Spiritual Growth Through Scriptural Understanding
The Bible Says seeks to enrich your personal Bible study, small group, church or micro-church by providing easy-to-navigate commentary covering every verse in the Bible. We seek to empower lay-people, ministry leaders, and all believers by providing tools that will assist in their spiritual growth by enhancing direct access to the biblical text. You will be able to quickly zoom into a verse or verses, and then zoom out to see the chapter context, and even zoom out further to see the book and biblical context.
We see the whole Bible as a beautiful tapestry. Like a tapestry, you cannot see where each thread connects from the front of the tapestry. But from the backside of the tapestry we see that each thread connects to other parts of the work. Understanding and studying the Bible can be helped by seeing the otherwise hidden connections that a commentary can reveal. We will have a quick way for you to follow these tapestry links.
Our recommended approach
1
Observe what is stated
“What does this say?” Look through the eyes of the author, and listen through the ears of the intended audience. Ask yourself, “If I were there, what would I have heard?”
2
Interpret what it means
Ask yourself, “What does this mean?” We tend to begin with what we want to hear, then interpret it in a manner that supports what we had already concluded. This tendency will get in the way of us hearing what the Bible is really saying. The Bible largely interprets itself; we just need to listen.
3
Correlate your interpretation
Test to see if your interpretation matches the context. Ask, “Does this fit a) the immediate context? b) the greater context? c) the broad context of the entire story arc of the Bible?” If not, go back to Step 1.
4
Apply what you have understood
Ask, “How can I apply this in my life?” We are engaging with the living word, the indwelling Spirit that teaches and transforms us. Application precedes transformation.
The writers and editors of TheBibleSays.com are some of the most biblically knowledgeable people I know, and are committed to providing the reader with insight to the biblical context, as it was intended by the Bible’s authors. I have been consulted and reviewed portions of their work, and believe they are providing a great service to lay readers, to help them in their journey to read and discover the great truths of the Bible for themselves.
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