Bible Interpretation Rule 2

Posted on October 27, 2019 by Jerry

2. Interpret literally unless the resulting interpretation is an absurdity, or in the case of the Bible, an interpretation out of harmony with and contradictory to the teaching found elsewhere in the Bible. But be very careful what you identify as an absurdity. It may be that what seems to be an absurdity is actually the truth as taught by the Bible, and that it is your own opinion, or what you have been taught by others, that is the absurdity in the light of the full teaching of the Bible.

Isaiah 55:12 uses figurative language, which if taken literally, does result in absurdity:

Isaiah 55:12
12  For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
King James Version

Quite clearly, the Bible is not teaching that trees have actual hands or that mountains and hills have voices!

But there are doctrines or teachings taught in the Bible that may seem foolish at first reading to the ordinary person who reads or hears them:

1 Corinthians 2:14
14  But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
King James Version

By “natural man,” Paul means any person who is not born again, not saved, and so not transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit in his or her life:

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

How does any person take the steps to become “a new creature” that Paul speaks of here?

First, this is a matter of a supernatural change of heart:

Deuteronomy 30:6
6  And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
King James Version

Second, this change of heart results from our true repentance:

Psalms 51:10
10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
King James Version

2 Corinthians 7:10
10  For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
King James Version

Third, this is a matter of a changed heart, not the result of submitting to any sacrament or other religious ritual:

Galatians 6:15
15  For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
King James Version

Ephesians 2:10
10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
King James Version

Fourth, we are not saved by good works, but the saved life is transformed by the Holy Spirit to produce good works in and through us:

Titus 3:5
5  Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
King James Version

Ephesians 4:24
24  And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
King James Version

Colossians 3:10
10  And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
King James Version

Fifth, we are not saved by keeping the Law, but by faith in what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us:

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3  For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Rom 8:10  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Rom 8:11  But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

Sixth, as new creatures in Christ, the Holy Spirit transforms and empowers us to walk in newness of life:

Galatians 5:16
16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
King James Version

Galatians 5:25
25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
King James Version

Colossians 3:2
2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
King James Version

Ephesians 4:23
23  And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
King James Version

Seventh, our spiritual life in Christ must be fed by our regular, daily, reading and study of God’s Word, the Bible:

Mat 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.

Act 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.

1Pe 2:2  As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

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Bible Interpretation Rule 1

Posted on October 22, 2019 by Jerry

1. Interpret literally in all cases unless the text or context clearly demonstrates that other than a literal interpretation is required and intended by the author.

This rule of interpretation holds true for just about everything you read or hear.

Many years ago I read a book titled Biblical Hermeneutics by Milton S. Terry. That is one book that has gotten me into trouble and gotten me out of trouble more than once!

The book got me into trouble because it influenced some of the answers I gave on tests in my Bible Doctrines course at Bob Jones University. I answered a question about the inspiration of the Bible using terms I learned not from the course but from my reading and study of Milton S. Terry’s book. I was summoned to the Dean’s Office and asked to explain myself. Well, another of my professors happened to see me being grilled by Dean Edwards and he came to my defense, alerting Dean Edwards to the fact that I was not a “preacher boy” but a Secondary Education major.

Another time was in a seminar at Wayne State University I was asked to participate in on the subject of futurism. The professor did not like it at all when I stated that there are rules for interpreting poetry and any other literature and that I carefully taught those rules to my students. She was horrified, and said that hermeneutics was a subject for theology and seminary classes about religion or the Bible but certainly not a proper matter for teaching how to read poetry. I thoroughly but politely disagreed with her.

After I retired from teaching I began reading some of the books I have here that I wish I would have had the time to read while teaching. One of the books I read was Practical Criticism, by I. A. Richards. I believe my practice of teaching poetry mirrored his, though at the time I was teaching poetry at Cass Technical High School in Detroit, I had not read this book.

Now when it comes to Bible interpretation, I am sure that there are many “modern” scholars and theologians that would disagree with me about my first rule of interpretation, “Interpret literally in all cases unless the text or context clearly demonstrates that other than a literal interpretation is required and intended by the author.”

This rule is of supreme importance because that is how we humans normally use our language. It is almost always how the Bible uses language. When something is meant otherwise, the context or surrounding material, what  comes before and what comes after, will make the matter plain when a figurative sense is meant by the original author.

I think that some Bible teachers and theologians don’t like my rule because it does not allow them to foist meanings on statements in the Bible that they disagree with:

Rom 11:29  For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. (KJV)

Rom 11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. (ESV)

The English Standard Version is the better translation here. Israel was called out of all other nations to be particularly “His people” (Deuteronomy 32:43),

Deuteronomy 32:43  Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

What has this got to do with literal interpretation?

Many today do not believe that the promises to Israel given in the Bible have anything to do with Israel’s right to the Land of Israel today.

Well, the Bible emphasizes the land promise given to Abraham and extended to the nation of Israel.

Paul told us in Romans 11:29 that God’s promises to Israel are irrevocable.

Therefore, the promise still stands, as God Himself proclaims in Malachi 3:6,

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Kind of hard to get around this one. Those today who do not agree with me on this point are surely breaking the first rule of Bible interpretation by failing to interpret the Bible literally.

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Daily Bible Nugget #548, Luke 8:13

Posted on October 16, 2019 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Luke 8:13  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.

My Comment:

I saw a long and lively discussion on Facebook just now on the subject of “Once saved, always saved.” I posted the following response:

Monique Shatae, this has been a long and lively discussion. In the main, you are correct. The “once saved, always saved” position is false doctrine. The Bible clearly teaches the absolute eternal security of the believer, not the unbeliever.
 
It is possible for a person to stop believing. Jesus said so:
 
Luk 8:13  They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away. 
 
Any one who has “believed for a while” most certainly (1) did believe, and (2) stopped believing.
 
Promises of salvation on the basis of believing (like John 3:16) are expressed in the present tense in the underlying Greek text, therefore a single one-time supposed “act of faith” is not what is being spoken of, but a consistent and continuing belief.
 
Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 
 
In the KJV, the “eth” suffix on the root word believe, “believeth,” conveys the meaning of the original text, Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible translates “is believing.” The KJV did not do this because the “ing” suffix was not in use at that time to express the present progressive tense in English.
 
The presence of “IF” clauses in the New Testament definitely shows that some Bible promises are conditional. In the Greek text, there are actually four different classes of “if”! See 2 Peter 1:10 and Colossians 1:23.
 
Doctrines of seducing spirits and doctrines of demons are warned against in 1 Timothy 4:1, and directly speaks of those who shall depart from the faith (which, in effect, means to stop believing!).
 
1Ti 4:1  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 
 
One cannot logically be said to depart, fall away, or apostatize from a faith which one never held in the first place. Paul is addressing these warnings to believers, not unbelievers.
 
Someone above asked for a Bible text that specifically warns believers not to fall away. Here is a warning text which most certainly is addressed to believers:
 
2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 
 
Peter is addressing believers by the term “beloved.”
 
The presence of the subjunctive mood in the underlying Greek text (almost always untranslated or incorrectly translated in our English translations, except for Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible and the Lavender ( Lavender’s New Testament ) New Testament. The subjunctive mood in Greek is properly represented in English translation by the word “may” not “shall” or “will.” The subjunctive mood indicates the presence of a stated contingency or requirement in the context, such that to receive the benefit of a promise, for example, the stated requirement must be met. This grammatical feature is present in John 3:16 and most notably in John 10:28.
 
John 10:28 should be translated “And I give to them eternal life, and they MAY never, never perish forever.”
 
Why the MAY? The contingency or requirement is stated in John 10:27, “My sheep always heed My voice, and I know them, and they always follow Me.” (Lavender Translation)
 
 
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Daily Bible Nugget #547, John 6:47

Posted on October 15, 2019 by Jerry

The Nugget:

John 6:44  No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. (KJV)

Joh 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (ESV)

Joh 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. (NET)

Joh 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him to me; then I myself will raise him to life on the last day. (Williams NT)

Joh 6:44 No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me makes them want to come. But if they do come, I will raise them to life on the last day. (CEV)

Joh 6:44 No man is able to come to me if the Father who sent me does not give him the desire to come: and I will take him up from the dead on the last day. (BBE, Bible in Basic English)

Joh 6:44 no one is able to come unto me, if the Father who sent me may not draw him, and I will raise him up in the last day; (YLT, Young’s Literal Translation)

My Comment:

I cited seven English translations for John 6:44. I saved the best for last. Only Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible properly preserves the subjunctive mood present in the Greek text.

You cannot correctly understand the doctrine of the Bible if you ignore or gloss over the grammar of the original language used in the Bible.

I heard a  portion of a Bible message on Christian radio this past weekend. The speaker emphasized John 6:44 to support a rather narrow and mistaken view of predestination. The speaker interpreted John 6:44 in the absolute sense to suggest no person can come to Christ for salvation unless God from eternity past predestined that specific person to be among the elect who can be saved. This is a very mistaken view improperly derived from John 6:44 and similar verses in the Bible.

Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, unless the Father who sent me, shall draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day. (Murdock)

Notice that the Murdock translation goes a step further in the wrong grammatical direction by translating John 6:44 to read “shall draw him.” Only the Young’s Literal Translation of the Bible renders John 6:44 correctly by “may draw him.”

I know of only one modern English translation which correctly translates John 6:44, Lavender’s New Testament:

John 6:44 No one is able to come to Me unless the Father–the One having sent Me–may draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day. (LNT)

May in English is a subjunctive mood verb. The subjunctive mood verb in the underlying Greek text of John 6:44 conveys a very important distinction. The distinction conveyed is that the promise or benefit stated is conditioned upon meeting a specified contingency or requirement. The conditional benefit can only be received by meeting the contingency expressed in the context.

That contingency is expressed in John 6:37 and John 6:40. The emphasis is upon “coming” and “believing.” These requirements are given in the present tense, so the person that God may draw is marked by the obedience to the command to keep coming and keep believing. As long as a person continues to believe and continues to obey Christ’s command to believe on Him, that person continues to have everlasting life.

John 6:37  All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

John 6:40  And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

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Daily Bible Nugget #546, Mark 2:8

Posted on October 13, 2019 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Mar 2:8  And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?

My Comment:

In my last post I cited Mark 2:1-12 to show that our Lord Jesus Christ is rightly understood to be God the Son because He had the power to forgive sins. The Jews rightly asked within themselves, “Who can forgive sins but God only?”

That Jesus knew that they harbored these thoughts in their minds demonstrates His omniscience. Omniscience is an attribute of God that means God knows everything, even the hidden thoughts of our hearts or minds.

Peter directly states to Jesus that he knew that Jesus knows everything:

John 21:17  He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.

Because Jesus knows all things, we can properly say that Jesus is omniscient.

Omniscience is known as an incommunicable attribute of God. An incommunicable attribute of God belongs to God only, and cannot be shared with any other person or creature. This proves the Deity of Christ, because He  possesses the incommunicable attributes of God such as (1) eternity, Revelation 22:13; (2) omniscience, John 21:17; (3) omnipresence, Ephesians 1:23; (4) sovereignty, Matthew 8:27;  (5) immutability, Hebrews 13:8; and (6) immensity, John 3:13.

Since only God can possess the incommunicable attributes, yet Scripture ascribes them to Jesus and to the Holy Spirit, all three persons must be God. There is no other explanation which properly agrees with all the statements of Scripture.

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Daily Bible Nugget #545, 2 Peter 3:17

Posted on October 10, 2019 by Jerry

The Nugget:

2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

My Comment:

It is very important to pay attention to this warning. It is possible for any person to be “led away with the error of the wicked” with the disastrous result Peter warns us of. Notice Peter is addressing those he calls “beloved.” Peter, therefore, is addressing believers, not unbelievers. Peter states there is a very real danger of falling “from your own stedfastness.”

Peter makes it very clear that to follow the teachings or practice of apostates is to commit apostasy, and thus to fall from grace. It is strikingly clear, therefore, that Peter did not believe the popular false doctrine so widely accepted today called “eternal security.” This doctrine is popularly expressed as “once saved, always saved.” This mistaken doctrine is clearly heresy. What the Bible does teach is the absolute eternal security of the believer, not the unbeliever.

“God’s written word, taken as a whole, and allowed to speak for itself, will be found to be its own best interpreter” (Milton S. Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics, page 162).

Not everyone who claims to believe in Jesus believes in the Jesus of the Bible. Paul warned about this problem when he spoke about “another Jesus” (2 Corinthians 11:4). Not everyone who claims to believe the Gospel believes in the Gospel taught in the Bible. Paul warned about this problem when he spoke about “another gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:4; Galatians 1:6).

Gal 1:6  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Gal 1:7  Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Gal 1:8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

Today I saw a challenge posted by a Muslim which asked, “Is there any other religion besides Christianity which professes belief in Jesus?” I am quoting the question from memory. The claim is that Muslims also believe in Jesus. I believe what they fail to understand that they believe in “another Jesus,” not the Jesus of the Bible. There followed an assertion that Christianity is mistaken in its beliefs about Jesus because Christianity teaches the doctrine of the deity of Christ. The Muslim said that nowhere in the Bible does Jesus ever say “I am God, worship me.” This Muslim challenge is misdirected because it is an example of the “exact word fallacy.” The issue is not whether any such exact words are in the Bible, but rather, is the deity of Christ taught as a matter of necessary inference? The answer to that question is most certainly “Yes.”

Mark 2:1  And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
Mar 2:2  And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
Mar 2:3  And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
Mar 2:4  And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
Mar 2:5  When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Mar 2:6  But there were certain of the scribes sitting there, and reasoning in their hearts,
Mar 2:7  Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgive sins but God only?
Mar 2:8  And immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, he said unto them, Why reason ye these things in your hearts?
Mar 2:9  Whether is it easier to say to the sick of the palsy, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Arise, and take up thy bed, and walk?
Mar 2:10  But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (he saith to the sick of the palsy,)
Mar 2:11  I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy bed, and go thy way into thine house.
Mar 2:12  And immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went forth before them all; insomuch that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion.

I understand that the Jews of the time of Jesus believed (1) that only God can forgive sins, and (2) only God can heal.

When Jesus spoke the words “Son, thy sins be forgiven thee,” there could be no immediate visible result to confirm the truth of His declaration.

But, when Jesus told the paralytic to take up his bed and walk, the miraculous healing was immediately evident, and confirmed, by the Jews’ own beliefs, that He had the power also to forgive sins.

By the rule of interpretation that I call “the rule of necessary inference” (see the October, 2010 Archives listed here on the right-hand side of this page for a full listing of my “Rules of Interpretation”), the correct inference to be drawn is that Jesus demonstrated His deity before the very eyes of those in the crowded house.

This is just one of many things we read about Jesus in the New Testament that, carefully considered, leads all Bible believing Christians to believe in the deity of Christ, that He was truly a man, but He was also truly God the Son, what in theology we call the Second Person of the Trinity.

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Daily Bible Nugget #544, Deuteronomy 18:18

Posted on October 9, 2019 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Deuteronomy 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

My Comment:

I read the following Muslim post asking about Deuteronomy 18:18,

Why do Christians skip this Holy Verse from the Bible…
DUET1818
Don’t play games with me..
Explain this verse from YOUR HOLY BIBLE..
I’ll only respond with comments associated with this verse..

Come Christians let’s reason together.. We are here to share not to argue…
…so let’s share

 

 

My Response:

Mpho Kooda, you ask about Deuteronomy 18:18.

Deuteronomy 18:18  I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

This verse was fulfilled completely by our Lord Jesus Christ, and no other.

FIRST, notice that God said He would raise THEM up a Prophet.

Therefore, since THEM has reference to the Jews, the Hebrews, this prophecy has reference to no other nation or people. This Prophet can come from nowhere else or any other people-group.

Therefore, since the prediction states God would raise up A PROPHET, there can only be ONE PERSON who can fulfill this promise.

The ONE PERSON who fulfilled that prediction precisely was our Lord Jesus Christ.

The New Testament records that the people of Israel who witnessed the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ recognized Him as the ONE PERSON who fulfilled the prediction of Deuteronomy 18:18, that Jesus was THAT PROPHET which should come into the world:

John 6:14

14  Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
King James Version

Jesus repeatedly declared that He spoke only what God commanded Him to speak:

John 12:49

49  For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
King James Version

Even the woman at the well knew the Bible well enough to recognize that our Lord Jesus Christ was the One God promised to send, who would declare to them “all things” that God commanded Him to speak:

John 4:25

25  The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things.
King James Version

Those who heard Jesus speak and teach recognized that His teaching was unlike the teaching of their scribes and Pharisees, but that Jesus taught with special authority:

Matthew 7:29

29  For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
King James Version

Therefore, based upon this careful presentation of the historical and Biblical evidence, only our Lord Jesus Christ is qualified to fulfill the promise and prophecy of Deuteronomy 18:18, and he did so.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION FOR REAL BIBLE STUDY:

How did I arrive at the answers to the Muslim question about Deuteronomy 18:18? I simply turned to Deuteronomy 18:18 in The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury, and all the cross references there furnished the material for my answer. If you do not have this resource, you can do the same thing using my previous cross reference Bible study tools, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, or Nelson’s Cross Reference Guide to the Bible. 

If you do not like hearing so much BAD NEWS then take the time as I have just done to share the GOOD NEWS! I just demonstrated how to do it.

 

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Daily Bible Nugget #543, 2 Peter 3:18

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Jerry

The Nugget:

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.  (KJV)

2Pe 3:18 Let the wonderful kindness and the understanding that come from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ help you to keep on growing. Praise Jesus now and forever! Amen. (CEV)

My Comment:

Sixty-six years ago I was busy reading the New Testament seriously and constantly during every spare moment. I was discovering many helpful verses like 2 Peter 3:18 at what was to be the start of my new Christian life. Those verses are still important to me today.

As you get to know your Bible, these verses should become important to you too.

If such thoughts are strange or foreign to your experience, let me encourage you to do what I did back then: read the New Testament seriously, patiently, and repeatedly. On my third read through, I finally understood the message.

I have emphasized in many posts here the importance of starting out by reading a plain text Bible. It is important to start this way so your own ability to understand what the text of the New Testament actually says won’t be overly influenced by commentary written by others.

Once you have become quite familiar with the content of the New Testament, it is a good idea to begin to get more help from resources designed to help you understand the Bible better.

I found the following resources to be helpful to me:

  1. Milton S. Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics.
  2. The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
  3. The New Topical Textbook.

The first resource was the first Christian book about the Bible that I remember buying from the Grand Bible and Bookstore in Highland Park, Michigan. I read it three times through before I finished high school. I will admit, though, that this book may be too difficult for many readers. There are other books that are easier to read but still helpful on this subject. This important book teaches the careful reader how to interpret the Bible correctly and how to know for sure that your interpretation is correct.

The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge was also one of the first books for Bible study that I bought. I learned about this helpful book while taking a vacation Bible school class for high school students about “How to Study the Bible” taught by Miss Ellen Groh, who was then a student at the Detroit Bible College, later renamed Tyndale Bible College. Miss Ellen Groh became a missionary to Africa. The last time I spoke to her she was planning to retire to Africa where she had served the Lord for many years. I am certainly thankful to her for pointing me to this very significant Bible study tool. It is a book of what are called cross references to nearly every verse in the Bible. Looking up the cross references given in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge will lead you to other Bible verses that explain more about what the Bible says about the subjects mentioned in the verse you start from.

The New Topical Textbook is an alphabetical list of important Bible subjects that points the reader to where those subjects are found in the Bible. It has a very motivational introduction by R. A. Torrey which I found to be a great encouragement to study the Bible this way.

Making regular use of resources like these (all available in Bible software now) will help anyone who reads the Bible to “grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,” as the very last words we have from the great Apostle Peter encourage us to do.

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Vijay Chandra Memorial Letter

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Jerry

by Mrs. Narsamma Chandra

September 14, 2019

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for praying for us and supporting us so faithfully over the years. The Lord has been wonderful to us. By now many of you know and maybe some of you do not know that Vijay went to be with his Savior and Lord on the 24th of July at 3:30 pm in Fiji.

We left for the Fiji Islands on Wednesday the 17th of July and arrived there on Friday the 19th. He preached on the Lord’s day on the 21st at the Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Ba, from Luke 18:9, 10, 11. We were thrilled to be at the church which we started together in 1993 and were there till 2017. We had a wonderful fellowship with the believers after the service and then we were invited by a member, Sagar and his sister Puja. He himself cooked the meal and then discussed about the Lord and also he was having some problems with his mother. After counseling them and edifying them we went home.

On Monday we had some things taken care of and Sagar met us again and we again spent a lot of time counseling him and encouraging him. On Tuesday a Muslim man had come to do some yard work and Vijay made tea with ginger and they had it together and Vijay witnessed to him and a neighbor who came to visit. On Wednesday morning those two men came again and Vijay talked to them again and we left for Lautoka.

He took chapel on Wednesday the 24th for the students and staff of Fiji Bible College of Evangelism, sharing from John 4 about the attributes of God. He had graduated from the Bible college, and also had helped build the buildings. He also had taught Hebrew, Greek, and Old Testament Theology for over 24 years there.

He said he was not feeling good so I took him to a doctor for a checkup. The same day after few hours the Lord whom he served faithfully to the last minute saw it fit to call him home. I was with him. He did not suffer at all, and as the Word says, “he was absent from the body and present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). He left peacefully to be with his Lord. Vijay can surely say “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7, 8).

Andrew and Kimberly were able to fly from Australia the next day and Philip joined us on Sunday. Funeral service was held at the Ba church at 11:00 am on the 29th of July where Andrew also shared from Jeremiah 1:5-10 and then the burial service took place at the Veroka cemetery at 1 pm. After the burial the Fijian staff and students knelt around the grave and paid respect to Vijay, a gesture which the natives give only to chiefs and people they place in highest honor. Our Lord blessed with a beautiful day and a wonderful service in the church as well as at the cemetery. Many believers and nonbelievers, families and friends from Australia and New Zealand and all over Fiji were able to hear the gospel and our Lord’s name was glorified through Hymns and his Word. The memorial service in honor of Vijay was held the same evening at the church where our God was glorified once again. My dear brothers and sisters, the Lord has been my strength and my shield and has guided me and my family through all these days. The Lord guided me in all these and I surely felt His loving presence with me in my sorrow and days of bereavement. He was my refuge to flee to.

I came back with Philip to Utah and spent some time with his family and waited on the Lord’s guidance as to what He wanted me to do. Even though Philip and his family wanted me to live with them, after much prayer I felt the Lord was calling me back to Flint to continue with the Cross Cultural Ministry which Vijay and I started with the help of other friends like Tim Marshal, Luke, Moses, Scott Snyder, and Keshitiz at Kettering University and also wherever and whomever the Lord brings in my way. Scott Snyder took some Bibles and gave the news about Vijay and students helped themselves to 12 Bibles. I was able to visit them last Friday with Sabrina and most of the students were glad to visit with me and a couple of friends also came over. They conveyed that they really loved Vijay and would miss him greatly and shared that Vijay would call them “son”. I was really touched by their love. Keshitiz and Moses came that evening to my home and shared what Vijay meant to them and how he was mentoring them.

Friends, I really appreciate your love and prayers for me and the work here. It will not be easy for me without Vijay but for now I know the Lord wants me here in Flint. Thank you also for the sympathy cards and phone calls, it means a lot to me. My Lord has been with me throughout the day on the 24th, and I felt His love and His presence and His guidance then and also continually to this day. We had celebrated 41 years of our wedding anniversary last year on the 5th of November. I have known him for 44 years. His love and zeal for his Savior kept him going till the last day and I praise the Lord for his life.

Ralph and Sharon Kemrer from Calvary Baptist Church in Pennsylvania shared with me a handwritten note which Vijay had written to them in 2005 and the text which I would also like to share with you is from Lamentations 3:20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26.

In His service,

Narsamma

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Daily Bible Nugget #542, Psalm 9:17

Posted on September 21, 2019 by Jerry

The Nugget:

Psalm 9:17  The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

My Comment:

Cris Jackson gave me permission to share her Facebook post from earlier today. Here is what she shared:

Satan has deceived so many thinking they belong to God….Your behavior and lifestyle tells it all! We can’t live our life like hell and think we belong to God and going to make it into heaven. That’s a lie. It is interesting that a much higher percentage of people believe in the existence of heaven than believe in the existence of hell. According to the Bible, though, hell is just as real as heaven. The Bible clearly and explicitly teaches that hell is a real place to which the wicked/unbelieving are sent after death. We have all sinned against God (Romans 3:23). The just punishment for that sin is death (Romans 6:23). Since all of our sin is ultimately against God (Psalm 51:4), and since God is an infinite and eternal Being, the punishment for sin, death, must also be infinite and eternal. Hell is this infinite and eternal death which we have earned because of our sin.

The punishment of the wicked dead in hell is described throughout Scripture as “eternal fire” (Matthew 25:41), “unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:12), “shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2), a place where “the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49), a place of “torment” and “fire” (Luke 16:23, 24), “everlasting destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9), a place where “the smoke of torment rises forever and ever” (Revelation 14:10, 11), and a “lake of burning sulfur” where the wicked are “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

The punishment of the wicked in hell is as never ending as the bliss of the righteous in heaven. Jesus Himself indicates that punishment in hell is just as everlasting as life in heaven (Matthew 25:46). The wicked are forever subject to the fury and the wrath of God. Those in hell will acknowledge the perfect justice of God (Psalm 76:10). Those who are in hell will know that their punishment is just and that they alone are to blame (Deuteronomy 32:3, 4, 5). Yes, hell is real. Yes, hell is a place of torment and punishment that lasts forever and ever, with no end. Praise God that, through Jesus, we can escape this eternal fate (John 3:16, 18, 36).

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