Randy Bell
7 Aug 2017

Kingdom Life Principles

The Power of Love: Learn To Love God and Others By Giving

The Old Testament law demanded that the people love God and one another. The law required the people to give a minimum 10% for tithes and then additional offerings to be brought to the Temple.

But today God demands the Christian to love SO MUCH MORE THAN THE LAW that they give sacrificially until it hurts. Jesus said to give up everything and give him 100%! This is all that stewardship means, becoming the business manager, or bank manager of God’s property. “Your” stuff is not yours to squander, and just flip God a dime whenever you feel like it. Grace is not a license to be greedy, irresponsible and/or selfish. Grace means to give more.

“You have heard… but I say…” Christ taught his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, that what the Law required was not enough, but asked them “what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” This teaching is essential!

Even C.S. Lewis gets to the heart of the matter when he says, “I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”

Jesus asked his disciples multiple times “What do you do more than others?” He was referring to his new way of Christian life far exceeding the Jewish Law as a norm. He taught the Christians that the narrow way of Kingdom life always meant far exceeding the Law as their life style.

Even the Pharisees (the rabbis) carefully gave their 10% tithe even from the tiny income they received selling a few herbs from their gardens. He challenged them by saying, “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.”

But at least the Law forced the Jews to give a minimum of 10%, which is far less than love would ever do but far more than the average “Christian” in America gives toward God’s Kingdom.

The basics and minimums of the law are fundamental standards of education for the immature Christian… “Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for.” [Gal 3:23-24 (MSG)]

Let me be clear, it is anti-Christian to use the Bible to disobey the law of God. If you do not tithe you break the law. Grace fulfills the law, PLUS MORE, it does not break it. If you give more than 10% you have fulfilled the law through love. You are not allowed to break the Law but fulfill it. “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”[Gal 5:14 (NKJV)]

[bctt tweet=”Let me be clear, it is anti-Christian to use the Bible to disobey the law of God.” username=”RandyMBell”]

Do this really, and there is no discussion!

We are to bring our love gifts to the local church. Your local church is responsible for orphans, widows, needy Christians, pastor wages, outreach, training up disciples, buildings, and facilities, etc. God gives loving Christians GREATER DEMANDS THAN the Jews ever were required by law. Let’s read the scripture below…

1/ This is just the weekly requirement for Christians to bring their gifts to the local church to give on Sunday for the needy brothers of the faith. We are told to so love fellow Christians that we need to give “as generously as we can,” bring it to the pastors, and allow them to spend it as they are led by God.

“On the first [day] of each week, let each one of you [personally] put aside something and save it up as he has prospered [in proportion to what he is given], so that no collections will need to be taken after I come.” [1 Cor 16:2 (AMP)]

“Every Sunday each of you make an offering and put it in safekeeping. Be as generous as you can.” [1 Cor 16:2 (MSG)]

“And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person’s need.” [Acts 4:34-35 (MSG)]

Can you say your love for God and your fellow Christian is so real that you sacrifice this much when you give your offering on Sunday?

2/ This is the weekly requirement for Christians to bring their money to the local church to give on Sunday so the local church can take care of widows and orphans. “Take care of widows who are destitute.” [1 Tim 5:3 (MSG)]

“During this time, as the disciples were increasing in numbers by leaps and bounds, hard feelings developed among the Greek-speaking believers—”Hellenists”—toward the Hebrew-speaking believers because their widows were being discriminated against in the daily food lines.” [Acts 6:1 (MSG)]

“External religious worship [ religion as it is expressed in outward acts] that is pure and unblemished in the sight of God the Father is this: to visit and help and care for the orphans and widows in their affliction and need, and to keep oneself unspotted and uncontaminated from the world.” [James 1:27 (AMP)]

Can you say that your love for widows and orphans is so real that you sacrifice this much when you give your offering on Sunday?

3/ This is just the weekly requirement to support the pastors financially. The wages for the pastor are to be double what the average wage is in the local church.This means the pastor is to be paid double what you think you deserve or need for your family, and God clearly says he deserves it. Most pastors will not demand this, nor even ask for it. Do not listen to their protests, just pay him what God’s Word has set for his salary.

“Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. 18 For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” [1 Tim 5:17-18 (NKJV)]

“Give a bonus to leaders who do a good job, especially the ones who work hard at preaching and teaching. 18 Scripture tells us, “Don’t muzzle a working ox,” and, “A worker deserves his pay.” [1 Tim 5:17-18 (MSG)]

Can you say your love for your God and His pastor is so real that you sacrifice this much when you give your offering on Sunday?

4/ This is the weekly requirement to reach the thousands of lost people in your community that are going straight to hell! There is a great cost for the church buildings, electric bill, heating, repairs, etc. so that a powerful presence of a worship and work center is kept up to gather, train and reach out to the lost. And it’s cost is as much or more money than your homes and castles. Who will pay the bills if you let others do it? How nice is the church property? Who will repair and maintain the needed cost if you do not? Is your castle nice, but God’s facilities shabby? Do you love your stuff more than God’s reputation?

“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [Matt 28:19-20 (NKJV)]

Can you say your love for your neighbors is so real that you sacrifice this much when you give your offering on Sunday?

“You already have what you want! You’ve already become rich! You’ve become kings without us! I wish you really were kings so that we could be kings with you. As I see it, God has placed us apostles last in line, like people condemned to die. We have become a spectacle for people and angels to look at. We have given up our wisdom for Christ, but you have insight because of Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.

To this moment, we are hungry, thirsty, poorly dressed, roughly treated, and homeless. We wear ourselves out doing physical labor. When people verbally abuse us, we bless them. When people persecute us, we endure it. When our reputations are attacked, we remain courteous. Right now we have become garbage in the eyes of the world and trash in the sight of all people. 

I’m not writing this to make you feel ashamed but to instruct you as my dear children. You may have countless Christian guardians, but you don’t have many {spiritual} fathers. I became your father in the Christian life by telling you the Good News about Christ Jesus. So I encourage you to imitate me.” [1 Cor 4:8-16 (GW)]

Can you say your love for God is so real that you sacrifice this much as you live your life?

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Randy Bell
7 Aug 2017

Narrow Road Insights

Does Doctrine Matter?

If you drift through the modern American churches it will not take long to hear the echo of “…doctrine is not important, it just divides the church. Let’s unite and show God’s love!” But God’s Word disagrees.

2 John 1:9-10  NKJV “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him;“

This new tolerance message proclaims “all brothers are equal before God anyway, and it is pride that demands one group or denomination is right, condemning the others.” Well, John makes it Biblical, true doctrine is supposed to divide [verse 10]! We are not talking about small issues that are not clearly defined in scripture, but the plain truth.

Our Lord has strong emotional feelings about wrong doctrine. Rev. 2:14-15 quotes Jesus as saying, “But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. [15] Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.” [NKJV] Since Jesus Christ hates wrong doctrine, he warns those believers who do not care about His doctrine to “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth” [Rev. 2:16].

Doctrine is such an important issue with God He warns us He will fight us if we do not follow His teaching. It seems doctrine is important!

Since John makes it clear in our text that anyone who does not live out the doctrine of Christ is going to hell whether religious or not, believing and living out Christ’s teaching is significant and non-optional [verse 9]. You would not know it from our modern churches.

Barna research shows just 9% of the adults claiming to be born again have a biblical worldview. This falls to 7% of Protestants in general. This is based on the doctrine that absolute moral truth exists and founded on six core beliefs: the accuracy of Bible teaching, the sinless nature of the Lord Jesus, the literal existence of the devil, the all knowing and all powerfulness of God, salvation by the mercy and grace of God alone, and the responsibility of each Christian to obey the great commission.

This is further explored through pastoral leadership. Southern Baptist pastors are the most Biblical [71%], other Baptist churches were next [57%], then followed non-denominational Protestant pastors [51%], charismatic and Pentecostal [44%], pastors of black churches [35%], leading mainline denominations [28%] and United Methodist [27%]. [Read the whole report, Only Half of Protestant Pastors Have a Biblical View,  online at Barna.org.]

The immoral choices and practices of the majority of church attendees are now clearly exposed!

Since the majority of pastors reject doctrinal truth they do not call people to repentance and obedience to God’s doctrinal standards. Paul commands preachers to “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. [3] For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; [4] and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” [2 Tim. 4:2-4 NKJV].

Since less than 10% of adult church members want to live Biblical lives, pastors who rebuke and exhort their congregations to absolute truth and obedience are not going to be popular or have jobs.

Here is some proof. A ChristianMingle survey showed 89% of self-identified Christian singles who answered the survey said they are having or will have sex before marriage.

According to Barna, over 90% of those claiming to be born again say the Word of God does not influence how they live their lives.

Instead, Paul warns us, “You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that!” 2 Timothy 3:1-5 (NLT)

As the majority of pastors preach false comfort and eternal life without obedience, people feel good about themselves. Rejecting the absolute commands of Christ and His Word the congregations live their lives satisfying their own desires and feel comfortable and safe believing the fable that they are going to heaven too! This always starts with false ideas and teaching and then is lived out in lifestyle.  This is seen in what is preached, but also in what is ignored! Does your pastor rebuke and exhort you on a regular basis? Or do you like [your own selfish desires] the quiet encouraging type?

For example, false doctrinal teaching about marriage, divorce, and sexual activity outside of marriage [one man and one woman] throw stumbling blocks before this nation. Broken homes permanently harm children emotionally and leave bitterness and frustration. The government pays out billions of dollars trying to support single moms and their children. Billions are spent on insurance and medical expenses for sexually transmitted diseases. Millions of babies are murdered through abortions. All this because people ignore God’s loving commands protecting and providing life in a better way. Is doctrine important?

Doctrine is the Foundation of Life Change!

“All scripture” is given to us by God to change our life styles after we are born again in Christ. The “apostles’ doctrine” [Acts 2:42] was based on Christ’s commands, not suggestions [Matthew 28:20]. One of the earliest documents of the church is a pass around work called “The Didache of the Apostles,” which is the Greek word for doctrine. Paul commanded all Christians to change, beginning with right doctrine, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” [Romans 12:2].

“Exhort bondservants to be obedient to their own masters [authorities], to be well pleasing in all things, not answering back, [10] not pilfering, but showing all good fidelity, that they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.

    [11] For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, [12] teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts [selfish desires], we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, [13] looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, [14] who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works. [15] Speak these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

    [3:1] Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, [2] to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. [3] For we ourselves were also once [past not present] foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. [4] But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, [5] not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, [6] whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7] that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [8] This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men” [Titus 2:9-3:8 NKJ].

What Steps Should You Take to Please God?

First, if you are under the teaching of a pastor or church that is not teaching the whole absolute truth of God leave. “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him.” But you say, “I like my church!” I know you are protesting because your friends and family are there. Or you might have already decided the Biblical church is boring, the music is dead, the pastor preaches too long, etc. Repent! “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them” [Romans 16:17].

Then, join a Biblical church and take responsibility. “…be careful to maintain good works.” The people of your city are going to hell! It is not what you like that matters, join a team of believers who are fulfilling God’s purposes and get busy.

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Randy Bell
7 Aug 2017

Narrow Road Insights

The Biblical Way of Asking For Forgiveness When You Wrong Someone

The narrow way of abundant life that Jesus gives us through His grace pushes us to do everything in our power to make things right when we wrong others. The basics of the Old Testament law condemned murder, but Jesus made forgiveness and reconciliation so important in the narrow way that our norm is to be extreme in gaining forgiveness through humility. Nothing can stop us from a clear conscience but our pride.

The will of God is clear, “This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.” [Matt 5:23-24 (MSG)]

Before you ask someone to forgive you for offending or wronging them, examine yourself. Ask these important questions and carefully answer them:

  • Is there a change I need to make in my behavior? What can I do more than making promises to change my attitude or action?
  • Should I make restitution for what I did? What kind of restitution is adequate to mend our relationship? Should I replace the expensive item I damaged or destroyed? Should I go back and thoroughly restore the reputation I destroyed? Should I publicly confess my sin?
  • Have I thought through my action now and relived my offense through their feelings and viewpoint? Only when I stop looking at the conflict through my eyes will I be able to see how I hurt them.
  • Can I say I have I fully forgiven them for any wrong they did to me? If I ignore the need to get right with my friend or family member, God will not allow me His blessings. What do I think gets me off the hook from forgiving them? Remember Matthew 18:34-35 (AMP) “And in wrath his master turned him over to the torturers (the jailers), till he should pay all that he owed. So also My heavenly Father will deal with every one of you if you do not freely forgive your brother from your heart his offenses.”

Then while preparing yourself to make things right…

1. Prepare your wording and make sure it does not imply blame to them or others? Do not say, “We both were wrong so I will forgive you if you forgive me.”

2. Make no excuses. Ask yourself, “Am I trying to justify my offenses in any way?

3. “Write out your words and make sure they are very specific.

4. Frame your words carefully showing genuine sincerity and humility. For example, your beginning is important, so say something like this, “I have acted foolishly and damaged the trust of our relationship. God has convicted me that my outburst of anger towards you this morning…”

5. Next clearly say “…I was wrong…” “I lied about you to hurt you. I was wrong. I have already gone back to your friends and confessed to them.”

6. Then make sure you finish with the question, “Could you please forgive me?” Then in humility wait for their answer.

Then after asking forgiveness ask…

  • Am I prepared to continue to respond correctly even if they will not forgive?
  • How can I sincerely thank them if they do forgive me?
  • Could I humble myself and ask them to reveal further “blind spots” I have that damage them and others?

Suggested Prayer to Develop a Spirit of Forgiveness

Lord Jesus, I ________________ [your name], do purpose in my heart, by Your grace, to believe that everything that happens to me You allow for a specific purpose—for my good. I know You promise me that all things, no matter how bad, You will work out for my good [Romans 8:28]. By faith, I will seek You for that purpose. I will not allow others to take [steal] my joy, by bitterness, but to forgive them as You have forgiven me.

I will remember…

“…Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself…” Daniel 1:8

Beware “…lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;” Hebrews 12:15

Remember, in this context, bitterness is simply the result of not seeing suffering from God’s perspective. Use the hurts of your past to remember what it cost the Lord to forgive you. [Matthew 18:21-35]

Check the following qualities in yourself as you determine to forgive and build up your enemies:

  • LOVE [God’s way is giving to the needs of anyone]
  • JOY [God’s way is reproducing Christ’s character]
  • PEACE [Biblical principles define it as a conscience clear of all offense to God and man]
  • PATIENCE [God’s way is responding to irritations with love]
  • GENTLENESS [God’s character is the spirit of understanding]
  • GOODNESS [Biblical principles Christ-like actions and responses]
  • FAITH [fulfilling God’s purposes]
  • MEEKNESS [yielding all my rights to God]
  • SELF-CONTROL [developing moral freedom]
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Randy Bell
7 Aug 2017

Narrow Road Insights

How To Read Your Bible

I’ve noticed a real error of many Christians, a habit of when they come to a portion of scripture they do not like, they decide they can ignore and trivialize that teaching of God by saying it is not literal, not for today or simply proclaim in their self-expertise that it is an allegory. This, of course, gives them complete freedom from obeying it and they can create a new meaning that fits their fancy. No one does this with the newspaper, but they probably should, since many are being proved to lie and spew out political and social propaganda.

But God’s Word is the historical revelation from the all knowing God, and He demands that you accept it as literal fact. Paul warns Christians to take the Bible seriously. “Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved [tested by trial], a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing—rightly handling and skillfully teaching—the Word of Truth.” 2 Timothy 2:15 Amplified Bible

The Bible is God’s Word. Not an interpretation of what some zealous men think God says, but His very Words! The Bible is not a religious piece of literature, but a direct revelation from the mouth of the Living God. It is a supernatural book!

The Scripture itself claims this in 2 Tim. 3:16: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,…” The only God is all powerful and able to communicate with man. He not only is able, He has through His written Word, the Holy Bible. To understand the Bible is to understand what God wants mankind to know at this time. To understand the Bible is to comprehend God’s will and direction for the purpose of becoming a faithful friend and child of God.

Therefore, it is imperative that we read the Bible the same way we read a newspaper, history book or a math book. This is the only valid way to understand God and His Word. We must study it at face value, literally accepting all the natural and normal sense of the text. Obviously, we must analyze it to discover what it’s expressions and terms meant to the original audience. For example, in Matthew 6:12 Jesus says “forgive us our debts” which today we would think means “Forget about our financial debts.” But He means sin.

Discover the Authors Intended Meaning

“The main thing to keep in mind here is that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of private opinion. And why? Because it’s not something concocted in the human heart. Prophecy resulted when the Holy Spirit prompted men and women to speak God’s Word.” [2 Peter 1:20-21 (MSG)]

This must be clear, the Bible has only one meaning, but many applications. The meaning is not up to our interpretations, of what we each think it means to us. The author, God our Creator, had a specific meaning the moment He inspired human authors to pen the words and our duty is to discover that interpretation. Never substitute what you think it should say!

Instead, investigate the context of every scripture and make sure you do not masquerade your pet theology as truth or develop your spiritual whims by replacing the obvious literal meaning with supposed deeper hidden meaning, as all cults and false teachers do by using their books to explain away what God says. And you cannot turn the Bible into an allegory and therefore release yourself from the literal commands and statements of the Bible to make the Word say anything you want. You cannot bind it to the culture of the day it was written and therefore free yourself to disobey its “archaic moral values.” God is timeless.

Be clear on one more thing, the Bible does not have contradictions. If a contradiction appears to you, continue to analyze all possibilities using other portions of scripture to help you understand God’s Word. Remember the Bible is written in Hebrew and Greek, not English or any other modern language. There are not always direct English word equivalents for every ancient Greek or Hebrew text. This simply means an English word may mean less or more than a Greek word and more words are needed to actually translate the full meaning.

For example, let’s look at an English word “jack” and then think how hard this would be to make sense to a Greek speaking person.

Jack was doing his morning jumping jacks and remembered he needed to go to the store. So he jumped into his car and headed to town. Jack only traveled a short distance and felt a thumping noise and pulled over to find he had a flat tire. Irritated, Jack opened the trunk and pulled out the jack and jacked up his car and replaced the flat. Just as he was finishing, a car pulled over behind Jack and two men got out.

Jack thought, “these are nice guys stopping to help” until Jack realized they stopped to carjack his vehicle. One pulled out his jackknife, attacked Jack and jacked him in the jaw knocking Jack to the ground. They were both jacked up on drugs and carjacked his car, leaving Jack lying on the side of the road.

Dazed, Jack rolled over with his back to the road and saw two little girls eating cracker jacks and playing jacks on the sidewalk. Jack mumbled “too many jacks today” and passed out.

Jack did not get out of his car to take himself out of the trunk! Jack did not get under the car and push up the car with his body. Jack did not hit himself in the jaw, steal his own car, or was the object of the game on the sidewalk. We must know the context, usage, slang, and meanings of a simple word like “jack” to understand a silly story.

Our language uses “jack” for multiple unrelated uses. This happens in many cultures and languages including the Bible. In the Greek and Hebrew original languages of the Bible, we find a variety of word usages which forces us to not be simple minded when we study the Word of God or we will miss the heart and soul of what God is saying to us.

Also, bias and choices were made by the Bible translators and to find the answers you will need a good concordance. Free computer Bible programs like Wordsearch Starter have many free books that come with it, including the Strong’s Concordance. Use the Greek or Hebrew definitions you find in the concordance to compare Bible translations. This will help you understand clearer the actual word meanings, help you see why there can be slight differences in translation, or even why one translation can be weak or poorly rendered.

You will find “supposed contradictions” melt away with a deeper search to understand the Word. Psalm 119:160 warns, “The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.” Find the sum of all the passages that deal with an issue before you claim there are errors or contradictions. You must read the whole book before you can claim to understand what it is saying.

Always Allow Scripture to Interpret Itself

In our day, we have found that media can manipulate anyone’s words with small sound bites. Just a few words out of its context can make an enemy sound like a real idiot. But, when a further inspection is done to really find out what the person said in the full speech or written article a whole new light of meaning emerges. It is the same with scripture. Always allow God to define what he means, the Bible is a great dictionary of itself. You must find the meaning of words and ideas inside the context. Always compare the portion you are trying to understand with other passages of similar content or themes.

“A text without a context is no more than a pretext” is a famous axiom. Reading to see the full context demands finding the point and direction of the entire book of the Bible being studied. Then, focusing on the context of the specific portion being examined with knowing who is being spoken to, the historical backdrop, and the immediate circumstances will help you see the true meaning of what God is teaching. Proof texting builds an interpretation on the superficial reading of the passage and taken out of context creates an absurd conclusion never intended by God.

Define Figures of Speech

According to the book, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, a figure of speech is “any deviation either in thought or expression, from the ordinary and simple method of speaking…” and it is a “form of speech artfully varied from common usage.” [Instit. Orat. IX, I. 11, cited by Edward P. J. Corbett, Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student (New York: Oxford Press, 1971), page 640] Such an expression whether it is a simile, metaphor or an idiom is always used to artfully visualize a thought or idea.

A simile is easy to recognize and very useful. Rev. 1:14 is a simple example: “His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire;…” The comparison of simile helps John describe what he really saw, “white like wool, as white as snow” but His hair was not really wool; “His eyes like…fire” but not really a flame but very bright and glowing which helps all his readers understand the glorious appearance of the Lord Jesus.

The metaphor also compares but with an implication, not connecting words [like, as]. A good example is Rev. 12:4 “His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.” A physical dragon did not stand before Mary when she gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. The context must be used to find the figure of speech’s meaning. Or a comparison of other scriptures. We find the definition given in verse 9, “So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Satan tried to devour the child, through Herod who sent soldiers to kill every baby in town, the literal fact behind this metaphor.

Idioms are used even today as expressions of comparison but distorting the literal words to intensify the point. When Jesus confronted Paul for the first time, found in Acts 26:14, Paul describes the incident like this, “And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ “ Notice the words Christ used were not literal, but an expression of Paul’s resistance to God’s will, like an ox kicking against the prodding of a farmer when using the beast to plow a field.

Another type of Biblical figure of speech is a substitution, where a writer replaces the normal word for a meaningful substitute to increase the impact of the statement. The Jews thought God so sacred to mistakenly even speak His name was sinful. Therefore, they would substitute the word heaven for God. They meant God, but said heaven.

The Bible also uses a form of parallelism to amplify and clarify its message. This is common in poetic forms such as Psalms and Proverbs. Psalm 2:4 states:

“He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;

The Lord shall hold them in derision.”

As you think about it, both lines say the same thought, and both amplify and expand that idea for greater impact. Like a poem, the Hebrew lines tend to have a flow not translatable into foreign languages.

God Wrote The Bible For Everyone to Understand

2 Cor. 1:13 “For we are not writing any other things to you than what you read or understand. Now I trust you will understand, even to the end …” God wrote the Bible for everyone to understand, not just scholars and preachers. This is why face value, basic reading is the only way an average Christian would understand God’s will.

For example, Biblical leaders and authors never gave any reason to think a secret, hidden meaning exists that only the Watchtower Society, or The Mormon Movement, or The Roman Catholic Institution would have the real answers exclusive to their secret knowledge. Give the Bible to a person who does not know God, put them on a deserted island, and they will be able to understand God’s plan for mankind, God’s opinion on man’s sinful rebellion, and God’s solution and salvation for mankind. And I guarantee you, he will not believe any of these exclusive, separate religious ideas preached by cults or practices privately kept by some religious denominations.

 

 

 

 

Instead, the plain and simple reading of the Bible leads to the plain and supernatural salvation through the sacrifice and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 5:6 “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

Mark 13:22 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

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