Introduction

Will this study let us present questions on scripture that we are having trouble understanding? And will we be able to discuss any answers to the questions? Will we look at any comparative studies to shed light on the life and time of the Hebrews? Will there be any critical analysis? Thank you .

I am very interested in what you have to say.  Are you ready to begin or will it be a while yet?

Rules drive me nuts, but I would like to have your point of view, so if that requires rules...

Looking forward to starting! 

Yes Pam -  LOLOL

I think I am ready toget started, and contibute what I can to the community. And, we can start with your question: I think your question applies to 'rules for studing the Bible' and some list of personal rules I may have made up.

Actually, I'll look through some of my stuff and post them here in a day or two. As I recall, I can't take either the credit nor the blame for the 'rules', but it is a great list!

Back soon.

Originally posted: 05 Oct 2008 16:28

Over the years I have attempted to teach the enclosed material, but in a haphazard, piecemeal manner. Now, I have discovered my rules better articulated by another, and I also found that I was still missing a couple of rules. I do not know when or where the following was initially published, but it has been hidden from the general public for way too long. I count myself singularly privileged to share it with the members of this forum.

When engaged in any kind of Bible study, what one gets out of the effort depends to a large extent on how one interprets what one reads. The following will assist in "correctly dividing the word of truth."

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Rules of Bible Interpretation by William Miller, published in pamphlet form on Bible interpretation. This pamphlet is included text in the One Line Bible CD, published by Ken Hamel © 2003, History of the Sabbath module by J. N. Andrews.

Reverend William Miller (1815?-1874?) was a minister of the Free Presbyterian Church of Victoria who served the John Knox Church, corner Little Lonsdale and Swanston Streets, Melbourne 1851-64.

To my knowledge this original material is in the public domain and may be freely copied and distributed. I urge caution, however, if anyone plans on republishing this material in any profit-making venture.

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In studying the Bible, I have found the following rules to be of great service to myself, and now give them to the public by special request. Every rule should be well studied, in connection with the scripture references, if the Bible student would be at all benefited by them.

1. Every word must have its proper bearing on the subject presented in the Bible. Mt 5:18 (See my notes at the end of this pamphlet.)

2. All Scripture is necessary, and may be understood by diligent application and study. 2Ti 3:15-17

3. Nothing revealed in Scriptures can or will be hid from those who ask in faith, not wavering. De 29:29; Mt 10:26,27; 1Co 2:10; Php 3:15; Isa 45:11; Mt 21:22; Joh 14:13,14; 15:7; Jas 1:5,6; 1Jo 5:13-15

4. To understand doctrine, bring all the Scriptures together on the subject you wish to know; then let every word have its proper influence; and if you can form your theory without a contradiction, you cannot be in error. Isa 28:7-29; 35:8; Pr 19:27; Lu 24:27,44,45; Ro 16:26; Jas 5:19; 2Pe 1:19,20

5. Scripture must be its own expositor, since it is a rule of itself. If I depend on a teacher to expound to me, and he should guess at its meaning, or desire to have it so on account of his sectarian creed, or to be thought wise, then his guessing, desire, creed or wisdom, has become my rule, and not the Bible. Ps 19:7-11; 119:97-105; Mt 23:8-10; 1Co 2:12-16; Eze 34:18,19; Lu 11:52; Mt 2:7,8

6. God has revealed things to come, by visions, in figures and parables; and in this way the same things are often time revealed again and again, by different visions, or in different figures and parables. If you wish to understand them, you must combine them all in one. Ps 89:19; Ho 12:10; Hab 2:2; Ac 2:17; 1Co 10:6; Heb 9:9,24; Ps 78:2; Mt 13:13,34; Ge 41:1-32; Da 2;7;8; Ac 10:9-16

7. Visions are always mentioned as such. 2Co 12:1

8. Figures always have a figurative meaning, and are used much in prophecy to represent future things, times and events, - such as mountains, meaning governments, Da 2:35,44; beasts, meaning kingdoms, Da 7:8,17; waters, meaning people, Re 17:1,15; lamp, meaning Word of God, Ps 119:105; day, meaning year, &c. Eze 4:6.

9. Parables are used as comparisons to illustrate subjects, and must be explained in the same way as figures, by the subject and Bible. Mr 4:13

10. Figures sometimes have two or more different significations, as day is used in a figurative sense to represent three different periods of time, namely, 1) indefinite, Ec 7:14; 2) definite, a day for a year, Eze 4:6; and 3) a day for a thousand years, 2Pe 3:8. If you put on the right construction it will harmonize with the Bible and make good sense, otherwise it will not.

11. How to know when a word is used figuratively. If it makes good sense as it stands, and does no violence to the simple laws of nature, then it must be understood literally, if not, figuratively. Re 12:1,2 17:3-7

12. To learn the true meaning of figures, trace your figurative word through your Bible, and where you find it explained, put it on your figure, and if it makes good sense you need look no further, if not, look again.

13. To know whether we have the true historical event for the fulfillment of a prophecy. If you find every word of the prophecy (after the figures are understood) is literally fulfilled, then you may know that your history is the true event. But if one word lacks a fulfillment, then you must look for another event, or wait its future development. For God takes care that history and prophecy doth agree, so that the true believing children of God may never be ashamed. Ps 22:5; Isa 45:17-19; 1Pe 2:6; Re 17:17; Ac 3:18

14. The most important rule of all is, that you must have faith. It must be a faith that requires a sacrifice, and, if tried, would give up the dearest object on earth, the world and all its desires, character, living, occupation, friends, home, comforts, and worldly honors. If any of these should hinder our believing any part of God’s word, it would show our faith to be vain. Nor can we ever believe so long as one of these motives lies lurking in our hearts. We must believe that God will never forfeit his word. And we can have confidence that he that takes notice of the sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our head, will guard the translation of his own word, and throw a barrier around it, and prevent those who sincerely trust in God, and put implicit confidence in his word, from erring far from the truth, though they may not understand Hebrew or Greek.

These are some of the most important rules which I find the word of God warrants me to adopt and follow, in order for system and regularity. And if I am not greatly deceived, in so doing, I have found the Bible, as a whole, one of the most simple, plain, and intelligible books ever written, containing proof in itself of its divine origin, and full of all knowledge that our hearts could wish to know or enjoy. I have found it a treasure which the world cannot purchase. It gives a calm peace in believing, and a firm hope in the future. It sustains the mind in adversity, and teaches us to be humble in prosperity. It prepares us to love and do good to others, and to realize the value of the soul. It makes us bold and valiant for the truth, and nerves the arm to oppose error. It gives us a powerful weapon to break down Infidelity, and makes known the only antidote for sin. It instructs us how death will be conquered, and how the bonds of the tomb must be broken. It tells us of future events, and shows the preparation necessary to meet them. It gives us an opportunity to hold conversation with the King of kings, and reveals the best code of laws ever enacted.

This is but a faint view of its value; yet how many perishing souls treat it with neglect, or, what is equally as bad, treat it as a hidden mystery which cannot be known. Oh, my dear reader, make it your chief study. Try it well, and you will find it to be all I have said. Yes, like the Queen of Sheba, you will say the half was not told you.

The divinity taught in our schools is always founded on some sectarian creed. It may do to take a blank mind and impress it with this kind, but it will always end in bigotry. A free mind will never be satisfied with the views of others. Were I a teacher of youth in divinity, I would first learn their capacity and mind. If these were good, I would make them study the Bible for themselves, and send them out free to do the world good. But if they had no mind, I would stamp them with another’s mind, write bigot on their forehead, and send them out as slaves!

Doing a general word search for the term \"perfect\", we find the English term occurs 98 times in the KJV of the English Bible. This count does not include word derivations such as perfected, perfection, perfecting, etc.

These 98 occurrences reflect a dazzling array of original language words. There are thirteen different Hebrew words and ten different Greek words translated as “perfect”. Each of the original words have a wide range of different meanings, as well as carrying a large number of possible individual tones, shadings and understandings. Even in one verse, such as Ps 101.2, we find the word perfect twice in our KJV. However, the first perfect means “whole, sound, healthful”, while the second perfect means “integrity”, which renders Ps 101:2 from:

“I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” KJV

To my translation of this same text:

“I will give heed to and follow the path (the way) of complete wholesomeness; Oh when will You come unto me? Inside my own house I will walk (live) my life in the integrity of my heart.” AWB Compare this to the JPS 2000 edition of the Hebrew-English Tanakh.

I attempt to bring a little more of the conceptual (pictorial) presentation of the Hebrew language into our English language framework.

Lesson: Do not do a word search in English (only) and expect to get a true rendering of the original texts, nor for creating a foundation for developing & establishing doctrines. The results are often times combining non-compatible passages which leads to scriptural error and creating doctrines that the Word of God will not actually support.

Homework: Do an exhaustive search of the texts where the original language words have been translated in English as “perfect”. Find all 13 Hebrew and 10 Greek terms and evaluate their grammatical usage and their contextual application(s). Then, go back and reconstruct an English equivalent of the original concept (thought for thought). This may not be the best way of translating the original text, but we have already seen that simple word-for-word translations are not all that great either. For this exercise I recommend the use of the Thayer\s Greek-English Lexicon of the N.T. and The New BDB Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon or The Gesenius Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament for word identification and usage.

Application: When studying the Bible, doctrines (teachings), or developing a doctrine of your own: The very least one must do is verify the correct usage/application of the key words in that doctrine, as they appear within their original language context.

Shalom Aleichem

A follow up comment: Most who know me, know that I teach against the English language doctrine of the Godhead. An interesting study that I encourage others to undertake is this: Study the word of God in order to discover why there can be no god or gods, of any kind, within the biblical definition of a Godhead. That is, why does even the idea of a Godhead not exist in either Hebrew or Greek scriptures, and except as a dubious western theological concept, provides no spiritual value to one's faith (or life) in the Messiah?

Why is such an individual study important? Because over the years an uncounted number of men, women and children have been murdered over disagreements concerning the nature of the Godhead. That is the legacy of many so-called teachers of the word of God. As translators today are slowly removing the three Godhead references from the English Bibles and replacing them with scripturally sound terms, there are those who will still stand and complain that these 'modern-day"' translators are changing (removing words from) the Bible. These complainers, however, should be commending these scholars for finally removing words that have been 'added to' the scriptures. Now - go study for your self.

When posting on this subject on other forums, I normally include the following as being necessary for a good understanding of scripture: Language, history, culture (society), and religion. Also, that in our desire to 'understand' the why and why-for's of a subject, we frequently overlook the simplicity of the scriptures and their message.

And, comments to a 'new' teacher of the word:

You have joined in the struggle that has been going on since the garden of Eden. The adding to, the taking away, and the deliberate altering (manipulation) of the word of God in order to achieve one's personal agenda.

What makes this particular problem so great, is that we humans already have a strong tendency to go off and make decisions (judgments and evaluations) about things we don't know or understand! We are already prone to making errors and then trying to justify or cover up our mistakes so we don't look bad in the eyes of others - or even in our own eyes. The technical term for this approach to self justification is 'deception'. Either attempting to to deceive others, or even worse, deceiving ourselves.

This, by the way, is a major reason why, within scripture, one will not find an assembly bound to a single spiritual leader. Without a spiritual check and balance in place, men centered cults arise and spiritual error can remain unchecked and uncorrected.

While there is a desire to remain true to your calling, unless you are willing to fit into the mold of whatever religious group you are associated with, when you start to shine the light of the word on what is being taught from the platform, be assured, you will not make many friends.

In the words of our master, "Count the costs." (Luke 14:25-35)

The best advice I can give to any teacher is this: You will never be a better teacher than you are a student. Always remain teachable.

Pam, I hope this short series of posts is what you were looking for.

Got it all. Skimmed it.  Do you know how many are going to be involved?

Will start on it in a view days.  I've got an article that has to go out that I'm finishing up.

I had peace upon me until I began reading through some of your information.  At the point where you began praising translators for leaving the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit out of their translations, you lost me.

Thank you for your time, but I will not be involved in your study.  Personally, I have studied the Godhead, and I absolutely, totally disagree with you.  But I will not argue about it.  Apparently you are firm in your decision that eliminating God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit from the Bible will stop the wars between opposing religions.  Whereas you see the Godhead as the cause for wars, I see the Godhead as our only hope for freedom.

I pray that God leads both of us into His total and abiding Truth.

Shalom Aleichem

Well, it seems like this site has dropped of my radar. I have been engaged in several lenthy studies and writing tasks. Sorry!

I will try to get back here with something this coming week - however, everyone esle is free to add coments and/or subjects they would like to discuss and to explore..