I Don't Get It - Part 1

In my limited experience as an adult Sunday school teacher, and just in the process of conversations, I’ve heard Christians make comments like the following:
       “I don’t understand the Bible when I read it.”
       “I can’t study the Bible without a devotional guide.” 
       “I never knew what that passage was talking about.”
       “I avoid the Psalms because I don’t understand them.”
It wouldn’t be completely surprising to hear these statements from new Christians or from young people, but I have heard them from adults who have been in church all their lives and who have been saved for decades.

I find these statements both sad and troubling. They are sad because they come from people who aren’t receiving the blessing they should be receiving from the Bible. They are troubling because they should not be true. A Christian should be able to pick up his Bible, read it for himself, and profit from his understanding of it.

We should be able to understand the Bible because the Bible itself is powerful. The Bible is not like any other book. It is written by God in a way that allows it to minister to hearts. It convicts, instructs, guides, and transforms because of its nature and inspiration. Its truths are accessible to anyone, even a child.

·         All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. II Timothy 3:16-17 (all verses from NASB)
·         For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
·         Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105
·         The unfolding of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple. Psalm 119:130
·         The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. Psalm 19:7
·         But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. II Corinthians 3:18
·         “Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” Mark 10:15

We should be able to understand the Bible because it reveals the clear and powerful words of Jesus. No one else has ever taught like Jesus taught. From the time that Christ lived on the earth, people have been amazed by His teaching and have held it up as valuable. As Christians, we profit more than others from the teaching of Jesus. Unlike the people in Jesus’ day, we have His words written down so that we can continue to read and study the divinely-chosen selections in their inspired accuracy. By their very nature, Jesus’ words reveal truth.

·         The officers answered, “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” John 7:46
·         Then they were amazed at His teaching, for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Mark 1:22
·         Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” Luke 24:27&32
·         Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. Luke 24:45
·         “For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth.” John 18:37b

We should be able to understand the Bible because we have the Spirit to help us. One of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit is to help Christians understand God’s truth. This is not true for the unsaved, but it is true for every Christian. We have a divine Helper for our understanding.

·         “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.” John 14:16-17
·         “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” John 14:26
·         “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to You from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me.” John 15:26
·         “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.” John 16:13-14

We should be able to understand the Bible because God wants us to understand His Word. The Bible is God’s communication to us, His instruction for how to live life. God includes in it everything we need to know, and He does not intend to withhold something so necessary from us. God wants to teach His truth to His children. He gives us the Spirit on purpose to help accomplish this task.

·         Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. II Peter 1:3
·         Let my lips utter praise, for You teach me Your statutes. Psalm 119:171
·         “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:13 [We just saw the Spirit’s role in spiritual understanding.]
·         For to us God revealed them [the wisdom God has prepared for those who love Him] through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God. But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. I Corinthians 2:10,12,&14

Based on these four truths, a Christian should be able to understand the Bible as he reads it. The next post will look at some reasons why this seems not always to be true.