Can the Bible change your entire life? Reflect on a season of life that changed the trajectory of your future. The result of my study of Scripture changed mine. My time at seminary was to equip myself to plumb the depths of God’s word more effectively. Both the lessons of the professors and the books we read on the Bible were incredible.  I couldn’t wait to share this information with other believers. The lessons inspired excitement and drove me deeper into to God’s word and His world.

At the same time, the church seemed to parrot the culture. Some held the Bible in high esteem and others didn’t. Some fully embraced the lies and the evil of the culture as necessary or normal and others opposed it.

I plugged in to many Bible studies where there was little discernment.  The worst offenses were ‘Bible’ studies that were book studies that never mentioned the Bible. Those that  started with reading a Scripture usually turned relativistic pretty quickly.  This was because after the Bible was read the study-leader would ask, “What does this verse mean to you?” Have you heard this? If not, consider the implications of starting with, “This verse means to me…” when answering the leader’s question.

Although this seems innocent, approaching the Bible this way assumes a relativistic view of meaning. Relativism says nothing is fixed or unchanging. In this case, there is no unchanging meaning of the Bible to discover. The reader determines what the text means. The traditional view is the reader discovers or uncovers what the verse means through looking at its context. Yet, in this approach those in the study share what a verse means to them. No person should be so audacious as to say what the verse really means. I’d be viewed as impolite in correcting someone’s interpretation. Heaven forbid that a Christian say another person’s interpretation is wrong. This was direct evidence that relativism was not only embraced in the church. One finds in these ways its subtle propagation.

After years of teaching in both the church and different universities, people asked me a core of questions about Christianity that students they really want answers to. These involve translations, Biblical reliability,  Bible difficulties, inerrancy, and how to glean the classical divine attributes from the Bible. I’ve written a short book that provides these answers about the Bible. It is short because most people will not read something that is really long. This is the age where 30 second sound-bites and 160 character tweets are the norm. Given the culture, the importance of my short work –Reading to Grow: A Field Guide to the Bible – is evident.

Understanding the context of a passage is most important. There are a few other basic principles of how to understand the Bible that give guidance. Once this material is known and applied, a believer has the tools to face those that spend hundreds of hours training how to convert Christians. It should be no surprise that those in cults and with aberrant religious views twist the Scripture in ways the great majority of believers are not equipped to deal with. In fact, Jehovah’s Witnesses have weekly meetings where they spend time focusing on passages that they can use to subvert the faith of a normal Christian. One such example that Jehovah’s Witnesses use with Christians is Jesus being called the firstborn over all creation (Col. 1:15). Jehovah’s Witnesses use this as evidence that Jesus is the first created being- the archangel Michael. The assumption that firstborn means the first literally created underlies this heresy. Remember, context is most important! I take those that twist this verse in Colossians to Psalm 89. Here David is called firstborn. Recall that David is the eighth boy in his family. Just as David is the firstborn in the sense of ‘pre-eminent’ or ‘ruler’ over Israel, so too the verse in Colossians has the same meaning.  Jesus is God.

The book also provides guidance about how to logically analyze the Bible to discover what it is saying. This logical analysis helps believers be equipped to deal with common mistakes in interpretation.  One example I’ve heard from some people is from Romans 1:16.  The gospel is the power of God to salvation. Those that examine the Greek word for power in the verse and recognize the form in an English word. The transliteration of the Greek word is dunamis (literally δύναμις), which immediately brings to mind the English word dynamite. At this point it is said, “See folks, what Paul is saying here is the Gospel is dynamite for salvation.” This hinges on an anachronism. It reads back into the first-century meaning of the word a contemporary usage that was foreign to the context in which it was used. As a matter of fact, dynamite wasn’t invented until 1867. Thus, Paul couldn’t have been using the word in this way. This teaching is not necessarily dangerous. It is nevertheless wrong. Why would we want to believe something that is not true?

Reading great books that help you better understand the Bible transforms lives. They do so when you grasp what God has revealed. Studying books with a solid theology helps you to be a better ambassador for Christ and less likely to be deceived when confronted with error. It is true that we must remember that “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.” (Heb. 4:12) It is your preparation and training that will help you wield that sword in the face of evil and when the battle is fiercest- to stand (Eph. 6:10-18).

-Bernard James Mauser