Light and Easy: An Introduction into Proper Bible Interpretation

By Martin Pollock

Do you consider Bible interpretation to be difficult? Light and Easy was written to dispel that myth!

Light and Easy is for you if you are a student in Bible school or seminary, if you are a layperson who seeks a deeper understanding of the Word of God, or if you just want to have a better understanding of the original l

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Jun 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637691793

Book preview

Acknowledgments

Thank You, Jesus, that I am able to write this second book! Thank you to my lovely wife, Teresa, who is a wonderful partner in life and ministry.

Thank you, Pastor Mark Garver, for providing the Bible Institute classes where some of the ideas that inspired material for this book came from, specifically, the Heroes of the Faith class.

Pastor Rhonda Garver, for teaching the first Bible Interpretation class that would become the class that I teach in School of Ministry (SOM). The structure of this work, along with the classes in SOM, are the primary inspiration for Light and Easy. Past SOM students are the basis for the inspiration and flow of this work.

There are many apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers who have contributed to my education in the Word of God that will be expressed in this labor of love. Please forgive me, but I cannot remember everyone who was involved in molding the good theology and doctrine that I have absorbed over many years. Some preachers and teachers that come to mind are Pastors Graham and Pamela Truscott, Pastors Allen and Beverly Higgins, Pastors David and Michelle Higgins, Pastor Daniel and Robin Hillestad, Pastor Belinda Toliver, and Pastor Robert Conover. I will see Graham, Allen, and Daniel in glory!

More recently, I have been blessed to sit under the teaching of Rev. Rick Renner. He was invited to speak at the church fellowship that we attend. In those three sessions, I was treated to a wonderful exposition of Greek words that you cannot get from a Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible or a Thayer’s Greek Definitions. You cannot substitute natural education for what the Spirit of the Living God can impart to an open vessel. May we all be open to what the Spirit of God is saying in these last days!

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank all of our extended family, daughters, sons, and many other relatives.

Introduction

I have been a teacher of the Word of God for several years, and it still amazes me when I teach Bible Interpretation how many of the students are unaware of some of the basic theology and history that I learned early on in my Christian walk. These young people have been taught good doctrine and are full of the Word and Spirit, yet they have no idea how we arrived at that good doctrine. It has come to my attention that there are people in ministry (even famous people) who are equally unaware of important issues regarding how we arrived at the Scriptures we read today. As my pastor says, They can only pass on what they know. (That may not be a direct quote.)

What I pass on is what I know. Prayerfully, the body of Christ will be edified by this work and cause future ministers of the Gospel of Christ to have the necessary tools in their toolbelt to correctly and effectively communicate the message that was originally intended by God.

When I started my walk with God, I was pumped full of good doctrine as well, but I also was provided an extensive history and training in theology that all meshed together. Some of this was to my detriment, as faith was assumed and not emphasized. It wasn’t until later in my walk that faith was drilled into me. Fortunately for the students I teach, they are way ahead of where I was concerning faith, and they absorb the history and theology that I teach in the Bible Interpretation class with vigor.

In this work, my intent is to instruct the layman as well as provide an introduction to the serious ministry student. This book is not intended for the more advanced students who are conversant with the original languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, and/or Greek. Additionally, if you are well-taught in the differing Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, you may be interested in my basic analyses of these precious works. I also humbly submit that there are seasoned ministers of the Gospel who may want to educate themselves, particularly in the chapters that deal with the different Greek manuscripts from which the New Testament has been translated (chapter 6 and appendices A-1, B-1, and B-2).

As a student of theology, I have read and/or perused many theology books. A great number of them are designed for the serious seminary student who possesses a high vocabulary and enjoys the subtle allegories and highbrow analyses of the writers. There is none of that in this work. In this manuscript, you will note that I approach this subject from a Pentecostal/Charismatic point of view. I will not get too much into eschatology other than to present the major views of this important subject as well as give a general analysis of each.

One of my goals in writing this is to make Bible interpretation light and easy, as the title of my book suggests. You don’t have to take the word of someone else what the meaning of a saying is, or how to treat a parable spoken by Jesus. Remember, Jesus calls us sheep. Sheep are dumb, just as we are completely dependent upon our Savior for everything, including help in interpreting His Word.¹

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

Matthew 11:29–30

Chapter 1

Light and Easy

Jesus told us in His Word that His yoke is easy. His listeners when He said this had a picture in their mind of an oxen with a heavy wooden yoke that prevented it from being able to bend or turn its neck.² It had to be loosed from this yoke in order to eat. This communication from Jesus had to be astonishing to them, and to those today who understand these agricultural techniques in farming.

He went on to say that His burden was light.³ A burden from the Greek word phortion is something carried and is used metaphorically in the passage in Matthew to indicate the difference between the burden of discipleship of Jesus with that of the scribes and Pharisees.⁴

Part of discipleship is reading, understanding, and following His Word that has been given to us. The reader of the original Greek in which the book of Matthew was written understood these principles right off as they were conversant in the language. God was communicating to His people in words, phrases, sayings, and metaphors that His sheep would understand. Remember, sheep are dumb and completely dependent upon their Shepherd (Jesus the Savior). Father God wants to take good care of the sheep of His pasture; why would He make understanding Him difficult?

Some of you may have been taught a few principles in interpreting the Word of God that make it difficult for the average listener to understand. You may have been exposed to some who tell you that you must rely on them to help you understand the Word of God because of the difficult sayings in the Bible.

I have good news for you. His burden is light, and His yoke is easy! You do not need to become a Greek scholar to understand the Greek of the New Testament. You do not have to have a doctorate in Hebrew and Aramaic studies from a major denominational seminary. You simply need the right tools. There are tools that range in price from free to thousands of dollars to assist you in gaining a deeper understanding of God’s Word.

You will note some of the tools that I use in the footnotes; also, I will provide some suggestions in a later chapter. I have an extensive library of books, Bibles, references, dictionaries, and illustrations that aid me in my work as a minister of the Gospel. Most of these I bought and/or acquired prior to going into ministry or even understanding my call. I didn’t speak Greek or Hebrew, and I was not raised in an ancient Eastern culture, but there are ways to overcome this.

What was easy to understand for the average listener of Jesus’ earthly ministry may not be for those of us today unless we are properly taught and willing to research what we read and are taught. Even if you have the very best teacher of the Word, you are responsible to verify what the Word says. We are all human beings who are subject to error, but your Shepherd does not want you to be misled.

There have been several references to Jesus as the Shepherd and we as the sheep. Some may ask where this comes from. The book of John chapter 10 describes this relationship between the Shepherd and the sheep, how they hear His voice, and how they follow Him.⁵ Verse 27 specifically reads, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." We can conclude from this one verse of scripture, taken in context with the rest of chapter 10 of the book of John, that sheep are followers of Jesus, the Shepherd.

The primary requirement in hearing and understanding the great Shepherd, Jesus Christ, is to know HIS voice (John 10:3–5). You cannot hear Him or follow Him unless you are His sheep! How do you become His sheep? You must be born again or born from above. Jesus said in John 3:3, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Again in 1 Peter 1:23, it is written, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, through the Word of God which lives and abides forever."

You cannot be His sheep unless you are born into it. This is not a natural birth, but a supernatural one, made without hands.⁶ You must have this supernatural birth in order to be His sheep and hear His voice. You cannot understand the Word of God naturally for it is a supernatural book. Second Timothy 3:16–17 (litv) tells us, "All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, so that the man of God may be perfected, being fully furnished for every good work. Because it is God-breathed, it is not to be understood by human means, but by supernatural" means. (Please note that we will be referring back to this Scripture several times.)

If you are reading this and have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then I suggest that you do that right now before continuing. The Word of God says, in Romans 10:9–10, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

You may have been taught to believe, but if you never spoke it aloud with your mouth, then you need to do so. If you do believe in your heart, then all you need to do is say the following: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, that He was crucified on the cross, died, was buried, and that He was raised from the dead after the third day! Welcome to the family of sheep who hear and follow the voice of their Shepherd!

Everything we need from God is contained in His Word: how to live, how to fulfill your salvation, how to discover your destiny… It is all in there. We as believers need to be able to interpret the Word correctly. God isn’t trying to fool us or hide things from us. He reveals mysteries, and we need to have those things in mind and in our spirit as we approach His Word. The word mystery in the New Testament comes from the Greek word mustērion. Thayer’s Greek Definitions defines the word this way: 1) hidden thing, secret, mystery. 1a) generally mysteries, religious secrets, confided only to the initiated and not to ordinary mortals. 1b) a hidden or secret thing, not obvious to the understanding. 1c) a hidden purpose or counsel. 1c1) secret will. 1c1a) of men. 1c1b) of God: the secret counsels which govern God in dealing with the righteous, which are hidden from ungodly and wicked men but plain to the godly. 2) In rabbinic writings, it denotes the mystic or hidden sense. 2a) of an OT saying. 2b) of an image or form seen in a vision. 2c) of a dream.⁷

Notice in the bolded meaning that this mystery is hidden from the ungodly but plain to the godly. The Word of God is illuminated to those who know Him, who walk according to His ways. It may all be gibberish to those who do not know Him but made clear to those of us who do know Jesus Christ as Savior.

Why does this need to be light and easy for us? Let me give you four reasons that I give my class when teaching Bible interpretation.⁸

To understand the Bible better is to know God better. The Bible is the source of everything we need to know about God. He describes Himself in the Bible, and we need to know who He is. He tells us about Himself right here in His Word. The Lord Jesus Christ is not hiding from you; He wants you to know Him. He is not a mystery.

We want