Unfortunately, many individuals use the Bible for their own ends. This refers to devout Christians who utilize the Scriptures to support their personal interpretations of the Bible and our existence.
Sadly, many of these folks are devout Christians. In fact, there are preachers whose personal devotion to the Lord is unquestionable, yet they are known for certain teachings. They promote these things as if they were profound truths of revelation, while, in fact, they are of individual interpretation.
The Bible teaches us what we must do to understand the Bible, and it is an excellent thing that it does so.
“Search the Scriptures,” our Lord Jesus stated in John 5:39. The term “search” means to study carefully, probe, and map out. In addition, it indicates a great deal of devotion and effort in discovering the truth that exists.
So, when Jesus said the above passage, there were Jews in the crowd who were undoubtedly proud of their understanding of Scripture. After all, they had undoubtedly examined the Scriptures, but they were spiritually astigmatic.
They were picky about what they saw there. Moreover, they recognized certain things while refusing to see others.
In this case, Christ reassured them that the Bible bore witness to His existence. Unfortunately, they had cut out that section of the Bible; it wasn’t getting through to them at all. Here, they came to the Bible not to discover what was there but to affirm what they wanted to see.
In this context, the Lord Jesus advised them to begin with Moses and examine the Scriptures. However, that’s a considerable task: read the entire Bible, look for it, and have a curious mind. Still, essentially, Jesus urged the Jews to be teachable and to listen to the Holy Spirit.
To summarize, when you recognize that what you are accomplishing in Bible study is discovering, investigating, and figuring out what the Bible indeed says about a subject, you have already acquired a fantastic organizational concept with your use of the Bible.