Willing

So many religions. So many denominations. So many cults. So many sects. "Holy" books, preachers, gurus, mystics! What's a seeker to do? Jesus has the answer in John 7:17.

"If any man is willing to do (God's) will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak of myself."

There's that all-important "if." Our understanding of God's Word is in proportion to our willingness to do His will. That's a startling qualifier for us humans to face up to. Everyone is seeking something in life, to enhance his daily experience. We need to have some meaning and purpose to justify the air we breathe. We need to realize life on a higher plane than the merely physical. At some point, everyone starts to investigate the spiritual realm.

Many go in for the "do good" religions, always working, always seeking to improve their service to mankind, always evaluating the effects of their work as a measure of worthiness. How much is enough?

Which works are more important? How do we choose one person's need as more pressing than the needs of another?

Some seem to always be searching for a feeling; a type of ecstasy that transports one to spiritual heights. The feeling must be maintained or all is lost.

There are systems of legalism, whereby the followers constantly must keep score of their good deeds versus the personal sins in their lives as they try to achieve the perfect standard of holiness they have set as their goal. (Whose standard?)

These things go on and on, because humanity needs God, and that hunger for God will not go away until we know our relationship with Him  is secure. The problem with these religions and points systems is that there can never be enough. Man by mans effort can never be perfect. Man by mans intellect can never have real understanding of God's truth. We can never be spiritual by willing ourselves to be spiritual. We become spiritual by willing to do God's will.

That's the simple, profound secret to knowing God's truth. Those who are truth seekers must humble themselves before almighty God and make themselves "sponges" for His will. Then the doors will be opened and the blessings will be poured out. "Precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little" Isaiah 28:10.

When we are willing to do God's will, we are empty vessels to receive all He has to give us. We learn about Jesus' finished work to save us from sin. Believing that, we are born again to new life in Christ. We learn a scripture. We believe that word from God. We file that in our memory banks to be applied to our daily life. As we learn and apply more of God's word, He gives us more, and guides us to those Bible study helps and Bible teachers who can help us to greater understanding. This brings growth, stability, assurance, peace of mind. The more we understand and obey of God's word, the more we will receive. God's grace is multiplied!

"He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but He who is seeking the glory of the one who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him." John 7:18

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord...2 Peter 1:2

Interpretation

Those who reject the gospel message and the eternal truths of God's Word love to tell us, who have spent our lives studying the scriptures, that "there are many ways to interpret the Bible." True Bible scholars believe that God's Word is given to mankind so that we can know Him and His plan of grace. Codes and symbols and esoterics are not conducive to such knowledge, but contribute to the confusion of those who are trying to learn. Where the scriptures contain mysteries (doctrines known only to the elect), the Bible interprets itself with later fulfillment. The principle is: "precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little, there a little" Isaiah 28:10. To those who are willing to believe and who have Holy Spirit enablement (saved people), the Bible is totally comprehensible. Let's not complicate God's clear instruction by inventing symbolism which isn't there.

“We must always remember that God’s word is a revelation, not a riddle. God gave His word to be read and understood.”  Chester A. McCalley, founder of Word of Truth Ministries

The foundations of the Reformation were laid in the return to the literal method of interpretation. In the Reformation period itself two great names stand out as exponents of the truths of Scripture: Luther and Calvin. Both of these are marked by their strong insistences on the literal method of interpretation. Luther says:

“Every word should be allowed to stand in its natural meaning and that should not be abandoned unless faith forces us to it…It is the attribute of Holy Scripture that it interprets itself by passages and places which belong together, and can only be understood by the rule of faith.”

Calvin states his own position very clearly. In the commentary to Galatians he writes:

“Let us know then, that the true meaning of Scripture is the natural and obvious meaning, and let us embrace and abide by it resolutely.” 

In the Preface to Romans Calvin says: 

“It is the first business of an interpreter to let his author say what he does say, instead of attributing to him what we think he ought to say.” 

Concerning Calvin’s contribution Schaff writes:

Calvin is the founder of the grammatico-historical exegesis. He affirmed and carried out the sound hermeneutical principle that the Biblical authors, like all sensible writers, wished to convey to their readers one definite thought in words which they could understand. A passage may have a literal or a figurative sense; but cannot have two senses at once. The Word of God is inexhaustible and applicable to all times, but there is a difference between explanation and application, and application must be consistent with explanation.

It would be concluded, then, from the study of the history of interpretation that the original and accepted method of interpretation was the literal method, which was used by the Lord, the greatest interpreter, and any other method was introduced to promote heterodoxy. Therefore, the literal method must be accepted as the basic method for right interpretation in any field of doctrine today.

Pentecost, J. Dwight (2010-04-27). Things to Come: A Study in Biblical Eschatology (Kindle Locations 655-768). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.