The Holy Bible is the verbally inspired
Word of God. There are no insignificant words
therein, nor are there any mistakes in the words that fell from the
pen of those men whom the Lord was pleased to inspire to write
them. Yet these scriptures must not be looked at as a collection
of individual words, but rather as an anthology of truth which
is set forth in specific words. Often men become enamored with
interpreting the scriptures by focusing on particular words
rather than looking at how those words are used in their proper
context. Most false prophets and their
followers delight in setting forth many proof texts which
seem to support their various theories and doctrines while
ignoring the overall message of the scriptures in general
and the context in which their particular doctrine is supposedly
supported. The Bible is a book which can
be read by everyone, yet it is a book which cannot be understood,
apart from the Holy Spirit, by anyone. He is the sole guide
into all of the truth that is recorded therein. There are no
biblical experts, nor are there any who have gained any expertise
in the understanding of the scriptures through human endeavor or institutions
of higher learning devoted to the pursuit of such knowledge.
While one may become proficient in the ways of religion and the
doctrines and practices of men by such an education, only those
who are taught by the Holy Ghost can ever understand the sense
of the scriptures, regardless of the degree of their carnal
education or the lack thereof. The evidence of this is seen
in the amazement of the wise and learned scholars when confronted
by some ignorant fishermen who had been with Jesus. Many so-called
preachers like to give their hearers the notion that the scriptures
can only be understood in the light of their own particular
brand of teaching. Diotrephes, who loved to have
the preeminence, was just such a man, and he has borne many
sons down through the centuries. Paul warned the Ephesian elders
of just such an error when he said, Also of your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples
after them. Any use of the word of God which
is not expressly and simply for the purpose of glorifying Jesus
Christ alone is a perversion of the sense of the scriptures.
When the law was read by Nehemiah and the other men whom the Lord
prepared for this purpose, they gave the sense or meaning of
it as they were enabled by the Spirit of God. They did not promote
any pet doctrines, nor did they demand any obeisance from their
hearers. But they merely expounded the
word as the Lord gave them understanding, which they passed on to those
under the sound of their voice. They did not invent any new doctrine,
but sought to declare the whole counsel of God as it was written.
They did not seek to manipulate their hearers by their emotional
oratory. They declared the sense which
was given to them, and left the rest in the hands of him who
gave it. In order to grasp the sense of any scripture, it is
necessary that a man be shown what the entire theme of the
scriptures as a whole is. Apart from this revelation, those
who seek to declare or understand the sense of any particular scripture
will surely miss the mark and wind up either perverting the
message or going off into vain jangling of one sort or another.
The sum and substance of the scriptures is the revelation
of the glory of Jesus Christ as the King of kings and Lord
of lords. He said to his disciples, These
are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with you,
that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law
of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning
me. Included in this declaration
is the preaching of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, even as
Paul said, For I determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Regardless of what else a man
may claim to know or preach, if this is not the very fiber
of his understanding, he has missed the sense of the book
that he claims to hold as his authority. This book tells us
that this is that day of salvation which was promised even the times
of refreshing and the times of restitution of all things. There
is no other age in which he has manifested that one who is the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. to the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known
by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.