The Bible 101

 

 

Read before you study

Whether the whole or in part,

Forget what you have heard

And read it from the start.

 

Explicit before implicit

Elicit before solicit,

Be neither complicit nor illicit

The tacit trumps the deficit.

 

If the plain

Makes good sense,

Seek no other sense

Lest you get nonsense.

 

Verse number 3 is not mine

Whose? I do not know,

But when dealing with the Bible

It is good sense on show.

 

 

Sometimes it makes plain sense

Sometimes it makes no sense,

Yes, it’s puzzling in a sense

But it is never nonsense.

 

The explicit is the present text

The implicit infers subtext,

The complicit obscures the text

The illicit has a pretext.

 

Most have read in part

Which makes the general vague,

At some point read the whole

Beginning with the first page.

 

Establish the nature of God

And note the depravity of man,

Then trace the path God takes

To effect redemption’s plan.

 

 

It is not plan 1 and plan 2

Where plan 1 has failed

But it is an unfolding revelation

Very unlike any fictional tale.

 

It comprises two testaments

Both of equal importance

And one is supportive of the other

In every single instance.

 

The two go hand in hand

The Old is the New concealed,

At the heart of both is Christ Jesus

The New is the Old revealed.

 

 

Many prophecies in the Old

Are fulfilled in the New

And between these two testaments

We are given a God’s eye view.

 

Some with personal agendas

Pit one against the next

And dupe many an unaware victim

By their pretext before context.

 

Agenda obscures revelation

Intentionally or unintentionally

And denomination rites and demands

Invariably gain ascendancy.

 

Doctrinal statements are great

When they originate in God’s Word,

But firstly, they should be explicit

And secondly, never absurd.

 

No part of the Bible document

Must ever be treated lightly,

Every line and word have been inspired,

Even the genealogies.

 

 

For every single genealogy

Has something to do with Christ

And failing to pay close attention

Will other than suffice.

 

Read from Genesis to Revelation!

Do so by the end of this year

And with the illumination of the Holy Spirit,

The basics will become clear.

 

Stewart Russell © February 17, 2021