It seems amazing! The Bible tells us that we can have an intimate relationship with God. Can this really happen? The answer is an exciting “yes,” if you are willing to put forth the effort. However, it will require you to become a diligent student of the Bible with the goal of conforming your life to its teachings (2 Tim. 2:15).

You can know God better! God reveals Himself to us primarily through the Bible. Although the Bible is a divinely inspired library of 66 books, its unity is found in the fact that each book—and everything in each book—is designed to teach us something specific about God—how He thinks, what He values, what He says is sin, what pleases Him, what is wise or unwise. The secret to knowing God better is to study the Bible with the specific intent of learning what God thinks and what He values. Without this focus, you will miss the main purpose of Scripture. We must adopt His standard of right and wrong, rather than “lean on [our] own understanding” (Prov. 3:5-6). God does not say, “Just do the best you know how,” when it comes to living our lives. He wants to teach us how to evaluate everything in life using His thought processes and His value system.

The Bible is designed to teach you to think like God thinks. The Bible isn’t just a compilation of interesting stories. God has carefully selected specific people, places, and events to teach us about ourselves, the choices we make, and how they affect our relationships with others and with Him. How would you answer questions like “Is it okay to lie to protect myself or someone else?” “If I don’t feel bad about what I am doing, is it okay with God?” “Does God really want to be bothered about the little decisions I make in life?” Your answers will depend on your knowledge of God’s Word and the people in the Bible who asked the same questions. Remember Abraham? He felt he needed to protect himself with a lie and ended up disgracing God’s name and his own testimony (Gen. 12:10-20). How about Balaam? He thought he could badger God into letting him help the King of Moab while avoiding spiritual fallout (Num. 22-24). Do you know that God may give you the desires of your heart—if you push and push for them—but the backlash of getting your own way may destroy you (Ps. 106:15). As to bothering God with little decisions, do you remember why Joshua and the leaders of Israel made the wrong decision about the Gibeonites? Do you remember God’s comment? They “asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD” (Josh. 9:14). These are just a few examples of how relevant God’s Word can be to our everyday lives. God intends for us to use the information in Scripture to guide the choices we make and to learn to see life from His point of view.

Learn to ask the right questions. One of the keys for learning to think as God thinks is knowing how to ask the right kinds of questions when you read the Bible. Ask yourself, “Why did God choose to include this information in Scripture?” Nothing He included is irrelevant! “Does it teach me that He cares about details and He means exactly what He says (reason for including genealogies and detailed descriptions)? Does it teach me something He hates or something He loves? Does it tell me what someone did that pleased Him or that displeased Him?” As you read, ask yourself: (1) “Is there a command for me to follow?” (2) “Is there a principle being illustrated? What is it? How should it change my thinking and behavior?” (3) “What is the passage telling me about God’s view on the subject matter?” (4) “What attitude do I need to change as a result of this study?” or “What do I need to start doing or stop doing?” (5) “What things do I need to believe or stop believing?” (6) “What relationships do I need to work on?”

The Bible is meant to change my life (Rom. 12:2). We are to measure ourselves by what we read. Ask yourself, “Am I obeying the commands and principles that I am reading about? Am I in line with God’s way of thinking?” If not, you should repent and prayerfully make whatever changes are indicated by Scripture. All of our efforts in Bible study are valueless, if in the final analysis we do not change and become more like Jesus. We must not simply learn what it says; we are to do what it says (James 1:22). The real problem for most of us is not the interpretation of difficult passages; it is our failure to obey fully all the passages we do understand. When we align our lives to what God has shown us from the Bible, we qualify for His special help in interpreting the more difficult passages (John 17:3).

Why don’t I get more out of my Bible reading? Most Christians want to get truth from the Bible, but they don’t know how. Let me say emphatically, “You will not get much from the Bible if you don’t take notes!” In addition to answering the above questions, write down what you observe and discover as you read. You cannot study the Bible without writing something down. That is the difference between Bible reading and Bible study. If you don’t put your thoughts and observations down on paper, you haven’t really thought about them.

How often should I read my Bible? The common denominator of every great man and woman of God is that he or she knew the Scriptures and spent consistent, regular time with the Lord in His Word. It is only as you learn God’s truth and then allow that truth to become part of your daily life that you will develop in the Christian life (John 8:31; 2 Pet. 3:18). When you know the Word of God well, allowing it to dwell in you richly, you are going to know the will of God for your life (Col. 3:16).

The Bible likens study and meditation on its teachings to eating food. God wants to teach us to treasure His Words more than our necessary physical food (Job 23:12). Healthy people eat because they are hungry. Hunger is a sign of health. When we neglect the Bible, it is because we are not as hungry for the things of God as we should be. A lack of hunger for God’s Word indicates a spiritual problem. We need to ask God to heal us spiritually and give us a hunger for His Word. The response of a person who is spiritually healthy is this: “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Ps. 119:103). Jeremiah said, “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart (Jer. 15:16a). If you don’t have a hunger for God’s Word, confess it to Him and ask Him to give you one. Until you develop such a hunger, faithfully read the Bible every day as a means of training yourself to be godly (1 Tim. 4:7).

When I read the Old Testament, how am to know what applies to my life? “Aren’t some of the teachings in the Old Testament done away with?” Paul helps us to answer this question by reminding us that “the law is good, if a man use it lawfully” (1 Tim. 1:8). In order to understand what changed between the Old Testament and the New Testament and why it changed, we need to remember that all Scripture is designed to teach us about God, what he like or dislikes; and it is still profitable for doctrine (2 Tim. 3:16-17).

“How do I determine which teachings in the Old Testament are no longer binding on Christians? To answer this question, let me first point out two methods that I believe are wrong:

Wrong Method One: “The pick and choose method.” This method uses the Old Testament for its own purposes. If you like a verse and think it’s appropriate, use it. Passages in the Psalms, Isaiah, and Proverbs fit into this category. If you don’t like a verse or don’t understand it, this method either ignores it or discards it as irrelevant for us today.

Wrong Method Two: “The three category method.” This method divides the Old Testament into three categories: 1) ceremonial law, 2) civil law, and 3) moral law. The ceremonial law is said to include sacrifice and other aspects of worship and was fulfilled in Christ’s ministry. The ceremonial laws, therefore, do not apply to New Testament believers. The civil law is said to apply only to the Israelites while they lived in the land of Palestine. Therefore, the civil law is not binding on New Testament believers. The moral law, however, is said to be a reflection of the unchanging moral nature of God and is still binding upon all persons.

Problems with these two methods: Who gives a person authority to pick and choose which verses to follow? If a person can legitimately “throw out” one verse, why cannot someone else throw out other verses? And concerning the “three category method,” how can a person know which verse fits into which category? For example, “What would you classify as the moral law?” The Ten Commandments? Have you ever noticed that there is nothing explicitly in the Ten Commandments about giving help to the poor? Yet most people would agree that helping the poor is a moral requirement.

What about the Sabbath? “Do the Sabbath laws fit in the ceremonial, civil or moral category?” A major problem with the three category method is the absence of an agreed upon method for knowing which verses to include in each category. Some verses seem to fit in more than one category.

Here is a suggested method for understanding and applying the Old Testament. The method I have found most helpful in knowing how to apply the Old Testament teachings to my life is what I call the UP-SA method. The abbreviation UP stands for a universal principle that reflects a truth based on God’s unchanging character. The abbreviation SA stands for a specific application which is derived from a universal principle. To understand this approach, we need to think a moment about God and return to the reason He gave us the Bible.

The Bible is God’s self-revelation to us. In it we learn: (1) God is immutable—He never changes. His counsel, purpose, and character are always the same (Mal. 3:6; James. 1:17; Heb. 6:17); (2) God is the source of all truth (Deut. 32:4; Is. 65:16); and (3) Truth is a reflection of the unchanging character of God. Because His character never changes, His truth never changes with the passing of time. He dwells in eternity and transcends time. All that He reveals about Himself, His attitudes, His feelings, His likes and dislikes remain the same throughout the ages.

When we read the Old Testament, we must remember that God is speaking to us (Heb 1:1). Since He never changes, everything He gives us in the Old Testament should be carefully studied to discern what He wants us to learn about Himself. Each verse reflects either a universal principle or a specific application of a universal principle. When you encounter a verse that seems to have no relevance to you, because you live in a different country with a different culture, do not ignore or dismiss the verse. Ask yourself, “Is this verse teaching a universal principle or a specific application of a universal principle?” Universal principles are unchanging and transcend all cultures and time limitations. Specific applications, on the other hand, are not binding upon all cultures. Specific applications change when situations change. But remember, it is only after the universal principle is understood that one can evaluate whether the verse itself is a universal principle or a specific application of a universal principle. Be sure you do not confuse a universal principle with a specific application. There is a difference!

Let’s look at an example. In Exodus 22:18 we read, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Question to ask: “Is this verse a universal principle or a specific application of a universal principle?” Here is a suggested thought process for personal application: the putting to death all those connected with the occult is prohibited in America by our civil laws. Romans 13:1-8 tells us to obey the civil authorities (cf. I Pet. 2:13-15). This verse, therefore, looks like a specific application, not a universal principle. To test our thesis, we must be able to derive the universal principle on which this specific application is based.

To derive the universal principle, we can deduce the following: since God told Israel to kill all practitioners of witchcraft, God must hate anything associated with the occult. This is God’s unchanging attitude toward the occult. This is the universal principle. The specific application during the period of time when God was in control of Israel called for capital punishment for all occultic offenders. Since capital punishment is not permitted in our cultural situation, the specific application which would properly reflect God’s attitude toward the occult is for us to hate anything associated with the occult. As a New Testament believer, I am to adopt God’s attitude toward the occult. I should therefore have no participation in anything occultic (occultic computer games, occultic books, horoscopes, seances, palm reading, divination, invoking evil spirits, ouija boards, tarot cards, etc.) I must carefully distinguish, however, between hating occultic practices and hating occultic practitioners. I must love people even as God loves them.

Any time God says He hates something, or says something is an abomination to Him, or requires the death penalty for something, we should understand that if God, who never changes, feels that strongly about it, we should adopt His attitude toward the same things.

The UP-SA method of interpretation sees each verse of the Old Testament as important and relevant because each verse teaches us how God thinks and is to guide us in our thinking. The Bible is thus unified, and the reader of Scripture endeavors to adopt the mind of God by careful consideration and study of everything God has revealed.

Conclusion:
Every time you open your Bible to read and study, say to God, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law” (Ps. 119:18). The Bible is God’s ever-present gift to us. Our understanding and the use of His gifts always increase in direct measure to our wise use of them. “Light obeyed increases light; Light rejected brings the night.”

—Allan P. Brown is chair of the Division of Ministerial Education, God’s Bible School and College.