Understand the Bible

Qualities that one must have to understand the Bible

Despite the validity of the reasons and the goodness of methods, scripture study will be useless if you miss the right mental provisions on those in this study approaches. Ne thatwe will undermine the most significant, without presuming to have them listed or solved all.

Willingness to learn. To appreciate what the Bible says, it is necessary that those who study it or read it have a mentality learner, by pupils that. The temptation to “become teachers” It is widespread in every branch of knowledge and, strangely, plus one is ignorant and claims to know, and to teach. To study the Bible profitably instead must be convinced that it is God who is speaking to us, by Christ or the Apostles, characters who have the authority and ability to teach. in religion, discipline never fully explored, there will always be something that we ignore others and others' faith or practice. To do the will of God, no one asks to study the religions of the world, but to listen to His Word. It is significant that it is precisely the most frequent scholars and more prepared (who they have dedicated their lives to the deepening of the things of God) to show great respect for the Bible accompanied by the necessary humility to transpose the message. Every intelligent and honest person will admit that no one knows everything, and that each knows enough.

Love of truth. The search for truth with a humble spirit sets in motion desires for sincere reception. Many unfortunately start on the wrong foot, when they try everything in the Scriptures and only what may be in harmony with their immovable views. The presumption of risk accompanies the stubbornness that does not admit their mistakes, especially those who play in a completely subjective and with great carelessness certain passages of the Holy Scriptures. Many others approach the Bible influenced by its traditions and thus look with hostility to anything that does not fit with those. The Pharisees that Jesus scolded because “They nullified the Word of God because of their traditions” It was not the first nor the last to reject the truth just because it did not coincide with its prior view. The tradition is increasingly driving the closing feelings for the novelty, but often it is the tradition to be an innovation! Another danger that lurks in each of us is the speed and ease with which to reproach the other traditionalist mentality and maybe we are not aware of what is making its way in us! Still others give priority to the practice, relegando la teoria in posizioni subalterne. If it is true that Christianity practiced acquires greater respect, we must not forget that if it is not the doctrine set in practice, It will be the practice to condition the doctrine, opening the door to any possible innovation, accepted and ratified only because it is considered good thing. Bible truth should not be mistreated nor enslaved to his cause. The man does not have to adapt himself, but adapt themselves to that.

availability investigation. The love of truth acquired must not blind the mind to the point of us no longer to research other advances. If a new truth which we discover in the Word was such as to disturb our previous ideas on a certain topic, you should not make any impediment to the necessary amendments. Not only do we have to have respect for the possible truth discovered, but also feel the desire to explore new subjects, which therefore should become a norm. in short, what God had to say must predominate over what could telling us men. They need not fear new situations, whether these are harmonized better with the biblical model.

opening association. Personal prayer and personal study give joyful serenity, but rewards are less reassuring can provenirci from the study of Scripture done in groups, in community. Someone has rightly called the Bible the book of the Church. In fact, the Bible calls the church to its responsibilities, It provides the necessary directives for the life of every day and is the only model to which to refer to the doctrine and practice of adhering to the divine will. The group studies are a modern achievement, according to the most advanced theories of psychology who say ii mental potential of a collective is greater delta summation of individual mental potential of the group itself. This psychological truth is even more striking when we consider that in a community Bible study meeting there is always an extra guest: the Sir! When we study alone we come across some obstacles that we cannot overcome, discouragement can set in. When instead we are in a group, we find the strength to continue the research, because what one ignores may be known by someone else.

Readiness to obey. Since the real purpose of the study of the Bible is to then put into practice the concepts revealed by God, it follows that obedience constitutes the logical response that man can give to the Eternal (Giovanni 7:17). A strong desire to obey often arises in the student, but the practical implementation of this desire is immediately frustrated by the fear of perhaps having precipitated the conclusions; so it awaits light from someone who, Unlike, he may not have received enough light himself to move him to obedient decisions. This dependence on others is extremely dangerous, as it delegates to man rather than to the Lord the charge of leadership. And then it could happen just what Jesus reproached his contemporaries who, instead of studying the Scriptures in the awareness of listening to the voice of the Eternal, they entrusted the key to science to human masters, in fact, finding themselves in the condition of the blind who allowed themselves to be guided by other blind people (Matteo 15:14). The Lord has not issued any driver's licenses to human masters: priests, rabbis or pastors who are!

Deference to the authority of the Scriptures. Bible study can be approached at various levels: there are those who read it with pleasure, but considering it only a book of fiction. There are in fact certain parts, like the book of Job, of high literary value. However, the Bible is not a story, nor a novel. Paul's letters, eg, while touching depth of thought, they lack style; the reason lies in the fact that the apostle did not write for demanding readers from a literary point of view, but he went to the churches, worried about the doctrinal turn they were taking. Others delight in reading the Bible above all for the descriptions of which its history is rich. L’A.T., despite the archaeological finds, it represents a mine of information about the life of the peoples of the ancient Middle East. Although such scholars do not approach Scripture as the Book of God, they still give a big incentive to understand the text, as their works of the highest historical and scientific value have allowed us to know the language, geography and history of the Judeo-Christian traditions and ultimately contributed to increasing the knowledge of the customs of the time.

However, these methods of approach are inadequate because they do not achieve the purpose that the Bible itself proposes.

It claims to possess divine authority and this subject must be seriously addressed, because such a claim must either be rejected or accepted. The Church of Christ made its choice by deciding to entrust the guiding directive of the faithful to Scripture. For this reason, the Bible must be studied carefully and with full knowledge of the facts.

There are two aspects relating to the authority of Scripture that deserve to be examined.

The first is that the authority of the Bible consists in the fact that God continues to speak to men. Scripture is simply the account of the faith and experience of those who were the first Christians, but God still speaks through the Bible, which must therefore be considered the irreplaceable instrument of God's constant revelation to men.

The second is that the authority of the Bible cannot be confined to a theoretical concept, but it must be translated into works of obedience in the life of the Church and of individuals. The authority of Scripture is not evident when we put the book on display in the library or when we memorize the most significant passages, but when we make it work in us and in our daily life.

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