All true believers should grow spiritually over time by desiring and frequently reading God’s word and eventually become able to “chew” on the "meat" of the word. The challenge is when different interpretations are presented by various groups, and you have to decide which one you prefer.
Over the years, I have reached my conclusions according to what I see as the best principles of interpretation (hermeneutics):
1. Literal interpretation - exactly what is written.
2. Grammatical - observe sentence structure, nouns,verbs, adjectives, adverbs, clauses, phrases, etc.
3. Historical background - who was the author and the audience (readers), when was the passage written, what event had occurred, and what was situation behind the passage.
From those observations, we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit and His use of anointed teachers, arrive at:
1. Understanding what the passage says about God, and
2. How to apply the passage to our lives (what to do about it?). That is called practical application. That's crucial.
Yes! It takes a lot of prayer, studying, and meditating on the word, and it pays off (Psalm 119:9, 11; 2 Tim. 2:15; 3:16). Note that it seems the Apostles saw fit to do just that in Acts 6:4, in order to minister (serve) the word to the people. May God help us to have and maintain that same conviction.
Blessings & Love to you all 🙏🏾❤️.
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