How should we read the Bible?
So often we are encouraged by a single Bible verse, on a little card, or as a quotation. But is this the best way to get input from the Bible? We can also look up topics and find relevant Bible verses for them – anger, disappointment, suffering, joy – the list can continue. Is this how we should find meaning in God’s Word?
When it comes to a novel, a text book, or poetry, we are familiar with how to read them and get meaning from them. But how do we approach the Bible?
The Bible is a whole, God’s Word to us. It is also made up of a collection of books which are different types of literature – they each have a particular genre. So, as with any book, perhaps the best way to access the meaning of the Bible is to take into consideration the genre of the book – for example, the Psalms are Hebrew poetry; the Gospels are ancient biographies of Jesus’ life; the books written by Paul are ancient letters.
In addition to this, the separate books are also drawn together as a whole, into the Bible. This must be important to the message of each book; how do they fit together? And what is the background and framework for each of the verses we read? What was the intended meaning for the readers to learn and understand from what was written?
That’s what I’ve been thinking about. What do you think?
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The Rev 
What I am offering is that we would all come to understand that everyone on the earth is our neighbour that we are to “love”. We do need to be wise about what man really is though, without condemnation, just in Godly wisdom. IF we can believe this and understand it properly, we can begin to “be” the awakened mature spiritual man pictured in Genesis as taking the “woman” {lacking understanding and able to be deceived} as being ALSO bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. All.
In Gen. 1 God is pictured as saying that he was making man in “his image”. But that man is also called THEM, as plural. In … let THEM have dominion. Also in Gen. 5 scripture says that male and female made He THEM. Plural. It is clear that it is the fault of physical male pride to think that the “man” in scripture is physically male only. God clearly says that man includes male AND female gender, physically. The woman is “of” the man, but the man is also BY the woman.
Spiritually,. this means that physical mankind who is the spiritual woman that is deceived easily because of a lack of understanding the mystery of God and Godliness, is the “woman” spiritually that Christ Jesus, the man of God, is going to enter the world through. Mankind, as a spiritual woman or baby, is by God. But God {in man} is to be BY the woman … physical mankind, in the world. This is THE VISION we need today so we can stop “perishing” in the world and become the people who are changed without sleeping.
God’s judgment is to give us wisdom, His wisdom, to become our own wisdom now, and then we will have “true” judgment or discernment about all things, both natural and spiritual. The spiritual people discern all things, but the naturally oriented person does not discern all things “yet”. God is no respecter of individual persons. IT is all or not yet.
Acts 2 says that God will pour out his spirit upon “ALL” flesh in the last days, plural. It is going to be done over a period of time. Let us be some of the first to begin to walk in what God desires of HIS own will. God works out EVERYTHING according to HIS OWN WILL, scripture says. So, where would actual “free will” for man be seen in this truth. Not anywhere. God’s will for us all is predetermined and HE first has determined that we must understand what he is doing and desires properly, and then we will be able to begin to have free will by “choosing” through belief and knowledge that his ways are the only true ways, which will be us coming into agreement with the will of God. God’s will to whom nothing is too hard is really the only FREE will there is anywhere.
As we are given, by love that is not dictatorial, and by our agreement and acceptance, the will to DESIRE to do what God is able to do, and then God will begin to give us HIS ability to be His righteousness by agreement with Him.
In regard to God’s spirit being poured out upon all flesh. Do we think that God does that by OUR choice and will? I do not think so. Yes, we may desire it, but we can not “will it” of our own selves.
We can also understand that God includes ALL FLESH as being all flesh. 1 Corinthians tells us that there is many kinds of flesh, or “images”, not all shapes being the same shape. But these diverse shapes including animals and insects and birds and fish and so on are STILL all GOD”S creatures or creations. In Isaiah 65 it says the lion and the bullock will eat grass together, and it says that the wolf and the lamb will lie down together. This shows us that there is no more predation, no more “killing” and harming done any longer when God’s SPIRIT is poured out and is LORD. Of course, these truths must be fulfilled by a CHANGE INSIDE of these animals etc, including man.
At the coming of Jesus’ Christ, the Spiritual man of GOD, we hear and should continue to understand that this still means, peace on earth and good will to ALL men.
God bless, Ken
In regard to how we should read the bible, I have quite a few things to share for those who seek to understand without prejudice toward any person. 2 Cor. 3 tells us that we are to share the Spirit that gives life and not the letter that kills. 1 Cor. 2 tells us that the spirit of a man does not know the things of God but that the spiritual man discerns all things. That means for us, that there must be an ability for man to be that spiritual man.
One of the largest problems for mankind in this world is that he is naturally prejudicial toward his own beliefs, family members, and nationality and language etc. Those kind of things are a log in our eye. Much like democrats can never hear anything republicans say the way the republicans mean them, and they “interpret” what any republican says in a prejudiced and perverted manner. Republicans do the same. They can both hear the same speech and “interpret” it according to what they WANT to hear and what they WANT their interpretation to say.
This is true about religious people also, in a great way, because their beliefs are mainly who they are or what they agree with. This does not mean what they believe is necessarily the truth according to what God means by HIS words. I mean, what His words mean to him, not to us. We understand things according to our experiences in this world and they colour our understanding and we naturally think there is no other way than what “we” know by experience and from our existence in this world. That too is the log in our eye.
Jesus said to FIRST get the log out of OUR OWN eye before we will be able to see how to get the speck out of our brothers eye. Do we think Adam “chose” to be made or formed by God? Do we think that Adam chose to have the breath of life breathed into Him? When parents in this world have a baby, do you think they disregard the baby and throw the baby away because he was short of the glory of an adult.
After all, if God made {is making} mankind, then it is up to him to bring man into what God wants him to be, is it not. Adam had no free will about being formed and the idea of free will is pride in man. Try to fly without an airplane if you will it, etc.? In Hebrews we are told that Levi paid tithes to Abraham while still unborn and in the loins of Abraham. Do we forget that all of Abraham’s offspring are included, which includes Ishmael etc. Also, do we not think that we can then project that ALL OF ADAM’S offspring would be accorded to have been given life while still in the loins of Adam. We need to grow up now in this day, because the purpose of God is becoming clear and is in the world for the purpose of becoming known. The spirit that gives life is LIFE. Death in this world ends life for the body. Life eternal ends death.
Jesus said that if we do not come to him as a little child, we can in no way enter into the Kingdom of inner rule of God in us YET. The idea about the parable mentioned to Nicodemus about understanding earthy things, including being born in earthy terms, how will we be able to understand spiritual {heavenly} things. The idea is that we have to grow up spiritually within in the same way we must grow up physically in the world to be “mature”.
The scripture clearly tells us that the tares and the wheat would ALWAYS be together UNTIL the harvest time, or end time when the work of God would be ready to appear “in man”. Those tares along with the wheat are IN US ALL. This is not talking about different physical people and so on, it is talking about the things that are spiritual within us. We know that we have “godly” attributes and “ungodly” attributes in us that appear in our thoughts and deeds daily. These need to be separated for us in us, NOW. Now is the time. So, if we all have “tares” among us then we are still somewhat blind. These tares make up the spiritual log in the eyes of our understanding.
Revelation 10 says that when the LAST angel or message shall BEGIN to sound, the mystery of God should be complete. That means that since the mystery will remain until the last message, which is now available to us, then all are still in some form of the state of being spiritually unable to know what they are doing properly, and therefore are still forgiven as in … father, forgive them for they know not what they do. You see, for God to deal with us in a productive manner for us, and to grow us up in spiritual maturity, we need to know what God is doing and what is rightly expected of us. God is going to GIVE us free will, HIS will, but we do not have it right now.
God bless. Ken