The Thessalonicaian were an unruly bunch, like many of us today, when they heard Paul and Silas teach the scripture from a different perspective. Rather than studying the scripture, they sought to attack the messengers. Paul and Silas escaped by night and took their message to Berea. Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. The Scriptures should be examined daily. If we wish to arrive at the truth, the scripture should be the object of constant study. There is little reason to expect that a person will grow in knowledge and grace, if that person does not read carefully, with sincerity and with prayer, a portion of the Bible every day. 2nd Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”
Like many my age, I grew up in an age when young people were required to go to church and attend Bible study. Bible study often became a platform of indoctrination and emotionalizing, rather than searching for answers. In Bible study, we were often taught Matthew 7:7, Jesus said, “Ask and it shall be given, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door shall be open to you”. Now, on the surface without considering the contextual nature of these statements, this seems to be a blank check. Generations grew up with the focus on all types of trivial things rather than the Kingdom of God. When that unspeakable doubt began to creep in because it seems as if God was not fulfilling our prayer request, we were told that God may not come when we want him to come but he is always on time. There is truth in this statement and this was enough to keep many of us going as we struggled to believe that God was going to answer our requests. Then a strange thing began to happen, we began to trivialize the works of God, this caused an increasingly large number of souls to fall by the wayside. The problems began to manifest themselves when God refused to be bullied into action thru loud and boastful prayer. It can be augured that because of a failure to understand the Word of God the believability of God has suffered.
The Hebrew and Greek languages as with other languages does not allow for a smooth translation to the English language. A literal translation, especially when it comes to the words and teaching of Jesus is not always possible. Understanding the numerology, symbology and phraseology used in the Hebrew and Greek language are necessary to unlocking and understanding the scripture. If your brother smites you on one cheek, turn the other, do this mean, if someone hit you stand there and let him to hit you again? The interpretation becomes clear when we continue to read the teaching of Jesus, it simply mean, do good to those who do you wrong. There were those who walked away from the teaching of Jesus because of a lack of understanding when he said, “you must drink my blood and eat my flesh.”
Another important aspect of understanding the word of God is the context. The context is that part of a written or spoken statement that precede or follow a specific word or passage, usually influencing its meaning or effect: Misinterpretations are caused when we take spoken or written words out of their original context and present them as the complete message. The set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, based upon who is talking, who is being spoken to and what is the subject matter determines the context. Failure to apply these rules will cause the scripture to be misinterpreted and misapplied. My brother who raises cows, once ask me to stand in the gate and only let the female cows pass. Did my brother just offer me a lifetime job or was it something that just needed to be done at that moment.
A literal interpretation of the scripture will often place the Bible student in an untenable position and force the injection of interpretations based upon doctrinal or personal beliefs. Theological syncretism will creep in as we began to read the Bible through the lens of our denomination, organization, ministry strategy. This type of interpretation is the basis of the divisions within the household of faith. To be true to the Word of God, we should not try to explain away certain thing God said and accept others. If we strive to understand the language of the Bible and allow the Bible to speak in its true form, we will not have problems with understanding and accepting what God said. If we consider the book to be a perfect book, then it words and interpretation should flow in a perfect manner. For the Bible story to flow in perfect order we must be rightly divided the word of truth into ages and dispensations. This is something we will discuss later. The point that I am trying to make is when Jesus said, “Drink my blood, and eat my flesh”, “If thy right eye offend the pluck it out” “Ask and it shall be given” the perspective and context of these statements is a spiritual. We should embrace the “spirituality” of Jesus messages and study to understand the signification of his speech. When asked the question about the disciples washing their hands before eating, he said, “It is not what goes into the body that defiles it, it is what come out”. The natural question was given a spiritual answer.
When there is a question about what we should do, or should not do, this scripture is often quoted. Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. It is backed up by a similar quote from Luke 4:4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Matthew and Luke are recounting, though somewhat different in wording, of an encounter that Jesus had with the Devil. Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. A close examination of these verses seems to indicate a present and future commitment to living by the Word of God. What does it mean to live by every word of God? This is a question that you should strive to answer.
Does the ideology of living by every word that proceeded out of the Mouth of God mean we must literal obey commands given to Abraham, Moses or the ancient patriots? God seems to have put everything in the proper perspective when Peter wanted to build a tabernacle for Moses and Elisha so they could listen to the teaching of these great leaders. God became angry and said, “This is my beloved son, hear him.”
The problems manifest themselves when we try to take what God said to Moses and the prophets and apply it to the church. There is a great lesson to be learned from reading how God dealt with the children of Israel. To use this verse to justify teaching the law is in error if we say to live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God indicate that we must live in according with the laws given to the Children of Israel. As much as we try and teach it, we do not live according to the Law of Moses. Paul stated Galatians 3:24 wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. To justify our inability to live under the Law we split the Law of Moses up into groups. There are the moral law and the ceremonial law. Now we have the grounds for debate, disagreement and confusion.
Let's use the Sabbath, as an example of how Jesus kept the law. Let’s read: Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” On one extreme we have one standing in the Pulpit on a Sunday, saying we are to keep the commandants which is a point of confusion, and another condemn a host of people to Hell because they don’t keep the Sabbath. There is a third group who leaves the assemblies wondering why Jesus died.
Now, God gave this command in Exodus 20:10, “But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shall not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.” Jesus said in Matthew 12:11 And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the Sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? The pious attitude of the self-righteous was voiced by John, 9:16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, how can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. This division exists even today.
Paul joined the fray in Colossians 2:16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days:
2nd Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The Word of God is to be divided into ages and dispensations.
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
