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Lawyers are notorious for using complicated legal "gobble-dee-goop".
We demand, "just tell me in plain English what it says".
We have been told that only religious leaders, can understand
the Bible. Lawyers and priests, share a similar trade. But this
is not the way God intended things to be. Surely if a man can
write a newspaper article in such a way so as to be understood,
then almighty God is able to write the Bible so that it can be
understood.
Notice three important things in what apostle Paul said of the
many books of the Bible God wrote through him, "by revelation
(from God) there was made known to me the mystery (now revealed)
, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you
read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men,
as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets
in the Spirit" Eph 3:3-5. First, Paul's writing is God's
message revealed through Paul via the Holy Spirit. Second, the
message of salvation Paul wrote about was once a mystery to the
Old Testament Jews. Even Angels longed to look" (1 Peter
1:11-12) but it was a mystery to them. To Christians Paul says
the mystery is now revealed. It is no longer a mystery! We can
understand it. Third, we can understand the Bible when we read
it. The Bible nowhere says that only religious leaders can understand
the Bible. Neither do we need the direct action of the Holy Spirit
to interpret the Bible. (The direct action of the Holy Spirit
gave us the Bible in a permanent written record of God's inspired
message to man.) Rejoice because God has promised that if you
read the Bible you can understand! There are a few things that
are more difficult to understand in the Bible than others. But
the vast majority of the message (99%) is not difficult at all
to understand.
The King James Bible was translated from the original Greek in
1611AD. It is a high quality translation but it uses words and
phrases common to the 16th century. The English language has changed
a lot in 400 years. Now most people have the King James Bible
and when they read it, they conclude that the Bible is difficult
to understand. Here is where they have one valid point. The solution
lies in buying a more recent translation of the Bible. The New
American Standard, the New King James or the NIV were all translated
less than 50 years ago. They read as easily as a typical newspaper.
If you like to read the Bible with the aid of an old English dictionary,
the King James Bible if fine. But if you want to make life easy
on yourself and greatly increase your understanding of God's message
to you, then buy a recent translation and get reading! Lawyers
and their jargon will always be around. But now the common man
has new hope in his effort to understand the mystery Paul unveiled
in the New Testament to anyone who can read!