Veroni's Views

Do you remember what you saw when you looked into the mirror?
What a stupid question – that we can forget what we look like! Yet that is exactly what the Bible says we do.

Still under the heading “Built on the Foundation of Scripture” from my book on the Church.

WHAT SHOULD WE DO WITH THE BIBLE?

The Bible itself has very concise instructions as to what should be done with it.

Read it
The exhortation “Hear, O Israel, the word of the Lord!” resounds in many places in the Old Testament. Only by concentrating on developing a consistent Bible reading program are we ever able to tap into the riches of this book.

Understand it
There are barriers of time, culture and language, but we have the Author of the Bible right here with us to assist us in our interpretation. 2 Timothy 3.16 and 2 Peter 1.21 both explain that God Himself is the Author of Scripture. He is present by the Holy Spirit in the life of every believer, and therefore available to help us to understand the meaning of Scripture for our lives today.

“Allow Scripture to interpret Scripture” is a healthy approach to the Bible. When we find something that we cannot easily understand, the first place we should look for clarification, is in the Bible itself. It is very easy to misinterpret Scripture if we fragment it. In fact, it may be possible to prove almost anything from Scripture if we select verses and portions according to what we want to prove. The more we allow the totality of Scripture to speak to us, the closer our interpretation will be to God’s truth.

Live it
It is no use studying Scripture as an academic exercise. We should allow it to penetrate our very being, but then also live it out in a practical fashion. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Colossians 2.16), should be complemented by a lifestyle that is constantly changing to become more like what Scripture describes. The warning of James should be heeded:

Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
(James 1.22-25)

It is hard to imagine the impact Christians would have in the world, if we simply lived according to what the Bible says. “God said, I believe it, that settles it” is what our attitude should be.