The Scriptures were given to men to be understood by them. As a general principle, therefore, their meaning must be ascertained by the same rules of study and interpretation which we apply to other books. For, if men are to understand the Bible, it must speak in the language of men, employing words whose meaning they know, conforming to the common laws of language; it must not be different from all other books in this respect; it must not require us to bring to the reading of it new and unknown rules of interpretation, or to discover as we may unheard-of meanings for its words. We must be sure when we read God's Word that he desires us to comprehend it, and has given his messages to us, not to puzzle but to teach; and therefore that it commonly means what to an intelligent reader it seems to mean; and we are not to look for some strange mystery in every word, nor to suppose that an expression may, in the same place, have several significations; but we are to believe that God has spoken to us in the language of men, so that his words are light and not darkness to our minds.
The reading of the Scriptures should be with habit and system. A few careless perusals will leave us still very much in the dark. The words which have come to us from the mind of God cannot fail to be rich in thought; they need to be read again and again; and each perusal will reveal to us something we did not see before. It is well, too, to take some one book of the Scriptures and employ ourselves exclusively upon that for a time, until every thing it contains shall have become familiar to the mind. Such study, however, is very different from the attempts which have been sometimes encouraged, to see in how short a time the Bible may be read through. Calculations have been put forth to show that, by reading so many chapters every week-day, and so many more on Sundays, the whole Bible can be gone through in a year. We have very little respect for such calculations. The Bible was not meant to be treated like a Tartar praying-machine, and valued according to the number of times it is turned over. It were better that the time in which three chapters can be read should be employed upon three verses, than that what is read should not be understood. But let even a small portion of Scripture be read thoughtfully every day, and all who make the experiment will be surprised and delighted to find how rich in divinest wisdom even the labor of a few months will make them.
In reading the Scriptures, we must attend carefully to the scope or design of the writer. This is perhaps the most important and useful of all rules which can be given. Every writer has some object in view; and unless we perceive what this object is—unless we know what he is writing about—it is not reasonable that we should expect to understand him. His weightiest arguments, his most apt illustrations, his most eloquent appeals, will be lost upon us, if we do not perceive to what subject they relate. This is always our first endeavor in reading any book or portion of a book. The same thing must be done in reading the Scriptures; for the Bible is not—as many seem to suppose—a mere collection of proverbs. Every verse is not a distinct and insulate saying. There is as real and as close a connection as in any other book. The writers always have some object in view, some particular point which they are considering. We need entirely to forget the arbitrary and modern division of the Scriptures into chapters and verses, and suffer the thoughts of the writer naturally to frame his words into paragraphs and divisions, as in other books. Unless we do this, we shall constantly fail to perceive his scope and intention. It must not be forgotten that the real meaning of a passage in Scripture is not whatever it may be read to mean taken by itself alone, but what the writer in that connection intended to say. Take, for instance, the words in Matt. v, 48: "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your father in heaven is perfect." We can give this passage an intelligible meaning without regard to its connection. But we do not find its real meaning till we learn the subject upon which Christ is speaking, and the object he has in view; and then we see that the passage is not a mere general exhortation to be perfect; but it has a point, a specific idea; it means that our benevolence must be perfect, not one-sided, but consistent, impartial, limited by no prejudices, checked by no ingratitude, withheld from an enemy—even as our Father in heaven is kind to the unthankful and the evil as well as to the good.
In most cases we shall ascertain the scope by looking at the context. Sometimes the writer expressly mentions the subject he has in hand, as Paul in the Epistle to the Galatians: "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another Gospel;" showing that the design of the whole epistle is to correct the errors into which the Christians of Galatia had fallen.
There are very many passages of Scripture from which we can get no definite idea if we take them by themselves. It is a rule, therefore, of the first importance, that, to understand the Scriptures, we must find out the design of the writer. The observance of this rule will assist us more than anything else to a correct knowledge of the Word of God. If we can answer the questions, Who is speaking? To whom does he speak? On what occasion, and concerning what subject does he speak?—there will be few passages that will not be reasonably clear to our minds.
To this chief rule may be added the comparing of Scripture with Scripture, or studying together all passages that refer to the same subject; the becoming acquainted with Biblical history and antiquities; the use of common sense in reading the figurative language of the Bible; and above all, the habitual seeking of divine assistance by prayer. God's wish is not that we should be perplexed and puzzled with the Word, but that we should understand it; he giveth wisdom "liberally" to them that ask it; and they shall feel, in their own experience, the truth of the inspired saying, "The entrance of thy Word giveth light; it giveth understanding to the simple."—Sel.