Introduction

    The constant concern of the child of God who dearly loves the Lord is to know and to do the will of God. He recognizes that the Bible is the source book of truth. It is the only authority that discloses the will of God for his life, but the Bible is often difficult to understand.
    One might ask, "How can I, as a student of the Word, reach into the treasures of truth that comprise the Bible? Many verses seem irrelevant; many seem impossible to understand. Learned theologians frequently have great differences of opinion concerning what the Bible teaches: How can I determine which teacher, preacher, or theologian is leading me correctly? Must I be limited to blindly following a teacher, knowing that he is a fallible human being and therefore subject to error?"
    "What about the problems that arise from the different translations of the Bible? How can I know which ones are trustworthy? Do I dare trust paraphrases, which seem to make the Bible easier to understand?"
    This Booklet was written to answer these questions and present a few basic principles that should be kept in mind as we study the Bible.