This document provides guidance on how to study the Bible through simple principles and rules of interpretation. It encourages taking notes, asking questions, visualizing the text, reflecting on what is read, and researching unclear parts. Key rules of interpretation discussed are: - Comparing scripture with scripture to bring clarity without contradiction - Obscure passages being interpreted in light of plain ones - Considering the original terminology and meaning at the time rather than present-day definitions - Understanding words in their context and with awareness of the historical background The overall message is that properly interpreting Scripture requires humility, loyalty to the original meaning, and applying basic hermeneutical principles to arrive at an accurate understanding.

1. Psalms 119:103-105
103 How sweet are thy words unto my taste!
yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104 Through thy precepts I get understanding:
therefore I hate every false way.
105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a
light unto my path.

2. 2 Timothy 3:16
All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is
profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness:

3. Simple BIBLE
Study helps:
• Take notes and highlight.
• Ask questions as you read.
• Pursue the answers to those questions within Scripture.
• Read through the lens of a learner not a “know it all”.
• Visualize the text in an illustrative and poetic way.
• Take time to pause and reflect on what you have read.
• Take the time to research words or illustrations that you don’t
understand. Don’t just skip over things that seem confusing.
"If Jesus didn't think he could handle life without knowing the
Scripture inside and out, what makes you think you can?"
-Tim Keller

4. SIMPLE LAWS OF
HERMENEUTICS
Hermeneutics is the branch of theology that deals with how to correctly
interpret Scripture. Every Christian should have a basic knowledge of
hermeneutics. In a sense, every Christian is a theologian. We all have
beliefs that we must share, prove, and defend.
The Golden Rule When the plain sense of Scripture makes common
sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary,
usual literal meaning, unless the facts of the context indicate clearly otherwise.
This rule assumes that all truth harmonizes and that there are no discrepancies
between accurate statements of facts (God is one means God is one).
THE LAW OF FIRST MENTION The first mention of
any fundamental word or institution usually presents the general meaning of the
subject and its use throughout Scriptures. As an illustration of this law, consider
the sacrifices that were required by the Lord from Cain and Abel. The very
fundamental teaching concerning atonement for sin, with all its implications, is
found in these sacrifices, as recorded in Genesis 4. It is vitally important that we
study words, doctrines, and institutions in their original, first mention.

5. LAW OF DOUBLE REFERENCEThe prophets constantly
spoke of a local or current event and without giving any indication of a change
of scenery they began to describe a more remote and a greater prophecy. This
principle can be illustrated by a video presentation where the pictures fade in
and out from one scene to another. One picture is thrown on the screen.
Presently it begins to fade and at the same time the dim outline of another
begins to appear. By the time the first has faded, the second is in full view. The
prophets often blended a prediction relating to the first coming of Christ with
one foretelling the second coming of Christ. Learning to watch for these double
references is very important.
THE LAW OF REOCCURRENCE After the prophets made a
statement relative to something in the future, they often gave a fuller discussion covering
the same ground but laying the emphasis in a different place. The second presentation is
supplemental (or additional) to the first. It clarifies the picture. As an illustration of this
principle, consider Genesis 1 and 2. In chapter 1 we have a summary of the six days of
Creation. In chapter 2 we are given a second discussion regarding the creation of man. The
first Creation account is found in 1:26-31. In 2:7-25 we are given a second and a fuller report
together with a description of the Garden of Eden. These two accounts do not contradict
one another as Bible critics argue — they did not come from two sources — rather they
represent the fundamental principle of the law of recurrence. This literary style is found all
throughout the Bible. A story is told and then retold with greater detail or with a different
emphasis, but never with a contradiction (For further study look at Ezekiel 38 and 39, and
Revelations 16, 17, 18, and 19).

6. Hebrews 5:13-14
13 For every one that useth milk is unskillful in
the word of righteousness: for he is a
babe.
14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of
full age, even those who by reason of use
have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil.
Becoming Skillful In
The Word
PART
2 Timothy 2:15-16
15 Study to shew thyself
approved unto God, a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly
dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and vain

7. REASONS YOU MUST
STUDY THE BIBLE:
• God commands us to do so.
• God speaks primarily through His Word.
• It guards you from sin, false doctrine, and spiritual abuse.
• It convicts, encourages, strengthens, builds faith, enables.
• It gives understanding which keeps you grounded.
• It enables you to reach, teach, preach, and evangelize others.
• It brings revelation – The Ethiopian Eunuch Principle.
• It is relevant to all of life’s questions and concerns.
• It draws you into a close relationship with God.
• It will give you godly confidence and spiritual sure-footedness.
• It invites the blessings of God (Revelations 1:3).
• It brings joy into your life (1 John 1:4)
• It gives you wisdom (Proverbs 1:1-2)

8. Critical Bible Study
ResourcesAlso
Recommend
ed
A Parallel Bible
A Journaling or
Note Bible
A Study Bible

9. Critical Bible Study
Resources

10. Suggested Reading
“The King James Bible is about more than mere
sonority or the …heritage-appeal of antique
vocabulary and grammar. The flattening of language
is a flattening of meaning. Language which is not taut
with a sense of its own significance, which is
apologetic in its desire to be acceptable to a modern
consciousness, language in other words which
submits to its audience, rather than instructing,
informing, moving, challenging and even entertaining
them, is no longer a language which can carry the
freight the Bible requires. It has in short, lost all
authority. The language of the King James Bible is the
language of …patriarchy, of instructed order, of
richness as a form of beauty, of authority as a form of
good; the New English Bible is motivated by the
opposite, an anxiety not to bore or intimidate. It is
driven, in other words, by a desire to please and, in
that way, is a form of language which has died (pages
153-154).”

11. “One of the King James Bible’s most consistent driving
forces is the idea of majesty. Its method and its voice
are far more regal than demotic. Its archaic
formulations, its consistent attention to a grand and
heavily musical rhythm are the vehicles by which that
majesty are infused into the body of the text. Its
qualities are those of grace, stateliness, scale, power.
There is no desire to please here; only the belief in the
enormous and overwhelming Divine authority… The
Translators of the Bible clearly believed that the
majesty of their translation stemmed from its loyal
belief in Divine authority (Page 189) .”
Suggested Reading

12. Suggested Reading
“[The King James Bible translators believed]
the words of the Bible were the foundation
of all understanding, [and that] nothing
could be more important than a text that
was both accurate and intelligible. Precision
in Bible scholarship and in translation was
the foundation stone of the Reformation.
High fidelity reproduction was a moral as
well as technical quality and it was axiomatic
that Translators and scholars could approach
the text only in a mood of humility and
service. ‘He who does not believe one part
of it,’ Luther had said, ‘cannot believe any of
it. (Page 183)’”

13. Suggested Reading
“Those who originally wrote the words of the Bible
had been God’s secretaries, as loyal, as self
suppressing, as utterly disposed to the uses of the
Divine call… self-abnegation in the service of greatness
was the ideal… Secretaryship is one of the great
shaping forces behind the King James Bible. There is
no authorship involved here. Authorship is egotistical,
an assumption that you might have something new
worth saying. You don’t. Every iota of the Bible counts
but without it you count for nothing. The secretary
knows that… he does not distort the source of his
authority. A secretary, whether of God or of king, is in
a position of dependent power. He has no authority
independent of his master, but he executes that
authority without hesitation or compromise. He is
nothing without his master but everything through
him. Loyalty is power and submission control. For this
reason, biblical translation, like royal service, could
only be utterly faithful. Without faithfulness, it
became meaningless (Page 184) .”

14. Comparing scripture with scripture Because the Bible
is to be studied fully and not partially, it sometimes becomes important to compare
Scriptures against one another. Because we know that the Scripture will never contradict
itself, this method often brings clarity to passages that seem difficult to understand.
Biblically speaking this is called “Rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15),” and
“…comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1 Corinthians 2:13)”.
OBSCURE PASSAGES MUST BE
INTERPRETED IN THE LIGHT OF PLAIN
ONES The Bible is a self-interpreting book, and what is obscure in one passage may
be illuminated in another. No single statement or obscure passage of one book should ever
be used to undermine a clearly established doctrine.
The Difference between biblical and present-
day terminology We must not read back into the Scriptures definitions of
words as they are being used today; because words and meanings change drastically with
time and use. We cannot afford to read back into the Scriptures ideas and definitions of
words as employed today unless we see from all the facts that the current meaning is in
conformity with the biblical usage.
EXAMPLE
“And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing… (James 2:3)”
Simple Laws of
Hermeneutics

15. 3 rules of bible
interpretation:
• The Rule of Definition. What do words mean?
Any study of Scripture includes the study of words.
• The Rule of Context. Every word you read must
be understood in the light of the words that come before and
after it.
• The Rule of historical background. We
must have some awareness of the life, language, culture, setting,
audience, and society of the times in which the Scripture was
written. The spiritual principle will be timeless but often can't be