For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isaiah 28:10
At this point, I have been discussing what is needed to understand and correctly interpret the Bible. I am writing these articles to those who have trusted in Christ Jesus and have the heart and sense to realize that God preserved his word in the Authorized Version of 1611 and have probably studied more than the average Christian. In 1993, I first published my list of seven precepts to understanding the Bible. Most of you will be familiar with these concepts.
Our requirements:
- Study diligently
- Believe all that is written
- Do not add to nor diminish from the words, meaning, or sense of the Scripture
The construction of the Scriptures:
- The Bible is God’s revelation to man. We are not looking for what God could have, should have, or what we think he ought to have; we are looking for what God revealed.
- God uses similitudes, word pictures describing things that may be designated differently at differing times in history.
- Study that you might rightly divide the word of truth
- Doctrines are built of precepts, general principles, and precepts are formed here a little, there a little, line upon line.
These seven precepts, general principles, or truths, must be adhered to and understood to correctly comprehend the word of God. I desire here to take a closer look at number seven. How do we form correct doctrines?
Doctrine is formed from the precepts of the Bible.
Psalms 119:4 Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.
Psalms 119:63 I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.
Psalms 119:69 The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
Psalms 119:100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
Psalms 119:134 Deliver me from the oppression of man: so will I keep thy precepts.
Precepts are the universal general principles or truths that are inviolable; any teaching that violates one of the precepts of Scripture is in error at that point.
A precept may be contained in one verse:
For the wrath of man
worketh not the righteousness of God.
—James 1:20
This is a universal biblical truth; our wrath, anger does not serve God in any capacity, nor any situation. Getting angry, even righteous indignation, will only make things worse or produce less than optimal results. We have Moses as an example.
Numbers 20:10-12 And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. 12And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
Moses’ righteous indignation botched the similitude that the Lord was preparing. Christ was that rock; he was smitten once, never again. From that point on, you come before him and humbly ask. Moses, enraged with the people, failed in obeying God’s commandment to speak to the rock and smote it in his anger. His righteous indignation did not work the righteousness of God. Our anger only plays into the hands of Satan to hinder or limit the effects of God’s purpose.
2 Timothy 2:24-25 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth;
We have established the universal biblical precept that man’s wrath does not serve God. This is a general principle that is to be applied universally throughout creation.
Other precepts require more references in an effort to define and establish them. Let’s look at the precept that nothing is impossible for God.
Matthew 19:26 But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.
Mark 10:27 And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.
Luke 1:37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
Luke 18:27 And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.
Psalm 78:41 Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel,
Jeremiah 32:27Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Here we have six verses attesting that nothing is impossible for God and that he is not to be limited. This is a universal precept, a general truth that applies in all situations and circumstances, yet many base their doctrines and teachings on the assumption that something is impossible for God. Calvinism, for one, in stating that God had to predetermine all things to be sovereign, limits God to their ideological belief. It is certainly possible for God to be sovereign in any way he chooses. We see that by applying just this one precept, you can determine that a teaching is wrong based on its limiting God in some way.
Psalms 119:100 I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.
Doctrines are build precept upon precept. Look at some of the precepts that go into the doctrine of salvation.
- Christ is the only mediator between man and God, the only way to salvation
- Salvation is by grace through faith and not of works, OT, NT, Trib, Salvation is never by man’s works.
- Once saved, always saved, we are sealed with the Spirit until the day of redemption.
- Jesus Christ came in the flesh
- Jesus Christ was God manifested in the flesh
- Jesus Christ was resurrected bodily
- Absent from the body, present with the Lord
These precepts or universal general truths of the Bible, taken together, yield the doctrine of salvation.
Doctrines are formed of precepts, precepts by placing passages taken a little here and a little there, and placing them together line upon line. It is the precepts of the Bible that lead us into all truth. Once we have formed and found the precepts, they will guide our meditations and, more importantly, limit our imaginations.
I understand more than the ancients,
because I keep thy precepts.
—Psalms 119:100