Turn to Revelation, chapter 22, verse 18, “For I testify to everyone who hears the Words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; …” I’ve heard someone argue about that and say, “Well, John’s only talking about the Book of Revelation here. He doesn’t have in mind here the entire Bible.” Well, I don’t believe that! At a minimum, if he doesn’t have in mind all of the Scripture, this at least sets up a principle, does it not? If God’s instruction through His man, John, was “don’t add anything to this Book—this specific revelation,” then, I submit to you, that that principle would be applicable for all of the books, all of God’s Word. When John finished the book of Revelation, the Word of God was complete. The “revelation” was complete. We pervert the Word when we add anything to it. The revelation is complete! It is finished! There is no continuing revelation from God. Those who claim such—in this age or ages past—those who go about and claim that God speaks to them and gives them a revelation, a word, or an instruction are liars! Do you want me to say what I really think! I think they are liars! The revelation is complete! There is no continuing revelation; there hasn’t been since John put the pen down after he penned the book of Revelation; and there will not to be in the future.

Another way of perverting the Gospel is by taking away from the body of Truth. Just as one must not add to the Word, likewise we must not take anything away. Revelation 22, verse 19, “and if anyone takes away from the Words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” We must declare and follow the whole counsel of God, Acts 20, verse 27, the verse that we cited a moment ago. We ought not to leave anything out, because it’s all important. Again, thinking about some things that the denominational world leaves out, and there would be plenty we could cite, but for example, the necessity of baptism, the part that baptism plays in salvation, the forgiveness of sin, the hope of eternal life. That is left out! Oh, it’s there in the Bibles that they use to teach from, but it’s not taught or presented. The whole counsel of God is not being presented. This Truth is being “taken away.” We cannot reject parts of the Bible or omit certain passages because they do not harmonize or agree with our own way of thinking, or with some family tradition, or with something that we learned a long time ago, etc. We must teach all of the Truth.

There is another way that the Gospel can be perverted, and that is by the failure to “rightly divide” the Truth. Paul exhorted Timothy by saying, “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth,” 2 Timothy 2, verse 15. In the original language, that idea of “rightly dividing” carries with it the idea of “cutting a straight line”—not a jagged line, not zigzagging—but cutting a straight line!

The Bible is to be understood as any other book. Now don’t misunderstand what I’m saying here. It is to be understood as any other book, in that the information that is contained in it is clear, is understandable, and we don’t need to have it interpreted for us, etc. So it is to be seen as a historical book in one way, written over a period of 1,600 years by 40 different authors, and all inspired by the Holy Spirit. It IS God’s body of Truth, not to be added to, or taken away from.

Many factors are to be considered as we study the Bible. The “rules” of Bible study should be applied. You know these and have heard them before. You have utilized them in your own study, but let’s go over them again:

1. When we read the Bible, it is very important that we understand who is speaking.

2. To whom are they speaking? Who is the audience that is present when the speaking is being done? Or in some cases, who is this being written to?

3. What period of Bible history (dispensation) is being considered? Is it the Patriarchal age? Is it the Mosaical age? Or, is it the Christian age? Of course, this is a huge mistake that is made by a lot of people. Many people want to justify the things they do in worship or in their lives, and they’ll reach back into the Old Testament. For example, how many times have you heard someone, who is trying to justify instrumental music in worship, say, “Well, David played the harp!” Okay, so what! We can’t mix those—we must understand where we are in the Bible.

4. What is the context of the passage? We should never use a passage of Scripture out of context. There is a “Baileyism” that I will remind you of. You’ve heard George Bailey (a preacher of the Gospel) say this many times: “A Scripture taken out of context is nothing but a pretext.” And a pretext is a “false statement.”

5. What kind of language is being used? Is it literal? Is it symbolic? Is it prose or poetry?

6. Does my understanding of this Scripture harmonize with all other Scriptures? Now there’s an important rule! When we have an understanding and a knowledge of the Scriptures, then we should be looking for things to fit together and to harmonize. If we run across something that all of a sudden is “sticking out,” that doesn’t fit together, that, in our mind, doesn’t harmonize with other Scriptures in the Bible, then we better go back and visit that Scripture. We, perhaps, have a misunderstanding of the Scripture we are reading. We better go back and study it. It must—it will harmonize together! God does not have a conflicting body of Truth!