MAY 12

Luke 24:27
Memorise Galations 3:5-6
"...Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."

There are times when, beyond examining the context of a passage, we must also look at parallel passages (if any), which can help to shed additional light on the passage. Particularly when reading the gospels, we may find that the different gospel writers focused on various details here and there that help to give us a fuller picture of what exactly was going on in the particular account.

Jesus must have taught His disciples the lesson we’re learning today – to look for parallel passages in the Bible! In the parable of the Good Samaritan, the lawyer’s answers to Jesus’ questions came from the Old Testament:
1. The lawyer said in answer to the question, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself”. This comes from Deuteronomy 6:5, and is part of the “Shema Yisrael” (Deut 6:4-9) which is a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services.
2. The second part of the answer comes from Lev 19:18: “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD”.

The Bible has 66 books with different human authors, but there is only one divine author behind all the books – the Holy Spirit. So it’s important to know the parallel passages, particularly if the original passage is not easy to understand – often the parallel passages will help us to understand the more difficult passages. In this case, by pointing back to these various verses contained in the Old Testament laws, we learn a very important truth – that Christ came not to abolish the law of Moses, but to teach us how we ought to live out not merely the letter of it, but more so the spirit of it.

Indeed, in order to better interpret sections of Scripture, we should know the whole Bible! Don’t say you’re too young – start now, and don’t miss the blessings!

Thought: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Tim 2:15)
Prayer: Lord, I thank You for such a wonderful book that fills my heart with love and hope and joy daily!