Now that we are going to limit our search for the sacred to the Bible, our next concern in the discipleship process is learning how to read the Bible correctly. For those of us who live in the English speaking world, our main method of interacting with the Bible has been through reading, and as a result we have developed guidelines that we can follow in order to get the most out of the Bible as a book.

There are five doctrines that serve as guidelines on how to read the Bible correctly. These five doctrines may not be useful in other parts of the world where people do not read, but that is another issue we will deal with later.

Each of these five doctrines can help guide us (and others) to finding FORGIVENESS OF SIN FROM GOD along with the FREEDOM FROM SIN we need to live in community as a local Church.

Here are the five doctrines.

#1. The Authority of Scripture

The first doctrine is known as the Authority of Scripture. Here is a definition of it for you:

“The Authority of Scripture means that all of the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.” (Wayne Grudem)

This doctrine of the authority of Scripture is very important because without it we cannot build healthy well balanced local Churches anywhere. God has spoken in the Bible to explain to us what SIN is, how we can obtain FORGIVENESS OF SINS as well as FREEDOM FROM OUR SINS. The local Church exists to have a community standard on how to respond to each of these issues.

God expects each member of a local Church to respond to what the Bible says in the same way our world responded to His voice when the Universe was being made. In Genesis 1:3 (ESV), we are told that “God said let there be light, and there was light.”

So this is the standard we should have for reading the Bible: the oldest parts of the Bible present God as a King with unconditional authority over each one of our lives. This has not changed. God is still a Dictator and we are obligated to offer a unconditional surrender to anything He says.

Submission to God’s dictatorship allows us to obtain FORGIVENESS OF SINS as well as FREEDOM FROM OUR SINS. Speaking as a Dictator would, God has clearly outlined what SIN is, and in order to replace the Works of the Flesh with the Fruit of the Spirit as one of His disciples, we have to let His standards become more important to us than our inner monologues, our self esteem or any kind of esoteric wisdom we can pursue.

Allowing any of those things to influence our search for the sacred can lead us away from God and keep us trapped in a lifestyle dominated by Works of the Flesh in the service of God’s enemies. This is something that a healthy, well balanced Church member who has received FORGIVENESS AND FREEDOM FROM SIN will never do.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Are you ready to let what the Bible says be more important to you than your own point of view?

#2. Are you ready to use the Bible in order to stop being led away from God and being trapped in the Works of the Flesh by God’s enemies? (Why or why not?)

#3. Are you comfortably thinking of God as a Dictator with unconditional authority over your life? (Why or why not?)

#2. The Inerrancy of Scripture

The second doctrine is known as the Inerrancy of Scripture. Here is a definition of it for you:

“The Inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact…the definition in simple terms just means that the Bible always tells the truth, and that it always tells the truth concerning everything it talks about.” (Wayne Grudem)

The basic point of this doctrine is that when we read the Bible we are listening to God’s memories of the past. The God of the Bible has witnessed every single moment of human history, and He has shared some of His memories with us so anyone who wants to have a healthy relationship with Him can find everything they need to know in a single book.

The problem with this is that in the past, we have all been influenced by God’s enemies. The enemies of God have been working to control our cultural habits in order to keep people away from finding FORGIVENESS OF SIN as well as FREEDOM FROM THEIR SINS. Their influence, working in agreement with the corruption that exists in human nature can cause misunderstandings of God and disagreements with other people in our lives.

These misunderstandings of God and disagreements with other people in our lives can prevent us from replacing the Works of the Flesh with the Fruit of the Spirit. In Hebrews chapter 11 the Bible says without faith it is impossible to please God, and trusting God unconditionally is the only way to replace the Works of the Flesh with the Fruit of the Spirit.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Do you understand the Bible contains an accurate version of Human history designed to help us know how to live in community with God?

#2. Do you understand that God’s enemies have been working to make you have misunderstandings of God and disagreements with other people in your life?

#3. Are you ready to trust God unconditionally to replace the Works of the Flesh with the Fruit of the Spirit in order to resolve those misunderstandings and disagreements?

#3. The Clarity of Scripture

The third doctrine is known as the Clarity of Scripture. Here is a definition of it for you:

“The clarity of Scripture means that the Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who will read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it.” (Wayne Grudem)

In other words, the Bible will make sense if we read it the way God wants it to be read. This doctrine is important because the world around us is full of people who have misunderstandings and disagreements over what the Bible says and how we should respond to its teachings. A lot of these misunderstandings and disagreements can prevent people from receiving FORGIVENESS OF SIN as well as FREEDOM FROM THEIR SINS.

In other words, the corruption in human nature can allow misunderstandings and disagreements, some of which have led some people to believe that we no longer need the Bible. Other people have convinced themselves that not every part of the Bible is a reliable guide on knowing and serving God.

These misunderstandings and disagreements with the Bible have allowed the Works of the Flesh to become more important than the Fruit of the Spirit in our lives. Let’s take a look at John chapter 3 verse 19, and apply it to the doctrine of the Clarity of Scripture and our potential misunderstandings.

The clarity of Scripture mans “light has come into the world” but misunderstandings and disagreements can still exist because “people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.”

Discussion Questions:

#1. Have you ever read something in the Bible that did not make sense at all? Have you ever thought sin might be keeping you from understanding those parts of the Bible?

#2. Have you sought FREEDOM FROM SIN in order to improve your understanding of the Bible?

#4. The Necessity of Scripture

The fourth doctrine is known as the Necessity of Scripture. Here is a definition of it for you:

“The Necessity of Scripture means that the Bible is necessary for knowing the Gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will, but it is not necessary for knowing that God exists or for knowing something about God’s character and moral laws.” (Wayne Grudem)

A healthy well balanced Church will understand what people can and cannot learn from the Bible. The average person does not need a Bible to know that God exists, but he or she cannot know how to interact with God unless they read, study and trust the Bible.

A healthy local Church is a group of people who want to read the Bible and learn to trust it together as a reliable guide on how to find FORGIVENESS AND FREEDOM FROM SIN. The Church is a group of people who use what the Bible says to help each other replace the Works of the Flesh with the Fruit of the Spirit in their lives.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Have you known people who understand that human nature is flawed without the Bible?

#2. Who helps you use the Bible to replace the Works of the Flesh in your life with the Fruit of the Spirit?

#5. The Sufficiency of Scripture

The fifth doctrine is known as the Sufficiency of Scripture. Here is definition of it for you:

“The Sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God he intended his people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains all the words of the God we need for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.” (Wayne Grudem)

A healthy, well balanced Church will know the Bible contains all the information we need to be on good terms with God. Any religious literature outside of the Bible can leave us vulnerable to the influence of God’s enemies.

At the same time, we need some extra biblical insights to overcome the differences between ancient civilization and modern culture. We need to recognize that we do not read the Bible the same way that the original audience did, and that can cause our modern minds to misunderstand or misrepresent God.

The Bible is all we need, as long as we recognize the difference between the ancient culture of the original audience and the modern culture of our current audience.

Discussion Questions:

#1. Do you know when you are imposing your culture and circumstances on the text of the Bible in a way that causes you (and others) to misunderstand and misrepresent God?