- Jacob Ninan
This easy-to-read book describes the Bible as the word of God, its origin, structure, inspiration, reliability, etc., and shows you how to interpret the Bible in the right way. It is especially important to understand how the process of inspiration took place with the participation of God and the human authors. Some of the many wrong ways of interpretation that have come up among Christians are also pointed out.
The chapters included are: 1. Introduction
2. What kind of a book is this?
3. The Bible we have now
4. Inspiration and authority
5. Literary styles
6. The old and the new covenants
7. Context
8. Understanding the Bible
9. ConclusionClick to read the book online Click to download PDF version.
The Kindle e-book version is available for purchase through Amazon.
A review in the Light of Life magazine, June 2014 Understanding the Bible - for ordinary Christians by Jacob Ninan
A book reviewThe church in India lacks good Bible teachers. Consequently, many zealous but untrained Bible teachers have mushroomed all over the country. Such teachers do not know how to interpret the scriptures and end up misleading the congregations. It is time for every educated Christian to learn how to read, understand, interpret and apply scripture to daily life.
If you desire to better understand the Bible and apply the word of God correctly, then you will benefit from reading this small but engaging book. In just 63 pages, Jacob Ninan has passionately, yet succinctly presented important guidelines for understanding and interpreting scripture.
The author clarifies the misunderstanding about modern translations and establishes the accuracy and authority of the Bible. Reading about the purpose behind different types of translations helps a reader to make an informed choice in selecting their Bible.
Jesus used parables, Solomon wrote proverbs, David sang psalms, kings recorded history and prophets proclaimed God’s word. The author describes how each of them has used different literary styles and therefore how important it is to interpret them appropriately. His illustrations amply bring home the point.
An average reader always struggled to come to terms with reading the whole Bible and not just the New Testament. The author challenges us to see them as covenants that God makes with His people and how the New Covenant was given in the place of the Old. He also illustrates how the New Testament must be interpreted in the light of the Old and vice versa.
A common error in understanding the scripture is taking portions of it from out of its context. With excellent examples the author guides the readers to avoid such errors and learn to take in the immediate and larger context in interpreting the scripture. Every reader will find this section very practical and most helpful.
Reading this book will help us not only to better understand the logos (written word of God) but I believe it will also help us to receive it as rhema (the spoken word of God), personally spoken to us.
Every serious reader of the Bible will benefit from this book. And it is a must read for anybody who has not gone to a Bible college but is a Bible teacher.
Dr. Samson Gandhi, Executive Director, Person to Person Institute for Christian Counselling, Secunderabad.
