made (see Gen. 22:3, Deu. 23:2 and 2 Kings 18:27 in the KJV). So, though words in the ancient texts meant certain things at the time they were written, one reason new translations and revisions are made is because our language changes over the course of time. The Truth does not change, but our language does.
Along with the meaning of some words in a language changing over the course of time is the fact that often spelling changes, especially in English. The AV uses worshipped for worshiped, musick for music, along with a few others. The AV also varies the spelling of some names. You will find Isaiah spelled in the NT as Esaias as is Jeremiah is spelled Jeremy for a couple of examples.
However, sometimes a translation or paraphrase is made because someone or some group wants to make the Holy Bible say what they want it to say. One example is the New World Translation (NWT) published by the Watchtower Society (Jehovah's Witnesses). More detail on the NWT is given to the left. Just keep in mind that just because a cover says "Holy Bible," that does not mean it is the real thing.
What we want is an honest translation where there was no tampering of the text or changing the meaning of the words for any reason, even if that reason was with "good intentions."
Let us look at what God says about a topic versus what society says about it. What do you think about when you hear the word "prophecy?" Most would say forecasting the future. However, looking at how the Holy Bible uses the word "prophecy," while it can mean speaking about the future, it mainly means declaring the purposes of God.
We should also know the meaning of a word at the time it was written in the originals. While most true Christians do not know Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek, we do have at our disposal tools like Strong's Concordance and works by Wuest, Vine, Wilson, Thayer and many others to help us if need be.
Nonetheless, while God keeps some things "secret," there is much that He does not keep secret, but reveals certain things to those who know the Truth and can accept and use, with the wisdom of God, some very deep truths (Deu. 29:29, Dan. 2:22).
Now that we have looked at seven foundational principles, we can learn about seven...
Once again, you will see that these are just godly common sense.
Here is an example from Ecclesiastes 3:18-21: "I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?"
If we just read that without finishing the whole book of Ecclesiastes we would get the impression we are no different than an animal and our spirit does not return to God. However, the proper conclusion is given near the end of the book, in Ecclesiastes 12:7, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it." Much of Ecclesiastes, written by Solomon by the Holy Spirit, is a look at life on earth without much regard for our Creator. Earthly living without regard for God is vanity.
The principle of context is one of the most neglected principles of interpretation. Its neglect has given rise to the defamation of the Holy Bible and many cults and errors, some of which are dangerous.
One is quotations or paraphrases of other passages. Hebrews 5:5 reads, "So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee." The last part, "Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee," is a quote from Psalm 2:7. Reading Psalm 2 gives a deeper understanding of Hebrews 5:5.
The other is the explanation or application of a statement. For example, in Mark 16:17-18 we read, "And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."
Would this mean to show our faith we should purposely pick up poisonous snakes or drink poison? I prefer snacks and not snakes at the end of a service! But this passage should be understood in what happened to the Apostle Paul when he and others were shipwrecked on Malta. As he gathered sticks for a fire, a poisonous snake bit him--and he survived without harm. See Acts 28:1-6. So we deduce from this we are not to purposely attempt to invoke the protection mentioned in Mark 16:18.
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Explanation of Some Terms You Will Find In The Holy Bible Herod(s): For various reasons, the Herodian family came into favor with Rome and were placed as Rome's puppet kings at various times in selected provinces of Palestine. Unger5 records the following: Herod (the Great), Archelaus, Herod Antipas, Philip, Herod Agrippa I and Herod Agrippa II. Pharisee(s): In brief, the Pharisees somewhat began as a group who held fast to the Jewish Law despite Antiochus Epiphanes' proscription of Judaism in 168 BC. Unger writes6, "They were rigid, legalistic separatists, with watchwords of prayer, repentance and charitable giving." Though their beginning was admirable, " . . . they gradually degenerated into empty, unprincipled religionists in Jesus' day." The Pharisees added traditions to the Law of Moses, making tradition equal to, and sometimes even greater than, the Law. Lawyer(s): See Scribe(s) below. Phylactery(ies): 7Selected OT Scriptures were written in Hebrew on parchments and placed in a container of parchment or black calf skin and attached to the arm or head to wear (Sadducees would wear them in the palm of their left hand). Some would make their phylacteries larger than usual to attract attention to themselves. Sadducee(s): Mostly aristocratic, worldly-minded priests. While they obeyed the letter of the Law, they denied a number of scriptural truths like angels, divine retribution, and the resurrection. This group is easy to remember by thinking, "They denied the resurrection, so they were sad you see." Samaritan(s): The nation of Israel divided into northern and southern kingdoms under King Rehoboam, son of Solomon. The southern kingdom was collectively termed Judah, while the northern kingdom was Israel. Jerusalem was the capital of Judah, and Samaria soon became the capital of Israel. Both Israel and Judah repeatedly fell into sin and were consequently punished by God. Israel was first with Samaria falling in 721 B.C. to the Assyrians who led most of its population away to Assyria. 8After a few generations, the meager remnant left behind in Samaria began to intermarry and their religious tendencies became more corrupt. The Samaritans for years worshiped on Mount Gerizim and at one point even had a rival temple there which was destroyed by John Hyrcanus around 120 B.C.9 who also forced them to give up their idolatry. The Mount Gerizim temple was never rebuilt. Hatred between the Jews and Samaritans grew over the years. Knowing this will now help you better understand passages like John 8:48. Sanhedrin: An aristocratic body eventually comprised of 70 members presided over by the high priests which had powers of jurisdiction.10 Scribe(s): "The scribes were copyists of Holy Scripture, intimately conversant with the Mosaic Law," hence also called lawyers.11 Zealot(s): A Jewish nationalistic party that actively sought freedom from Rome and all foreign control. |
Here is an example regarding geography. In the United States when we travel from south to north we might say we are going "up north." However, in the Holy Bible often "going up" to a location meant going up in elevation. So if someone was heading south from Nazareth and heading to Jerusalem, they would be going "up to Jerusalem," since it was higher in elevation though they would be going from north to south. An example involving culture is that "heaping coals of fire upon one's head" was a custom to help one's friend transfer hot goals from a "community stove" to their own stove --- not to burn them!
In the next lesson you will learn about the principle of distinguishing between record and command, what the Holy Bible records as an event and what it presents as a command to follow. This principle is similar to record and command and also touches upon context.
The statement by certain Jews in John 8:33 where they said, “We be Abraham’s seed, and were never in bondage to any man,” is an example of considering the source of a statement made. These were unbelieving Jews who would soon depart from Christ anyway. They were evidently blinded by their pride to the fact their nation was under Roman rule, and that their ancestors had been enslaved by Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt to name a few.
Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread,” has been used by those into “hyperfaith” that claim real strong Christians are always prosperous in this world. What they neglect is the fact that David made this statement during the time of Israel’s best years. The circumstances of that statement have to be taken into consideration. Along with that is the fact that other Holy Scripture points to the fact that those who are godly in Christ will suffer adversity. In my opinion, the hyperfaith community needs to consider the entire Word of God, then take off their rose colored glasses and look at the Christians that suffer for their faith, even to the point of begging, around the world.
The Holy Scriptures point to five exclusive attributes of God, viz., omnipresent (everywhere present), omniscient (all knowing), omnipotent (all powerful) according to His nature, eternal (timeless), and immutable (cannot change nor be destroyed). These are things we are certainly not. So He is well capable of actions we cannot do or even think of. YHVH God declares in Isaiah 58:8-9, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says YHVH. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Many, if not most, people think along earthly terms and consider miraculous and hard to understand things recorded in the Holy Bible as fictitious. However, during the course of mankind’s history one generation would consider certain things impossible but after millennia or centuries later they came to pass. For example, if you could go four or five thousand years back in time and in a conversation with someone tell them your generation can cook a meal without fire they would find it hard to believe and might consider you a liar. Just in the past 30 years there have been many scientific advances that are very amazing.
So, it should not be unbelievable or considered fictitious to us when we read in the Holy Bible that God has the capability of creating people out of stones (Matthew 3:9, Luke 3:8) or establish on earth a city of tremendous dimensions as described in Revelation 21:2 and 16.
Therefore the following statement by Christ in John 3:13 is not self-contradictory: “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” There is another supposed contradiction with the first part of this verse where Christ states “no man has ascended up to heaven”, because Enoch and Elijah did not die, but were taken to heaven. However, right there is answer to the supposed contradiction, because Jesus, by His own power, ascended to heaven but Enoch and Elijah were taken (noting the grammar).
As mentioned above, many people think in earthly terms. As a result, many fall into what I call “linear thinking.” We must not limit, in our minds, God to do things the way we think they should be done or in the order we might expect. For example, some people think that everything in a book of the Holy Bible must be in sequential order. However, this is not even true with some man-made works. So, we should not be surprised if things are not sequential at times as in the case of Daniel or Jeremiah. No one made a mistake. God is emphasizing something in the spiritual realm, presenting deep lessons for us to learn. And, there are times the Holy Spirit injected explanatory passages in the midst or throughout a sequential account.
Learning and applying these principles, and those in the next lesson, will benefit you in a number of ways and help you be a blessing to others.
Test your knowledge, and some of the new skills you have learned, with this quiz English only.
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1Beuttler, Walter: Principles of Bible Interpretation (publisher, location of publisher, date are unknown), Section G, subsections 4 (2). Special Note: This study by Beuttler, along with some others I have, were sent to me via e-mail by Brother Ken Madden, to whom I am grateful.
2Beuttler--Same: G, 4, (1)
3Martin, Walter: The Kingdom of the Cults (Bethany Fellowship, Inc.: Minneapolis, 1972) pp38-40.
4Evans (same as in Prayer), pp201-2
5Unger (same as Enjoy Your Holy Bible), p469
6Unger, p461
7Freeman, James: Manners and Customs of the Bible (Logos International: Plainfield, NJ; 1972), pp367-8
8Menzies, William: Understanding the Times of Christ (Gospel Publishing House: Springfield, MO), pp 90-1
9The Jewish Encyclopedia-- http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1004&letter=H
10Unger, p461
11Unger, p462
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Part 2 of Understanding the Holy Bible
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