Why is the Bible so hard to understand? Here are some key takeaways from this article:
- The Bible can be hard to understand because we don’t take time to see what it says. We need to learn the skills of “observation.”
- The Bible can be hard to understand because we don’t take time to figure out what it means. We need to learn the skills of “interpretation.”
- The Bible can be hard to understand because we don’t want to do what it says. To truly understand a passage, we need to follow up with “application.”
What gets in the way of being a good listener?
Three old friends were out on the golf course, just finishing up the last hole. One of them said, “It’s windy today!” The second friend thought and said, “No, it’s Thursday.” The third friend said, “You know what? So am I. Let’s go get a drink!”
Have you heard about the husband who said, “So, my wife just stopped and said, ‘You weren’t even listening, were you?’ And I thought, that was a pretty weird way to start a conversation.”
Being a bad listener can have bad consequences. Were you ever a bad listener when it came to your parents’ instructions? How about when a teacher was explaining the assignment? What about when a boss tells you the plan for this week? Of course, the most destructive form of not listening is when we don’t listen to God. He’s given us his Word, but many people find that they don’t have a lot of interest in paying attention.
But even if listening to God through the Bible is something you want to do, it’s not always easy. Sometimes the Bible can be hard to understand even if you’re trying to understand it.
“Sometimes the Bible can be hard to understand even if you’re trying to understand it.”
So, what can get in the way of us being able to really listen to what God’s Word says? We’re going to look at three reasons we can have trouble really paying attention to God’s Word. As we look at these reasons, along the way we will be learning three important steps in how to interpret the Bible. In other words, we’ll learn three steps in how to truly understand it.
Here’s the first reason we can have trouble really listening to God’s Word:
Reason #1 – Sometimes, it’s because we don’t take time to see what it says.
Have you noticed that sometimes people think the Bible says what it doesn’t actually say? Here are some popular “Bible” verses that aren’t even in the Bible:
- “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”
- “God moves in mysterious ways.”
- “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”
- “Money is the root of all evil.”
Now, it’s true that some of these get somewhat close to what we read in the Bible (for example, the love of money is the root of all evil, according to 1 Timothy 6:10). But it’s a fact that many of us aren’t taking the time to actually see what the Bible says nearly like we could.
Here’s another example of not taking the time to see what the Bible says. Some people’s favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13, popularly quoted as “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.” This verse is used to motivate people to believe they can make the winning touchdown, break their PR for bench press, be successful in business.
Why is the Bible so hard to understand? “Many of us aren’t taking the time to actually see what the Bible says nearly like we could.”
But are personal goals and personal fulfillment even close to what Paul is referring to in Philippians 4:13? Well, let’s pause and take the time to actually see what the verse says. To really think through what the verse is saying, we’ve got to look at the context of the verse (what comes before and after). Here’s the verse in context:
“I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles.” (Philippians 4:10-14, NIV)
Paul wasn’t referring to personal goals like PR’s and successful careers at all, was he? He was actually referring to the hardships he’d had to go through, and how, even though it was tough, he could keep on going because God gave him the strength to endure it. Really looking at the verse in context and observing what it says sort of turns the commonly accepted meaning on its head, doesn’t it?
A Skill We Need: Observation
What we’re saying here goes right along with the first step of really understanding your Bible. The first step is to take a section of Scripture and observe it. This first step is often called “observation.” Here are some ways you can really observe a passage of Scripture:
- Pick a passage of Scripture and read it a few times, using different translations to get a feel for the range of possible meanings.
- Look at the context (the verses before and after), keeping in mind that you’re trying to shine light on the main passage.
- Learn about the book that the passage is in. So, if your passage is Philippians 4:10-14, then learn some of the background information of Philippians. When was the book written? Who wrote it? To whom was the author writing it? Why was the book written? What are the book’s main themes?
- Be honest about what questions you’re curious about. Walk through the text asking questions and trying to let the text answer the answerable ones.
- If you want help with this, there are lots of commentaries, Bible dictionaries, and even apps which can help you make accurate observations about Bible passages.
While not pausing to really pay attention to what Scripture is saying is one problem, there’s a second reason why we have trouble listening: Sometimes, we don’t try to really figure out what it means.
Reason #2 – Sometimes, it’s because we don’t take time to figure out what it means.
It’s one thing to observe a text—almost like holding up a diamond and rotating it in your hand to get a feel for all its facets. It’s another step to say, “So, this must be what the verse means.” This is the step called “interpretation.” Sometimes, we listen poorly to the Bible because we aren’t taking the time to really figure out what it means.
Now, sometimes it’s genuinely hard to figure out what a verse in the Bible means—even when you do a ton of observing. Sometimes, even the experts who have studied the Bible for years still have trouble interpreting some verses. For example:
“After being made alive, he [Jesus] went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits—those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built.” (1 Peter 3:19-20a, NIV)
It’s easy to interpret the Bible verses that talk about Jesus’ death and resurrection. But this verse? After Jesus was raised from the dead, he went and preached to imprisoned spirits from the time of Noah? That’s tough to figure out—even for the experts.
“After Jesus was raised from the dead, he went and preached to imprisoned spirits from the time of Noah? That’s tough to figure out—even for the experts.”
Yet sometimes it’s actually fairly easy to interpret a certain Bible verse—but we can still mess it up. Why? Because sometimes we don’t like what it means and want to make it mean something else.
Let’s take a very straightforward Bible verse. In John 14:6 (NIV), Jesus said to his disciples, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It’s pretty clear what Jesus is saying here. Yet then along comes Eckart Tolle. Tolle is a well-known spiritual advisor for the Oprah Winfrey Network. In his book A New Earth, Tolle sadly takes Christian Scripture, jerks it out of context, and drags it kicking and screaming into a pantheistic mold. Pantheism is the belief that everything is God (especially us). Listen to how Tolle uses John 14:6, the verse we just read. Tolle writes,
“The Truth is inseparable from who you are. Yes, you are the Truth. If you look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time. The very Being that you are is Truth.”
And then listen closely to what Tolle writes next:
“Jesus tried to convey that when he said, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life.’”[1]
Did you catch what Tolle did? He took the verse where Jesus says he’s the only way to God, and Tolle used that verse to say that, therefore, if you want to know the truth, don’t look up there (to God); look in here (in your own heart). We are the truth.
Why is the Bible so hard to understand? “Sometimes, it’s because we don’t take time to figure out what it means.”
Again, sometimes we become bad listeners of God’s Word because we don’t take the time to figure out what it really means.
A Skill We Need: Interpretation
Again, interpretation is the stage of discovering what the text actually means. Because this stage focuses on the meaning of a text, it’s good at this stage to focus in on words you don’t understand (especially words you assume you understand but might not). Let’s say the text you’re trying to figure out is Ephesians 1:3:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3, NIV)
If you want to understand what this verse means, then you might want to use a commentary or Bible dictionary/lexicon to get clearer on the word “blessed.” What does it mean to be blessed by God? And what is a “spiritual” blessing? What does the phrase “heavenly realms” mean as it’s used throughout Ephesians?
Understanding a text means first and foremost that we get what the author is communicating to his original audience. In light of the context and the book itself, we’re asking, “What is Paul trying to tell the Ephesian church here?”
Reason #3 – Sometimes, it’s because we don’t want to do what it says.
A third reason we have trouble really listening to what the Bible has to say is that we’re not planning to actually do what it says for the people of God to do. Whereas a first step of understanding the Bible is observation (exploring what the text says), and a second is interpretation (figuring out what the author meant when he said it), a third step is application (figuring out how to put the command or principle into practice in your own life).
Application can be tough because, often, when we hear a Bible passage and understand it, we feel like we’ve accomplished something. And it’s true that understanding truth is hugely important. And one important way we apply Scripture is in how we think. Application can mean thinking, feeling, or doing something as a result. But as important as it is to think rightly, if we stop there, we’re growing spiritually flabby instead of muscular:
“Knowledge puffs up while love builds up.” (1 Corinthians 8:1b, NIV)
It’s so important that we put Scripture into practice, even when it comes to basic, seemingly mundane commands such as forgiving people who have hurt us or confessing our sins to each other. Putting these into practice over and over strengthens us over time. These are the habits of holiness that make us able to love God and each other well.
Why is the Bible so hard to understand? “Sometimes, it’s because we don’t want to do what it says.”
A Skill We Need: Application
Now, let’s remember that application is step #3, not step #1 or #2. You don’t start out by asking, “What does this section of Scripture mean for me?” First, we’ve got to discover what was being said to the original audience. That’s where observation and interpretation come in.
And even when we get to step #3, we don’t immediately ask, “What does this mean for me?” First, you ask, what response did the author want his original audience to make? How were they supposed to apply this text? What were they to do with this information?
Finally, I am able to ask what situation I have in common with them that helps me know how to apply this text to my life. In my context, how do I apply this? What can I obey from this passage? How should I feel or think as a result of this passage? And is there anyone I can share what I’ve learned with?
Some of the very best application questions we can use come from the Discovery Bible Study method. Here are four core DBS questions you can use with any section of Scripture (and these questions also overlap with observation and interpretation):
- What did I discover about God in this passage?
- What did I discover about people in this passage?
- How will I commit to obey this passage this week?
- With whom will I share what I have learned from this passage?
Applying Scripture to your life is only fruitful insofar as you actually, truly put it into practice. This is how we show God we love him instead of just telling him that we love him.
“As You Wish”
I once heard a preacher draw a helpful connection between a scene in the classic movie Princess Bride and how Christians apply Scripture to their lives. In the movie, the young farmer Wesley does all sorts of chores for the young woman Buttercup. She tells him to do one chore, and he says, “As you wish,” and does it. She tells him to do another chore, and he says, “As you wish,” and does it. One day, though, when he says, “As you wish,” she notices something different. The narrator in the movie says, “That day she was amazed to discover that when he was saying, ‘As you wish,’ what he meant was, ‘I love you.’”
Whenever you say to Jesus, “As you wish,” and you do what he says, then what you’re really saying is, “Jesus, I love you.”
“If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15, NIV)
[1] Eckart Tolle, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose (New York: Penguin Books, 2016), 71.
