For most of my life I was confused when I read the Bible. It was difficult to understand what God was expecting of me. It seemed to depend on where I was reading as to what God really wanted of me.
I remember when I finally understood Galatians and Romans for the first time and how it completely altered my life. I knew that I had come upon a very important understanding regarding Grace and Legalism and that it had powerful consequences in me. Still, I was confused as I read the Bible. How could the Bible be promoting so many rules, and not be suggesting that I follow them like a law to make God happy?
About two years ago, God, in his providence, planned for me to stumble upon the works of Miles J. Stanford on the web. Miles describes a big problem that he was witnessing in Christianity at the time regarding an appropriate understanding of something called Dispensationalism. I know it must not be a huge topic, because my word processor can’t even spell check it; however, this used to be an important topic 100 years ago and I believe that it is very important for us today.
Mr. Stanford lead me to another Bible teacher named Lewis Sperry Chafer. Dr. Chafer was the founder and president of Dallas Theological Seminary. He had a great deal of important things to say about Dispensationalism. I plan on talking about this subject at length on this blog, but for now, I wanted to explain the connection that it has with understanding what the Bible says to us personally.
An important thing to remember about the Bible is that even though all of the Bible was written for us, not all of it was written to us.
It is very important to remember this when reading the Bible. Context of what you are reading is an issue. When you read the Bible, try to remember who is talking and who they were talking to. Were they writing to Christians or were they writing to the Jews before Christ? Another important thing to remember is: Was this written before or after the Holy Spirit was given to reside in people? When Jesus is speaking, is he talking to a Jewish person, to a Gentile, or to his very soon to be Church leaders? I think you will find an amazing thing. Jesus said very different things to different people at different times that often sound contradictory. They weren’t contradictory at all as it turns out.
I hope that on this web site we can discuss some of these seeming discrepancies together as believers and see the truth that God has for us about what he means. It has become a big eye-opener to me.
Over the years that the Bible covers, God worked with humanity in different ways. The three great government systems that the Bible discusses are:
- The Law of Moses
- The Kindom Law of the Messiah
- The Teachings of Grace
I plan to discuss these different government systems on other posts. The important point today is to remember to not read every verse as one that is written to you. Some of the verses were written for people of other times to follow. Pay careful attention to the context: who is talking, and to whom. And, as always, make sure you check out what I am saying against what God’s Word says, and then let me know. If I’m wrong about something I will need your prayer and help too.