Is the whole bible applicable for us today?

Answer Request:
The Bible seems like it is very difficult and boring to read through. How do most Christians commit to reading and analyzing the Bible?

The following bulleted point below is a simple guideline to remember when reading the Bible.

• "The whole bible is written for us, but not all of it is written to us." Put another way, "All the bible is for our learning, but not all of it is for our application."

When you understand the Bible dispensationally, and understand that the Bible is written to different people groups in different times, you will notice the need to divide the scriptures (2 Tim.2:15). Only when you divide the scriptures will the Bible really become clear and meaningful. When the opposite happens and people mix up the dispensational truths, it is then that confusion and contradictions arise and where the Bible does not make sense and become 'boring' due to all the rules and regulations, etc. Do some homework into rightly dividing the Word of truth and you will quickly learn that the Bible is exciting and real and applicable.

Let's consider our first example. We cannot just take what Jesus says to Nicodemus (in John 3:3-8) and think it applies to us directly. Jesus was a minister of the circumcision (Romans 15:8) and everything He taught was for the Jews only and applicable in the Kingdom program.

We are NOT in the Kingdom program today! So, if you take what Jesus spoke to Nicodemus and apply it to yourself, it will be as if you raid someone else's postbox and read their mail, and then apply all the advice in that mail to you. What happens if their mail was about the need to take heart medication for their weak heart? Would you then receive that advice as your own and go and take the heart medication? Absolutely not! You could be putting yourself in danger. Of course we can learn from the information in that mail and know that this medication is useful for a weak heart, but its certainly is not applicable to you (assuming you have a healthy heart). In the same way, not ALL scripture is addressed to you. We can learn from all scripture, but only specific parts of scripture is directly addressed to you and about you. The parts written for our dispensation are the parts 'dispensed' by God through Paul, being his 13-epistles. These epistles are our medicine. These are what we should study and act upon and apply and live out everyday.

Let's take another example. Consider the Psalms. In this age of grace we would not pray the prayer that David prayed below,

Psalms 51:11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

Since we are purchased by the blood of Christ today we cannot be cast away from God's presence. By Christ's cross work, we are holy and blameless in God's sight. Even now while we are still sinners in the flesh, our spirit man is already made righteous before God (2 Corinthians 5:21). Regarding the Holy Spirit, we are sealed with the indwelling Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13; Ephesians 4:30). Since the Spirit is within us, He cannot be taken from us, unlike the Old Testament prophets and kings where the Spirit rested upon them and could depart from them also.

In another place, David writes,

Psalms 7:8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me.

We are not judged according to our own righteousness and integrity today. Praise God for that!! We have already been judged and acquitted by Christ's righteousness and integrity. Not our own! We would not pray like David did in the age of grace.

Always keep in mind both 2 Timothy 2:15 and 2 Timothy 3:16-17. All scripture is profitable, but without rightly dividing you will adopt doctrine and promises that are not given to you.

Yes all scripture is profitable and gives us instruction in righteousness, and helps us understand God's character and His purpose for us, and helps us comprehend the ultimate works of Christ on our behalf, but all must be read in the light of what God is doing today in the dispensation of His grace as found in Paul's epistles. Paul is our apostle in this grace age (Romans 11:13) and his writing regarding the gospel of grace and the mysteries are directly applicable to us today.

You will do wise to study Paul's epistles and incorporate its advice into your life, but read the rest of the bible to simple understand how the big picture of God's plan comes together so that you can appreciate what God, through Christ, has done for you today, and for all eternity.