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The First Thing You Must Know About Studying the Bible

The first thing you must learn about the Bible is that it is a prophetic writing. It did not come from the mind of man, but from the mind of God. This is the essential truth that you must grasp. Without this truth you will never understand the Bible, no matter how much you study it.

What is a Prophetic Writing?

A prophetic writing is a writing given by prophecy. It does not come from the mind of man, but the spirit of God. You must understand this. The Bible is a prophetic writing given by the gift of prophecy upon a man.

What is Prophecy?

Prophecy is a gift of God to man whereby man is able to speak by the spirit of God in or upon him. When he speaks he speaks words that come from the spirit of God, not from man. The entire Bible is a prophetic writing, that is, written by the gift of prophecy in or upon men.

Many men wrote the Bible for example: Moses, Samuel, Isaiah and Paul, but all wrote by the same spirit that was upon them. It is the same spirit in or upon all the men who wrote the Bible. Isn't that great? One spirit many men. That's how we got the Bible.

Get Started Studying the Bible

Ok, now you know the first and most important thing about Bible study Now it is time to begin, Shall we? Now you are going to need a Bible. I recommend the Authorized King James version. It is the most accurate and has been around for about four-hundred years now. The next book you will need is an English dictionary. Most everyone has an English dictionary at home they can use.

Start Reading Using Your English Dictionary

Now start reading. I recommend starting at the beginning: at the book of Genesis. Read up through chapter twenty of the book of Exodus. This takes you up to the ten commandments of The Lord from mount Sinai_ very interesting reading indeed. You will get much out of it. Just look up any words that you do not understand, in your English dictionary. After chapter twenty God begins to lay down laws for the children of Israel. This gets to be very tedious reading and is best left for another time.

Next go the New Testament and start reading. Just read along looking up the words you do not understand and you will be fine. You can study like this for the rest of your life. You don't need to go any further. You have everything that you need right at your finger tips. You have your Bible, which you know is the word of God, and you have your English dictionary. You can spend the rest of your life studying like this and be blessed.

So that is all you need to begin studying the Bible. Be blessed by God forever! Amen

Several problems present themselves here:

1) Recommending using the Authorized King James Version (which one do you suggest given that there is NO single King James Version, but a number of recensions/editions: 1611, 1769, New KJV, etc.?). You make the statement that "it is the most accurate", but what support would you offer for such a statement? Do you in fact understand all the textual critical and translational issues involved in this translation (and in others...particularly those of more recent work)?

2) If someone in fact will be using the KJV then they will be wanting to use the Oxford English Dictionary (as it will actually be more accurate concerning the EXTREMELY dated English of the KJV). Typical English dictionaries will not give the meaning of terms in 17th century England. Further, to study only the English of the KJV (or any other translation) still means that one is dealing with a translation and not the original languages of the Scripture (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek). Not that one cannot arrive at what is being said by using a translation, but instead it is preferable to use several translations in comparison (or to use a more contemporary translation that will be easier to understand what is being said without having to get around the antiquated English).

3) Why would one NOT want to go further in studying the Bible than what you have proposed? Would it not be helpful to learn the original languages, to read commentaries (ancient and contemporary), to study theology in the context of Scripture, to study history and cultures in relation to the Scriptures, etc.? Why should someone choose to stop at such a cursory study of Scripture if they are capable of far more? While I find it preferable that one study the Scriptures (period), I would rather that they choose to continue to grow and develop in their study (and thereby in their ever-increasing giving glory to God through faith-filled obedience to His Word).

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Earth Salvation Replies:

Several problems present themselves here:

1) Recommending using the Authorized King James Version (which one do you suggest given that there is NO single King James Versoin, but a number of recensions/editions: 1611, 1769, New KJV, etc.?). You make the statement that "it is the most accurate", but what support would you offer for such a statement? Do you in fact understand all the textual critical and translational issues involved in this translation (and in others...particularly those of more recent work)?
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Earth Salvation:
First of all thank you for an excellent reply.
As to which King James edition I would recommend. I would recommend the Authorized King James Version, not the New King James Version.

Why I believe it is the most accurate English Translation is because when I compare the KJV to the Greek. The KJV is a more accurate, that is, truer to the Greek, than the New International or New American Stantard Translations.

Earth,
You still didn't answer my question about WHICH 'Authorized King James Version' (given that there are more than just one edition). Also, only the NT was written in Greek (although the OT was translated into Greek just a few hundred years before Christ). Do you actually have formal training in the Biblical languages, translational theory and practice, linguistics, or anything similar in order to justify the 'Greek' being most closely followed by the 'Authorized King James Version'? Also, do you recognize that the KJV (as ALL translations) was only one of many different translations only seeking to make the Scriptures more understandable for their own day (it was not written to become THE 'Authorized' version, but only to try to offer another translation to the already growing number of English translations). Two major difficulties with the KJV -- the foundational texts of the OT and NT were later manuscripts (and only very few of them at that) rather than earlier manuscripts (that largely help to shape more recent translations); and the extremely dated English which is extremely difficult for anyone to read that hasn't been fed this form of English.

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Psychobobicus enjoys that Earth Salvation refers to themselves in the third person.

Perhaps in 1611, but not today. To answer Anti's question, yes, I have formal training in Greek that justifies my statement.

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Στηθι εδραιος, ως ακμων τυπτομενος. - Ignatius |II Timothy 4:2| All Scripture is NKJV, unless a translation from the Greek text or otherwise noted.
M.A. Theological Studies (New Testament), Faith Seminary, Tacoma WA
Member, Evangelical Theological Society, North American Patristics Society.
Assistant Editor and contributing author of several published and forthcoming publications.

Ditto.

The KJV was the best translation of its time, but it is not the inspired original writings and neither is it the best record of those original inspired words.

We have had many threads on this issue, but it all boils down to this: Who is the One who inspires the writing of Scripture? Is it the Spirit? It is the Spirit who inspired the sixty-six books that comprise our Bible between about 1500BC and 100AD. A translation of the OT into Greek had occurred before the NT was written! Yet we now have a better record to build our current translations.

We do have reliable and accurate translations. A few words - perhaps 1% of the NT have some question, but they are mostly of minor import. No significant doctrine stands or falls with those variants - and we are left with the doctrines of our faith affirmed. In fact they are strengthened!

I know that every original Word inspired by the Holy Spirit is on the pages of my Greek New Testament - once in a while the original word may be in a footnote (the apparatus), but I know that I am looking at exactly the words which the Spirit inspired - and I am overwhelmed with awe - that we should have such a gift.

John

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Pastor John C. Blackburn

Would you explain what passages it is that you've compared? What Greek/Hebrew constructions have caused you to draw your conclusions? Have you considered textual critical methodologies? Do you agree with the opinion of Erasmus on the Comma Johanneum?

Also, are you calling the "Authorized King James Version" the 1611 edition? Or are the modern KJV sufficient as long as they are not NKJV? Would you give your explanation of the difference?

Blessings,
Randy

To All:
I realize that this is a controversial statement. I don't mean to upset anybody. Its just that in my studies I undertook to compare the NIV, NASB and the KJV to Nestle's 21 edition of the Greek text, and discovered that the KJV was truer to the Greek. Therefore, I concluded that the KJV was a more accurate translation.

Have any of you ever done such a study?

If not, I would encourage you to do so. It is a most rewading study indeed.

I have not personally done such a study. However, the NA21 was published in 1952, the current standard for the Greek NT text is the NA27, and according to The Complete New Testament (published in January 2009), which has a complete textual variant mapping for 20 English versions of the Bible and a ranking for each of those versions for their agreement with the NA27, the NAS ranks first, the NIV ranks 10th, and the KJV ranks 20th. In other words, of the twenty English Bible versions mapped for agreement with the best available NT Greek text, the KJV ranks dead last.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novum_Test ... cite_ref-9

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It looks to me like you are parroting the writngs of Gail Riplinger who has misled quite a few people. Have you any answers to the specific questions I've asked?
For instance,


Frankly, your position does not hold water and the KJV translators introduction argues against yours and Riplinger's position. The positions of Erasmus, who produced much of the Greek text which the KJV was translated from, argues against your position as well. Obviously, in your studies, your view was myopic. I would reccomend you read James R. White's The King James Only Controversy. You can find it at CBD for a mere $12.00 and some good reviews, (http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/ ... _no=206054)
About a dollar cheaper at Amazon with mixed reviews,
(http://www.amazon.com/King-James-Only-C ... 510&sr=1-1).
IMHO White outlines the situation thoroughly and shows the problems with arguments such as yours. He does so while still maintaining that the KJV is a good translation which is my position as well.
My position is that the KJV & NKJV are good translations but are limited because of the continuing change of english as does any language. (For instance in 1950 a "gay" man was simply a happy person; Not so today!) There are better translations not simply because of the more accurate transcripts we have of the origional languages but also because the message is more clearly communicated in the modern vernacular tongue of the day. This is the one of the greatist reasons for the KJV translation in 1611 for many of the translators themselves. To get the Bible into the common tongue of the people.
Your first post spoke of using a dictionary in one's Bible study. (I believe that good advice. Especially if one is reading the KJV or NKJV) Antipater's advice of using an Oxford Dictionary even better because the modern dictionary does not explain nautical terminology such as "compassed about" in the following examples:



"Compassed about" is an old nautical term which means to "come about on the compass" or, simply, "turn around". However, to be compassed about is to surround or to be surrounded. These and many other terms in the KJV would confuse the modern reader and the common dictionary does not explain the terms well.

The very fact that one needs a dictionary to read a Bible speaks to the fact that it is not in a easily understood language. Why not have it in a language where a dictionary is not needed for understanding?

Blessings,
Randy

As a reminder - this forum is specifically set up to discuss the series "How to Study the Bible: For Beginners" All members are encouraged to follow the links provided in this section and go through this series available for free from Bible.org

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I believe the bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly. These are holy writ made by prophets called by God. This teaches us principles and doctrines that would help us draw closer to our creator.