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How to Understand the Bible

How to Rightly Divide the Word of Truth

For spiritual truth, we need the Bible, but to understand the Bible, the same God who inspired its writers must inspire its readers.

This webpage searches the Scriptures to identify and learn how to remove personal blockages to divine revelation, lest we fall into error.

Why can good Christians study the same Bible passages, be certain that they have found God’s truth and yet end up with contradictory beliefs about what God means? The scary truth is that these disagreements exist even when full-on, Spirit-filled Christians or highly skilled Bible scholars and theologians interpret Scripture. We all believe we are “rightly dividing the word of truth” but, disturbingly, our contradictory interpretations prove that most of us are in error – not what we would call heresy, but isn’t the God we serve a God of Truth? Any error is likely to have undesirable effects.

My prayer is that this webpage be simple but profound. Because this exciting subject is vital to all Christians I avoid theological jargon. I confess an ulterior motive, however, in making one exception. I will introduce one word – hermeneutics – that will be new to many readers, though well known to pastors, theologians and seminary or Bible college students. When seeking a webpage like this one, such people will most likely type “hermeneutics” into search engines. So mentioning it a few times here will help us find each other. The majority of us who use more down-to-earth language are equally important to me and, of course, to God. Hermeneutics focuses on rational helps to accurate Bible interpretation – considering the context, understanding the era in which it was written, and so on.

I’m a firm believer in good hermeneutics. I have even written a small book on the subject. As you drift through this webpage, however, you will become increasingly certain that as important as hermeneutics is, the Bible teaches that the key factors in correctly interpreting the Bible are spiritual, not intellectual.

One might argue that the hermeneutics commonly taught in theological institutions is mental hermeneutics – principles of Bible interpretation that both Christians and non-Christians can profitably use. This is of value. The focus of this page, however, is what might be called spiritual hermeneutics – discerning spiritual truth in the Bible by means that only Christians can access and/or understand. If that statement trips alarm bells within you, I’m not surprised. It sounds flaky and yet we’ll discover that this is repeatedly emphasized in Scripture – the book that claims supernatural origins. We’ll also discover that this is not a cue for flaky claims and unsubstantiated speculation. Instead, it is sobering call for God-fearing, yet joyous, dependence upon humanity’s Creator and Judge for revelation and understanding.

We all know that “the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers,” (2 Corinthians 4:4). It’s not that they lack intelligence, nor even that they lack knowledge. Unbelievers are subject to insidious spiritual interference that keeps them blinded to truth that would have set them free. But does becoming a believer mean the end of all such attacks? Do we instantly have 20/20 vision concerning every spiritual truth in the universe? No more than the first step takes an adventurer to the summit of Mount Everest. It was to Spirit-filled believers that Paul wrote:

Ephesians 1:17-18 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints . . .

These were the very people whom Paul said were already enthroned with Christ ( Ephesians 2:6) and blessed “in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” ( Ephesians 1:3). Yet despite their spiritual status and divine insight, Paul knew that as Christians they needed still more revelation. Moreover, – and this might astound some of us – he knew that neither his letters, nor rigorous study was enough to give them the revelation they needed. He knew that a critical factor in them receiving spiritual understanding was nothing less than repeated prayer for revelation.

While all the theologians were oblivious to their Messiah’s birth, sheep minders received a divine invitation to worship baby Jesus. Heaven’s databanks are crammed with such stories.

Jesus rejoiced in the Almighty hiding his secrets from those who are wise [in their own eyes and/or in the eyes of the world]. Instead of revealing his spiritual truths to the theologically skilled, the Lord of lords chose the ultimate insult to those who pride themselves in their intellect by revealing these liberating spiritual secrets to the unschooled.

Like it not, God is God. He determines what he reveals and to whom.

Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. . . .”

The “wise and learned” that Jesus spoke of were not secular humanists but people whose whole lives revolved around God and the reverent and meticulous study of his Word. They were the Bible scholars, theologians and highly esteemed preachers of his day who had become so intoxicated by their own cleverness and devotion that God kept them blind, deliberately bypassing them and revealing his spiritual secrets to simple people. Here is a key Scripture:

John 9:39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. . . .”

The Pharisees’ significant Bible knowledge and theological skills – which should have been an immense help – proved counterproductive. It’s said a little knowledge is dangerous, but in reality, more knowledge is even more dangerous because it increases the likelihood of being blinded by pride and becoming unteachable. James hints at this:

James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. (Emphasis mine) Of course Bible study is of immense value, but the more emphasis one places on studying Scripture rather than living it, the more deceived one is likely to be.

There are those for whom the Bible is an instruction manual and there are those for whom it is fascinating literature. The Bible is a love letter that moves some to fall ever deeper in love with the author. Others just love the letter.

“Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach,” is a terrifying possibility. No wonder James wrote: James 3:1 Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

The Bible is a map used to great effect by spiritual adventurers and used to no effect by armchair “heroes” who never venture out of their door spiritually, yet pride themselves in their map reading.

Every sport has its champions and it has its fans who pride themselves in their amazing knowledge of the game. Which do you want to be in the game of life?

Consider someone whose Bible knowledge is appalling and yet with the little he knows he achieves far more in God than a seminary professor. Which of them does God regard as ignorant?

The key, of course, is not to study the Bible less, but to live it more.

Psalm 119:11 I have hidden your word in my heart . . .

Why? To gain knowledge? No. The psalmist continues:

. . . that I might not sin against you.

His goal was not to win a game of Bible Trivia. His Bible study goal was to learn how to avoid displeasing God. “. . . do not let me stray from your commands,” he prayed ( Psalm 119:10)

Again we read:

Joshua 1:8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night

Why?

. . . so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. (Emphasis mine)

Joshua was divinely commanded to pour over the Scriptures not so that he would fill with knowledge but in order to live Scripture.

Yet again we read:

Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever . . .

Why?

. . . that we may follow all the words of this law.

In Jesus’ parable of the man who built his life on the sand and the one who built on the rock, both men knew Jesus’ teaching (Matthew 7:24-27). They differed not in spiritual knowledge. It was what they did with that knowledge that gave them such different destinies.

It is a spiritual principle that the person who is faithful in little will be given much (compare Matthew 24:46-47; 25:21). Those who have not got around to putting into practice the biblical truths they already know and unlikely to inspire God to reveal still more truth to them. Further revelation would only make them even more accountable; exposing them to still more judgment.

We quoted Jesus telling the Pharisees, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains. . . .” There would have been great hope for them if only they had had the humility to recognize how little their understanding was.

Every Christian knows that although God longs to forgive all sin, for our Saviour to do so, we must first admit our sin. Likewise, God longs to open our eyes to spiritual truth but we must first admit our blindness. A kindly optician might be eager to correct our eyesight for free, but his hands are tied if we refuse to admit that we need his help or are too proud to wear glasses.

Admitting one’s spiritual blindness is rare and difficult for someone with great Bible skills. The Bible isn’t the problem, of course. It’s one’s attitude. It is so hard for a person rich in spiritual knowledge to advance further in the kingdom of God because it is so hard for such a person to recognize how little he really knows and how desperate his need for divine intervention in his understanding of the Bible.

1 Corinthians 8:2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know.

The same is true of having lofty moral standards and great devotion. It was to highly moral people that Jesus said, “The tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Matthew 21:31). We dare not slacken in our devotion to God and the study of his Word. If, however, we begin to think the key to spiritual insight is our efforts rather than God’s grace, we are in grave danger of spiritual blindness. It then becomes the equivalent of the hare and the tortoise, with those of little Bible knowledge spiritually overtaking their theological betters.

We must model ourselves on the writer of Psalm 119. His knowledge of the Word of God and devotion to it was immense and yet he maintained the humility to keep praying for still greater understanding and pleading with God not to hide from him the true meaning of the Scriptures that everyone thought this man knew inside out. Here is a man after God’s heart; a man who didn’t let his vast store of spiritual knowledge sabotage his spiritual progress. Though so in tune with God that he was in the very act of writing Scripture, the psalmist prayed, “Do not hide your commands from me” (Psalm 119:19).

When the Almighty chooses to keep a truth hidden from someone, the greatest intellect or best hermeneutics in the world won’t help. And anyone who thinks he or she is beyond falling into deception is already deceived. As critical as one’s mental approach is, it fades in significance relative to the multitude of spiritual factors influencing Bible interpretation.

To distill a profound truth into a few words:

When seeking spiritual truth, the Bible is God’s lens.

We can’t see clearly without it.

But God is the light.

Without him we can see nothing.

I am not quite deluded enough (but I’m sure the devil is working on it) to consider myself less prone to error than other devoted Christians. My prayer is simply that, together, we discover all the reasons why we Christians come to contradictory conclusions (thus proving that at least some of us are wrong) when we sincerely seek truth from the same Bible. Obviously, the goal of this webpage is to learn how to lower our susceptibility to spiritual error. Nothing could be more important, and yet it seems a neglected subject.

The Limits of the Mind

I do not imagine that all Christian academic institutions have fallen for it, but the temptation hovers over them to focus on training the mind and underplay the fact that correct Bible interpretation is an activity as spiritual as prayer or receiving divine guidance. Any attempt to reduce Bible interpretation to an academic exercise is destined to fail.

Hermeneutics has optimistically been defined as the science of Bible interpretation. One of the core elements of science, however, is that when an experiment or observation is repeated by different personnel, the same results are obtained. This doesn’t happen with the Bible, because genuine Bible interpretation is not cold science but hinges on an interpersonal relationship between two complex beings – ourselves and God.

With behavioural science (psychology research) filling my early adult years, and general science continuing to fascinate me, I am quite a fan of science. In the context of Bible interpretation, however, the very word “science” should set off alarm bells, alerting us to the fact that it is an attempt to impose modern western thinking on a spiritual exercise that God entrusted to humanity long before western science came into existence.

Though times are changing, we still live in an era in which multitudes are besotted with the power of the human mind, rather than spiritual matters. And Christians are not immune to this pervasive and potentially corrupting distraction.

1 Corinthians 3:18 Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”

Accurate Bible interpretation is not found like a dead flower pressed between the covers of a Bible. Correct Bible interpretation is found through a living relationship – heart to heart communion – with the Author. Biblical truth is discovered by getting to know a person, because Truth is a person – the Lord Jesus Christ. I’m all for study but it is important that we don’t let an intellectual approach to the Bible reduce to sterile study what should be the pinnacle of holy intimacy. That would be like trying to reduce romance to chemical equations. Correctly interpreting Scripture is as intimate as feeling a loved one’s breath on your cheek as he shares his deepest secrets.

Though it infuriates those who pride themselves in their intellect, the Bible is God’s Word and he decides who will understand what he means. Since God is love, what he treasures is not people’s intellectual power or even studiousness but their intimacy with him. So he is moved to reward with understanding of his Word not those who diligently search the Bible for enlightenment or for the power of knowledge but those who do it to seek him. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Matthew 6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Jeremiah 29:13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. (Emphasis mine).

By wanting you to seek him with all your heart, God is a little like a girl who plays hard to get with the guy she is deeply in love with, hoping it will entice you to fall even more in love with him.

If someone who loves you went to great effort to write to you, it would be disrespectful not to read it carefully, but it would also be disrespectful when he visits to ignore the person and just read the letter. Eternal life is not to know the Bible but to know God John 17:3). The greatest commandment is not to love God’s Word but to love God himself. Yes, if you love God you will love his Word, but you can love Bible study without loving God.

Yes, it is vital to read the Bible with a view to living it, but not out of legalism or dreary duty but out of a passionate longing to better know God, the Love of your life, and to delight him. We should read God’s Word with the relish of a little boy eager to grow up and be like Daddy; like a love-crazed teen opening her first love letter; like a mother pouring over a letter from her P.O.W. son, wondering if he is trying to get a deeper message past censors; like a student not content to presume the meaning of a book but constantly asking questions of the teacher he has a crush on.

He keeps much of its meaning a closely guarded secret from casual readers because he aches for your love.

The Author of the Bible longs for Bible reading to be a time of intimate, two-way conversation. He wants us to come to the Bible asking not merely, “What was the author telling his contemporaries?” but “What are you wanting to tell me right now, Lord?” It is common to engage in an inner dialog when reading the Bible, asking such questions as, “ I wonder what this means? Could it mean this?” In contrast, God longs for us to turn it into prayer, saying such things as, “What does this mean, Lord?” Thank you for the truth of this passage. Help me put this verse into practice. Forgive me for what this verse convicts me of.”

Don’t just read the Bible but pray the Bible. Come to it not merely to learn but to prompt your prayer life – to provide you with things to talk over with God. Search the Scriptures not for your mind’s sake but for your heart’s sake. The result will not only be more enjoyable and satisfying but it moves God to share his heart with you, opening the Word to you in a very special and accurate way.

To abandon hermeneutics would be a mistake, but the best hermeneutics is not enough. This is why Scripture does not give us lessons in hermeneutics but instead emphasizes spiritual and heart issues. In fact, one of the frustrations of modern Bible scholars is that often not even the inspired writers of Scripture followed the principles of Bible interpretation promoted by today’s theologians!

How Blind Are You?

Consider the Jews of whom Jesus said:

John 5:39-40 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Some of these students of the Word wanted Jesus dead. Even after the resurrection, many of them could reverently read the Old Testament and not realize that it points to Jesus, their Messiah. We tend to feel as spiritually superior to them as they felt superior to those who murdered the prophets. In reality, despite our claims to being Spirit-filled, if we had our memories stripped down to the information these Jews had – the Old Testament and the bare facts about Jesus, without any explanation – most of us, like them, would have missed many of Jesus’ fulfilments of Scripture.

How many of us, for example, would have seen Herod’s slaughter of babies in Bethlehem or little Jesus’ time in Egypt or him growing up in Nazareth as fulfilment of Scripture (Matthew 2:14-23)? Had we been trained in modern hermeneutics, it is even more certain that we would have missed most Old Testament allusions to Jesus. We are not as different to those spiritually blind Jews as we suppose.

The Holy Spirit might be our Teacher, but that means the end of spiritual ignorance no more than turning up at Medical School makes one a top surgeon. How much do we listen to our Teacher? To what extent do we follow his instructions? How much do we do our own thing or fill our minds with the instructions of lesser teachers? Correctly interpreting the Word of God is as supernatural and as dependent upon the Holy Spirit as the original writing of the Bible.

2 Peter 1:20-21 First of all, you must understand that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. (RSV)

The Bible is a book with supernatural origins divinely intended to be understood only by people who can tap into the supernatural.

Without good hermeneutics we would be off with the fairies but without personal divine enlightenment we would be equally lost. The Bible is our map; the Holy Spirit is our guide. The scale of the map is so large that we need the guide. The guide is so softly spoken that we need the map to confirm that we have correctly heard. Without close attention to both we’ll get lost. This is not because of any deficiency in either of them. It was always intended that they would work together.

“You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God,” chided Jesus (Matthew 22:29). We swell with pride. Jesus’ rebuke does not apply to us! He then went on to say that God telling Moses, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” proves that the dead are raised. Who of us would have gleaned that from this Scripture?

About those Jews whose intense Bible study actually stopped them from becoming Christians, Paul wrote: 2 Corinthians 3: 14-16 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant [the Old Testament] is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

Those who were so tragically mistaken in their understanding of Scripture lacked neither intelligence nor knowledge. In fact, they were superior in both departments to most Christians. As Paul wrote:

1 Corinthians 1:19-29 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. . . . Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential . . . God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise . . . so that no one may boast before him.

It wasn’t intelligence or knowledge, but a spiritual blockage that kept these Jews blinded to the truth. 1 Corinthians 2:9-14 However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived . . . but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. . . .” We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. . . . The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. (Emphasis mine)

We have just noted that the Spirit is given “that we may understand” (1 Corinthians 2:12) and Acts 5:32 tells us that the Spirit is given to those who obey God. These truths combine to form something close to what I consider to be a key insight from Jesus:

John 7:17 If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

Jesus is saying that whether God gives someone the supernatural insight to discern the divine origin of Jesus’ teaching hinges on that person’s willingness to do God’s will. We find this strongly hinted at elsewhere: Ezekiel 12:2 Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.

Note the strong connection between rebelliousness (resisting God’s will) and an inability to see and hear spiritual truth. This explains many a blockage to spiritual understanding. Are we willing to pay whatever it costs to do God’s will? To what extent do we choose to deny ourselves, sweating as it were drops of blood, while we sob “Not my will but yours,” then take up our cross and follow our Lord to a torturous death for God’s sake? That, to a large measure, determines how closed to spiritual truth God will keep us.

It is because correct Bible interpretation is a product not of intellectual skills but of divine revelation, that we have such Scriptures as:

Deuteronomy 29:4 But to this day the LORD has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.

Isaiah 29:10-11 The LORD has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers). For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. . . . Matthew 13:10-16 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?” He replied, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance.

Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. . . .”

We are continually tempted to dismiss Scripture’s warnings as applying to someone else, not us, as if becoming a Christian renders us immune to deception or spiritual blindness. On the basis of what Jesus said above, we might think the disciples would never develop a hardened heart. After all, they were Christ’s chosen; the privileged few to whom “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given.” It was the others who had eyes that cannot see and ears that cannot hear spiritual truth, right? Well read this:

Mark 8:17 . . . “Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? . . .” Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? . . .

No matter how close to Jesus and spiritually privileged we might be, we are not beyond falling into spiritual blindness that stops us from seeing spiritual truths that we desperately need to know.

To be “ever hearing but never understanding” is a terrifying predicament, when it is talking not of trying to operate a DVD recorder but of spiritual truth. And it applied not to the intellectually disadvantaged but to many of Israel’s top Bible scholars. Training one’s mind is important, but Bible interpretation is such an intensely spiritual exercise that one’s heart and spirit are even more critical than one’s mind. Consider, for example, the implications of these Scriptures:

Mark 6:51-52 Then he climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. [In other words, their hardened hearts prevented them from discerning from previous revelation who Jesus really was.]

Luke 24:45 Then he opened their minds [ie, it took an act of God] so they could understand the Scriptures. John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. . . . He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

Jesus taught in parables that bamboozled listeners. As if that were not enough to lose followers, he even did things that offended people who were seeking to uphold Scripture. For instance, in the eyes of many he seemed to deliberately break one of the Ten Commandments by repeatedly choosing to heal on the Sabbath (which ended at sundown) rather that say, “Come back in a few hours.” He knowingly said offensive things without bothering to explain himself, such as “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53).

Jesus’ approach was not a one-off for God. Jesus came to reveal the heart of the Father and he did this even in his choice of teaching methods. Like Jesus’ teaching, the Almighty has deliberately made the entire Bible offensive to intellectuals and easy to misinterpret and hard to understand. In fact, the very heart of Christianity – the cross – is like that:

1 Corinthians 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles Our Lord purposely makes spiritual truth and even salvation an offense to people who pride themselves in their intellect or piety. He does this because he longs for us to be genuine – as manifested by our sincerity and humility – and he craves intimacy with us. It is faith, sincerity and humility, not native intelligence or prideful self-sufficiency, that he honours.

When Peter declared that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, Jesus said that this revelation came to Peter not from people but from God himself (Matthew 16:17). That is the nature of revelation. It comes not from flesh and blood, nor from intellect and study but from God. True revelation is always consistent with Scripture and usually comes through Scripture – often the rigorous study of Scripture – but it comes from the Spirit’s interpretation of Scripture, not from our human attempt at interpretation.

Since the Bible is God’s Word, not ours, it is his prerogative to use it however he wishes. It would be typical of our Lord – you could almost call it his sense of humour – to reveal to a simple person a precious truth that a theologian has utterly missed, and to flabbergast – perhaps even deliberately offend – the scholar by letting that simple person discover the truth by taking a Scripture out of context.

We might not worship idols of stone, but to how many intelligent and/or mature Christians does the Scripture apply, “Claiming to be wise, they became fools”(Romans 1:22, RSV)?

Before such a God, I can only fall in adoration, declaring:

Romans 11:33-34 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

Blockages to Spiritual Truth

One of the things convincing me that the Gospels are authentic is that if the disciples – the eye witnesses to the inside story – had any tendency to embellish the truth, they would have portrayed themselves in at least a slightly better light. These carriers of the story let themselves be portrayed as not just unremarkable but – to put it politely – as if they had below average intelligence. We see them not only squabbling over petty matters and being regularly chided by Jesus for being of “little faith,” but we find them not understanding parables until Jesus privately explained them. What seems almost incomprehensibly ignorant of them, however, is that Jesus kept telling them he would suffer and rise from the dead and it kept going straight over their heads. This is not only hinted at in every Gospel, it is specifically highlighted not just once but twice in the one Gospel: Luke 9:22 And he said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.”

A week or so later, Jesus said:

Luke 9:44-45 “Listen carefully to what I am about to tell you: The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.” But they did not understand what this meant. It was hidden from them, so that they did not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.

Nine chapters later, Jesus was still teaching them about his suffering and their understanding was still abysmal.: Luke 18:31-34 Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be handed over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.” The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.(Emphasis mine)

In Luke alone, this is the seventh time Jesus had spoken of his future suffering (Scriptures). No doubt part of their difficulty was not realizing that Jesus this time was speaking very literally. Their inability to understand, however, is very significant to us because if these chosen men of God could miss spiritual truth, so can we. In the next page we will explore this vital matter.

Next Part How to Understand the Bible 2