Key Bible Passage(s):

Tier 1:

Although the Bible is designed to be understood, we do have a propensity to make it hard for ourselves. Sin distorts our desires and confuses our thinking, and so there are times when we want to make the Bible obscure, so that we can give ourselves room for manoeuvre. We need a virtuous circle in which we are learning to love what God loves and to reshape our mind so that they are better placed to connect with the teaching of the Bible. This is established in an atmosphere of grace and confidence that the Lord will reveal Himself to us.

Tier 2:

Some passages are hard to understand. Some can be quite shocking, and even disturbing to read. The Bible itself is aware of this, and it may be that we have to live with questions for years before a passage begins to come into focus. In the meantime, there are plenty of other parts of the Bible we can get our hearts and minds around! The key to unlocking a passage can often be found elsewhere in the Bible - but finding it and recognising it for what it is can often take time!

Tier 3:

Don’t ignore the questions. It can be easy to shut down a conversation because of our preconceived ideas. We simply can’t imagine that the passage means what it says it means. Or perhaps when we realise that we’ve got it wrong before we can get defensive, and fight for what we thougth we knew, rather than to recognise the SPirit beckoning us into a deeper insight, and through that into a deeper worship and realisation of who God is.

Let it be a settled principle in our minds, in reading the Bible, that Christ is the central sun of the whole book. So long as we keep Him in view, we shall never greatly err in our search for spiritual knowledge. Once losing sight of Christ, we shall find the whole Bible dark and full of difficulty.

J C Ryle

early in the session

Is our own sin always the reason we don’t understand the Bible?  What other reasons are there that you might not be able to make sense of Scripture?

What should you do if you disagree with something that is preached in a Church service?  How do we balance our own convictions with the teaching of the Church family?

How do we keep Church unity when we have different views on what the Bible teaches?

main group discussion:

Do you agree? How much of this resonates with your experience of struggling to make sense of the Bible?

Do you have examples of where your understanding of something in the Bible changes? what happened?

How serious is it if you misunderstand something in the Bible?

How will this affect your approach to Bible reading?