The New Testament makes clear that those who have been called to preach and teach God’s Word must actually know God’s Word and be able to explain it. But the Bible also makes it clear that all of God’s people are called to read, study, understand, and apply what God has said in His Word. Therefore, no one is exempt from Bible study, even if you haven’t been particularly gifted by the Holy Spirit to teach it.

As the Bible study process that we’ve worked through on this series comes to an end, it is important that we, as Christians, implement the step of evaluation. As we study Scripture, we don’t want to come to the point where our interpretation is one that no one else has ever come up with. In other words, we need to examine several resources to check and make sure our interpretation can be found in the stream of Christianity, especially by those who are more skilled in the area of biblical interpretation.

Every Christian has the responsibility to be like the Bereans in Acts 17. After Paul preached a message to them, they evaluated his content against the Scripture to see whether his teaching was in accordance with God’s Word—they wanted to know if Paul accurately interpreted and explained the Scriptures. As Christians, we must be like the Bereans by making concerted and consistent efforts in reading and studying God’s Word to understand clearly what He has said.