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Twelve rules for Bible study (part 1)

Bible Never Contradicts Itself

If you have difficulty in understanding any particular scripture — if it seems to say something different from another scripture, you may just need to study further. Always remember beyond any shadow of a doubt the principle of rule four: that God never contradicts Himself. Therefore, either your understanding of the particular scripture or the translation that you are reading is incorrect or misunderstood.

Malachi 3:6 — "For I am the Lord, I CHANGE NOT; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed" — MEANS what it says. Hebrews 13:8 — "Jesus Christ the SAME yesterday, and today, and forever" — MEANS what it says.

The very source of truth is God's Word (John 17:17) — and unless your approach to it, your study of it is from this point of view you will never gain any understanding from it.

Let's notice an apparent contradiction appearing in Proverbs 26:4, 5 — verse four reads "ANSWER NOT a fool according to his folly." Yet, the very next verse tells us, "ANSWER a fool according to his folly."

Actually, these two verses are not contradictory — BUT COMPLEMENTARY!

The use of either verse — that is, its principle applied to a particular use —depends on the set of circumstances. Both these verses contain gems of wisdom that each one of us needs to learn to properly apply in answering other people's questions.

The LAST PART OF EACH VERSE holds the KEY which unlocks the meaning of these verses — and shows them to be practical, usable and wise principles.

Verse four reads, "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him." The last part of the verse holds the KEY: don't degrade yourself by descending to HIS LEVEL in an ARGUMENT! Don't harangue — don't bite back — don't try to "argue back" with someone who is obviously trying to stir contention.

The perfect example of this is found in Luke 20:1-8. Here Christ was teaching in the temple. The Pharisees came to Him with these words: "Tell us, BY WHAT AUTHORITY doest thou these things? or WHO is he that gave thee this authority?"

Quite obviously, they weren't interested in learning anything — they weren't coming as humble individuals hungering after new knowledge. THEY WERE THERE TO ARGUE WITH CHRIST!

Notice, how Christ handled the situation.

"And he answered and said unto them, I will also ASK YOU ONE thing; and answer me: The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men?

"And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then believed ye him not?

"But and if we say, Of men; all the people will stone us: for they be persuaded that John was a prophet.

"And they answered, that they could not tell whence it was.

"And Jesus said unto them, NEITHER TELL I YOU by what authority I do these things" (Luke 20:3-8).

Christ answered their question with a question! To answer their question directly would have only resulted in a verbal battle. An argument would have ensued. Christ avoided strife by NOT answering them according to their folly.

Now, understand verse five in Proverbs 26. Again, the last part of the verse holds the KEY: "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit."

In this case — if you don't answer his question — if you don't accept his challenge — he is going to THINK HIMSELF to be wise!

The apostle Paul had this problem. False apostles in Corinth were claiming THEY WERE the true apostles of Christ. The congregation was being LED ASTRAY!

Now was not the time for silence —or clever questions! Now was the time to SMASH the contentions — to ANSWER these false apostles!

Notice II Corinthians 11:23 — and how he answered these foolish men. "Are they ministers of Christ? (I SPEAK AS A FOOL) I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.

"Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one . . . In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness."

Paul showed the people HE was their true minister! He answered and debunked the claims of these other men.

There is no contradiction! But rather much wisdom in these two verses. Wisdom we need to APPLY in our daily lives!

 

What DOES the Bible Say?

This FIFTH rule of Bible study often solves many problems. Many times our misunderstanding comes from the confusion that this world causes from a misinterpretation, a direct twisting of a scripture to conform to the doctrines of demons promulgated by Satan's ministers.

"Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in THEIR OWN eyes, and prudent in THEIR OWN sight"! (Isa. 5:20-23) Many who claim to be representatives of God, the interpreters of His Word, TWIST and WREST that Word to their own destruction and the destruction of their hearers.

So always remember to ask yourself — and, answer — the question: "What does the BIBLE say?"

John 3:6 is a good example of this. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit IS spirit." This is a very clear scripture, explaining that flesh is flesh and Spirit is spirit! That's what the Bible says! But that's not what people say the Bible says!

Sometimes you may have to refer to a reference work (which we will cover under a separate rule) for scriptures such as I John 5:7.

Or perhaps a note in the margin of your Bible will help you understand a scripture that seems to contradict what you know to be the truth. Take the example of Luke 17:20-21 — "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is WITHIN you." Here, the Bible does say, "The kingdom of God is within you." But here it is only the King James translation which says this — not necessarily God's exact Word. So, since it is not clear in the King James translation, other aids are necessary to find out what it does say.

This leads automatically to the next rule of Bible study, rule number six:

 

Check the Context

Context means, con — with, text — text. In order to check the context you merely read the texts which come WITH the text that is in question. You read the texts BEFORE and the texts AFTER. In this example of Luke 17:21, you need to also ask yourself a number of questions regarding the context. The text that is with (con) Luke 17:21, is Luke 17:20! This verse just before answers the question regarding verse 21, but in order to answer that question you must ask yourself the question, "WHO?"

In other words you must ask yourself, if "the Kingdom of God is within you" — WHO is the YOU that the Bible is referring to? In this case verse 20 explains that it is the Pharisees! Now you KNOW that certainly Jesus Christ wasn't saying that the Kingdom of God is inside of PHARISEES! Therefore, the con-(with) text helps you to see that there must be a mistranslation in this particular verse.

And sure enough, when you check the margin of your Bible you will find that the word "within" should be translated "among" — referring to Jesus Himself as a Representative of God's Kingdom who was at that time "among" the Pharisees!

In order to understand any scripture thoroughly, in its context, you need to ask yourself — and answer for yourself — all the following questions: WHAT?

WHEN? WHERE? WHY? WHO? How?

When you have answered these questions regarding any particular text, and you have read all of the accompanying texts, with the text in question, you will have GOD'S answer to the problem.

Many people misunderstand Mark 7:19 — thinking that in this place unclean meats were cleansed by Christ — simply because they do not read the context. In this case the context is the entire chapter. You must go back from verse 19, until you begin to find the subject about which verse 19 is talking. That subject has to do with whether or not to wash your hands ceremonially before you eat, and has nothing to do with whether the food you eat is clean or unclean according to the laws of Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14.

There are even lies written in the Bible and you have to be careful that you ask yourself exactly what the Bible says in the entirety of the context of any one statement. The Bible says, "Ye shall NOT surely die" (Gen. 3:4). This is a Biblical statement! But in order to find out whether it's true or not you have to find out WHO said it. In this particular case the same verse explains that Satan the Devil said it, but in order to find out whether it is true or not (because sometimes even Satan tells the truth) you have to go back in the context until you come to Genesis 2:17 where the Creator-God is quoted as saying, "THOU SHALT SURELY DIE!" — then you know what the Bible, in its ENTIRETY and in its truth, DOES SAY!

This brings us to rule number seven — continued in the October 1969 issue Twelve Rules for Bible Study (part 2).