Have you ever heard that?

Did you know that every heresy, false teaching and pseudo-Christian cult has arisen out of someone's private and distorted interpretation of Scripture?

Have you ever wondered how to understand the Bible more clearly?

Understanding the Bible is a life-ling endeavor, one that requires the Holy Spirit and disciplined diligence. It's not something I can clear up with one blog post. But let me briefly give you five Biblical keys to understanding the Bible that I have found to be very useful. I hope they prove to be so for you, too.

1. The Bible is inerrant and fully trustworthy.

"Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him." - Proverbs 30:5, ESV

"The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times." - Psalm 12:6, ESV

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work." - 2 Timothy 3:16-17, ESV

2. God does not reveal everything to us in the Bible, and we must be content to trust Him about things He has not revealed.

"The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." - Deuteronomy 29:29, ESV

3. The Bible is about Jesus and all Scripture finds its fulfillment in Him.

" For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory." - 2 Corinthians 1:20, ESV

"And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." - Luke 24:27, ESV

4. The Bible is fundamentally unified: There is one people of God, made up of believing Jews in the Old Testament and believing Christians in the New, who are all saved by grace alone through faith alone in the revealed promises of God and the Messiah who was to come and who has now come.

"Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith." - Galatians 3:7-9

"For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God." - Galatians 6:15-16, ESV

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."- 1 Peter 2:9-10, ESV