The Ping Pong
Have you ever met someone who quotes thirty or one hundred verses when talking about religious beliefs?
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, Old and New Testaments. 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 or book of the Bible-be it the Old or the New Testaments. Like what I always point out in this website, every letter/scroll/book has a purpose and a goal to reach. And every letter/scroll/book, especially in the New Testament, is addressed to encourage believers or correct and solve problems that occurred in the local assemblies. Each letter/scroll/book 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 Testament is then clear. Every single letter/scroll/book 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 Testament 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).
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