ARE WE READING THE BIBLE THROUGH MODERN EYES?

One thing I’ve noticed about studying the Bible is how easy it is to read something and assume we already understand it. We recognize the words, we’ve heard them preached, and some of us have been hearing them our entire lives. So when we come across those same words in Scripture, we don’t always stop to think about what they actually meant to the people who first heard them. We already have a definition in our minds, and without realizing it, we bring that definition into the passage. But here’s the problem. The Bible was written thousands of years ago, in languages most of us don’t speak, to people who lived in a world very different from ours. And while God’s truth hasn’t changed, the way certain words and expressions were understood back then isn’t always the same as how we understand them today.

Think about how much our own experiences influence the way we read Scripture. We bring our upbringing, our culture, our church background, our denominations, and the teachings we’ve heard over the years into our Bible study. Most of us don’t even realize we’re doing it. For example, we hear words such as love, faith, repentance, church, gospel, soul, spirit, and kingdom, and we automatically think we know what they mean. But have we ever stopped to ask whether our understanding of those words actually matches what the biblical writers were communicating? That’s what I want to get into, because I believe this is something every Christian needs to understand, especially those who are teaching the Word of God.

Second Timothy 3:16 tells us that all Scripture is breathed out by God. I believe that completely. But we also need to remember that God inspired Scripture through real people who lived in real places during real periods of history. Moses wasn’t living in the same world as Paul. David wasn’t living under the same government as Daniel. Jesus taught people who understood Jewish customs and traditions while living under Roman rule. Those historical settings are important because they help us understand what was happening when these words were first spoken or written. Studying that background doesn’t weaken the inspiration of Scripture. It helps us understand the message more accurately.

The Old Testament was written primarily in Hebrew, with some portions in Aramaic, while the New Testament was written in Greek. Those languages don’t always translate perfectly into English because words don’t necessarily carry the exact same meanings across different languages. Sometimes one Hebrew or Greek word can have several meanings depending on the context, and sometimes the English word chosen in a translation doesn’t communicate every shade of meaning the original word could carry. That doesn’t mean we can’t trust our English Bibles or that everyone needs to learn Hebrew and Greek. We have good translations that faithfully communicate Scripture. But there are times when looking at the original language can help us understand something we might otherwise overlook.

At the same time, I think we need to be careful about something. Just because somebody looks up a Greek or Hebrew word and finds an interesting definition doesn’t mean they’ve discovered the correct interpretation. I’ve heard plenty of teachings where someone says, “Well, in the Greek, this word actually means…” and then gives a definition that doesn’t even fit the passage they’re discussing. A word can have several legitimate meanings, but that doesn’t mean every one of those meanings belongs in every verse where that word appears. We have to pay attention to how the writer is actually using it, and that’s where context becomes so important.

READING AN ANCIENT BOOK WITH MODERN DEFINITIONS

We see words change meanings even within our own English language. Take the word awful, for example. Hundreds of years ago, it could describe something that inspired awe, but today we normally use it to describe something terrible. The word is still there, but the way people commonly understand it has changed. Imagine reading an old piece of literature and assuming the author meant what we mean today. You could completely misunderstand the statement without ever realizing it. The same thing can happen when we read Scripture and attach modern meanings to ancient words.

Take the word love. Today, people often talk about love as though it means accepting everything someone does, agreeing with their choices, and never confronting them about anything. You’ll hear people say things such as, “If you really loved somebody, you wouldn’t judge them,” or, “Jesus was all about love, so He wouldn’t tell somebody how to live.” But is that actually how Scripture defines love? Jesus connects loving Him with keeping His commandments in John 14:15. First Corinthians 13:6 tells us that love doesn’t rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. Revelation 3:19 even shows Jesus connecting His love with correction and discipline. So if we take our modern understanding of love and place it into every passage where Scripture talks about love, we’re going to misunderstand some things.

And this doesn’t just happen with love. It happens with words such as faith, repentance, church, salvation, judgment, and holiness. Sometimes our assumptions come from the culture around us, but other times they come from our church background, denomination, favorite preacher, or something we’ve heard repeated so often that we assume it came directly from the Bible. I’ve said this before, but just because something sounds biblical doesn’t mean it actually is. We have to be willing to examine what we’ve been taught and compare it with what Scripture says, even when that means questioning something we’ve believed for years.

UNDERSTANDING THEIR WORLD BEFORE BRINGING SCRIPTURE INTO OURS

When we’re studying Scripture, there are three things that can really help us understand what we’re reading. We need to consider the world behind the text, the world of the text itself, and the world we’re bringing to it. The world behind the text is the historical setting. What was happening when those words were spoken? Who was ruling? What were the customs? What did the people already understand about the subject being discussed? These things can help us recognize details that would have been obvious to the original audience but aren’t necessarily obvious to us.

Think about the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10. Most of us read that story and understand that Jesus is teaching us about loving our neighbor and showing compassion. And that’s true. But the people listening to Jesus understood the hostility that existed between Jews and Samaritans. So when Jesus made the Samaritan the person who showed compassion, that carried a weight we might not immediately recognize today. The historical background helps us understand why His choice was so meaningful. It doesn’t change the message of the parable. It helps us hear the message the way His original audience would have heard it.

Then there’s the world of the text itself. This is where we actually read what Scripture says, including the verses before and after the passage we’re studying. We look at who’s speaking, who they’re speaking to, and what the writer is trying to communicate. We also pay attention to whether we’re reading a historical account, a prophecy, a poem, a parable, or a letter. Paul wasn’t writing random statements for people to pull out and use however they wanted. He was writing letters that developed arguments and addressed real situations. The Gospel writers were recording connected accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry. Understanding those things helps us follow what the biblical writers were actually saying.

And then there’s our world. This includes our experiences, beliefs, traditions, and modern definitions. The problem comes when we start with our world and try to make the Bible fit into it. We need to go the other direction. We look at what was happening in their world, examine what the biblical writer actually said, and then consider how that truth applies to us today. That’s how we keep from making Scripture say something it was never saying in the first place.

WHY THE HISTORY OF A WORD DOESN’T ALWAYS TELL US EVERYTHING IT MEANS

Something else I enjoy studying is etymology, which is just the history of words, where they came from, and how their meanings have changed over time. I think looking into the history of Hebrew and Greek words can teach us a lot about Scripture. But we also have to remember that where a word came from doesn’t always tell us everything about what it meant when somebody used it. Words can take on different meanings over time, and sometimes the way people actually use a word is different from what its original parts might suggest. Think about the English word butterfly. If somebody who didn’t understand English broke that word into butter and fly, they might come up with a pretty strange idea of what it means. But we know a butterfly isn’t butter that flies. We understand what the word means because of how it’s used. And the same thing can happen when we’re looking at Hebrew and Greek words in the Bible.

A good example is the Greek word ekklēsia, which is usually translated as church. You’ve probably heard somebody explain that it means “the called-out ones.” And I do believe that to be true. The word comes from Greek roots connected with calling out or summoning people together. So when people talk about the church being called out, I understand where they’re coming from. But that’s not all we need to know about the word. By the time the New Testament was written, ekklēsia was already being used to describe an assembly or gathering of people. So while its history helps us understand where the word came from, the way people were using it helps us understand what they actually meant by it.

And when we look at Scripture, we can see why both of those ideas are worth talking about. First Peter 2:9 tells us that God has called His people out of darkness into His marvelous light. So yes, Christians are called out. We’ve been called out of darkness and brought into a relationship with Christ. But when Jesus says in Matthew 16:18 that He will build His church, He’s talking about the people who belong to Him, the assembly He’s gathering as His own. The idea of being called out is biblical, and the idea of being gathered together as God’s people is biblical too. We just need to understand that the history of the word and the way it was actually used aren’t necessarily the same thing in all contextual places.

We can see this in Acts 19 when a disturbance broke out in Ephesus. The Greek word ekklēsia was used there too, but it wasn’t talking about Christians gathering for worship. It was describing an assembly of people in the city. So the word itself didn’t automatically mean a Christian church every time somebody used it. It depended on who was gathering and what was happening. When Jesus talks about His ekklēsia, He’s talking about His people. When Luke uses the same word in Acts 19, he’s talking about a different format of the same word. That’s why we have to look at the context instead of assuming a word means the exact same thing every time we see it.

A Hebrew or Greek word can have several different meanings, just as our English words do. Think about the word bank. If I tell you I went to the bank, you’re probably going to assume I went somewhere to deal with money. But if I tell you I sat on the bank of a river, you know I’m talking about the land beside the water. It’s the same word, but the meaning changes depending on how I’m using it. We don’t even have to think about that when we’re speaking English because we understand it naturally. But when we’re studying Hebrew and Greek, we sometimes forget that those languages worked the same way.

Take the Greek word pneuma, for example. Depending on the passage, it can mean spirit, wind, or breath. In John 3:8, Jesus uses the picture of the wind to help explain the work of the Holy Spirit. Those meanings are connected, but that doesn’t mean every time we see pneuma in the New Testament, we can just choose whichever definition we like. We have to look at what Jesus or the biblical writer is actually talking about. The Hebrew word ruach works in a similar way. It can also refer to wind, breath, or spirit. In Ezekiel 37, when God gives Ezekiel the vision of the dry bones, we see those ideas coming together. The bones are brought together, bodies are formed, and then breath enters them so they can live. God later explains that the vision concerns the restoration of His people and His promise to put His Spirit within them. Understanding how ruach is being used helps us see the full connections in the passage.

Sometimes the confusion doesn’t even come from Hebrew or Greek. Sometimes it’s our own English language that’s changed. Philippians 4:6 in the King James Version says, “Be careful for nothing.” Now, if somebody reads that with the way we use the word careful today, they might think Paul is telling Christians not to be cautious about anything. But that’s not what he meant. In older English, being careful could mean being anxious or full of worry. That’s why the ESV says, “do not be anxious about anything.” Paul wasn’t telling people to live carelessly. He was teaching them not to be consumed by anxiety but to bring their concerns to God in prayer. The original message didn’t change. The way we commonly use that English word did.

So I think studying the history of words is valuable, and I definitely don’t think we should ignore it. I encourage you to do so. But we also need to understand that a word can have a history, an established meaning, and different uses depending on the situation. Just because we know where a word came from doesn’t mean we automatically know everything the writer meant when he used it. That’s why I believe we need to look at the original language, pay attention to how the word was used, and read the surrounding Scripture before deciding what it means. We might discover something we hadn’t noticed before, or we might realize that a definition we’ve heard preached for years doesn’t quite fit the passage. Either way, the goal should be to understand what Scripture is actually saying rather than trying to make a word mean something it doesn’t.

HISTORY CAN HELP US UNDERSTAND SCRIPTURE, BUT IT ISN’T SCRIPTURE

I love studying the historical background of the Bible because there’s so much we can learn when we understand the places, people, governments, and customs surrounding the biblical accounts. Archaeology, ancient writings, inscriptions, and historians such as Josephus can help us understand what life was like during certain periods. But we also need to remember that those sources aren’t inspired Scripture. They can provide helpful information, but they don’t carry the same authority as the Word of God.

For example, Joshua 24:2 tells us that Abraham came from a family background where other gods were worshiped. We also know that ancient Mesopotamian cultures practiced things such as astrology and divination. But does the Bible ever tell us that Abraham personally practiced astrology before God called him? No, it doesn’t. Did he? Maybe. Somebody might speculate about that based on the culture he came from, but speculation isn’t the same thing as biblical fact. We need to be careful not to take something that may have been common in a particular culture and automatically assume every biblical person living in that culture participated in it.

The same goes for the Tower of Babel. Genesis 11 tells us that humanity once had one language and that God confused their language. But it doesn’t tell us what that original language was. I’ve heard people confidently claim that it was Hebrew or that it was some kind of perfect spiritual language, but Scripture doesn’t tell us that. And I think that’s something we need to get more comfortable admitting. Sometimes the answer is that we don’t know. We can’t always say something is matter of a fact. And that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with acknowledging that God hasn’t revealed every detail we might be curious about. We need to know the difference between what Scripture actually says, what history suggests, what later traditions claim, and what somebody has concluded on their own. And then understand how to place each of them in order of importance.

ANCIENT PRACTICES DON’T ALWAYS MEAN WHAT WE THINK THEY MEAN

Another thing we need to be careful about when studying Scripture is assuming that people in biblical times understood certain customs and practices the same way we do today. A good example is the practice of greeting someone with a kiss. When we read passages such as Romans 16:16, where Paul tells believers to greet one another with a holy kiss, it can sound a little strange to us. In our culture, kissing is usually associated with romance or affection between family members. So when we read about men kissing one another in the Bible, we might misunderstand what was actually happening because we’re looking at it through our own cultural experiences.

But in the ancient world, kissing was also a common way of greeting someone, showing respect, expressing friendship, or saying goodbye. We see this in several places throughout Scripture. In Genesis 29:13, Laban greets Jacob with a kiss. In 1 Samuel 20:41, David and Jonathan kiss one another when they’re saying goodbye, and the passage describes how deeply emotional that farewell was. Their relationship was one of loyalty, friendship, and covenant commitment. The kiss was a culturally understood expression of affection, not evidence of a romantic relationship. We even see Judas use a kiss to identify Jesus when he betrays Him in Matthew 26:48–49. That betrayal carried its own weight because Judas used what was normally a gesture of affection and friendship to hand Jesus over to His enemies.

So when Paul tells believers to greet one another with a holy kiss, he’s speaking to people who already understood that custom. He’s encouraging them to greet one another with genuine affection and love as members of the body of Christ. We need to understand the cultural setting before assuming that the outward practice carried the same meaning it would in our society today. And we also need to recognize the difference between the biblical principle being taught and the cultural way that principle was expressed. Christians today may greet one another with a handshake, a hug, or another appropriate expression of welcome, depending on their culture. The important thing is the sincere love and fellowship behind the greeting.

This is why historical context matters so much. If we read ancient customs through modern assumptions, we can end up drawing conclusions that the original audience would never have drawn. And if we don’t recognize the difference between a cultural practice and the instruction being communicated through it, we can misunderstand what Scripture is actually teaching. We have to look at what was happening, why people were doing it, and how those actions would have been understood at the time before deciding what they mean for us today.

YOU CAN QUOTE A BIBLE VERSE AND STILL BE WRONG ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS

This is something I really want people to understand, especially when it comes to teaching and discussing Scripture. Just because somebody quotes a Bible verse correctly doesn’t mean they’re using it correctly. We actually see Satan do this when he tempts Jesus in Matthew 4. Satan quotes Psalm 91, which speaks about God’s protection. The Scripture he quoted was real, but he was trying to use that promise to persuade Jesus to throw Himself from the temple and demand that God protect Him. Jesus responded with Deuteronomy 6:16, reminding him not to put God to the test.

Jesus wasn’t contradicting Psalm 91. He was showing that Satan was using it incorrectly. Think about that for a minute. Satan quoted Scripture, but the argument he was making with it was wrong. That’s why I don’t think it’s enough for somebody to say, “Well, the Bible says…” and then quote a verse. We need to ask whether that verse actually means what they’re claiming it means. The words can be biblical while the interpretation attached to them is completely wrong.

Philippians 4:13 is another good example of how easily a verse can be taken out of context. We’ve all heard people quote, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me,” and apply it to just about anything want to accomplish. But when you go back and read what Paul was actually talking about, he wasn’t saying that Christ would give him the ability to achieve anything and everything he personally wanted to do. Paul was talking about learning to be content no matter what situation he found himself in. Whether he had plenty or was going without, whether life was comfortable or difficult, he had learned to depend on Christ for the strength to endure it. That’s a much different message than how we often hear that verse used today. And this is why reading the surrounding verses matters. We can’t just pull out a Scripture because it sounds good or fits what we’re trying to say. We need to understand what the writer was actually talking about before we start applying it to our own lives.

NOT EVERY BIBLICAL TEACHING HAS A WORD THAT APPEARS IN THE BIBLE

Another argument I hear sometimes is that if a particular word isn’t found in Scripture, then the teaching associated with it must be unbiblical. But that doesn’t necessarily follow. Take the word Trinity. That exact word doesn’t appear in Scripture. It was developed later as Christians worked to explain what the Bible teaches about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and the reality that there is one God. Matthew 28:19, for example, brings the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together in Jesus’ command concerning baptism. The word itself came later, but the question is whether the teaching behind it is supported by Scripture.

The same applies to words such as incarnation, omniscience, and omnipresence. Those are theological terms used to describe biblical truths. But we also need to be careful in the other direction. Just because a theological term has been used by Christians for hundreds of years doesn’t automatically mean everything associated with it is biblical. Tradition can be helpful, church history can be helpful, and theological writings can be helpful, but none of those things should be placed above Scripture. We don’t reject something because the label isn’t found in the Bible, and we don’t accept something just because Christians have taught it for centuries. We go back to the Word and examine what it actually teaches.

WHAT DID JESUS MEAN WHEN HE PREACHED THE GOSPEL?

Now I want to get into some of the actual words we use all the time as Christians, because this is where things get really interesting. Let’s start with the word gospel. When most Christians hear that word, we immediately think about Jesus dying for our sins and rising from the dead. And that is absolutely central to the gospel. Paul explains that in 1 Corinthians 15. But have you ever stopped to think about the fact that Jesus was preaching the gospel before He died and rose again? Mark 1:14–15 tells us that Jesus came preaching the gospel of God and announcing that the kingdom of God was at hand.

The Greek word euangelion means good news, and, at the time, this wasn’t a word that belonged exclusively to Christianity. People in the ancient Greek and Roman world already understood the language of good news being announced. It could be associated with a military victory, a ruler coming to power, or an important event involving the empire. There’s even an ancient inscription from 9 BC, known as the Priene Calendar Inscription, that uses good-news language in connection with the Roman emperor Augustus. Roman rulers could be celebrated as bringing peace, order, and salvation to the world. So when Mark opens his account by announcing the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that language would have been familiar to people living in the first-century world.

To understand a little deeper. The biblical idea of good news didn’t originate with Rome. Long before the Roman Empire, Isaiah was already speaking about good news connected with God’s salvation and reign. Isaiah 52:7 brings together the announcement of peace, salvation, and the declaration that God reigns. That Old Testament background is important because when Jesus begins proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, He’s announcing that God’s promises are being fulfilled. The promised Messiah has come, and God’s kingdom is drawing near through Him.

Then Jesus goes to the cross and rises from the dead, and the apostles proclaim how God’s saving purposes have been accomplished through His death and resurrection. So we shouldn’t separate the gospel Jesus preached from the gospel Paul preached. They’re part of the same message. Jesus is the promised King. He died for our sins, rose again, and reigns. The gospel includes the message of salvation, but it’s also the announcement of God’s saving reign through Jesus Christ. And when we understand that, we begin to see why Jesus talked so much about the kingdom.

THE CHURCH WAS NEVER JUST A BUILDING

Now let’s go back to the word church. Most of us use that word to describe a building or a Sunday service. We say we’re going to church, leaving church, or looking for a church, and everybody knows what we mean. But the Greek word ekklēsia wasn’t primarily describing a building. It referred to an assembly or gathering of people, and it wasn’t exclusively a religious word. In Acts 19, the same word is used for a civic gathering in Ephesus. So when Jesus says in Matthew 16:18 that He will build His church, He’s talking about the people He is gathering as His own.

Now look at what Jesus says around that statement. He talks about the gates of Hades, the keys of the kingdom, and binding and loosing. There’s authority and kingdom responsibility involved. When we continue reading the New Testament, we see believers described as the body of Christ. We’re called ambassadors for Christ. We’re told to make disciples, proclaim the gospel, pray, serve one another, and stand against the schemes of the devil. The church was never supposed to be a group of people who show up at a building once a week, listen to somebody preach, and then go home as though that’s the extent of their Christian responsibility.

We are the people Christ has redeemed, gathered, equipped, and sent into the world. There’s a spiritual authority connected to belonging to Him, we are governmental ambassadors of His kingdom on the earth. His kingdom doesn’t operate the way worldly kingdoms do. But it does mean the church has responsibilities that go far beyond what happens inside a building. When we understand that, we begin to see why the New Testament places so much emphasis on every believer having a part in the work of the body of Christ.

REPENTANCE ISN’T JUST SAYING YOU’RE SORRY

Let’s talk about repentance, because I think this is one of the most misunderstood words in Christianity. When people hear repent, they often think it means feeling bad about something they’ve done. But you can feel bad about something and still have no intention of changing. Second Corinthians 7:10 tells us that godly grief produces repentance. So sorrow and repentance are connected, but they’re not exactly the same thing. The Greek word metanoeō involves a change of mind or understanding, but when we look at the way repentance is taught throughout Scripture, we see that it isn’t supposed to stop with changing our thoughts. It involves turning toward God.

Think about somebody who gets caught doing something wrong. They might cry, apologize, and tell everybody how terrible they feel. But what exactly are they sorry about? Are they grieving over the sin itself, or are they upset because they got caught and now have to deal with the consequences? There’s a difference. Somebody can confess that what they did was wrong and still continue doing it. Confession acknowledges the sin, godly sorrow grieves over it, and repentance involves turning away from it and turning toward God. A picture I like is a soldier being told to make an about-face. He doesn’t just stand there and announce that he’s changed his mind about the direction he’s going. He turns around. That’s an illustration rather than the literal Greek definition, but it helps us understand what repentance looks like.

John the Baptist told people in Matthew 3:8 to bear fruit consistent with repentance. Paul said in Acts 26:20 that people should repent, turn to God, and demonstrate that repentance through their deeds. That doesn’t mean we earn forgiveness by doing enough good things. We’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. But the Bible doesn’t teach that we can knowingly cling to sin, refuse to turn from it, and then treat repentance as nothing more than saying, “Lord, forgive me.” Jesus began preaching by calling people to repent and believe the gospel. Peter preached repentance, and Paul preached repentance. It was part of the message from the beginning.

This is also why we need to be careful with Romans 10:9. Yes, the Bible tells us to confess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised Him from the dead. But we, also, can’t ignore everything else Scripture teaches about repentance and faith. Saying the right words doesn’t automatically mean someone has truly given their life to Christ. Salvation isn’t something we earn by being good enough, but it also isn’t about asking Jesus to forgive our sins while having no desire to turn away from them. And repentance doesn’t mean we’ll never sin again or struggle with temptation. It means we’ve made a real decision to turn away from sin and follow Jesus, even though we’re still growing and learning along the way.

FAITH IS MORE THAN BELIEVING GOD EXISTS

Faith is another word we use constantly, but sometimes I wonder whether we’ve made it mean little more than agreeing that something is true. I can tell you I believe George Washington existed, but that doesn’t mean I personally trust George Washington. I’m acknowledging a historical fact. The Greek word pistis can carry the meaning of faith, belief, trust, faithfulness, or reliability, depending on the passage. And James gives us something to think about when he says in James 2:19 that even the demons believe God is one, and they shudder. Demons know God exists. They recognize who Jesus is. We see that throughout the Gospels. But knowing facts about God isn’t the same thing as trusting God.

Hebrews 11 gives us example after example of what faith looks like. Noah believed what God said about the coming judgment, so he built the ark. Abraham believed God and left his homeland without knowing exactly where he was going. Moses trusted God’s promises enough to identify with God’s people instead of holding on to the privileges of Egypt. Their actions didn’t purchase God’s promises. Their actions showed that they believed the One who made those promises. That’s why James can say that faith without works is dead. He’s not telling us to earn salvation through good behavior. He’s confronting the idea that somebody can claim to have faith while showing no evidence that they actually trust God.

And this connects right back to repentance. Repentance involves turning toward God, and faith involves trusting the One we’re turning toward. Neither one means we’re going to live perfectly. Christians still struggle, we still face temptation, and we still have areas where God is working on us. But biblical faith is more than acknowledging that Jesus existed or agreeing with facts about His life. It’s placing our trust in Him and allowing that trust to affect how we live.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE ACTUALLY MEAN BY SOUL?

Now this one is especially interesting because I think our modern understanding of the word soul can cause us to miss some things in the Old Testament. When most people hear soul, they picture an invisible part of a person living inside the physical body. They think of the body as the outside and the soul as the real person inside. But the Hebrew word nephesh has a much broader meaning. Depending on the passage, it can refer to a living being, a person, someone’s life, the self, appetite, desire, or what English translations call the soul.

Genesis 2:7 is a great place to start. God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, breathed into him the breath of life, and Adam became a living creature. The Hebrew expression is nephesh chayyah, meaning a living being. Notice that Adam became a living nephesh. The verse doesn’t describe God creating Adam’s body and then placing something called a nephesh inside it. It describes Adam becoming a living being when God gave him life. And here’s something else that’s interesting. The same expression is used in Genesis 1 when talking about living creatures in the water and on the earth. That doesn’t mean humans and animals are the same, because Scripture clearly teaches that humanity was created in God’s image. But it does show us that nephesh doesn’t automatically mean an immortal spiritual part that only humans possess.

The word can also mean a person. Genesis 46:27 uses nephesh when counting the people in Jacob’s household who went to Egypt. And then there’s the connection between nephesh and appetite or desire. The word can be associated with the throat, hunger, thirst, and longing. Think about how physical thirst affects your whole body. When you’re desperately thirsty, you don’t just have an intellectual understanding that you need water. You feel that need. Now read Psalm 42:2, where the psalmist speaks about his soul thirsting for the living God. That Hebrew word is nephesh. We can read that and picture some invisible part of the person being thirsty, but the language can express the longing of the whole living person. He’s longing for God the way a thirsty creature longs for water.

And I love the connection we can make with John 7, where Jesus invites those who are thirsty to come to Him and drink. John explains that Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit. God breathed life into Adam, and Adam became a living being. The psalmist describes his nephesh thirsting for God, and Jesus calls the thirsty to come to Him. Those passages aren’t all using the same original-language word, but they give us a beautiful picture of life coming from God and our need for Him.

There’s another use of nephesh that might surprise people. In Numbers 19, the word is used in expressions referring to a dead person. That would sound strange if we insisted that nephesh always meant an invisible soul that leaves the body at death. But when we understand that the word can refer to a person or living being, it makes sense. Now, for clarity. None of this means the Bible teaches that humans are only physical beings or that there’s no conscious existence beyond death. Jesus speaks about both soul and body in Matthew 10:28, and Paul talks about departing and being with Christ in Philippians 1:23. We have to consider those passages too. We can’t take one word study and use it to dismiss everything else Scripture teaches. The point is that when we see the English word soul, especially in the Old Testament, we need to ask what the Hebrew word means in that particular passage.

SPIRIT, BREATH, AND WIND

We run into something similar with the word spirit. The Hebrew word ruach and the Greek word pneuma can both refer to breath, wind, or spirit, depending on how they’re used. That doesn’t mean those things are always interchangeable, but it does mean the original languages connect ideas that require different English words. Jesus uses that connection in John 3:8 when He compares the work of the Spirit to the wind. We can’t see the wind itself, but we can recognize what it does. Jesus uses that picture while explaining the work of the Spirit.

Ezekiel 37 gives us another fascinating example. In the vision of the dry bones, Ezekiel sees a valley full of bones. God tells him to prophesy, and the bones begin coming together. But even after the bodies are formed, there’s no breath in them. Then God commands Ezekiel to prophesy concerning the breath so that they will live. The Hebrew word ruach appears throughout that passage, and the language connects breath, wind, and Spirit. Later, God explains the vision in connection with restoring Israel and putting His Spirit within His people. So the vision isn’t just about skeletons coming back to life. It’s communicating God’s promise to restore His people, using the picture of life returning to what was dead. When we understand the Hebrew word being used, we can see how those ideas connect throughout the passage.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS MORE THAN HEAVEN

When Jesus talks about the kingdom of God, I think many Christians automatically picture heaven as the place we’ll go when we die. But that’s not all Jesus was talking about. The Greek word basileia can refer to kingship, royal authority, rule, reign, or kingdom. So when Jesus announces that the kingdom of God is at hand, He’s not just saying that heaven is nearby. He’s announcing that God’s promised reign is being revealed through Him.

And this takes us right back to the gospel. Jesus preached the good news of the kingdom because the promised King had come. Throughout His ministry, we see Him demonstrating that authority. He heals the sick, casts out demons, forgives sins, confronts evil, and calls people to follow Him. But the Bible also talks about the future fullness of God’s kingdom. So there’s a present reality to Christ’s reign, and there’s also a future fulfillment we’re still waiting for. When we read about the kingdom, we need to think beyond a place called heaven. We need to think about the King, His authority, His reign, and the promises God is bringing to fulfillment through Jesus Christ.

WHEN PAUL TALKS ABOUT THE FLESH, HE ISN’T ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT THE BODY

This is another word that can cause confusion, especially when studying Paul’s letters. The Greek word sarx is commonly translated as flesh. Sometimes it refers to actual physical flesh. Other times it refers to natural human ancestry, weakness, or fallen human desires. Romans 9:3 gives us a good example. Paul talks about his fellow Israelites as his kinsmen according to the flesh. He’s not saying they’re his sinful relatives. He’s talking about their shared ancestry. But when Paul talks about living according to the flesh in Romans 8, he’s describing a different idea. He’s contrasting a life governed by fallen human desires with a life governed by the Holy Spirit.

And we need to be careful not to turn that into the idea that our physical bodies are evil. God created the human body. Jesus took on a real human body. Jesus rose bodily from the dead, and Scripture promises believers a bodily resurrection. Paul even tells believers that their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. So the body itself isn’t the problem. The problem is allowing sinful desires to rule us instead of submitting ourselves to God. Being hungry isn’t sinful. Being tired isn’t sinful. Having emotions isn’t sinful. Even experiencing sexual desire isn’t automatically sinful. God created human sexuality and established its proper place within marriage. The issue is what we do with those desires and whether we’re allowing them to lead us away from obedience to God. So when Paul warns believers not to make provision for the flesh in Romans 13:14, he’s warning us not to feed the desires that pull us away from Christ.

WHY THE BIBLE USES DIFFERENT WORDS FOR HELL

When we hear the English word hell, we usually picture one specific place. But several different Hebrew and Greek words have historically been translated with that English word. In the Old Testament, Sheol often refers to the realm of the dead or the grave. The Greek word Hades is used in a similar way and often corresponds with Sheol. Then we have Gehenna, which is connected with the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem and becomes language associated with divine judgment in Jesus’ teaching. And in 2 Peter 2:4, Peter uses a Greek verb related to Tartarus when discussing sinful angels being kept for judgment.

These words are connected with death and judgment, but they don’t all mean exactly the same thing. Revelation 20:14 is a good example of why this matters because that passage says Death and Hades are thrown into the lake of fire. So if Hades is being thrown into the lake of fire, we need to recognize that the passage is distinguishing between the two. That doesn’t mean final judgment isn’t real. It means we should be careful about treating every biblical word associated with death and judgment as though it refers to the exact same thing. When we study these passages, we need to ask what word is being used, who is being discussed, and what the writer is actually describing.

WHAT DOES BIBLICAL LOVE REALLY LOOK LIKE?

I want to come back to love because this is probably one of the clearest examples of how modern assumptions can change the way people understand Scripture. We use the word love for all kinds of things. We love our families, our friends, our spouses, and sometimes we say we love pizza or coffee. Obviously, we don’t mean the same thing every time. Greek also has different words associated with love and affection, but I think people sometimes make those differences more rigid than Scripture does.

One of the most familiar Greek words is agapē, along with the verb agapaō. John 3:16 uses this word family when describing God’s love for the world. And notice how that love is demonstrated. God loved, and He gave His Son. First Corinthians 13 also uses agapē when Paul describes what love looks like. He talks about patience, kindness, humility, endurance, and rejoicing with the truth. So biblical love isn’t just a feeling. It shows itself through actions.

Another Greek word is phileō, which often expresses affection or fondness. You may have heard teachings that describe agapē as God’s perfect love and phileō as a lower form of friendship, but Scripture doesn’t always use the words that way. In John 16:27, Jesus says that the Father Himself loves His disciples, and the Greek word used is phileō. So we can’t claim that phileō is always some inferior form of love. This becomes especially interesting in John 21 when Jesus asks Peter whether he loves Him. Both agapaō and phileō appear in that conversation. Some people teach that Jesus is asking Peter for a higher kind of love while Peter keeps answering with a weaker kind. There may be nuances worth discussing, but we have to be careful about building the entire meaning of that conversation around a strict difference between those two words. John uses them with overlap elsewhere in his writings, and the larger context of John 21 is about Peter’s restoration and Jesus’ commission for him to care for His sheep.

There are other Greek words associated with love too. Storgē relates to natural or family affection, and related forms appear in the New Testament. Romans 12:10 uses language associated with family affection and brotherly love when describing how believers should treat one another. Then there’s erōs, which is associated with romantic or erotic love. Interestingly, that particular Greek word doesn’t appear in the New Testament. That doesn’t mean the Bible doesn’t talk about romantic love. It means we need to be careful about assuming every Greek word we hear discussed in sermons is actually found in the biblical text.

And the Old Testament has its own love language. The Hebrew word ahavah, related to ahav, can describe different kinds of love. It’s used when talking about Abraham’s love for Isaac, Jacob’s love for Rachel, and God’s love for His people. So even in Hebrew, one word can be used across different relationships. The context tells us what kind of love is being described.

But here’s where I really want to bring this home. Our culture has developed an idea of love that often revolves around making people feel accepted and affirmed. And while love certainly involves kindness, compassion, and mercy, Scripture gives us a much fuller picture. Biblical love also involves truth. Jesus didn’t stop loving people when He corrected them. He didn’t stop loving people when He called them to repentance. He didn’t stop loving people when He confronted hypocrisy or warned about judgment. In Revelation 3:19, Jesus connects His love with correction and discipline. So when somebody says that love means never confronting sin, they’re using a definition that doesn’t line up with the whole of Scripture.

Now, that doesn’t give us permission to be hateful or cruel. Speaking truth doesn’t excuse pride, arrogance, or a lack of compassion. But love and truth aren’t enemies. And this becomes especially important when we read 1 John 4:8, where Scripture tells us that God is love. We can’t take whatever our culture currently believes love should mean and then demand that God fit into that definition. We have to look at God Himself, His holiness, mercy, righteousness, justice, patience, faithfulness, and the way He revealed His love through Jesus Christ. We don’t get to redefine God according to our understanding of love. We need to allow God to define love for us.

LEARNING TO STUDY SCRIPTURE WITHOUT BRINGING OUR OWN CONCLUSIONS INTO IT

After going through all these examples, I think the biggest thing we need to learn is how to approach Scripture without already deciding what we want it to say. When I study a passage, I want to know who’s speaking, who they’re speaking to, what’s happening, and what the surrounding verses are saying. If there’s a word I want to understand better, I can look at the original Hebrew or Greek, but I also need to see how that word is being used in the passage and how the biblical writer uses it elsewhere. Sometimes historical background helps. Sometimes comparing other passages helps. Sometimes looking at a different English translation makes something clearer. But after all that studying, we need to come back to the passage itself.

It’s easy to get caught up in Greek definitions, Hebrew roots, ancient customs, and historical information until we’ve completely lost sight of what we originally came to understand. And we need to be willing to admit when we don’t know something. I think sometimes Christians feel pressured to have an answer for every question, but the Bible doesn’t answer every question we might ask. There is a difference between what God has revealed and what we’re trying to figure out, and we shouldn’t turn our guesses into doctrine.

The same goes for things we’ve been taught our entire lives. Just because a particular interpretation is familiar doesn’t mean we’ve examined it carefully. We need to be willing to go back and read the passage for ourselves. And if we discover that something we’ve believed doesn’t line up with Scripture, we should be willing to change our understanding. That’s part of growing in the knowledge of God’s Word.

WORDS MATTER, ESPECIALLY WHEN WE’RE HANDLING GOD’S WORD

I want to end with something that I think is important for every Christian, but especially for those who teach, preach, or regularly discuss Scripture with other people. Words matter. The Bible begins with God speaking. In Genesis 1, God speaks, and creation responds to His command. When Jesus begins His ministry, He comes proclaiming a message. He announces the kingdom, calls people to repentance, and tells them to believe the gospel. Those words weren’t meaningless religious expressions. They communicated something specific, and if we start changing what those words mean, we can eventually change the message we think Jesus was preaching.

But there’s another side to this. We also need to be careful with the words that come out of our own mouths. Proverbs 18:21 speaks about death and life being in the power of the tongue. Jesus warns in Matthew 12:36 that people will give an account for careless words. James 3 compares the tongue to a small fire that can set an entire forest ablaze. Words can encourage people or tear them down. They can communicate truth or spread deception. They can help somebody understand Scripture or leave them more confused than before. And when we’re teaching God’s Word, that responsibility becomes even greater. James 3:1 warns that teachers will be judged with greater strictness.

I think about that when I consider how confidently people sometimes make claims about Scripture without ever checking whether those claims are accurate. We need to be careful about saying, “The Bible says…” when what we’re actually repeating is somebody else’s interpretation. We need to be careful about saying, “The Greek really means…” when we haven’t examined whether that definition fits the passage. And we need to be careful about allowing our church traditions, personal experiences, or modern culture to determine what we think God’s Word should mean.

None of us approaches Scripture without assumptions. We’ve all been influenced by things we’ve heard, things we’ve experienced, and things we’ve been taught. But are we willing to allow Scripture to correct those assumptions? Because there’s a difference between knowing what a Bible verse says and understanding what that verse means. And there’s a difference between using Scripture to support our beliefs and allowing Scripture to shape our beliefs. We should never become so attached to a particular interpretation, theological system, denomination, or favorite teacher that we’re unwilling to examine what the Word actually says.

Our responsibility isn’t to make the Bible agree with us. It’s to make sure what we believe agrees with the Bible. And sometimes that means going back to a passage we’ve read a hundred times and realizing we may have been hearing it through modern ears instead of understanding what the biblical writer was actually communicating. That’s why I believe studying the historical setting, original languages, and context of Scripture is worth the effort. We’re not trying to discover some secret meaning nobody else has ever found. We want to understand God’s Word as faithfully as we can.

God chose to reveal His truth through words. Jesus is called the Word. The gospel is proclaimed through words, and we’ve been entrusted with the responsibility of handling those words faithfully. So before we teach something, we need to make sure we’ve studied it. Before we repeat something, we need to make sure it’s actually biblical. And before we insist that our interpretation is correct, we need to be willing to go back and examine the context.

The Bible doesn’t need us to change its meaning to fit the world we live in. We need to allow the Word of God to change the way we understand the world. And if studying Scripture reveals that something we’ve always believed isn’t what the passage actually teaches, then we need to be willing to let go of that assumption. That’s part of growing, learning, and becoming better students of the Word.

Selah.