Christian

Can I Understand the Bible?

Cindy Dawson

In my adult Sunday School class recently, someone made a statement that completely took me off guard. I said, “That’s not right.” The person informed me that what I believed was a theory that many theologians disagreed with. It made me feel like because I had not studied all the theological viewpoints, I couldn’t possibly know what was right on this subject.

So the next day, I spent several hours researching the topic. The consequence of this “debate” caused me to question my ability to understand the Bible.

Theologians debate Biblical truths. Theologians often disagree. How can we know which theories are right and which ones are wrong? After all, theologians are a lot smarter than me and they can’t even agree.

That lead me to my next question. If I haven’t been to seminary, can I understand the Bible correctly? What if I haven’t studied the theological theories which have guided denominations for years? I was challenged by these questions and left a bit shaken.

I thought, I don’t think the Bible says that the common person needs someone to interpret the Bible for them. In fact, it says just the opposite.

Jesus said that we need the Holy Spirit to understand the Bible.

Jesus said, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” John 16:12

“The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
    making wise the simple.” Psalm 19:7

“But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” John 14:26: 

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” 2 Timothy 3:16 (emphasis mine)

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.” Romans 15:4

“Your word is a lamp for my feet,
    a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105

“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.” 1 Corinthians 2: 12

This doesn’t mean that everything is easy to understand. Not at all!

“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” 1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV

“Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” 2 Timothy 2:7 ESV

“Now, to say that we can understand everything in the Bible is not to suggest that we will understand everything immediately and fully. We won’t — and certainly not the first (or second or even tenth) time through. God can give us understanding in every passage without giving us understanding of every part of a passage. He also often chooses to give understanding, not immediately, but over years or even decades. As we keep reading (and living), familiar verses will emerge with new or deeper meaning and relevance. Some questions will be answered slowly. So don’t expect to understand everything now, but expect to understand something now — and then more tomorrow.” Marshall Segal President of Desiring God

(P.S. Coming up, we will look at How to study the Bible the right way.)

In His Love, Cindy

Would you like to learn more about Jesus? See my page Who Is Jesus?

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.” Psalm 122:6

All Scripture is from the NIV unless stated otherwise.

RealChristianWomen.blog

18 thoughts on “Can I Understand the Bible?”

  1. Excellent post Cindy. Satan would love to have us disheartened and to give up studying God’s Word. Then I am reminded of the many ordinary Godly brothers and sisters that I have been blessed with over the years, many of whom only had the Holy Spirit as their teacher in God’s Word – the Best Teacher of all! God bless you today sister 🙏

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  2. “I don’t think the Bible says that the common person needs someone to interpret the Bible for them. In fact, it says just the opposite.” Exactly. Whenever I hear theory and theologians quoted, I know what’s coming. Calling a duck a duck – sometimes there is a need for others to share their knowledge as being more than ours. We come as children because that is the only way, not through our knowledge, theory, or a proven fact. That’s why it’s called faith and not theory. It’s a let it go thing, they had their moment and there will surely be another one to which I’d say, hmm, hadn’t heard that, you may be right but the theory class is next door. God knows the hearts and it’s not our path to win the argument – He’s already taken care of that on the cross. ~ Rosie

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  3. God’s Word is not only for ‘everybody, ‘ it’s also for ‘me.’ While some may decide to interpret His Word to their own desires, true, devoted Christians will allow His Holy Spirit to apply His Word directly to our hearts and guide us into all Truth.

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  5. Hi Cindy,
    I so appreciated your honesty. I think we have all been there at one time or another. However, it’s in Holy Scripture that we most clearly encounter the Lord Himself, and wrestling with our understanding is part of how we “grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.” So we need to hold Scripture tightly and stay in the Word no matter what.

    For me, apart from the core truths of the gospel and salvation, I have learned to try and hold my theological views somewhat loosely, and they have changed quite a bit over the years as I have tried to integrate my understanding, and reconcile the areas where I still have confusion or perceive contradiction.

    Nowhere has this been more true than in the areas of prophecy and eschatology. These are truly the most difficult to understand, and also the same areas where well-meaning, genuine believers have the hardest time reaching agreement.

    The predictable result is that these areas can be quite divisive, and people, especially those who aren’t familiar with competing interpretative viewpoints, and only know the one they have been taught first, may feel like their very understanding of their faith and their understanding of the gospel are threatened. This certainly describes my own experience in these areas.

    The reformed tradition developed the phrase / slogan “semper reformanda” (later popularized by Karl Barth in defense of his somewhat bizarre theological views that went against the Liberal German Theologians of his time, and who I’m not a fan of by the way, although I do embrace the slogan that wasn’t started by him). The phrase semper reformanda is Latin for “always reforming.”

    It captures the humble reality that we must always be examining our views against the Holy Scriptures, as well as the views of others, because no one has the final lock on the correct theological understanding of all of Scripture, and we should expect the Lord, through His Word, and through His Church, and through His Spirit, to be gradually correcting our misunderstandings (some of which we carried into our faith from before we were converted, and some of which we absorbed after our conversion, and may still unwittingly absorb from believers around us).

    For what it’s worth, I suppose that if we all examined our own understandings in the light of Scripture as much as we critically examined the understandings of others, and did so in humility and love, we would heal many of the divisions in the church (not including churches that have rejected biblical authority or the RCC which is an apostate anti-Christian “church”). But alas, “the Lord knows those who belong to Him” and we aren’t always having perfect insight into that reality either.

    Still, this is nothing that should shake the true foundations of our faith, which rests on Christ’s finish work alone, upheld by His Grace, nourished by His Word, and strengthened by His Love for those He has called to Himself.

    I guess I wrote a tome. Sorry about that.
    God bless you, Cindy!
    Craig

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    1. Thank you, Craig, for your heart-felt response. I read your response carefully and took to heart what you had to say. You said, “we need to hold Scripture tightly and stay in the Word no matter what.” Amen!
      “we should expect the Lord, through His Word, and through His Church, and through His Spirit, to be gradually correcting our misunderstandings” Amen!
      I have learned that understanding the Bible comes by studying THE BIBLE, and not by studying books about the Bible. First we must know what God’s Word says, and then we can consider the words of others. I also know there are many false teachers in our midst and God’s Word warns us over and over about that.
      God bless you, Craig! I look forward to reading more of your “tomes” any time! ✝️

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  6. I so understand the scenario of this post. I’ve experienced it myself. It’s disheartening but also just makes me want to celebrate that it causes me to study more. We are not meant to have all the answers, otherwise we would have no reason for trust… And the bigger picture is that God is the answer!!
    I’ve also known theologians who have a lot of knowledge but not much love to go along with it…

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  7. I am so sorry that someone made you feel like your opinions and interpretations are wrong just because you are not a theologian. The amazing thing about the Bible is that it is a living book and the Holy Spirit gives each of us what we need as we read and study it. I am in awe of how even familiar passages can provide new insight when we open our hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit’s leading.

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