Many Christians struggle to know how to understand and apply the Bible. Today I’m really excited to show you this very simple four step process that can help you study and obey God’s Word on your own. These questions can be used in any Bible passage and can help you in your own Bible reading, in Sunday School, or in small groups.

By using this four step process to interpret the Bible, we will see that every single passage in the Bible is relevant to our lives and every passage can be applied. This way to interpret the Bible has really helped me as I have studied God’s Word and taught it to small groups for two decades.

I have used it thousands of times and I believe it will help you too. Even better, it is simple and does not require a theology degree.

Then we are going to practice with a couple of obscure Bible passages to show that it does work.

A Powerful Tool to Understand Any Bible Passage

Many Christians struggle to know how to understand the Bible and apply it to their lives. Today I want to show you a very simple four-step process that can help you study and obey God’s word on your own. These questions can be used in any Bible passage and can help you in your own Bible reading, preparing Sunday school, preparing small groups, and preaching. Whenever you engage with God’s word, this tool can help.

By using this four-step process to interpret the Bible, we’ll see that every single passage in the Bible is relevant to our lives today. Every passage can be applied, no matter how obscure it is. This way of interpreting the Bible has really helped me as I’ve studied God’s word and used it to teach small groups for two decades. I’ve used it thousands of times and I believe it will help you too. Even better, it’s very simple. It does not require a theology degree.

After we go through these four questions, we’ll actually use them to practice on a couple of obscure Bible passages to show that this does indeed work.

The Four Questions

The first question: what did it mean to the original audience? The second: what are the differences between then and now? The third: what is the universal principle that is still applicable? And fourth: how can we apply it to our lives today?

A lot of times when we sit down to have a Bible study, we might ask something like this: “What does this passage mean to you?” That’s actually the wrong place to start. That starts with us in our modern town, in our modern lives, and we then become basically the judge of what the Bible is and what it means. It doesn’t really matter, at least not originally, what the Bible means to you. What matters is what it means. What is the original meaning of the Bible?

To picture this, imagine two towns on either side of a river. On one side is an ancient town, representing the original biblical audience in their own time and place. On the other side is a modern town, representing our lives today, 2,000 or more years later. The river in the middle represents the differences between then and now. And the bridge connecting the two towns represents the universal principle, the truth we can carry from the ancient town into the modern town. The goal of Bible study is to cross that bridge.

Question 1: What Did It Mean to the Original Audience?

You want to start here. Start with the historical context. Start with the context of the whole Bible, the context of that book, and of that location. For example, when Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jews and Samaritans were not friends. They were enemies. So we have to understand what that meant to the original audience. Loving your neighbor meant loving your enemy, loving people who are hostile to you, loving people who are bitter and have resentment toward you. That’s what it means to start with the original audience.

Question 2: What Are the Differences Between Then and Now?

In the case of the parable of the Good Samaritan, there aren’t really any Samaritans around anymore. What about the language? What about the time? What about the situation? How is our situation different from theirs back then?

Sometimes that river is very narrow and we can find very little difference between our modern life and theirs. But in some places in the Bible, that river is very wide. When you look at Solomon, for example, and Solomon had so many wives, my kids say, “Wow, he had a thousand wives, how is that possible?” We can see that the river is very wide. The life of an ancient king in the Middle East is very different from our modern lives today.

Question 3: What Is the Universal Principle That Is Still Applicable?

This is the key point. When you’re interpreting the Bible, you need to find what is the principle that can still be applied today. What is the principle that applied to them back then and also applies to us today?

If you look at the Ten Commandments, for example: not to make any idols or graven images. At that time, basically every single religion in the world made idols and graven images and carried them around as good luck charms or as superstitious devices that would supposedly bring protection. When God told them not to do this, he was saying, “Don’t be like all of the other nations around you.” For many of us in the Western world, we don’t see idols and amulets and charms. So there are a lot of differences between then and now. But the universal principle is: don’t have any idols. Don’t have anything else that is more important than God. God is number one and we should worship God only.

Question 4: How Can We Apply It to Our Lives Today?

A lot of times in Bible study, we go to one extreme or the other, and both are not good.

Perhaps you’ve been to a Bible study where they talk about the ancient text, the historical situation, the original languages and everything going on in history, but they never bring that knowledge or those applications into our lives today. That’s just like studying history. You come away saying, “I learned a lot, but I don’t feel like it really impacted my life. It didn’t really change how I live.” That kind of study can be very dry, very academic, and not very helpful for life transformation.

Perhaps you’ve been to another kind of study where they immediately ask what the passage means to you, and everybody shares their feelings, their ideas, their perspectives. But maybe it’s not very biblical. Maybe a lot of the ideas and opinions shared have no real connection to the Bible text. Maybe the text is read very quickly, very surfacy, and then people jump into their own ideas. Is it a Bible study or is it just everybody sharing their own feelings?

A lot of Bible studies go one of those two extreme routes: either staying in the ancient town, so the passage feels irrelevant, or staying only in the modern town, so it isn’t really scriptural. There’s no real power from God there. It’s just our own ideas. The key to a healthy Bible study group, or healthy personal Bible study, is you need to look at both. You need to look at the original audience, the ancient town, and you need to look at how it applies to our modern lives today. You connect those two through what I call the principalizing bridge, or the universal principle.

There is only one meaning for any passage. One correct interpretation. But there are many possible applications.

Three Examples

Some of this may seem academic so far. Let me demonstrate with a few actual scriptures. I’ve chosen a couple of rather obscure passages to show that this is relevant for every single Bible passage.

Example 1: Deuteronomy 20:19-20 (Fruit Trees and Sieges)

“When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you? Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siege works against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.”

A lot of times if you were to read a passage like this in the Old Testament you would just skip over it. You would think, what does this have to do with my life today? But if we look at this four-step process we will see that this passage is also very relevant.

What did it mean to the original audience?

The people of Israel were commanded that when they did a siege against a city, they were not to cut down a fruit tree. If the tree had food, they were not to destroy it. They were going into the promised land and performing a conquest, driving out the inhabitants and taking over their cities. They would have been cutting down trees to make siege works, battering rams, bows and arrows, and they were to be careful not to cut down the trees that would provide fruit.

What are the differences between then and now?

Well, I have never been involved in a siege. I’ve never been a soldier. I’ve never been in the army. Have I ever cut down a tree? I think I’ve helped cut down a couple. But certainly not for performing a siege. Have I even ever had a fruit tree? My grandparents had nut trees, and maybe one of my houses had a fruit tree, but basically I haven’t even grown my own fruit. I live in China and we order most food delivered to our door. A guy on an electric bicycle brings it over. So there are a lot of differences between then and now. That river between the ancient town and the modern town is very, very wide.

What is the universal principle?

It’s best if you can write the universal principle in one sentence, not a paragraph or a mini-sermon, just one sentence. I would put it like this: we should be good stewards of the resources that God has given to us. You don’t want to be too narrow and say “the universal principle is to not cut down fruit trees that you need,” because then it’s not really relevant to life today. You want a principle that was relevant to them then and is also relevant now. Be a good steward. Whatever resources God has given to you, be a good steward of them.

God was telling them, 3,500 years ago, be a good steward. They were good stewards by not cutting down the trees that would give them food in the future, not trading long-term sustenance for instant gratification. Don’t cut down the tree just so you can burn the wood right now and then regret it years later. Don’t make choices now that you’re going to regret in the future. That starts to become very powerful.

How can we apply it to our lives today?

We should be good stewards of the environment. You shouldn’t overfish. You shouldn’t hunt to the point of wiping out species, because that’s taking away sustainable food for future generations, for your children and grandchildren. Those resources will be gone forever. We could also consider the long-term fertility and sustainability of fields, forests, and water. Other applications: don’t litter, don’t destroy the beautiful places God has given us to enjoy. The park, the beach, the mountain, the hiking trail. These are beautiful places God has given us to enjoy nature and draw closer to him. We shouldn’t destroy those resources.

Another application would be in finance: choose to invest money wisely to produce a long-term income stream instead of spending everything right away for short-term gratification. I often talk to my kids about this. You can buy something in the shop, or you can buy the same thing online for two or three times cheaper and wait a few days. But they say, “I want it right now.” That’s what our society is often like. The point of this passage in Deuteronomy 20 is that instant gratification is bad. Delayed gratification is good. Make the choice for the long-term perspective rather than the short-term one. You could even apply it to debt: don’t rack up credit card debt buying things for now. Save money first and only buy it when you have enough.

You start to see this applies to a lot of things. This passage in Deuteronomy 20, which originally looked like it was not applicable at all, is in fact very, very applicable.

Example 2: Deuteronomy 22:1-2 (The Lost Ox)

“You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep going astray and ignore them. You shall take them back to your brother. And if he does not live near you and you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home to your house. It shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then you shall restore it to him.”

Basically, if you see someone’s ox or sheep gone astray, take them back and restore them to their owner.

What did it mean to the original audience?

Very simple. It meant that as you’re out and about and you see a random ox or donkey or sheep wandering around, don’t just walk past and leave it there. Take it back to your house, figure out whose it is, and return it to that person.

What are the differences between then and now?

I live in a city of over 10 million people, Guangzhou, China, and I have never seen an ox or a sheep or a donkey wandering around. The only way I normally see a cow or an ox is on my dinner plate when I eat a steak. So the differences are significant.

What is the universal principle?

We could make it really broad and say: love your neighbor as yourself. Or if we want to make it a little more narrow: make the time to return lost items to others. Both are true, both are accurate, both are biblical based on this text in Deuteronomy 22.

How can we apply it today?

If you go with the narrower principle, return lost items to people: maybe you don’t see a lost ox or sheep, but you see a lost cell phone. Instead of leaving it there, which is more convenient, you pick it up and try to figure out whose it is and return it. Return lost cash, return a lost wallet, return a lost dog.

If you go with the broader principle, love your neighbor as yourself, that opens up the opportunities for application even more. If your neighbor’s out of town, you can go water their plants, or take care of their pets while they’re gone. The applications are almost unlimited.

The fallen condition back then is the same as ours now: people don’t want to spend their time helping others. It’s easier and more convenient to ignore the situation instead of helping. We have the same fallen condition today. Good thing that Christ reached out and helped us. We should do the same.

Example 3: Matthew 13:44-46 (The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl)

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys the field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

What did it mean to the original audience?

They would understand it as a parable. It meant that God’s kingdom is greater and more important than anything else. More important than their business, their possessions, more important than anything else.

What are the differences between then and now?

I haven’t bought a field before. I haven’t gone around digging in fields for treasures. Neither am I a merchant in search of fine pearls. But this one is much easier for us to understand than those passages in Deuteronomy. As we come to the New Testament, we find that the river becomes more and more narrow. The passages are easier and easier for us to recognize.

What is the universal principle?

The universal principle is that the kingdom of God is greater and more important than anything else in our lives. And that’s basically the same lesson that the original audience would have gotten. So in this case, the river is much more narrow.

How can we apply it to our lives today?

You tell me. Is there a job that is too important and taking up too much of your time? Maybe you have to lie for this job. Is there some possession you are too focused on? Is there some hobby taking up too much of your time? Only you know. This is where the Holy Spirit does his work. He convicts us according to scripture and according to our own situation, but he does it by using the word of God.

Getting Started

I hope that this tool will be encouraging to you as you interpret the Bible. You can use it in your own Bible reading time and as you prepare Bible studies for others. At the beginning, just pick some passages, any passages, Old and New Testament, and go through them with these four questions. Practice, keep practicing, and especially practice writing down a one-sentence universal principle.

Start with the ancient town, ask about the differences, find the universal principle, and then come up with applications. Coming up with applications is the last step. Every Bible passage is meaningful and relevant. This four-step process shows us that that is the case. As you do it, your Bible study will come alive, you will see what is the true meaning of the text, and God will use that to transform your life and to transform others as you bring the word to them.