Many people claim to be able to tell you what the Bible teaches. Some of what they teach is good, some is pure baloney. How do you tell the difference?
Here are some thoughts that might help.
The Bible is unlike any other book.
Paul writes, “The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV)
If we want to understand the Bible, we must invite the Spirit of God to teach us. If He doesn’t teach us, then we won’t understand it. We might think we do, but we won’t. This is true for all of us; none of us are exempt.
How do you get the Spirit of God to teach you?
I’m going to skip over some things I hope are obvious—I have a video that goes into more detail—and get right to the sticking point:
If we want the Spirit of God to teach us the Bible, we must remain correctable.
This is where many wannabe Bible teachers seriously mess up. They think they can use the Bible as a weapon to go and correct everybody else. But they don’t shine the spotlight back on themselves.
We need to remain correctable. We need to be humble enough to admit that we don’t know very much. We might think we have it figured out just to discover we don’t. We might think we’re okay when we’re not.
My beliefs and my understanding of the Bible have changed over the years. They continue to change as I grow. That doesn’t mean that I’ve abandoned Jesus or abandoned the faith. Not at all. I love God more now than I ever have. But I’ve allowed the Spirit of God to correct my false or incorrect beliefs.
If your beliefs haven’t changed in twenty years, then you might want to ask yourself: Are you really growing? Are you correctable? Or do you think you’re so smart that God can’t teach you anything?
I need to ask myself the same questions. We all do.
We don’t reach a point where we are beyond God’s correction.
One of the biggest things that keeps people from understanding the heart and mind of God is arrogance. We cannot be arrogant and understand the meaning of the Bible. Its meaning will elude us. God gives grace—and, I might add, wisdom—to the humble.
Many people try to get the Bible to agree with their theology or their lifestyle choices. Let’s be honest, we’ve probably all done that. I certainly have. But I see people twist and turn the Bible to try to get it to say yes to what they want it to say yes to. If we go to the Bible to try to wrestle it to the ground to get it to say what we want it to say, then the meaning of the Bible will escape us.
We must remain correctable. God calls the shots; we don’t. He’s in charge; we aren’t.
If we want to understand the Bible, we must be willing to admit we could be wrong. Some Bible teachers are willing to admit everyone else could be wrong, but won’t turn the spotlight back on themselves. That’s a dangerous place to be.
James talks about the wisdom that comes from above. What does that wisdom look like? Humility. Submissive. Correctable. (See James 3:13-18.)
If you take that posture toward understanding the Bible, it will yield its secrets to you.
Be encouraged!
Dwight
