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Before beginning any Bible study, pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you as you study god’s word.
KJV James 1:5
5. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
KJV John 16:13
13. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
HOW DID JESUS COMMUNICATE TRUTH TO HIS LISTENERS?
KJV Matthew 13:34-35
34. All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them:
35. That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.
KJV Mark 4:33-34
33. And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.
34. But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.
Thus, all the sayings of Jesus have a parable meaning or a meaning beyond their surface meaning.
All the sayings of Christ have a value beyond their unpretending appearance.
He taught spiritual lessons in every miracle performed.
WHY DID JESUS SPEAK IN PARABLES?
KJV Mark 4:2
2. And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
KJV Matthew 13:10
10. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables,
Jesus spoke in parables to teach doctrine to His disciples and to hide it from others who were not willing to Search the Scriptures,
And use the principles of interpreting a parable that He showed them.
HOW DID JESUS OPEN THE SCRIPTURES TO HIS DISCIPLES?
KJV Mark 4:10
10. And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
KJV Mark 4:13
13. And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
KJV Luke 8:5
5. A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
KJV Luke 8:11
11. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
KJV Mark 4:14
14. The sower soweth the word.
KJV Luke 8:5
5. A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
KJV Luke 8:12
12. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
KJV Mark 4:15
15. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
KJV Matthew 13:19
19. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
The seed represents the .
The sower represents someone teaching the Word.
Those by the wayside represent those that hear the Word, but don’t understand it.
The Word (Bible) was sown in their hearts.
The devil takes away the Word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Jesus opened the understanding of the parable to His disciples by applying a to each of the in the parable. Since Jesus implies that if you can , you can , He was teaching the
Jesus said: “The seed is the word of God.” (Luke 8:11)
How do we know that? By comparing the .
KJV Ecclesiastes 11:6
6. In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
KJV Psalms 97:11
11. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
KJV Psalms 119:105
105. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
If seed is sown, and light is sown, and light is the word, then the. Just as Jesus said.
KJV Psalms 112:1-2
1. Praise ye the Lord. Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in his commandments.
2. His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed
KJV Isaiah 55:10-11
10. For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
Jesus compared scripture with scripture in order to give the to the in the parable.
THE BIBLICAL BASIS FOR THIS METHOD OF BIBLE STUDY
Jesus taught His disciples, using parables as the basis for learning doctrinal truth.
KJV Matthew 13:10-13
10. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
KJV Mark 4:2
2. And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
Jesus explained to His disciples the principles for understanding the parables.
KJV Mark 4:10-13
10. And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked of him the parable.
11. And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12. That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
13. And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?
The Bible says that “without a parable spake he not to them4, so all the words of Jesus are in parable form and have a deeper meaning then their surface appearance.
KJV Mark 4:33-34
33. And with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it.
34. But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples.
The method Jesus used to interpret the deeper meaning of the parables is clearly shown in the Bible. Jesus used real objects to represent spiritual things.
KJV Luke 8:5
5. A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the way side; and it was trodden down, and the fowls of the air devoured it.
KJV Luke 8:11
11. Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
KJV Mark 4:14
14. The sower soweth the word.
Jesus did not use His divinity to put a spiritual meaning on the real objects He used in His parables. He searched the Old Testament Scriptures to determine the spiritual meaning of the real objects.
After discovering the spiritual meaning of the real objects in the scriptures, Jesus then applied the spiritual meanings to the real objects that He used in His parables in order to interpret the spiritual truths that He wanted His disciples to understand.
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus wanted His disciples to understand his parables.
KJV Matthew 13:10-13
10. And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11. He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.
13. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
KJV Mark 4:2
2. And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,
He was not trying to hide the truth from them, but on the contrary was teaching them in the most effective way possible.
We are also the disciples of Jesus and He wants us to understand the parables also.
KJV John 8:31-32
31. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
32. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
KJV Acts 19:1-2
1. And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2. He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
KJV John 15:7-8
7. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.
If we follow the same method that Jesus used to interpret the parables, then we also will understand the deeper meaning of the parables.
Therefore, in order for us to understand a parable, the following steps that Jesus gave us as an example must be used:
1. Determine the real objects in the parables of Jesus.
2. Search the Scriptures (OT and NT) to determine the spiritual Meaning of each real object.
3. Apply the Spiritual meaning of each real object back into the parable.
Since Jesus is the author of all Scripture then it follows that Jesus would be consistent in the way that He would present Scripture, so that we would be able to understand all Scripture.
KJV 1 Thessalonians 2:13
13. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.
KJV 2 Timothy 3:15-17
15. And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
17. That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
The method that Jesus used to interpret the parables is the same method that can be used to interpret all scripture. This method is the comparison of scripture with scripture. Thus scripture is the key to unlock all scripture.
KJV 1 Corinthians 2:12-13
12. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
13. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
KJV Romans 15:4
4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
KJV Luke 24:27
27. And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
KJV Luke 24:44-45
44. And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
45. Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,
KJV John 5:39
39. Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
In order to be able to find the scriptures needed to compare with other scripture, it is very helpful to use a Concordance, such as Strongs Concordance, which lists every word that is in the King James Bible and therefore allows you to find any scripture desired.