This is an amazing question. In fact, the answer can make or break your Bible life and your Christian life. Did you know there are millions of Christians who do not know how to read the Bible correctly? Why does that matter? If someone twists what the Bible says, they will end up believing lies and practicing things that God never intended.
Do Not Take Bible Verses Out of Context
There are religious people who spend years of their lives doing things that God does not approve of and is not pleased with. Here is a great example. I was speaking with a friend who said God winked at Solomon’s sin of having many wives, and he used a verse from the book of Acts to support this claim.
I told him he was taking that verse completely out of context and that the winking had nothing to do with Solomon. It is like taking a statement from the French president and saying the Spanish president said it. Would that be true? No.
This is principle number one in how to read the Bible correctly — do not take it out of context. What does it mean to take the Bible out of context? When a verse seems to say something, we need to:
- Find out whether the rest of the Bible in general teaches the same thing.
- Look at the Hebrew and Greek to find the original meaning.
- See whether the context of the same chapter supports the same meaning.
Some people do this constantly. A celebrity speaks on television, someone hears only part of the speech, takes one comment out of context, and tries to make that person say something they never said. That is very dishonest.
The last thing we want to do when reading the Bible is twist what God said. It is bad enough to twist a person’s words — but can you imagine twisting the words of God? This is why we must be slow to accept something without first making a full and careful study of the topic.
Another example is the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They take one verse in Revelation that says Jesus is “the beginning of the creation of God” and use it to claim that Jesus is a created being. But the Bible as a whole does not teach that. In fact, the overwhelming majority of Bible verses teach that Jesus is God and that Jesus is the Creator. So what should we do in this case?
Read the Greek. The word translated “beginning” is ARCHE — it means initiator or beginner. The verse should properly read:
“Jesus is the Initiator and Beginner of creation.”
This is why we must be careful in how we read the Bible. We take the context of the whole Bible, which teaches that Jesus is God and the Creator, and we go to the Greek — and there we find the problem was in the translation.
The Bible contains many what I call apparent contradictions. The Bible does not have a single true contradiction. God arranged it so that when we study carefully and read deeply, the meaning becomes clear. I believe God did this so that we would be motivated to study the Bible more.
Another Example — Solomon’s Horses
1 Kings 4:26 says Solomon had 40,000 horses. 2 Chronicles 9:25 says Solomon had 4,000 horses. Is there a contradiction? No.
When we read carefully, 1 Kings refers to 40,000 loose horses. Chronicles refers to 4,000 horses attached to chariots. The 40,000 were horses in general, and the 4,000 were those specifically harnessed to chariots. That makes perfect sense. As it is with every apparent Bible contradiction — the Bible never truly contradicts itself. But God is wise, and we need first to understand the Bible and to understand how God speaks.
God is not a human being, and God has a very distinctive way of speaking.
Pray Before You Read the Bible
Unless you pray before you read the Bible, you will be totally confused. The words of the Bible are not human words. Human words carry one meaning. The words of the Bible are alive.
How to read the Bible correctly begins with prayer. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned. Unless God gives you spiritual discernment, you cannot understand the Bible correctly. Human reasoning alone cannot understand the Bible.
Recognize that only divine help can lead us to a correct understanding of Scripture. Praying every time you read the Bible is a wise and reverent practice — reverence before a holy God before whom angels veil their faces.
Seek What God Is Saying — Not What You Want the Bible to Say
Many people today seek only what they want to hear. This is a dishonest practice that God will not bless. When we come to the Bible, we need to be honest and approach it this way — Here is the book of the divine Creator. I am here to find out what God is saying.
Doing it any other way is dishonest and deceitful. The worst thing we can do is try to deceive God. It is also a form of selfishness to try to get our own way and twist the Bible to fit our views. It does not work that way.
Human beings cannot create truth. We are here on earth to seek truth and accept it. Truth comes from God. Does believing something make it true? No. Something does not become true simply because we believe it.
How to read the Bible correctly requires honesty. All honest people will accept the truth. All dishonest people will reject it. Many Christians are Christians only because their family and friends are. Many atheists are atheists only because their family and friends are.
Know the Whole Bible to Find the Full Meaning
This is another mistake people make — both first-time Bible readers and many long-time Christians and ministers alike. To understand the meaning of any passage, one must understand the general teaching of the topic throughout the whole Bible.
Use a Bible concordance. With a concordance you can gather all the verses on a given topic — whether it is hell, the second coming, Babylon, or any other subject. Then, slowly study all the verses and ask God for guidance. Only after weeks of careful study will you be able to reach a sound conclusion on what the Bible teaches on a topic.
The problem is that people rush to conclusions and damage their souls by twisting what God said to fit what they want the Bible to say. Twisting someone’s words is bad enough — but can you imagine willfully twisting the words of God?
When we take a verse out of context, we destroy God’s reputation. We make God say things He never said. As mentioned above, the Bible contains many apparent contradictions — and God placed them there deliberately. Not to deceive — but to test who will be honest enough to search out the true meaning, and who will use them to twist the Bible to their own destruction.
God wants you to be happy. God wants us to live with Him forever. God loves you so much that He wants you to live in His home for eternity. God created pleasure, friendships, and the beauty of nature to help us be happy. The things God forbids are things that entered the world through sin after the fall of Adam and Eve. We do not need them to be happy.
Do Not Follow the Crowd
The whole world is under the influence of Satan — and the Christian world is not immune. Jesus calls most churches Babylon. Jesus says that when He returns, many will try to enter heaven and will not be able to. When it comes to reading the Bible correctly, you cannot simply follow the majority or the ways of this society.
When Satan tempted Jesus, he twisted the Bible. Satan took part of a verse to make it say what he wanted it to say. In Matthew 4, Satan quoted from Psalms:
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: He will give His angels orders concerning you, and they will support you with their hands so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”
But Satan ignored the context. Jesus answered him with another text, bringing the Bible into its proper context: “You shall not tempt the Lord your God.”
The great problem is when people take a verse out of context and do not seek the true meaning of Scripture. Pray before you read. Understand that the Bible is spiritual and that spiritual things are only spiritually discerned. Understand that God placed many apparent contradictions in the Bible — one purpose being to drive us to study deeper and find the meaning of what He has hidden for the diligent seeker.
Why Does This Matter?
If you follow a church or a pastor and do not study the Bible for yourself, you can be deceived into believing things that are not in the Bible at all.
For example, Revelation says that those who receive the mark of the beast will not make it to heaven. Many churches twist the meaning of the beast and the mark of the beast. If someone believes in a secret rapture before the tribulation and that belief is wrong, they may find themselves completely unprepared when the time of trouble comes.
The Pharisees are another example. They had the Bible and were responsible to know what it said. The Old Testament speaks in detail about the coming Messiah. Yet they looked at outward appearances and could not see spiritually. They did not know how to read the Bible correctly — yet they were the teachers of Israel. And because they lacked honesty and the right approach to Scripture, they led the people astray.
Do not let that be said of you. Come to the Bible humbly, honestly, prayerfully — and God will open its treasures to you.
“Father God, open my eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law. Help me to read Your Word honestly and to accept all truth, in the name of Jesus. Amen.”
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