I remember this lovely pentecostal man I met in a ferry boat to Prince Edward Island (P.I.), east coast of Canada. It was a lovely day and I was touring the deck when I came across this man. I was trying to convince him about my stands in the scriptures and he was also trying to fight back with verses from all over the Bible, First and New Covenants. My head was bouncing from left to right trying to understand his quoted verses that were taken out of context. I could not go anywhere with him.
I am sure people around us must have thought that he was the "winner" because he gave a good show. He looked good and intelligent. What many people don't know was that he was out of context. He took and used verses wrongly.
It is not sufficient to have a good memory. We should not miss the right interpretation of each letter of the Bible-be it the First or the New Covenants. Like what I always point out in this website, every letter/scroll has a purpose and a goal to reach. And every letter/scroll, especially in the New Covenant, is addressed to encourage believers or correct and solve problems that occurred in the local assemblies. Each letter/scroll is special and different from the other. For example, Galatians talks about circumcision, 1 Corinthians discusses headship, and 1 John explains the communion and fellowship with the Father.
The scope of the New Covenant is then clear. Every single letter/scroll has its reason and can not be mingled with or confused with other letters. Otherwise, everything will be mixed up which makes it impossible to get the right interpretation. Interpretation means to get the train of thought of the writer when writing the letter/scroll to the addressee [the local assembly]. Interpreting the letter is done only within the letter--not adding history or tradition that could jeopardize and twist the letter. Interpreting is reading the content of the letter within the frame-from the first to the last chapter.
To learn how to read the scriptures properly and get the right interpretation, click HERE.
A believer who wants to understand each letter of the New Covenant has to be willing to sacrifice all of his background and come out as a pupil--a child to the Master's table to learn the correct way (2 Timothy 3:16).