2nd Chronicles 20: 20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall you be established; believe his prophets, so shall you prosper.
When studying the Bible, we should avoid the fuzzy, the curious, or the debate-based approaches, which are only productive of more confusion. Instead, with a humble heart and teachable spirit, we should seek to know the plain “Thus saith The Lord”, always with the intention of putting into practice that which He says, for it is not merely hearers, but the doers who will benefit from the Bible.
Therefore, the word of God must be made to speak authoritatively for itself, directly to the people, with the least amount of input, and where explanations are needed, then we should let the Bible be its own interpreter, or we can refer to God’s prophet to our day, with other commentaries, and perspectives in third place, if needed.
One of the most pernicious results of tampering with the word of God, via private interpretations is that persons are often led to harbor an unbalanced view of God, and as a result some see Him as a God who delights in mercy, but who is weak in bringing justice to persons who persist in a wrong course of action.
2nd Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
May The Lord add His blessing to the study of His word. God bless!