Principles to make understanding your Bible easier

The Law of First Mention

  1. The fourth rule of interpretation is The Law of First Mention.
    1. The meaning of the law of First Mention: The Law of First Mention may be said to be the principle that requires one to go to that portion of the Scriptures where a doctrine is mentioned for the first time and to study the first occurrence of the same in order to get the fundamental inherent meaning of that doctrine.
    2. When this law is applied the simple precedes the complex.
      1. A history of the development of anything will show that it sprang from something in the very simplest form (for example the steamship; airplane; automobile).
      2. In the Scriptures the growth and development of ideas and doctrine might be illustrated by some simple word.
        1. Throughout the history of a term it may have increased its meaning and undergone certain changes, yet the basic, original, fundamental thought is seldom lost.
        2. The fundamental concept usually controls or is dominant in coloring every shade of idea expressed by a term in its current usage.