There was an Ethiopian [who] had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. So Philip... asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'

Our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to you according to the wisdom given him... In his letters there are some things [that are] hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.

By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

The Lord exists forever;
your word is firmly fixed in heaven.

My word that goes out from my mouth;
shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

The law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good... Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path... You have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

Be strong and very courageous, being careful to act in accordance with all the law that my servant Moses commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, so that you may be successful wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to act in accordance with all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall be successful. Hold to the standard of sound teaching that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Guard the good treasure entrusted to you, with the help of the Holy Spirit living in us.

Their delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law they meditate day and night.
They are like trees planted by streams of water,
which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither.
In all that they do, they prosper...
I treasure your word in my heart,
so that I may not sin against you.

No prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came of human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will remind you of all I have said to you... He will guide you into all the truth... and will declare to you things that are to come.

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. To us the message of this salvation has been sent. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. Keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.

Acts 8:27-30; 2 Peter 3:16; Hebrews 11:3; Psalm 119:90; Isaiah 55:11; Romans 7:12; Psalm 119:105; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Joshua 1:7-8; 2 Timothy 1:13-14; Psalm 1:3-4; Psalm 119:11; 2 Peter 1:21; John 14:26; John 16:13; 2 Corinthians 5:19; Colossians 1:6; Acts 13:26; Colossians 3:16; 1 Timothy 6:11-12,14; Philippians 4:8-9;
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The most important thing about being a Christian is your friendship with Jesus Christ. In any friendship you talk and listen to one another. God speaks to us in many ways: primarily through the life and ministry of his living Word, Jesus Christ, and secondarily through his written word in the Scriptures. So one of the most important keys to spiritual growth is a regular diet of Bible!

The Bible is the authoritative guide for all we believe and do: for faith and practice. It is the inspired and trustworthy record of the mighty acts and teachings of God in the history of his people Israel, and fulfilled in the life, teachings and saving work of Jesus Christ.

The Bible is actually a library of 66 books. The Old Testament has 39 books, written and collected over more than a thousand years. This was the 'Bible' for the early Christians. The New Testament, written after Jesus' life and teaching comprises 27 books, written between about AD 50 and 100 about the life and teaching of Jesus. During the first three centuries these books came to be used alongside the Old Testament. Some books of the Bible are mainly poetry, others history, others comprise ancient laws, others what we would call sermons. Each book reflects the personality and emphases of its author/s: there is a wonderful unity-in-diversity about the library we call the Bible!

Many try to read the Bible from Genesis, but they soon get bogged down somewhere in Leviticus. The best place to start reading the Bible is the beginning of the New Testament. The ministry and teaching of Jesus is the key to the whole Bible, so get to know him first! Perhaps read through to the end of Romans, then go back to the OT and read Genesis, then perhaps the first 24 Psalms, then stories like Ruth, Esther, Jonah. Then maybe you could study Ephesians, James, 1 Peter; then go back to Deuteronomy. After that, finish the rest of the NT.

Get an easy-to-read modern translation, like the New Revised Standard Version (which uses non-sexist language) or the Good News Bible. Buy a couple of books to help you understand the Bible's background. Ask your pastor about a good one-volume Bible introduction (like the Lion Handbook to the Bible) commentary (eg. Harper's Bible Commentary), dictionary (like the IVP New Dictionary of Theology). Ask someone in Scripture Union for the best daily Bible reading notes for your background and age. Or begin with a more serious devotional book like Still Waters Deep Waters (Albatross, edited by Rowland Croucher).

But once we begin to read the Bible, all sorts of questions will arise. In the film Ghandi, the Indian was walking down a narrow street with a young clergyman. About to be accosted by some white youths, the clergyman was in favour of turning back. 'I thought your Bible said that if you were struck on one cheek, you should turn the other cheek', said Ghandi. 'I always took that rather figuratively,' replied the clergyman. 'I think Jesus may well have meant it literally,' said Ghandi...

Hermeneutics is about understanding and interpreting the Bible. This isn't always easy, as your Bible was translated from languages which you probably don't speak at home! It is difficult sometimes to get an exact parallel of thought from one language to another. (A missionary Bible translator in Northern Australia wanted to teach Aborigines the song 'Jesus loves me'. To get the word for 'me' he pantomined, pointing repeatedly to himself. Much later he learned that they had all been singing 'Jesus loves the hairs on my chest'!). Interpreting the Bible isn't easy for another reason: some of our modern questions (eg. about abortion or genetic engineering or the morality of contraception or nuclear pacifism) aren't addressed specifically in the Bible. But the broad principles which can guide us in making individual choices in these complex areas are all there.

The rich and the poor read from the same Bible, but read it differently. We all bring our cultural and ideological biases to Scripture. Poor Latin Americans find the Exodus story full of meaning and promise: oppressors misuse their power against the poor, God is concerned about it and rescues the powerless. I once preached from the Bible about social justice to a conference of Australian aborigines. Those with dark skins said it was wonderful. The missionaries said it was dangerous... Blacks in South Africa see the God of the Bible as a friend in their distress; hard-line Afrikaners justify apartheid from the same Bible.

How can we be more sure of understanding the Bible better? Here are five guidelines: (1) Pray: ask the Spirit of God who inspired these human authors to guide you to understand what they wrote. (2) Ask: What did these words originally mean? The Bible was written in Hebrew (most of the OT) and Greek (NT). Those languages, like most others, were rich in figures of speech, especially similes (eg. 'white as snow', 'death-like silence'), and metaphors (I will build my church, Joseph is a fruitful bough). (3) Note the type of literature: prose or poetry; prophecy ('the Lord says') or apocalyptic (prophetic visions/preaching especially in the midst of cataclysmic events, eg. the visions of Daniel or Revelation); parables (stories which teach one main truth) or allegories (where every detail has some significance); principle (eg. plucking out your eye or cutting off your hand, Matthew 5:28,30; or forgiving 'seventy seven times', Matthew 18:22: what's Jesus really saying?) or precept. (4) Study each text or sentence within its context: who is speaking? to whom is it addressed? what is the main theme of the whole book or passage? what is the cultural/ geographical/ historical background? (5) Let scripture interpret scripture: if something is obscure, ask: how does this idea square with the teachings of Jesus and of the whole Bible?

When you preach or teach from the Bible, there are usually three elements involved: exegesis (what does this part of Scripture actually say? What would it have meant to the original writer or hearer?), exposition (what does it mean now?) and application (how does it apply to our lives here, today?).

Finally three important principles: (1) When you read the phrase 'the word of God' in the Bible it means much more than printed words on a page. The word of God is his life-giving and powerful communication with his creatures in all sorts of ways - ultimately in the person of Jesus, the living word of God. (2) Don't believe anything about the Bible which the Bible doesn't assert about itself. For example, if you want to believe that the original documents (before scribes started copying them and making mistakes) were without error, that's O.K. but don't make a doctrine out of it, because the Bible itself doesn't spell it out in those terms. That said, you can be sure that the modern Bibles are trustworthy: the documents translators use are thoroughly checked. (3) Most importantly, if you want to understand what Christ and the Scriptures are really saying, you must want to obey him and them (John 7:17).
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The scribes tended to speak in footnotes. When Jesus spoke, he spoke as if his words need no authority other than that he said them... [he claims] the sovereign right to interpret and to restate the Law, without reference to anyone else's verdict or opinion... Jesus did not only speak in 'the style of deity'; he claimed to be the unique revelation of God... In Jesus there is fully displayed the mind of God William Barclay, By What Authority? London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1974,pp. 7,8,102,107,.

In Scripture, the Lord represents himself in the same character in which... he is delineated in his works... In every part of Scripture we meet with descriptions of his paternal kindness and readiness to do good, and we also meet with examples of severity which show that he is the just punisher of the wicked... We must diligent heed both to the reading and hearing of Scripture, if we would obtain any benefit from the Spirit of God. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, translated by Henry Beveridge, London: James Clarke & Co., 1957, pp. 87, 85.

The interpretation of Scripture must be within the Church (2 Peter 1:20,21; 3:16)... The individual is not on one's own, [he or she] is within the Church. There is a real sense in which it is true that one cannot have God to be one's father unless one has the church to be one's mother.

William Barclay, By What Authority? London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1974, p. 121

Of the three classical canons of authority - reason, tradition and scripture - evangelicals have always affirmed that scripture is 'God's word in human words' and therefore is always our primary and supreme authority for all matters of faith and conduct. Although reason and tradition may have been illumined and guided by the Holy Spirit, they have a secondary and subordinate place to scripture. Why? Because this was Christ's view of scripture. John Stott puts it simply: 'The conservative view of scripture... is Christ's view of scripture. He endorsed the Old Testament, made provision for the New Testament, and because of Christ we accept the authority of the book.

Rowland Croucher, Recent Trends Among Evangelicals, Melbourne: John Mark Ministries, 1991, p.16

A story is told about a Rabbi who once entered heaven in a dream. He was permitted to approach the temple of Paradise where the great sages of the Talmud, the Tannaim, were spending their eternal lives. He saw that they were just sitting around tables studying the Talmud. The disappointed Rabbi wondered, `is this all there is to Paradise?' But suddenly he heard a voice, `you are mistaken. The Tannaim are not in Paradise. Paradise is in the Tannaim.'

Abraham Heschel, 'The Sigh' in John Garvey (Ed), Modern Spirituality, an Anthology, London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1985, p.12.

Our understanding of the function of Scripture must be carried out in the light of the particular situation in which we find ourselves. The word of God enters this situation through preaching or private reading. There we meet a God who has entered into a unique relationship with a particular people at a special time, a people who are in many ways like those I know.

William A. Dyrness, 'How Does the Bible Function in the Christian Life' in Robert K. Johnston, ed., The Use of the Bible in Theology: Evangelical Options, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985, p. 168.

I [cannot] ignore the influence of culture upon me as an interpreter. Obviously we are influenced by our place in history in a thousand respects. Yet this is the reason we must not succumb to it but must instead take measures to ensure that bias does not overcome God's truth. Precisely because we tend to be prejudiced (what people politely call 'having pre-understanding') we have to be self-critical and take action against the danger of Scripture-twisting. There is a hermeneutical circle, but it need not be a vicious one. What we need to do is to strive for such interpretation of the Bible which anyone reading the text can see even if he or she does not come with the opinions we hold ourselves. Perfect objectivity is not something we can achieve, but it is an ideal we can strive for by consciously opening ourselves to criticism and correction both by God, speaking through the text, and by the convictions of others. Clark Pinnock, 'How I Use the Bible in Doing Theology' in Robert K. Johnston, ed., The Use of the Bible in Theology: Evangelical Options, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985, p. 30.

[I have] five convictions. [1] By entering into the expressed mind of the inspired writers I do in fact apprehend God's own mind. What Scripture says, God says... [2] Since all sixty-six books come ultimately from the mind of our self-revealing God, they should be read not just as separate items... but also as parts of a whole. They must be appreciated not only in their particular individuality of genre and style, but also as a coherent, internally connected organism of teaching. [There is a] truly amazing unity of viewpoint, doctrine and vision [in] this heterogeneous library of occasional writings. [3] Biblical teaching, like the law of the land, must be applied to the living of our lives... Interpretation has to be imperative, self-involving, and thus (to use an abused word) existential in style. [Our] ears must always be open to what Bultmannites call decision, what most Anglo-Saxons call commitment, and what the Bible itself calls repentance, faith, worship, obedience, and endurance. [4] [We must read Scripture] as God's witness to his saving grace in Christ and God's call to sinners to believe and respond. [5] I must be ready to give account of my interpretative encounters with Scripture not just to my human and academic peers but to God himself.

James I. Packer, 'In Quest of Canonical Interpretation' in Robert K. Johnston, ed., The Use of the Bible in Theology: Evangelical Options, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985, pp.43-44.

Now if I doubt poor Adam's rib,
Or hint that Samson told a fib,
Or if I question Noah's ride,
Or ask how Jonah lived inside,
I'm answered rather bitterly
That I must take it literally.
But if I quote what Christ did say
About giving one fine coat away
Or turning round the other cheek
Or that this earth is for the meek,
I'm also answered bitterly
I must not take it literally.
Source unknown

The Bible is so rich and diverse a religious document that you can find support for almost any position if you ignore the context or isolate certain parts of it to the exclusion of all the rest. Even the atheist can point to the words 'There is no God,' in Psalm 14:1. Of course the whole verse reads 'Fools say in their hearts, "There is no God,"' but if you take a 'Yellow Pages' approach to Scripture, almost anything can be supported.

John Claypool, 'The Secret is Collaboration', unpublished sermon preached on March 11, 1979.

In religion,
What damned error but some sober brow
Will bless it with a text,
Hiding the grossness with fair ornament.

William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice Act 3, Scene 2.

'How the Bible uses me when I do theology' [is a title that] would have meshed directly with my experience of the Bible during the forty years since my conversion. How often in modern contexts has my heart echoed the protest of John Rogers, the Reformation martyr, against the alleged inertness of the biblical text: 'No, no, the Bible is alive!'

James I. Packer, 'In Quest of Canonical Interpretation' in Robert K. Johnston, ed., The Use of the Bible in Theology: Evangelical Options, Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1985, p. 37.

Jesus taught mostly through stories (Matthew 13:35)... Religion finds its origin and its raw power in the imaginative dimension of the personality. In religion, experience, image (symbol or metaphor, if you will) and story precede propositional and theological reflection. Why then do we not more often use story... to transmit our religious heritage? Why not more religious novels, films, TV series?

Andrew M. Greeley, Confessions of a Parish Priest New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987, p. 80.

As a translator... I was dealing with material which was startlingly alive, and I could not really be overmuch bothered whether Matthew 'borrowed' part of his Gospel story from Mark, or whether he and Mark shared a common source of written or spoken information which the critics call 'Q'. I know it is a shock to us today, and perhaps especially if we are professional writers and conscious of the laws of copyright, but it was not in the least strange int he first century A.D. to say that a gospel was 'according to Matthew', even though it might contain sentences which were not written by Matthew at all... What seems to have happened, and in this I think all Christian scholars agree, is that the first three evangelists wrote down what had previously been an oral tradition...

I doubt very much whether any of [the New Testament writers of the epistles] had any idea he was writing 'Holy Scripture'. For the most part of it was 'ad hoc' writing: a particular situation, or even the behaviour of a particular person or group, called for the writing of the letter...

The Spirit of truth does not contradict himself... our eyes are opened and we see how much more deeply relevant [the faith of the NT] is to our modern days than we thought. So we do not gain but lose if we dismiss what was written by the inspiration of the same Spirit as folk-tale or myth. He will certainly lead us into all truth... [and we must not] attempt to modify the wisdom of God to fit the 'cleverness of the twentieth century...

In translating the Greek of the New Testament into modern English I made every effort to correct any bias of which I was conscious. When I came to compare it with the writings which were excluded from the New Testament by the early 'Fathers' I can only admire their wisdom.

J.B.Phillips, Ring of Truth: A Translator's Testimony, London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1967, pp. 59-60, 29, 93,95.

...Jesus Christ, whom the Testaments regard, the old as its hope, the new as its model, and both as their centre.

Blaise Pascal, Pensees, No. 739, quoted in Elton Trueblood, A Place to Stand, New York: Harper & Row, 1969, p. 42
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Thank you, Lord, for the treasury of truth you have preserved for us in your Holy Word. Without its light we would stumble in the darkness; without its guidance we would lose our way; without its commands we would live carelessly; without its central focus on Jesus we would be led into all kinds of error.

Help me - in fellowship with others who are similarly seeking you - to understand your truth, your guidance, your commands.

May I be disciplined in reading these sacred pages every day. Help me to find a few others to study the Bible with me. Bless organizations like the Bible Societies, Scripture Union, and Wycliffe Bible Translators who are doing their best to get the Bible into the hands of as many as possible.
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Benediction: May the word of the creative God in nature enrich you with its beauty and power; may the convicting word of the Lord in your conscience guide you in his way; may God's word through history help you put your faith in One who is the same yesterday today and forever; may the ministry of Jesus through others sustain and comfort you; may God's word in the Scriptures enlighten your mind and strengthen your will to obey him in all things; above all, may your commitment to God's living Word, Jesus Christ lead you into eternal life. Amen.