FEB 18

2 Peter 1:20-21
Memorise 1 Corinthians 2:16
“For who hath known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him…”

2 Peter 1:20 tells us that proper interpretation of the Bible requires that the interpreter does not project any of his own thoughts or ideas into any part of Scripture. He is to faithfully convey God’s Word without changing any of its meaning. God meant only one meaning when He gave His Word, and we must not interpret His Word any way we want. This implies that often the literal interpretation is the correct one.

2 Peter 1:21 tells us God used human authors to write the books of the Bible through inspiration by the Holy Spirit. Even though the individual authors had their own styles, personalities and characteristics and were from different backgrounds, yet they were enabled by the Holy Spirit to faithfully pen down God’s messages without making any errors, while preserving their individual identities. In fact, God made use of their unique abilities and experiences to write down exactly what He wanted. The different writing styles that we see in the various books of the Bible, do not change the fact that every word in the Bible is the very Word of God. Because the Holy Spirit is the real Author of the Bible, it follows that the Holy Spirit’s help is needed for sinful man to correctly interpret it.

Dear Teen, the Genesis account of creation has become one of the most misinterpreted parts of the Bible due to devilish teachings in secular schools and sadly even some churches and Bible colleges. Bible scholars who want to be “scientific” try to force evolutionary principles into Scripture and claim that the six days of creation are not literal days but simply a metaphor for very long periods of time. The literal sense of the Genesis account tells us that it was indeed six literal days just as keeping the Sabbath day holy means one literal day and not millions of years (Exodus 20:9-10). Don’t seek any other interpretation just to fit what scientists today are claiming to be the truth, for to do so would be to make a ‘private interpretation’ that is not found in the Bible!

Thought: We should take the original meaning of God’s Word and apply it to our situation, not the other way round.
Prayer: Thank You Lord for giving us the mind of Christ to correctly understand the wonderful truths in Your Word.