Study the Scriptures

By Cushroo Bejon

In this book I consider and submit for consideration the evidence of archaeology, antiquity, manuscripts, prophecy and personal experience.
Since the Bible is the true Word of God, can we afford to ignore or neglect its message?
When Christ, our Lord, came to this earth, He chose twelve ordinary working men rather than learned rabbis, to teach them about Himself and His kingdom.
It is an underlying tenet that the Christian faith is revealed by God alone and no individual by the power of human reasoning or wisdom can arrive at the truth.
Man’s wisdom by nature is at variance with God’s wisdom and therefore man needs to come in humility to learn and to receive forgiveness that He offers to all who come to Him.
God has revealed to us in His Word all that we need to know and live by in order to be acceptable to our Sovereign God and to grow in our knowledge and understanding of Him.
Above all we need faith, the enlightening Holy Spirit of God and the power of God’s Word to change human lives and beliefs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: May 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728388120

Book preview

© 2019 Cushroo Bejon. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  05/14/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-8811-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-8810-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-8812-0 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scriptures marked NIV are taken from the NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV):

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ®. Copyright©

1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan

Contents

Author’s Preface

Revelation, Authority And Inspiration

The Principles Of Interpretation

Biblical Criticism

The Message Of The Bible

The Evidence Of Archaeology

Study Aids

Lexicons

Bible Dictionaries

Commentaries

Systematic Study

Study Of Scripture Passage, John 3:1-21

The Interpretation Of The Old Testament In The New Testament

Paul’s Interpretation Of The Old Testament

Study By Bible Book

Sample Study, Ephesians 1

Habakkuk, Sample Study

Zechariah, Sample Study

Synopsis

Analysis

Bibliography

"Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light

on my path" (Ps. 119:105).

"Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light

on my path" (Ps. 119:105).

"Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light

on my path" (Ps. 119:105).

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

IN KEEPING WITH MY PREVIOUS two books, I am more aware that with the subject of this book one is even more likely to be swayed by the effects of educational qualifications of the author on the conclusions drawn. This statement on its own can lead to false conclusions and so I hasten to add that I am not advocating that education is of no use or harmful. As Christians we need to use all the gifts that we have both for our own progress and for the benefit of the church of Christ, our Lord. I am cautioning against the false assumption that those with a string of academic qualifications are thereby qualified to write on or teach Christian subjects. Jesus chose twelve ordinary men who were not learned rabbis and taught them by living with them and teaching them. After His death, resurrection and ascension He poured out on them the gift of His Holy Spirit and then were they lacking in any knowledge of the Scriptures? Not only did they display enlightened knowledge of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures, but they were emboldened to appear before religious and civil authorities to give an account of their faith in keeping with the wisdom imparted by the Holy Spirit (Mt. 10:20). We have to rely entirely on God’s teaching Holy Spirit, that we will be enabled to discern the difference between God’s words and man’s conclusions.

Man is prone to speculation but this is never acceptable when the conclusion reached is in opposition to God’s Word. The world in its wisdom has not known God and so God in His wisdom has chosen to reveal Himself in righteousness, holiness and redemption. Our faith does not rest on man’s wisdom, rather it is expressed in spiritual truths given to us in the power of the Holy Spirit. Once again I openly declare that I do not have that list of higher qualifications that many may consider essential to writing a book on my subject but my reliance is on the Scriptures themselves and the Holy Spirit to guide me into the truth. He did that dramatically 73 years ago in first showing me the importance of knowing Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour and has not left me since, even though I have often failed Him.

I plan therefore, and invite my readers to explore with me the theological terms commonly used in academic theological publications and to examine their underlying assumptions. The world’s ideas and reasoning can so easily become ingrained in our thinking that we need the Spirit’s wisdom and power to recognise and discard these and instead embrace the words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. I cannot emphasise too strongly that I am completely satisfied that there is no error in the text of the Bible to cast any doubt on any fundamental doctrine of the Christian faith (see my book, The Word of God in Our Hands, in the Bibliography). I feel therefore that before a Christian begins to study the Scriptures he/she needs to be convinced that they assuredly express God’s truth and contain all that a person needs to know and live by in order to be acceptable to Almighty God. There will be some things that we cannot understand but that is no reason to become sceptics or even unbelievers because God has promised that one day I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Cor. 13:12).

Through this publication I hope to be able to guide the younger Christian to avoid the pitfalls of popular interpretations and instead to hear the Word of the Lord personally, with conviction and in confidence. It is such truths and convictions that can withstand the trials of doubt and adversity, like gold that has been refined by the fire (1Pt. 1:7). We approach this exercise in full faith that the Word of God is living and active and in this respect it is totally different to other religious writings. Through the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit communicates with the believing Christian. That is why we need to be asking such searching questions as, is God speaking to me? Am I listening? What is He saying? Have I understood the message? and finally, have I responded? He has said, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin (1 Jn. 1:7).

The reading of the Bible, a number of times, is a prerequisite to the study of the Scriptures. Having established the meaning of a number of technical terms, we will look at a number of the tools of the trade, including concordances, lexicons and dictionaries. We will then examine the use of commentaries and some of the problems they create. The pitfalls of modern scholarship need to be considered, including the many types of criticisms practised by scholars. Study may be carried out by subject or by book of the Bible, or better still by systematic theology, tracing the development of the theme from the Old Testament into the New Testament. We will consider how the Old Testament is interpreted in the New Testament and the significance and meaning of prophecy. We finally need to consider our essential response to God’s truth revealed in the Scriptures and how we can continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord. To start with we need to look into the factors underlying the authority, inspiration, revelation and infallibility of the Scriptures, and the fact that God has preserved and protected His words to mankind. The subject of divine revelation begins with how the Almighty has chosen to reveal Himself to the beings He had created in His image. After the Fall in the Garden of Eden, mankind fell deeper into sin, until every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time (Gn. 6:5b). Even removing all living beings from the face of the earth did not remove the evil in the heart of man ___. It needed the death of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to bring a lasting change in the human heart. God chose to reveal Himself to our darkened sinful hearts by His Word, both living and written. The Scriptures need to be approached in humility to learn from God and discover His grace and love to mankind.

There are deep truths, embedded in such verses as, For it is written; ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate’. Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? (1 Cor. 1:19-20). Early in the history of mankind God needed to frustrate the ambition of men as they sought to establish a city with a tower that reached up to heaven in order to ensure that they would not be scattered. The very thing they sought to establish was frustrated by God because He confused their language so that they could not understand one another, stopped building and were scattered over the face of the earth (Gn. 11:1-9). These days scholars are inventing more and more elaborate theories to explain all kinds of events in the Bible,