Is it possible for a person to read a passage of scripture and arrive at the wrong conclusion? Of course! Many in the world have been deceived to believe that the Bible is "just too difficult to understand." Can we know for a certainty?

"That you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed." {Luke 1:4} Luke believed a person could know.

"By which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ." {Ephesians 3:4} The apostle Paul also agreed.

"As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures."{2 Peter 3:16} Did the apostle Peter contradict what Paul said in Ephesians? (In the context Peter was talking about Paul's writing.) If we can remember a few divine principles all these passages can be reconciled.

Accept that the Bible is inspired. 1 Corinthians 2:9-13; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:20,21. One must accept that all the men who wrote down these words were inspired to do so. If one understands that these words are not men's--but God's, it will help in the way we study this wonderful book.

The rule of revelation. "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law." {Deuteronomy 29:29} Also read John 20:30,31. Did God reveal every one of His works and teachings to mankind? The world could not contain the books if He had. What is revealed is what WE NEED to know--not what we might like to know.

The rule limitation. Read 1 Corinthians 4:6; Galatians 1:8,9; 1 Peter 4:11; 2 John 9-11. Can man go beyond those things which have been written and revealed to him? Can one add or subtract from God's message? God's word does not contradict itself. A study of the whole Bible will clearly show this to be true.

How could God be called just in "all His ways," if he left us a message which could not be understood? How could man be condemned for an eternity if he did not have the capacity to know what God wanted him to accomplish during his life? Study and meditate on this word--and you WILL KNOW THE CERTAINTY of His truth!