I’m reading 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, 2:1-15

One thing about God and His ways is that He doesn’t hide behind mysterious smokes, unknown languages or complicated truths. Whenever someone is teaching the Word of God and what they are saying is so mysterious, so complex, as coded as a puzzle that you wouldn’t understand it easily, take it from me, the person is most likely not teaching you the truth. The truth in the Bible is so simple that everyone can understand it. The “mystery” in the Word of God lies not in its complexity but in its simplicity. God’s word is so simple that it is incredible. The reason why the ways of God is a mystery is that it is so simple that the logical mind will consider it foolish.

Yes, incredible simplicity. That’s what God and His ways represent.

Of course, not every truth in the Word is unveiled to you once you open the Bible. For some depths of revelation, you need to push a little harder, study a little more, linger longer with the Holy Spirit, pray again, and listen more attentively. No one has received the entire revelation available in God’s Word. We only know in part (1 Corinthians 13:9 & 12).

We know a little. Just a little. But the truth is, once something is revealed to us from the word, it doesn’t take complex explanations and extreme logic to get it. Why? Because it is a revelation. When something is revealed, you don’t need so much complicated words to grasp it.

The most effective form of education (I’m talking about school now) involves not only high-sounding theories that are explained by grey-haired Professors but also practical, visuals and sensory references to the theories.

Same is the Word. The Holy Spirit provides you with those “sensory references” in your spirit once the truth of the word is taught. The Word enlightens and gives understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130). Not because it is an enormous puzzle that you will have to crack before you get the truth. But because it is a revelation.

That’s why I’ll advise you to read the Bible in the simplest form of English you understand. It’s no fun carrying about a King James Version of the Bible when you understand neither the Old nor Middle English language (You haven’t even finished understanding the contemporary English you use every day sef).

Particularly if you are new to studying the Bible for yourself. Folks who grew up in the church and have heard thousands of quotations from the King James Version stand a better chance of understanding Middle-age English. Myself as an example. I had little trouble reading Shakespeare in school because I was conversant with the KJV language while growing up.

It’s the reason why a lot of people misunderstand, misquote and exaggerate what is in the Bible—they don’t understand their KJV. It’s also the reason why preachers exaggerate passages in the Bible. Because the truth is, most expressions in the Middle English in which the KJV is written, are exaggerations in the present-day English.

Read the Bible in the English that you understand. When I began studying the Bible personally, I choose the New Living Translation (NLT) because it’s contemporary and yet not excessively paraphrased like the Message (MSG) translation (MSG is fun too, by the way. Too much fun). The Amplified (AMP) translation is an amazing one too. AMP gives alternative words and phrases to help with words and phrases you might not understand, hence, your understanding is deepened.

For your mobile phone, there are a number of multi-translation Bible Apps on Google Play available for free downloads. Go for them.

Drop your King James Version if you don’t understand it more than the contemporary translations. The Word of God isn’t supposed to be a puzzle.

Share if it’s worth it.