It was over 50 years ago I became disillusioned about what I'd been taught about the Bible, the Christian faith, etc. I lost confidence in preachers, teachers and 'study Bibles'. After prayer and serious thought, I chose an approach that began at the basics. I knew of the verse "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isa 8:20, so I saw this was foundational, but how to study the Bible without man's influence on what I was reading? God had blessed and used the KJV for 400+ years so I was okay with that translation.
I purchased a Cambridge KJV Bible with nothing but the text and maps in the back. No cross references, footnotes or concordance. The aid I obtained was the Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible. No computer then, so I bought the long yellow legal pads for notes. My first subject or word I chose to start with was "faith". I saw that the word "faith" translated several Hebrew and Greek words of the Bible. Going to the back of the Concordance, I could see the Greek pistis was translated by several KJV English words: assurance, belief, faith, fidelity.
From Young's I saw that there was a word group: pisteuo, pistoo, pistos. Under each of those related Greek words were the KJV English words. By studying the verses of the various words in context, through the Bible, I was able to make notes on the legal pads of what I learned from the various verses and passages. One major thing I learned was that saving faith is a gift of God that not all men have. I did not have a man tell me that, God's word told me that. Also, a man's claim to saving faith must be justified by his life, but he must judge himself, that is not for others to judge him, 2 Peter 1:4-11, Gal. 5:19-24. The basics of the faith: grace, faith, works, became a way to assess a catechism, confession, commentary, etc.
Using this approach I began to study key words of the faith to see what the Scriptures told me about the words and meaning. Over time I had a limited though solid theology formed that I derived from the Bible itself, apart from man's input. Yes, we all have the subjective side to ourselves, but using dictionaries can help with that. I then began to seek out catechisms and confessions of the historic churches that were at least old enough to be from the KJV generation. If the faith we are to contend for existed in the first century as Jude 3 tells us, I must shun modern ideas in theology that I did not find in church history by a significant body of believers. A person can point out various heretics with weird teachings down through history to justify themselves, but it's foolish to base our understanding on those people.
From the basics at square one, over time I had a foundation to expand my studies into other areas of Christian doctrine, rules of interpretation, theology textbooks, commentaries that stood the test of time, etc. It is amazing how much agreement there was among the various denominations 300-400 years ago; compared to the delusions of this day. I believe we are living in a time quite similar to the time when Jesus taught on earth. The church today has 'pharisees' who add to God's word, the 'sadducees who deny God's word, and we are also living in a modern Roman Empire, similar to Romans 1.
I purchased a Cambridge KJV Bible with nothing but the text and maps in the back. No cross references, footnotes or concordance. The aid I obtained was the Young's Analytical Concordance to the Bible. No computer then, so I bought the long yellow legal pads for notes. My first subject or word I chose to start with was "faith". I saw that the word "faith" translated several Hebrew and Greek words of the Bible. Going to the back of the Concordance, I could see the Greek pistis was translated by several KJV English words: assurance, belief, faith, fidelity.
From Young's I saw that there was a word group: pisteuo, pistoo, pistos. Under each of those related Greek words were the KJV English words. By studying the verses of the various words in context, through the Bible, I was able to make notes on the legal pads of what I learned from the various verses and passages. One major thing I learned was that saving faith is a gift of God that not all men have. I did not have a man tell me that, God's word told me that. Also, a man's claim to saving faith must be justified by his life, but he must judge himself, that is not for others to judge him, 2 Peter 1:4-11, Gal. 5:19-24. The basics of the faith: grace, faith, works, became a way to assess a catechism, confession, commentary, etc.
Using this approach I began to study key words of the faith to see what the Scriptures told me about the words and meaning. Over time I had a limited though solid theology formed that I derived from the Bible itself, apart from man's input. Yes, we all have the subjective side to ourselves, but using dictionaries can help with that. I then began to seek out catechisms and confessions of the historic churches that were at least old enough to be from the KJV generation. If the faith we are to contend for existed in the first century as Jude 3 tells us, I must shun modern ideas in theology that I did not find in church history by a significant body of believers. A person can point out various heretics with weird teachings down through history to justify themselves, but it's foolish to base our understanding on those people.
From the basics at square one, over time I had a foundation to expand my studies into other areas of Christian doctrine, rules of interpretation, theology textbooks, commentaries that stood the test of time, etc. It is amazing how much agreement there was among the various denominations 300-400 years ago; compared to the delusions of this day. I believe we are living in a time quite similar to the time when Jesus taught on earth. The church today has 'pharisees' who add to God's word, the 'sadducees who deny God's word, and we are also living in a modern Roman Empire, similar to Romans 1.
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