December 1984
The following principles are important in learning to interpret the scriptures of the Restored Gospel.
1. The fullness of the scriptures is the key to knowledge.
The scriptures do not bring knowledge of themselves, for they are only sets of inkblots on paper. But as those inkblots are examined prayerfully in the name of the Savior, that study becomes an occasion for revelation from the Father through the Holy Ghost. Those revelations are the word of God, which is His law. Willing, heartfelt obedience to that law is faith in Jesus Christ. As a person lives by that faith, a person gains knowledge of the being and ways of God. The fulness of the scriptures provides all a person needs to ponder to get enough revelation to begin the process of knowing God. Thus the fulness of the scriptures is the key to knowledge. (Luke 11:53, JST Version)
2. There is a parallelism between things physical and things spiritual. All things physical have a spiritual counterpart.
Whenever the scriptures tell a story or mention a physical object, whatever is being discussed physically has a spiritual counterpart which should be sought. For instance, the ark which Noah built to save the animals and righteous souls from the great flood is a representation of the new and everlasting covenant of God which will save every righteous soul from the flood of evil which is called in the scriptures “the world”. Every so-called temporal commandment has a spiritual counterpart and purpose. For instance, the word of wisdom as given in D&C 89 is a representation of the wisdom of God which will save every person spiritually, even as the temporal commandments help a person physically. (D&C 29)
3. It is the spiritual side of existence which governs and drives the physical side, not vice versa.
It is sometimes tempting to think that physical things govern themselves, that the physical universe is a great clock which just ticks on with all of its gears meshing. A fundamental contrary truth of the scriptures is that everything physical is governed by the spiritual order of existence. For instance, it is natural to assume when a storm comes that it is simply the natural play of atmospheric physics at work. While indeed there are aspects of atmospheric physics at work, all is governed and controlled by the hand of God. Thus there never was a storm which did not accomplish exactly that which God wanted it to perform and commanded it to perform. To please God, we must recognize His hand in all things. (D&C 59)
4. We should liken the scriptures unto ourselves.
The real fruit of all scripture is to help each individual to receive and to be faithful to the present revelations of God as they are received by that person at a given moment. The value of reading the scriptures is, then, to inquire of the Lord constantly as to how what we are reading applies to our present situation and predicaments. Knowing the scriptures does not of itself save us in any way. But making application of the scriptures to our daily lives in this manner is the very thing which will save us if we are faithful unto those revelations. (1 Nephi 19:43)
This principle is a species of a more general principle which would have us liken all things unto ourselves. Whenever we see anyone speaking or acting, we should ask ourselves what we would and should do as covenant servants of the Savior in that situation. Whenever we see a problem to be solved, we should ask how that problem could best be solved in the Savior’s way. Since the formation of a Christlike character is our most important and most precious accomplishment in this world, and since that character is formed basically by making correct decisions, likening all things to ourselves and making Christlike decisions in all things greatly increases the density of our character forming decisions in daily life. Thus likening all things to ourselves hastens the process of taking upon ourselves the divine nature and prepares us for making correct decisions when those decisions are our own stewardship reality.
The scriptures are especially helpful in the process of likening all things to ourselves because there we see in addition to the usual worldly mistakes of men the godly acts of good men. To be constantly in the presence of holy persons would be a great advantage in learning to make correct decisions in this life. While most of us may not actually live daily with a prophet of God, we can live in our imagination with the prophets of the scriptures and burn into our souls the values, beliefs and action patterns of those godly men.