One of the great things about Scripture is that anyone can pick up the Bible and read and understand the redemptive plan God has for his people. The Westminster Confession of Faith affirms (ch.1 section 7) that:
those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.
That doesn’t mean that there are no confusing sections, chapters or books. It makes sense that when an infinite God reveals Himself to finite man there can be some confusion. So where do you go when you come across a passage that does not make sense? This is a short list of places I turn when I don’t understand Scripture.
- Try a Study Bible. This is the Bible, along with brief commentary from (usually) respected Biblical scholars and pastors. I highly recommend the ESV Study Bible.
- Find a Good Commentary. There are thousands of commentaries available. I would recommend speaking with your pastor, a professor or seminary student (who knows who to ask), and checking out review sites such as BestCommentaries. There are at least two “levels” of commentaries: ones that focus on the whole Bible and ones that focus on a specific book. If you are looking to buy a commentary, maybe start with a respected one on the Whole Bible, just the Old Testament, or just the New Testament. If you still want to look deeper at a specific passage or book, look for a good commentary on that specific book.
- Find a Good Sermon or Lecture. There is a plethora of solid sermons and lectures available for free on almost any topic or passage you can think of. If looking for a sermon, I recommend two places. One is John Piper’s ministry website, where they have archived thousands of sermons from the past 20+ years all available for free. The second is Matt Chandler’s sermon archive available at The Village Church website. Both of these men have had a significant influence on my understanding of Scripture. If you want to learn even more, I also highly recommend listening to lectures available on iTunes U from seminaries across the country, including RTS and DTS.
- As an added bonus, as I was working on this post The Village Church put out a list of recommended resources as well. You can access it here.
(Photo licensed under Creative Commons and taken by Carson Coots)
