Can you understand the Bible without a degree?
Mark 12:13-17
Big Ideas
- We’ve all heard people say the Bible means things that are obviously false.
- It’s easy to react by thinking that either no interpretation of scripture is trustworthy, or that the only way to know what it means is to go to seminary.
- There are lots of good applications of any given passage of Scripture. There are also some bad and unhelpful ones.
- The Bible is for YOU. You can read it and come away with something helpful. And it’s not as hard as you might think.
- You just need to remember 2 things: ask the Spirit for help, and use guardrails.
- Here is a great guardrail that will go a long way to keep your interpretation on the right track. Just ask these questions:
- Does this interpretation help me love God or love my neighbor more?
- Does it help me connect more with the world around me, making it better?
- Try singing the second verse of O Holy Night when you read, and make sure your thoughts on what the verse means agree with these lines:
- Truly he taught us to love one another
- His law is love and his gospel is peace
- Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother
- And in his name all oppression shall cease
Questions
- Have you struggled to feel like you can know what interpretations of scripture are trustworthy and which are not?
- Have you ever asked the Spirit for help applying scripture and gotten help?
- Do you think that every verse in scripture is there to reinforce the truths that God is love, and God is with us?
- Do you feel any more motivation or freedom to read scripture for yourself with this method?
- Put it into practice! Try it out and talk about it with others.