Several years ago, our family moved to Ireland, and one of the first things we learned was that you will always be offered tea. What we didn’t realize, though, is that if you accept it right away, it comes across as forthright and entitled. The polite thing is to refuse it one or two times before finally “giving in” and accepting. Much of Irish culture works this way. It’s the same reason you can’t just say “bye” once and hang up the phone — that would seem rude and abrupt. Instead, you say “bye, bye, bye” repeatedly, while slowly hanging up the call.
Needless to say, most of our time in Ireland had Lacey and me unintentionally coming across as forthright, entitled, rude, and abrasive — simply because we hadn’t yet learned the culture and taken the time to discover how people there think and behave.
The Bible works the same way.
Every passage was written, compiled, edited, and published in a particular place, time, culture, and language — and while it was written for us, it was not written to us. If we skip over context and meaning, we risk misreading God’s heart and, therefore, misapplying His truth. That’s why hermeneutics (a big word that simply means the art of understanding and interpreting, within context, a piece of literature) isn’t just for pastors or seminary students; it’s for every believer who wants to truly understand what God is saying through the ancient Scriptures.
Furthermore, we need the Holy Spirit when we read. The Pharisees and religious leaders in Jesus’ day had memorized the entire Hebrew Scriptures — but when the Author stood in front of them, they didn’t recognize him. Without the Spirit’s guidance, we risk doing the same: knowing the words but missing the meaning of who is behind them.
Paul reminds us in 2 Timothy 3.16–17 that “all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” If we want to be equipped, we have to know not only what God has said, but why He said it.
Ask the Holy Spirit: When I read the Scriptures, have I been reading them to truly hear Your voice or like it was a fortune cookie to make me feel better?
Then ask Him what you can do to better improve your ability to hear His voice (not your own presuppositions) as you read the Scriptures.
Then, if you are looking for FREE tools and resources on how to study the Bible, we have a whole portion of our website dedicated to this subject. We have resource recommendations, videos, articles, application questions, timelines, and podcast discussions all relating to the Scriptures. You can find all of that at our Bible resource at: https://cultivaterelationships.com/bible-tools
God bless,
Nathan
