Volume 28: The Only Right Way to Read the Bible

Recently, I have noticed a troubling pattern: many people misunderstand the Bible. Some preachers distort its original meaning, and too many believers avoid reading it altogether. So this week, we are focusing intentionally on one thing: how to truly understand the Word of God.

Yesterday, we confronted the danger of misreading Scripture. Today, we go deeper by examining how hermeneutics and exegesis work together.

Fancy Words with Simple Meaning

Exegesis is the process of drawing out the true meaning of a passage – not just what it means to you, but what it originally meant when God inspired it.

We began this week with hermeneutics because it provides the guidelines for doing exegesis correctly. Ignore the unfamiliar terms – focus on the meaning behind them.

Exegesis is the hands-on work of applying the principles of hermeneutics.

You need both. They are inseparable – one gives direction, the other produces understanding. Together, they safeguard you from reading your own thoughts into the text.

Scripture interprets Scripture. Hermeneutics sets the guardrails before study begins, protecting truth from bias and misuse so that we do not shape Scripture to fit our lives, but allow Scripture to shape us.

Knowing that interpretation matters is not enough. You must also know how to do it.

Respect the Process

Libraries use the Dewey Decimal System. Phone books use alphabetical order. Maps require you to understand scale and direction – or you will still be lost while holding the guide in your hands. Every system demands a method of reading if you expect to benefit from what it contains.

I was reminded of this recently through a close friend of mine – God-fearing, successful, honorable, and someone who handles the Word with deep reverence – who was offered an honorary doctorate degree. Though God has already blessed her with success without even attaining an undergraduate degree, she graciously declined it because she respects the process. She understood that receiving the title without the training would misrepresent the journey.

In the same way, attempting exegesis without first applying hermeneutics is stepping into interpretation without submission to the process. It may look right on the surface, but it lacks the foundation that gives it true meaning.

The Bible is no different. It is not enough to simply open its pages – you must learn how to study it, how to interpret it, and how to follow its structure and context.

Without that, you may be reading words but missing meaning. But when you approach Scripture with proper understanding, what once felt complex becomes clear, and what once seemed distant becomes deeply personal.

There Is Only One Truth

There is a process. And it is not optional. The process must be respected. It is called exegesis.

Not a religious flex. Not a scholarly badge. It is the only safe path to understanding what God actually said.

Exegesis means to draw meaning out of the text – not to put meaning into it. That is the difference between truth and error.

One submits to Scripture. The other uses Scripture. And many today are not reading the Bible – they are rewriting it with their opinions.

Scripture already warned us: “Study to shew thyself approved unto God… rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

So let us revisit the right way versus the wrong way.

The Danger of Reading Without Process

When you skip the process, you invite deception. You begin reading verses in isolation. You build doctrines on fragments. You elevate feelings over facts. That is how false teaching spreads.

It sounds spiritual. It feels right. But it is not rooted in truth.

Jesus addressed this directly: “You do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matthew 22:29).

Error is not always rebellion. Sometimes it is ignorance. But both lead to the same place – deception.

What Does the Exegetical Process Require?

It requires you to slow down. To ask questions. To investigate the text before applying it.

Who is speaking?
Who are they speaking to?
What is the context?
What happened before and after?
Why was this written?

Scripture is not random. It is responsive. Every passage was written into a real situation, to real people, addressing real issues.

When you ignore that, you distort meaning.

That is how people take promises out of context, commands out of order, and narratives out of balance.

And suddenly, the Bible is no longer forming you – you are forming it.

Scripture Interprets Scripture

You do not need to invent meaning. The Bible explains itself – line upon line, precept upon precept (Isaiah 28:10).

God did not leave His Word open to creative interpretation. He structured it so truth confirms truth.

When one verse seems unclear, another brings clarity. When one passage feels isolated, another anchors it.

That is why cherry-picking is dangerous. Truth is not found in fragments – it is revealed in fullness.

The Cost of Getting It Wrong

This is not just about knowledge. This is about souls.

Peter warned that people twist Scripture “unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16).

Not misunderstanding for inconvenience – but misunderstanding that leads to destruction.

False doctrine does not announce itself. It disguises itself. It uses Scripture – out of context.

That is why the devil quoted Scripture to Jesus in the wilderness (Matthew 4:6).

Same words.
Wrong application.

And Jesus did not respond with emotion – He responded with properly applied truth.

This Devotion Demands Discipline

You cannot approach Scripture casually and expect clarity. You cannot skim and expect revelation. You cannot guess and expect truth.

God is not hiding His Word – but He does require your submission to it.

What God did through Hosea was not random, harsh, or symbolic for shock value – it was intentional, prophetic, and deeply revealing of His heart.

God told Hosea to marry Gomer, a woman described as unfaithful (Hosea 1:2). This was not just about Hosea’s life – it was about God’s relationship with His people.

Israel had become spiritually adulterous. They were chasing other gods, forming alliances with pagan nations, and abandoning covenant. Instead of only sending a message through words, God embodied the message through Hosea’s life.

Hosea did not just preach betrayal – he felt it.

He experienced the heartbreak of loving someone who continually walked away. He endured the pain of covenant being broken. He lived the tension of commitment in the face of rejection.

God was saying, “This is what it feels like to love you.”

But the story does not stop at betrayal.

In Hosea 3:1, God tells him to go back and love Gomer again – even after her unfaithfulness. Hosea redeems her. He brings her back. He restores her.

That is the gospel before the Gospel.

It is a picture of a God who does not just judge unfaithfulness – He pursues in spite of it.

Israel was Gomer. Hosea reflected God. And the message was clear: “Even when you are unfaithful, I remain faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13).

Hosea’s life became the message.

Some revelations cannot be spoken with weight until they have been lived. Some messages must be experienced before they can be released.

Hosea’s marriage became a mirror – of God’s relentless love, of human rebellion, and of redemption that refuses to give up.

And if we properly exegete this narrative within the guardrails of hermeneutics, we are not Hosea – we are Gomer. Yet God still comes for us. Still calls us back. Still pays the price to redeem what walked away.

That is not just prophecy. That is love.

A proper exegetical process, guided by hermeneutics, keeps us from misplacing ourselves in the text. We do not assign ourselves roles the passage never intended. In Hosea, the relationship is not a template for us to become both prophet and redeemer – it reveals God’s covenant love toward His unfaithful people.

So we understand clearly: we are never God in the story – we are the bride in need of His mercy. No matter how much we forgive, we still require forgiveness, because God alone is perfect.

The moment you replace your role in this story with Hosea, you step into the same deception that marked Lucifer before his fall – trying to stand in the place of God – the ultimate danger of misinterpreting Scripture.

Processing Truth Demands Obedience

“Then said Jesus… If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).

This week is not about becoming scholars. It is about becoming sound, surrendered, and grounded – rooted and unmoved by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14).

Stop reading the Bible to confirm what you feel.
Start reading the Bible to be corrected by what is true.

Because the goal is not inspiration – it is transformation.

And transformation only comes through truth that is rightly understood.

Affirmation keeps you comfortable, but truth makes you free.