What About Resources To Help Me With My Bible Questions?

At our church, we continue to emphasize having some type of personal devotional time as an important part of growing in the Christian faith.  A “personal devotional time” has been identified by many recent studies as one of the primary catalysts of spiritual growth.  Actually, we don’t need a lot of studies, though, any mature Christian will verify the truth of that reality.

Reading and studying the Bible (along with prayer) would be a significant part of a personal devotional time.  Because folks in our church are spending more time reading the Bible—a fact that I’m thrilled about—I’m getting a few more inquiries about resources to help with the questions that people encounter as they read the Bible.

Here is a response that I have provided to a couple of folks about the matter of finding answers to Bible questions/issues.

Bible commentaries are resource tools that provide “comments” on the scriptural text.  While this is not a sure-fire source of answers to all Bible questions, it’s a helpful tool.  There are many Bible commentaries available.  Some Bibles have commentaries included with the Biblical text.  For example the “Life Application Bible” (Tyndale publishers).  These are sometimes titled “Study” Bibles.

Some commentaries are stand alone books.  Many different kinds of Bible commentaries could be found at a Christian book store or on-line at Amazon.com and other on-line booksellers.  Also, there are Bible commentaries that are directly accessible on-line, for example, at BibleGateway.com

One of the problems that can arise with commentaries is that generally they don’t deal with every single verse in the Bible and so, sometimes, they don’t address the specific questions that you may have about a particular verse.  But they are a good, helpful resource that are usually the result of credible scholarship and there are many different commentaries available.

Also, there are Bible resource books that deal specifically with difficult issues or questions from the Bible.  For example:

“Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses” by Ron Rhodes;

“Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties” by Gleason Archer;

“Hard Sayings of the Bible” by Kaiser, Davids, Bruce, and Brauch. 

And there are others that can be found by searching on-line.  Again, what you might encounter with these types of resources is that they may or may not deal with the specific question that you have.  But they are a good place to start a search and they often provide interesting and helpful responses to Bible questions.

Speaking of “on line”, another possibility regarding the questions we have—and I know most of you have already thought of this—is to type the question into a search engine like Google and see what comes up.  I want to be quick to say that I realize the answers that come up from this type of search may not represent mature wisdom or careful and accurate Christian thinking, but sometimes they do.  At any rate it is another avenue of research and investigation.  The caution is simply this: as you expose yourself to the results of such a search, be sure to carefully consider the source of the answers you’re getting.

I feel like this idea is also worth mentioning: Sometimes when we encounter questions as we read a passage of Scripture, it’s okay to continue on without getting an immediate answer to that particular question.  I’m not suggesting that we intentionally avoid difficult questions.  And I’m not certainly not suggesting, for a moment, that God cannot stand up to scrutiny.  Believe me, he can!  But I am suggesting that this is possible:  Sometimes we’re not ready for an answer to the particular question.  Or, sometimes the answer to that question is going to come as we continue reading and studying and discussing the matter with others, but it’s not going to come RIGHT NOW.  Or, sometimes the question represents one of the great mysteries that we’re never going to understand on this side of eternity.  I know that can sound like a cop-out and I don’t mean to cop out.  I believe it’s fair and legitimate and reasonable to pursue answers to our questions.  In fact, I think it’s good and healthy to pursue answers to our questions.  But there’s a reality about our existence in the here and now that is painfully true and the reality is this: We do not and we will not ever know all the answers.  Again, this is not an attempt to dodge the tough issues, it’s an attempt to face the reality of our finite abilities.

So, I encourage you to keep reading His word.  It can be challenging.  But stick with it. Ultimately, it is a source of help and growth.  And, it is a way that God reveals Himself to us.  And as we know Him better, the Holy Spirit works in us to make us more and more like Him!

“So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”  2 Cor. 3:18 [NLT]