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understanding some of the Greek or Hebrew words, their usage, the grammar of the sentence, and help
you create a good personal commentary on the meaning of the verse.
3. The culture
The cultural gap must be bridged, because cultures can be very different.
If we don’t understand the culture of the time in which the Bible was
written, we’ll never understand its meaning.

For example, if you don’t understand the Gnosticism existent at the time
of the writing of Colossians, you won’t understand the book. If you don’t
understand the culture at the time the Judaizers were moving into the
Gentile churches, you can’t understand the book of Galatians. If you
don’t understand the Jewish culture, you can’t understand the book of
Matthew. There must be cultural comprehension to fully understand the Bible.
Some books that would help you in this area are The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred
Edersheim (Eerdmans, 1974) and Barclay’s Daily Study Bible Series by William B. Barclay (Westminster,
1975). Barclay’s insights into culture are very good even though his theology is askew in some areas.

4. The geography

There are geography gaps that must also be bridged. When we read in the Bible that
they went down to Jericho, what does it mean to go down to Jericho? Well, when you go
into Jericho you go down. When it says that they went up to Jerusalem it is because
Jerusalem is definitely up. It’s on a high plateau. Understanding distances between
places and the general geography of the Middle East will greatly increase your
understanding of a passage of Scripture.

5. The History

When you know the history behind a passage it will also help your
comprehension. In the gospel of John, the whole key to
understanding the interplay between Pilate and Jesus is based on the
knowledge of history. When Pilate came into the land with his
emperor worship, it literally infuriated the Jews and their priests. So he was off to a bad start from the
very beginning. Then he tried to pull something on the Jews, and when they caught him, they reported
him to Rome, and he almost lost his job. Pilate was afraid of the Jews, and that’s why he let Christ be
crucified. Why was he afraid? Because he already had a rotten track record, and his job was on the line.

Now that’s the kind of history we need to know in order to understand the meaning of the Bible. And
you can get this type of information from various sources. One is The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia
of the Bible (Zondervan, 1976). Or, a good Bible dictionary will help.

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