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About Bible Readings
What Stood Out |
Comparing Spiritual Things with Spiritual Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual (I Cor. 2:12-13). It has rightly been said that the Bible is its own best commentary. Those who believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God would not have to think very hard to agree with this statement. Truly, what God says is absolute truth, and trumps anything that man says. But there are at least two questions that even those who agree with this statement might have. One of these questions is, "How many Scripture verses actually have relevant passages in other parts of Scripture?" This is one of the questions I had. I used to rely heavily on Bible commentaries authored by man. And, doubtless, Spirit-led man has made some worthy comments on the Bible. But, given the choice of hearing what man says about the material in a passage and hearing what God says about it, which would you choose? The more I have read and re-read the Bible, the more I have discovered of the degree to which the Bible explains itself. If one has sufficient resources, there is very little of Scripture for which he will feel the need to look to man to find an explanation. The second question one might have is, "What are these resources? How can I access other parts of Scripture that can explain a given passage?" One source is knowledge one has obtained from having read other parts of Scripture. One who has read the Bible over and over again has a wealth of knowledge from which to draw when seeking light from a given passage. The more one has read the Bible, the greater the number of verses that will be meaningful to him as he reads. But what about those who are new or young in their experience of reading the Bible? How can they find passages that relate to a given passage? And even those who have read through the Bible many times will welcome help in finding spiritual things to compare with spiritual. This web site includes a growing set of cross references to help the reader in this endeavor. Much time has been devoted to the development of this cross reference resource. Early in the development the cross references were more of a simply factual nature. But the more I have grown in the Lord, the more He has given me cross references of a more spiritual nature. I call these devotional cross references (follow the link to read more about this). These, along with some other observations, are found in the What Stood Out (Daily or Chapters) section of this website, which grows day by day as I read through the Bible. Time limitations and responsibilities of life have delayed the official "Cross References" section of this website, which will eventually include the cross references found in the What Stood Out section in addition to other cross references. Meanwhile you can view the cross references that are currently available on this website in What Stood Out (Daily or Chapters). There are also other cross reference resources. Probably the most widely used ones are Bibles with cross references, the most well known of which is the Thompson Chain Reference Bible. Such Bibles have an area either between columns or at the bottom of the page where references to pertinent verses are listed. Another
source
of help in comparing spiritual things with spiritual is a work
titled Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Although the book
version may not be as convenient as having cross references
listed right in the Bible one is reading, the vastly greater
number of cross references listed for a given verse makes it
well worth it for those who are truly interested in obtaining a
more thorough understanding of what they are reading. For many
today who prefer to access information digitally, online
versions of this resource can be found by typing "Treasury
of Scripture Knowledge" into a search engine. Another cross reference resource available online can be found in openbible.info. On the home page, click on the "Labs" menu option, then scroll down to "Bible Cross References" to select the tool. Although this tool displays all of a given verse's cross references, along with their text, on one page, it lacks the convenience of having them categorized according to the part of the verse to which they pertain. If you wish to look for other online cross reference resources, you can type "Bible cross references online" into a search engine. God will richly reward you as you compare spiritual things with spiritual to find the things that are freely given to us of God (I Cor. 2:12-13). To go back to where you left off, use the "Back" button of your browser.
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