Reading the Bible & Understanding the Bible two different things.

It should be the desire of every believer to grow in knowledge and understanding of God. This pursuit of knowing God will require some steps. It doesn’t happen by osmosis or just talking about it – you will need to put some action behind it. For this reason, I want to share with you knowledge and understanding of God.

The Word of God is a frequently used way to describe or identify the Bible, the collection of sixty-six books written over the course of at least fifteen hundred years by Apostles and prophets, humanly speaking, and breathed out by God, divinely speaking. It is called the Word of God because God is the primary author and the prophets and Apostles are secondary authors. Everything in the Bible is exactly what God wanted it to say, and the Word of God has the meaning God intends for it to have. Historically, Protestants have distinguished between four main characteristics of Scripture: authority, clarity, necessity, and sufficiency.

God’s Word is the teachings, commands, and wisdom imparted and written by chosen men of God in our own language. It is believed that God spoke to his people through the words of the prophets, and it is said to be divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit. According to the Bible, there are two main conditions for understanding the word of God: the condition and disposition of our hearts and having the Holy Spirit. The most important thing in understanding God’s word is the (spiritual) condition of our hearts.

To have knowledge is to have facts, information, or awareness of something or someone. When we have knowledge of God, we understand his nature, his character, and who he is. This process of growing your knowledge and understanding of God will require you to engage with God on different levels.

The Bible refers to itself as the Word of God (1 Thess. 2:13). Many different qualities of the Scriptures confirm this designation, giving us confidence that this claim is true ,These qualities, including the stylistic beauty and majesty of Scripture, the unity of the Bible’s teaching expressed through a diversity of authors and perspectives, the biblical presentation of the one way of salvation, and the power of the Bible’s doctrine to save and to sanctify sinners. However, while these characteristics confirm the Bible’s claims, only the Holy Spirit can persuade us to accept the Bible’s testimony to its being the Word of God. After all, only the Spirit can reveal the things of God (1 Cor. 2:9–10).

Because the Bible is the very Word of God, it is the final authority in all matters of faith and life. Authority resides in the words of Scripture themselves, as Jesus teaches. He tells us that Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35). The authority of Scripture derives from the inherent authority of God, who breathed out the Scriptures. Jesus Himself is God (John 1:1), which means that all Scripture is His authoritative voice no less than the authoritative voice of the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus claims that His sheep hear His voice (John 10:27). They heed His voice, because they recognize the authority in it.

Inspiration is the doctrine about the Word of God that describes how the Word of God came to us. Most literally, Scripture is “God-breathed” (Greek theopneustos; 2 Tim. 3:16). God by His Holy Spirit breathed out the Word of God into the prophets and Apostles. Just as we breathe out our words when we speak, so God breathed out His words when He revealed the Scriptures. It is important to note here that the Holy Spirit did not bypass the human authors’ personality and consciousness, but He worked through both and so guided the process that the Bible is at the same time God’s words and the words of its human authors.

The most important thing in the life of a Christian is to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18). Yes, we were saved by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), but grace does not end there. And salvation (or eternal life) involves knowing God (John 17:3).

So, how do Christians grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord?

As Peter writes his final epistle, he was concerned about the false teachers that were plaguing the churches and wanted to encourage the believers to persevere. Thus, Peter repeats what he has emphasized throughout his letter on the danger of being misled by the doctrinal errors of these false teachers, and exhorted them to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ.

Before we look at how and what it means to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to consider several truths about growth in general.Where there is life, there must be growth. But you must be born before you can grow.

This principle is just as true spiritually as it is physically. The Bible tells us that we were all born into this world spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13), and that is why we all need to be born again (John 3:7). Only God can impart to us a new life.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: his praise endureth for ever.” Psalm 111:10.

If you’re seeking God’s guidance, reading His word is a great place to start. But sometimes finding personal meaning in the scriptures can be challenging. Bible believers can help you better understand the Bible and the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Scripture is normal, logical communication. It is abnormal only in its revelatory nature, not in the manner it uses human language to communicate actual thoughts. Therefore, it is possible for the man without God’s Spirit (the unbeliever) to mentally grasp the meaning of Scripture, at least in terms of its logical content.

This explains why an unbeliever can write a perceptive biblical commentary. Likewise, Mark Twain, an avid unbeliever, said, “It is not those passages of Scripture I do not understand that bother me, but those that I do understand.”

Still, the man without God’s Spirit cannot understand God’s Word in the fullest sense, for he does not and cannot have a real appreciation of the spiritual implications of biblical truth, especially in relation to himself. He may grasp the thoughts, but he misses the spirit, the life-changing purpose behind the thoughts. In that sense he comprehends the raw concepts, but he does not truly “see.” Hence, the man without the Spirit of God cannot truly understand (fully grasp or appreciate) the things of God.

While the Holy Spirit’s presence in the life of the reader is necessary for total biblical understanding, it is not sufficient for it. The Holy Spirit is not a “cure all” for poor interpretation. He does not automatically reverse the consequences of violating hermeneutical principles.

This means that a person’s spirituality has no necessary bearing on the validity of his interpretation. This is why godly people sometimes differ widely in their interpretations. “If the Holy Spirit is our teacher (1 John 2:27), why don’t we all have the same interpretation?” Apparently, because his illuminating ministry is not normally independent of interpretive principles. He works through the proper treatment of communication, not independently of it.

It may be “new truth” to me, and in that sense a “revelation,” but look out! If it is different than what the author intended, if it’s some new message God is bringing to me, then it isn’t biblical study. “The way of the Spirit is the way of the Word.” The Spirit speaks through and in conjunction with the Word. He opens my mind to certain principles, implications, and unique applications of His truth. But the raw material the Holy Spirit uses is the revealed truth itself.

Many people have adopted a view where they are waiting for the Holy Spirit to speak, either verbally, in a vision, or through an “inner light.” They read books by people who confidently say they are speaking on God’s behalf. Emboldened, the reader may eagerly await, create, or fabricate a revelation from God. The desire to hear the Spirit speak is admirable. But the ironic truth is that the Spirit has already spoken. He has spoken in His Word.

If I expect direct revelation to me, who needs a Bible? I can simply ask God to speak, while I fail to study and absorb the vehicle through which He already has spoken. This shortcut or circumvention of direct revelation might be exciting, but it is a lazy man’s approach, and a dangerous one (I have many impulses and thoughts—how can I tell which are from God and which aren’t?).

If I would listen to the voice of the Spirit, I should “put my ear” to the Word of God. Why wait for the Spirit to speak when I have in my hands what He has already spoken?

The distance between me and God’s revelation is the distance between me and my Bible. I should prayerfully ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in my biblical study, but not ask Him for new revelation independent of it.

Don’t misunderstand. I believe that the Holy Spirit leads me and illuminates me every day. All I am saying is that I must weigh my subjective sense of what the Spirit is saying against the teachings of the Book which He inspired.