Do You Need Help Understanding the Bible?

Have you ever opened up your Bible, read some verses, and then felt frustrated because you didn’t understand what you just read? Maybe you thought it was because you needed more education, or that you simply didn’t have the “brains” for it, or that the Bible just wasn’t for someone like you. 

You’re not alone in this struggle. It explains why for many, their Bibles end up unread on the shelf.  

But this doesn’t have to be the case.

God wants everyone to read and understand the Bible, since it reveals who He is, His plan for man, His salvation, and His eternal purpose. 

We hope this post will encourage you. We’ll show you how the New Testament Recovery Version with its amazing commentary notes can help you understand God’s precious Word and how it applies to your life. 

We need at least two things to understand the Bible

1. We need to pray

Ephesians 1:17 says:

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him.”

Here the apostle Paul didn’t pray for the believers to have a Ph.D. or a clever mind. He prayed they would have a spirit of wisdom and revelation. We all can pray for this: “Lord, grant me a spirit of wisdom and revelation so I can see You and know You fully in Your Word. I open my heart to You so You can reveal Yourself to me.” The Lord would be happy to answer such a prayer.

2. We need guidance and help

In addition to prayer, we need guidance. We can receive much help from others who’ve seen more than we have in God’s Word. 

A story in the book of Acts vividly shows the need for guidance when it comes to understanding God’s Word. Acts 8 describes the interaction between Philip the evangelist and an Ethiopian man. Let’s read that story here in verses 26–31:

“But an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, Rise up and go south on the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is the desert route. And he rose up and went. And behold, an Ethiopian man, a eunuch, a man in power under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was over all her treasure, had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning and was sitting in his chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot. And when Philip ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, Do you really know the things that you are reading? And he said, How could I unless someone guides me? And he entreated Philip to come up and sit with him.”

This man of power under the Queen of the Ethiopians was certainly educated and capable. But even so, he couldn’t understand what he was reading. He told Philip he needed someone to guide him so he could know what it meant.

The story continues. Acts 8:32–35 says:

“Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: ‘As a sheep He was led to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so He does not open His mouth. In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. Who shall declare His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth.’ And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I beseech you, Concerning whom does the prophet say this? Concerning himself or concerning someone else? And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he announced Jesus as the gospel to him.” 

The Ethiopian man was reading Isaiah 53, one of the most striking passages in the Old Testament that prophesied in detail the life, death, and resurrection of the coming Savior. Philip explained to him that in this passage Isaiah was speaking of Jesus. 

From the Scriptures, Philip announced Jesus as the gospel to him, and verses 36–39 say what happened:

“And as they were going along the road, they came upon some water, and the eunuch said, Look, water. What prevents me from being baptized? And Philip said, If you believe from all your heart, you will be saved. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he ordered the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away; and the eunuch did not see him anymore, for he went on his way rejoicing.”

We should never feel ashamed about needing help to understand the Bible. If the Ethiopian man had been too embarrassed to say that he, an educated man in power, needed guidance, he would have missed seeing Jesus Christ the Savior in the book of Isaiah. Because he received Philip’s guidance, he was saved, baptized, and went on his way full of rejoicing.

The explanatory notes in the Recovery Version can help us

Just like the Ethiopian man, we might not understand what we read in the Bible, even after we’ve read it over and over. Or we might speed through a section or even skip it altogether because we think it’s unimportant. 

A case in point is the very first page of the New Testament, the starting point for many when they begin to read the Bible. This first page begins with the genealogy of Jesus Christ in Matthew 1:1-17. It’s easy to skip over the lengthy list of who begat whom, and start reading at verse 18.

But let’s begin with reading that very first verse, Matthew 1:1: 

“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”

Why does the New Testament start like this?  

Let’s see how the notes in the New Testament Recovery Version can help us.

Note 1 on Jesus in Matthew 1:1 explains:

“The first name and the last name (Rev. 22:21) in the New Testament is Jesus, proving that Jesus Christ is the subject and content of the New Testament.

The Bible is a book of life, and this life is a living person, the wonderful and all-inclusive Christ. The Old Testament gives a portrait, in types and prophecies, of this wonderful person as the Coming One. Now, in the New Testament, this wonderful person has come. The first page of the New Testament, in recommending this wonderful person to us, gives us His genealogy. This genealogy can be considered an abstract of the Old Testament, which in itself is the detailed genealogy of Christ. To understand the genealogy in Matthew, we need to trace the origin and history of every incident.”

This first note on the very first verse in the New Testament helps us to see that Jesus Christ is the subject and content of the entire New Testament. So as we read any book of the New Testament, our major focus should simply be on the person of Jesus Christ. And in His genealogy is a rich revelation of this living, wonderful, and all-inclusive Person.

Now let’s go on to the genealogy. The Recovery Version provides notes on many of the people included in Christ’s genealogy, such as Isaac, Jacob, Rahab, Ruth, David, Solomon, and others. These notes do more than cover historical facts. They shed spiritual light on the history of each person. They enlighten us to know and appreciate the Lord Jesus.

For example, let’s read about Rahab, one of only five women mentioned in the genealogy. Matthew 1:5 says, “And Salmon begot Boaz of Rahab.” Who was Rahab, and why is she specifically mentioned here in Christ’s genealogy?

Note 1 on this verse in the Recovery Version explains:

“Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho (Josh. 2:1), a place cursed by God for eternity (Josh. 6:26). After she turned to God and God’s people (Josh. 6:22-23, 25; Heb. 11:31) and married Salmon, a leader of Judah, the leading tribe (1 Chron. 2:10-11), she brought forth Boaz, a godly man, out of whom Christ came. Regardless of our background, if we turn to God and His people and are joined to the proper person among God’s people, we will bring forth proper fruit and participate in the enjoyment of the birthright of Christ.”

This is a reassuring and encouraging word for us all! No matter what our background is, we sinners have the opportunity to be joined to God’s people and participate in the enjoyment of Christ. 

With the aid of the other notes in Matthew 1:1-17, Christ’s genealogy isn’t just a dry list of names but a precious revelation of who Christ is, increasing our love and appreciation for our Lord. 

The help in the Recovery Version

Today we can be the blessed beneficiaries of faithful believers who preceded us. Over the centuries, God opened up the meaning of the Bible to many believers who diligently sought Him in His Word. They in turn conveyed that meaning to others. Over time, what each saw was added to the collective understanding of the Bible.

The New Testament Recovery Version stands on the shoulders of those who went before. With its special features such as the insightful notes, cross-references, and outlines, it can be considered a distillation, or crystallization, of this collective understanding and revelation.

These features certainly do not replace the text of the Scriptures itself. But they do serve to increase our understanding of God’s Word. Here at Bibles for America, we can testify that the Recovery Version has helped us to know and experience Christ and understand the Bible in a way that we never had before. If you live in the US, we encourage you to order a free copy today.

Of course, we definitely should read the Bible consistently so we can become thoroughly familiar with its language and terms. We should also spend time daily to pray with the Word of God for our spiritual nourishment. And whenever we feel like there’s something we don’t understand, we can receive help to be brought into a deeper understanding of God’s Word.

For helpful posts on reading the Bible daily and receiving life from the Word of God, we recommend these:

7 Tips to Build up a Habit of Reading the Bible Daily

7 Compelling Reasons to Read the Bible

The First Step in Understanding the Bible

The Bible Is Our Spiritual Food