Enjoy the Bible !! ... this will show You how !!

the Bible

This will show you how to enjoy reading the Bible

with one of the greatest Bible Scholars ever

(368 pages) (ebook)

E. W. Bullinger

"I have lost no time in searching you out (he said), and am delighted to find you. You must come out to us and see us in our home to-morrow." "To-morrow (I replied) I am going. "Oh, you cannot go," he said; and in such a tone of voice and manner as made me really feel I could not. I said, "I am not traveling alone, but my friend is standing near in conversation; I will go and speak to him on the subject." I returned to my new friend, and said we would gladly go out to him on the morrow. At this he was very pleased; and spoke, now, freely, of the great desire of himself and his wife to know more of God's Word. "We want (he said) to study it together, and to be as independent as possible of the teachings and traditions of men.

In fact, "We Want To Enjoy The Bible.

"We want to read it, and study it, and understand it and enjoy it for ourselves!" This, of course, sounded very sweetly in my ears; and it was arranged that he should come into the city, the next morning early, and fetch us out to his home in the suburbs. He arrived soon after 8 o'clock, and by 9 o'clock we were sitting down together over the Word of God. There we sat till noon! In our preliminary conversation reference had been made to some work the lady had undertaken in the village. So we opened our Bibles at Matthew 10:5, 6, where I read the following words:—

I did not know until a year afterwards that my friend naturally held the usual anti-Semite views of the governing party, or this would probably have been the last Scripture I should have quoted. But though, at the time, I little thought of what I was doing, God was over-ruling all to the accomplishment of His own purposes. The lady, at once, very honestly exclaimed, "Oh, but I do go to the Gentiles." I replied, "But you see what this Scripture says." She said, "Is there not another passage which tells us to go into all the world?" "Yes" (I replied); and, finding that passage, I asked, "What are we to do with the other?" She confessed her perplexity and asked me to answer my own question. I replied, "Both are the words of God, and both must be absolutely true. We cannot cut one passage out of the Bible and leave the other in. Both are equally true, and we may not use one truth to upset another truth." I proceeded to explain, alluding to the universally acknowledged fact—that "circumstances altercases." The circumstances connected with the former passage showed that the Lord was sending forth the twelve to proclaim the King, and the Kingdom at hand: while those of the latter showed that the Proclamation had been unheeded; the Kingdom rejected, and the King crucified. And I asked "Were not the circumstances so different in character and time as to fully account for the fact that the former command was no longer appropriate to the changed conditions?"

I pointed out that there was a precept which specially set forth our responsibility to the Bible as being "the Word of Truth" (2 Tim 2:15), and that was that it must be rightly divided. this command to rightly divide, being given us in connection with this special title "the Word of truth," spoke to us, if we had ears to hear, and told us that unless we rightly divided the Word of Truth we should not only not get the truth; but, as God's workmen we should indeed have need to be "ashamed." I showed that, if we would indeed enjoy the Bible it was absolutely necessary that we should rightly divide all that it contained, in connection with its subject-mater, as well as in connection with its times and dispensations. In illustration of this important duty I pointed to such passages as Luke 9:2, 3, compared with chapter 22:36, where the words "BUT NOW" gave the Lord's own example; showing how He distinguished the difference between the two occasions. I also referred to Romans 11 and showed how, by "rightly dividing" the subject-matter, the great difficulty was avoided of supposing that those who were assured in Romans 8:39 as to the impossibility of their separation from the love of God, could ever be addressed in chapter 11:21, 22 in words of threatening and warning lest they "be cut off." The key to the solution of the difficulty was in chapter 11:13, where the Apostle distinctly states that he was addressing "Gentiles," as such, and of course as distinct from the Jews, and, the Church of God:

Introductory

I. The One Great Object of the Word

i. The LIVING Word, making known the Father

ii. The WRITTEN Word, revealing the Son

iii. The LIVING and the WRITTEN Word

II. The One Great Subject of the Word

i. CHRIST in the

Word as a whole. The KING and the KINGDOM in Promise, in Proclamation,

Rejection, Abeyance, and Manifestation

ii. CHRIST in the SEPARATE BOOKS of the Word

III. The One Great Requirement of the Word—"Rightly Dividing" It

i. As to its LITERARY FORM

1 The TWO TESTAMENTS

2 The SEPARATE BOOKS

3. The Division of the Hebrew Text

a. Into open and closed Sections

b. Into Sedarim or Triennial Pericopes

c. Into Parashioth or Annual Pericopes

3 The DIVISIONS of the GREEK TEXT

5. The Divisions of the VERSIONS, AND THE ENGLISH BIBLE

a. Into Chapters

b. Into Verses

c. The Chapter-Breaks

d. The Headings of Chapters and Pages

e. The Punctuation

3 Changes in Edition of 1611 to be preferred to later Editions

3 Changes in later Editions which are improvements on the 1611

3 Changes now proposed as most desirable

f. Parentheses

ii. As to its SUBJECT MATTER

1 The JEW, the GENTILES, and the CHURCH of God

2 The GENTILES

3. The EPISTLES to the DISPERSION

a. James

b. Hebrews

iii. As to its TIMES and DISPENSATIONS

1 The Word "DISPENSATION"

2. The SEVEN Dispensations

a. The Edenic (Innocence

b. The Patriarchal (Theocratic)

c. Israelite (Past)

d. The Ecclesia (Grace)

e. Israelite (Judgment)

f. Millennial (Theocratic)

g. Eternal (Glory)

3. Their SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS

a. Man's condition in each

b. The Crisis in each

2 The "TIMES OF THE GENTILES"

3 The PARENTHESIS of the PRESENT DISPENSATION

iv. As to its DISPENSATIONAL TRUTH and TEACHING

1. One part of the PAST not necessarily to be read into another part of the PAST

a. Matthew 10:5, 6; and 28:19, 20

b. Luke 9:3; and 22:35, 36

2. The PAST not to be read into the PRESENT

a. Law and Grace

b. The Imprecatory Psalms

c. The Sabbath

d. The Kingdom

e. The Gospels

f. The Sermon on the Mount

g. The Lord's Prayer

h. The Priesthood

i. Baptisms

j. The prophecy of Amos. Amos 9:11, 12. Acts 15:14-18

k. The title "Son of Man"

3. The PRESENT not to be read into the PAST

a. The Mystery

b. "Sons of God"

c. The "Church"

4. The FUTURE not to be read into the PRESENT

a. The Great Tribulation

b. The 144,000

c. Sundry Prophecies: Psalm 2; Isaiah 2; Isaiah 60

d. The Day of the Lord

5. One part of the FUTURE not necessarily to be read into another part of the FUTURE

a. The Advents

b. The Resurrections

c. The Judgments

2 2 Corinthians 5:10

2 Matthew 25:31-36

2 Revelation 20:11-15

6. The Truth and Teaching of the CANONICAL ORDER to be distinguished from the

CHRONOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ORDER

a. The Tabernacle

b. The Great Offerings

c. The Four Gospels

d. 1 Samuel 16-18

e. The Book of Jeremiah

f. The Pauline Epistles

PART II

The Words

Introductory

I. The Meaning of Words to be Gathered from the Scope;

not the Scope from the Words

i. 2 Peter 1:20, "Private interpretation"

ii. 1 Peter 3:20, "Spirits in prison"

iii. Hebrews 9:16, 17, "Testament" or "Covenant"

iv. Genesis 24:63, "Meditate"

v. Revelation 1:10, "The Lord's day"

II. The Scope of a Passage to be Gathered from its Structure

i. Introductory

ii. The PRINCIPLES governing the Structure of Scripture

iii. EXAMPLES of each principle

iv. The ADVANTAGES and importance of the Structures

v. ILLUSTRATIONS of these advantages

1 2 Peter 1:16-21, "Private interpretation"

1 1 Peter 3:18-22, "spirits in prison"

1 Hebrews 9:15-23, "Testament" and "Covenant"

1 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, "absent from the body"

III. The Biblical Usage of Words Essential to their Correct Interpretation

i. Where ENGLISH WORDS have gone OUT OF USE altogether

1 All to brake

2 Away with

3 Come at

4 Do to-wit

5 For to do

6 Full well

7 Go to

8 Trow

9 Wist

10 Very

ii. Where the usage of ENGLISH WORDS has become CHANGED

1 Prevent

2 To take in

3 Adventure

4 Artillery

5 Assay

6 By and By

7 Charity

8 Beeves

9 Bonnet

10 Carriages

11 Clouted

12 To ear

13 Earnest

14 Fast

15 Libertine

16 Lusty

17 Naughty

18 Nephew

19 Occupy

20 Penny

21 Presently

22 Publican

23 Quick

24 Quicken

25 Quickened

26 Quickeneth

27 Quickening

28 Simple

29 Simplicity

30 Sottish

31 Vagabond

32 Silly

iii. Where the USAGE OF GREEK WORDS had become changed

1. By God:

a. αρετη (arete), praise

b. ηθος(ethos), manners

c. αγγελος(angelos), angel

d. χορηγεω (choregeo), supply

e. εκκλησια (ecclesia), church

f. παρακλητος(parakletos), comforter, advocate

g. σκανδαλον (scandalon), offence

2. By man:

a. ζωοποιεω (zoopoieo), quicken

b. παροικος(paroikos), neighbour

c. πρακτωρ (praktor), officer

d. πηρα (pera), scrip

e. πρεσβυτερος(presbuteros), elder

f. αναγινωσκω (anaginosko), persuade

g. αποστοματιζω (apostomatizo), question

h. γραφω (grapho), wrote

i. απεχω (apecho), reward

j. βεβαιωσις(bebaiosis), confirmation

k. το δοκιμιον (to dokimion), trial

l. δικαιος(dikaios), righteous

m. ιλαστηριον (hilasterion), propitiation

n. ευεργητης(euergetes), well-doer

o. πληθος(plethos), multitude

p. μικρος(mikros), little

q. παραδεισος(paradeisos), paradise

r. κυριακος(kuriakos), Lord's

s. χειρογραφον (cheirographon), handwriting

t. αδολος(adolos), sincere

u. σφραγιζω (sphragizo), seal

v. χαραγμα (charagma), mark

w. αναπεμπω (anapempo), send

x. βιαζομαι (biazomai), suffer violence, press

y. κατακριμα (katakrima), condemnation

z. υποστασις(hupostasis), substance

1 Parousia

1 Pneuma

1 Church

1 Elements and Rudiments

1 Saints

1 Withhold

1 Temptation

1 Poor

1 Paradise

1 Sheol and Hades

1 Mystery

1 "At hand"

1 "Depart"

1 Leaven

IV. The Context Always Essential to the Interpretation of Words

i. The IMPORTANCE of the CONTEXT shown

ii. Illustrations of ERROR arising from a DISREGARD of the Context

1 Isaiah 52:8, "They shall see eye to eye"

1 Habakkuk 2:2, "That he may run that readeth"

1 Psalm 2:8, "Ask of Me"

1 Matthew 22:32, "The God of the living"

1 Matthew 23:3, "That observe and do"

1 John 6:37, "Him that cometh"

1 Acts 16:31, "Believe...and thou shalt be saved"

1 Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good"

1 1 Corinthians 3:17, "Him shall God destroy"

1 2 Corinthians 5:8, "Absent from the body"

1 Philippians 1:21, "To die is gain"

1 Philippians 2:12, "Work out your own salvation"

1 Text-Mangling

1 Text-Garbling

a. The NEARER CONTEXT

1 Genesis 35:2 and 34:26-29, "Put away the strange gods"

1 2 Kings 4:13 and 3:16, 17, "Wouldst thou be spoken for to the King"

1 Daniel 5:30, 6:1; and Esther 1:1-3, "The 120 and 127 Provinces"

1 Ephesians 3:15 and 1:21, "The whole family"

b. The REMOTER CONTEXT

1 Genesis 19 and 14, The cities and the city

1 Genesis 24:24, and 18:11, 12, Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel

1 Genesis 37:25, 28, 36; and Judges 6-8, The Ishmaelites and Midianites

1 Exodus 6:16-20; and Numbers 26:59, Moses' parents

1 Numbers 16:1; and Numbers 3:29, 2:10, The sons of Kohath

1 Numbers 16:27; and Numbers 26:11, The sons of Korah

1 1 Samuel 13:19; and Judges 3:16, 31, 5:8, 14:5, 6, No smith found in Israel

1 1 Samuel 17:4; and Joshua 11:21, 22, Goliath of Gath

1 1 Kings 17:9, 12 and Joshua 19:28

1 2 Chronicles 22:11, 12, and 24:7, Joash, Jehosheba, and nurse

1 2 Chronicles 21:10; and Joshua 21:13, The revolt of Libnah

1 Isaiah 62:2-5; and 2 Kings 21:1, The land shall be called Hephzibah

1 Jeremiah 13:18; and 2 Kings 24:12, 15, "Say unto the Queen"

1 Mark 14:51, 52; and John 12:10, The young man who fled from Gethsemane

1 John 21:15; and Matthew 26:31, 33, "Lovest thou Me more than these"

1 Acts 2:16; and Joel 2:28-32, "This is that"

1 1 Corinthians 11:10; and Genesis 6:1, 3, Power on her head

1 Galatians 3:15-17; and Genesis 15; Acts 7:6, The 400 and 430 years

1 Galatians 3:20; and Genesis 15:12, "God is one"

1 Hebrews 12:17; and Genesis 27:34-38, "No place of repentance"

Interpretation

i. WORDS:

1 "Prophet" (Gen 20:7)

2 "Hallelujah" (Psa 104:35)

3 "Selah" (Psa 3:2,3)

4 "Jerusalem" (Judg 1:7,8)

5 The Spiritual significance of Numbers

6 The Divine Names and Titles

ii. EXPRESSIONS:

1 "The Son of Man" (Psa 8)

2 "The Man of God" (Deut 33:1)

3 "The Day of the Lord" (Isa 2:11,17)

iii. UTTERANCES:

1 The first utterance of the Old Serpent (Gen 3:1)

2 The first ministerial utterance of the Lord (Matt 4:4)

3 The first utterance of the Lord as Son of Man (Luke 2:49)

4 The first Questions in the Old and New Testaments (Gen 3:9; Matt 2:2)

5 The first interpretation of prophecy in the New Testament (Isa 7:14; Matt 1:22,23)

1 "All Scripture given by inspiration" (2 Tim 3:16)

2 "Come unto Me" (Matt 11:28)

3 "Anathema, Maranatha" (1 Cor 16:22)

VII. No One Passage to be Interpreted in a Sense Repugnant to Others that are Clear

1 The rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31)

2 "Destroy not thy weak brother with thy meat" (Rom 14:15; and 1 Cor 8:11)

VIII. The Importance of Accuracy in the Study of the Words of Scripture

i. In THE REMOVAL OF ERRORS

1 Ammonite or Moabite (Deut 23:3; and Matt 1:5)

2 Zedekiah and Babylon (Jer 32:4, 34:3; Eze 12:13; and 2 Kings 25:6,7)

3 Omer and Homer (Exo 16:36; and Eze 45:11)

4 The going of Balaam (Num 22:22)

5 God's Command concerning Sacrifices (Jer 7:22,23; and Lev 1:3)

6 Hearing and not hearing the Voice (Acts 9:7 and 22:9)

7 Standing, and Falling to the earth (Acts 9:7 and 26:14)

8 Spoken and written (Matt 2:23)

9 "Jeremiah the prophet" (Matt 27:9)

10 The sending of the Centurion (Luke 7:3,6; Matt 8:5)

11 The inscriptions on the Cross

12 The offering of drink on the Cross

13 The "others" crucified with Christ

14 The burying of Jacob and his sons (Acts 7:15-17)

ii. In the REVELATION OF TRUTH

1. Words and Expressions:

a. "From above" (Luke 1:3)

b. "Another King" (Acts 7:17)

c. "The world that then was" (Gen 1:1,2)

d. The mention of the "blood" in 1 John 1:7 and 2:1

e. "Accepted" and "Acceptable" (Eph 1:6; and 2 Cor 5:9)

f. "Man" and "Men"

g. Remembering and Forgetting

2. The OPPOSITE of what is said

a. "Out of the Scriptures" (Acts 17:2)

b. "Waiting for God's Son" (1 Thess 1:9)

c. "Except there come the Apostasy" (2 Thess 2:3)

3. MARKS OF TIME

a. "The second day" (Josh 10:31,32)

b. "Then came Amalek" (Exo 17:8)

c. "Then will I sprinkle" (Eze 36:25)

d. "Then shall the offering" (Mal 3:4)

e. "Then they that feared the LORD" (Mal 3:16)

f. "Then we which are alive" (1 Thess 4:17)

g. "Then shall the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 25:1)

h. "Immediately" (Matt 24:29)

i. "Afterward" (Joel 2:28)

j. "At that time" (Matt 11:25)

4. MARKS OF REASONING

a. "Therefore, I beseech you" (Eph 4:1)

b. "Therefore I charge you" (2 Tim 4:1)

5. NUMERATION

a. 50,070 (1 Sam 6:19)

b. 42,000 (Judg 12:6)

c. The Census of Numbers 1 and 36

6. NAMES OF PERSONS AND PLACES

a. Of PERSONS

1 The same Name borne by different Persons

1 The same Person bearing different Names

1 Changes in Names

1 The Divine Names

b. Of PLACES

1 The same Name given to different Places

1 The same Place called by different Names

7. CHRONOLOGY

a. The 120 years of Genesis 6:3

b. The 400 years of Genesis 15:3 and Acts 7:6

c. The 430 years of Exodus 12:40 and Galatians 3:17

d. The 450 years of Acts 13:20

e. The 490 years of Daniel 9:27

f. The 480th year of 1 Kings 6:1

1 SYNONYMOUS GREEK words

2 SYNONYMOUS HEBREW words

10. The GENITIVE CASE

a. The Genitive of Character

b. The Genitive of Origin

c. The Genitive of Possession

d. The Genitive of Apposition

e. The Genitive of Relation

f. The Genitive of the Material

g. The Genitive of the Contents

h. The Genitive of Partition

i. Two Genitives: one dependent on the other

IX. Figures of Speech

X. Interpretation and Application

1 The account of Creation (Gen 1)

1 The Rejection of Messiah (Isa 53)

1 The mourning of Israel (Rev 1:7)

1 The Potter's house (Jer 18)

1 The Ten Virgins (Matt 25)

XI. The Limits of Inspiration

XII. The Place of Various Readings

1 The Hebrew MSS of the Old Testament

2 The Greek MSS of the New Testament

3 The Ancient Versions

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