While some have suggested over the years that the Bible is hard to understand, perhaps we should see what the Bible has to say about that. Luke wrote about the life of Christ to a man named Theophilus so that he “may know the certainty of those things in which [he was] instructed” (1:4). Jesus Himself said, “You shall know the truth” (John 8:32). In the Old Testament, Moses wrote of gathering “all Israel” together “every seven years.” At that time, the leaders were to “read this law before…men and women and little ones…that they may hear… learn…observe…and that their children…may hear and learn” (Deut. 31:9-13). The Bible states that it can be and it was understood. We saw in the last article that God is the one who gave us both the Bible and our minds, and He said that our minds could understand the Book that He gave us (Eph. 3:3-4; 5:17).
So, if the Bible is capable of being understood, what can a person do to understand the Bible? Let’s make a list.
1. Truly believe in God (Heb. 11:6).
2. Truly believe that the Bible is God’s Word (2 Pet. 1:20-21).
3. Trust the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13; Psa. 119:42).
4. Show reverence for the Word of God (Psa. 119:10-11, 97).
5. Have a love for the truth (2 Thess. 2:10; Prov. 23:23).
6. Have a desire to know the truth (John 7:17; Matt. 5:6).
7. Have a willingness to study (Acts 17:11).
8. Put true diligence into your study (2 Tim. 2:15).
9. Expect to understand it (Eph. 3:3-4; 5:17; 2 Tim. 3:14-15).
10. Pray about it (1 John 5:14; Matt. 7:7-8; Jas. 1:5; 4:2).
Now that you’ve made these pre-reading preparations:
1. Read it.
2. Keeping reading it. Don’t stop.
3. Compare various reliable translations (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB, ESV).
4. Skip over any parts that you don’t understand. Come back to those later.
5. Read it over and over. My grandfather told me that he read through the Bible 50 times and saw things the 50th time through that he had not seen before.
6. Use the easy-to-understand parts to help shed light on the not-as-easy parts. Let the Bible be its own commentary.
7. Mark in your Bible, especially noting in the margin other verses in the Bible that help to explain that verse.
Is there more you can do? Certainly. But the best way to understand the Bible is to read it. Don’t take someone else’s word for what it says. Read it. Understand it yourself. Then, apply what it says to your life.