2 Peter 3:15,16 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
As Christians and Bible students, we can come across things in our study that we just can’t grasp. They are hard to understand. Even Peter had trouble with passages his fellow Apostle, Paul, had written. If Peter had a tough time understanding parts of Scripture, what are we supposed to do?
There are some ways that will help us in our quest. First, pray. God the Holy Spirit moved holy men of God to write the Bible (2 Tim. 1:21), so we can turn to Him to help us understand. After all, having the Author right there to instruct us is a benefit few have with other written works. The Holy Spirit asks us to do this.
Jeremiah 33:3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
We also need to read things in context. The Bible is the best commentary on itself. Sometimes verses taken out of context are confusing and can lead to a bad interpretation of the verse.
Matt. 27:5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself.
Luke 10:37c And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”
This was a silly example, but you can see how people can be misled. We need to read the verses before and after the verse that confuses us.
If the verse is still a puzzle to you, look at the cross references in most modern Bibles. Those will lead you to other passages that might be helpful.
If you know how to use an exhaustive concordance like Strong’s or Young’s, you can use that to help resolve an issue with a difficult verse. If you don’t know how to use an exhaustive concordance, it’s really not very difficult and not very expensive. The concordance itself usually has instructions in the front of the book.
Commentaries can be helpful but are a step away from Scripture itself. You’re dealing with someone telling you what God said. The methods above have kept you in Scripture making them a safer bet. I use commentaries, don’t get me wrong. I use a commentary or two at the end of my study to see if I’ve made an obvious error someone else more learned than I had spotted.
My way of buying commentaries is to look first at the publisher. There are a lot of publishers out there that will print just about anything. Also, look online at reviews of various publishers and authors. Some are wonderful.
Jameson, Fausett, and Brown have a good solid basic commentary of the whole Bible. I like Barnes Notes for the New Testament. The Expositors Bible Commentary is excellent but expensive and large.
Why is this important?
Whether we understand Scripture or not is extremely important. It is God’s main way of speaking to His children. If we misunderstand something, we can pass along poor doctrine. Scripture itself speaks against that.
God wants us to stay close to Him. Study is a great way to do that. When we study deeply into a particular verse or passage, God blesses us with so much more than we expected. Study and you will hear God’s voice.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 