|
"And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will
ye know all parables?" (Mark 4:13).
There are three main principles involved in comparing scripture with
scripture:
a.) We must look to see if what we are studying points to any aspect
or teaching concerning God's plan of salvation.
Looking at the first principle we must remember to notice if God is
teaching some truth about salvation. This may not always be apparent
at first glance. For example, the three days Jonah spent in the
belly of the fish are a spiritual portrait of the three days Jesus
was in the "heart of the earth" between Gethsemene and the
resurrection. There are many other examples.
In the Old Testament for instance, the rock Moses struck was
symbolic of the eternal church. Moses was a "type" of Christ and
Aaron, wearing the mitre on his forehead as he went about his
priestly duties was a picture of our LORD Jesus Christ being set
apart to be our sin bearer:
"And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the
iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall
hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his
forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD." (Exodus
28:38).
Joshua, Job and David also were spiritual pictures pointing to
Christ in many ways. When we look at and study the fig tree we see
it is used spiritually to describe the nation of Israel. So when we
study a passage we must not only look to its literal meaning, but
also see if it somehow points to some aspect of God's salvation.
The second aspect of comparing scripture with scripture is that the
Bible is its own divine commentary. Should someone not understand
the meaning of a certain word, it is often very helpful to look and
see where in the Bible that same word in used elsewhere. This is
usually done using a concordance. For example, if someone had
trouble understanding a verse where the word "elect" is used, they
could go to a concordance and see that it is used 20 times in the
King James Bible and the look at the other verses to see how it is
used elsewhere and possibly get a better understanding of the word.
The third principle of comparing scripture with scripture is that
any conclusion we come to must agree with the rest of the Bible. For
example, the often quoted verse of John 3:16 tells us that whosoever
believes in the LORD Jesus Christ will have eternal life. But look
at James 2:19 which says that even evil spirits believe and tremble.
How do we reconcile the fact that these demons believe? We must look
at the entire Bible:
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the
testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker
of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who
hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to
our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was
given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, But is now made
manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath
abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light
through the gospel" (2 Timothy 1:7-10).
Now things should fall into place. We see that yes, John 3:16 is
correct, those who believe have eternal life, but .... this refers
only to those who believe because of God's grace, so the passage in
Timothy is correct and we also know the demons will not be saved
from Matthew 25:41 and 2 Peter 2:4; so therefore James, Peter and
Matthew are also in harmony!
|