Understanding The Bible

Q

I find it sometimes almost unbelievable on how you put it all together and make the Bible so much clearer and easier to understand. With there being a “simplicity in Jesus Christ”, why do you think it is so hard for so many to understand and/or do the “Berean research” in understanding the Bible? I understand human nature and always trying to “read between the lines” and such, but is there any Scripture that explains why Jesus believing people have a hard time understanding the Bible?

A

James 1:5-8 says, If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

Many never ask for the wisdom to understand. Others who ask for wisdom don’t receive it because deep down they don’t really believe that the Bible is truly the Word of God. They have doubts which make them double minded. Those who ask and receive are those who believe wholeheartedly that God is all that He claims to be, has done all that He claims to have done, and will do all that He has promised to do.

The Bible is a supernatural document that can only be understood by those who have been granted supernatural ability, All believers have been given this ability, called the Holy Spirit (Ephes. 1:13-14). Faith is the key that unlocks this ability because it takes faith to put aside our human understanding and accept God at his word. As you increase in faith, you will increase in understanding, and as you increase in understanding, you will increase in faith. It’s a never ending cycle.

The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit” (1 Cor. 2:14)