Knowable Word - Bible study help

Great Resource for Studying the Bible in Context

July 29, 2026 By Peter Krol

You should check out Bible & Context. The site is designed to help “readers see the words, world, argument, and story around every passage so Scripture can be read clearly, faithfully, and in context.”

The site has guides that you can search by Scripture text. The guides include simple maps, historical info, cultural practices, and the train of thought to help you study each passage in context. Care is given to controversial matters, highlighting why interpretive differences exist.

There is much here that can benefit your Bible study. Check it out!

Share or follow:

10 razones por qué deberías aplicar la Biblia a tu vida

July 28, 2026 By Peter Krol

This is a Spanish translation of a post from our archive. For the original post in English, please click the “Publicación original” link at the top of the post. For further explanation of why we’re posting articles in Spanish for a season, see this announcement.

————

Publicación original de Peter Krol, traducida por Sarah Oiler

————

Para burlarse de la muerte y el mal y encontrar la buena vida verdadera (Deuteronomio 30:16-20).
Para dar fruto todo el año y nunca tener que amontonar las hojas (Salmo 1:1-6).
Para poder ir al campamento del Señor (Salmo 15:1-2).
Para obtener el tesoro más dulce (Salmo 19:7-11).
Para conseguir un buen seguro para las inundaciones (Mateo 7:24-27).
Para ser aquel de quien Dios presume ante todos sus amigos (Efesios 2:4-10).
Para recordar a qué debes parecerte (Santiago 1:23-24).
Para poder compartir todas las buenas cosas con la gente de Dios (3 Juan 5-8).
Para mostrar que Dios realmente te ama (Apocalipsis 3:19)
Porque todos los demás están haciéndolo (Apocalipsis 7:9-10, 13-14, 14:1-5, 19:6-8)

Vale la pena.

Sin mencionar la oportunidad de cumplir tu propósito en la vida al dar gloria al único Señor, que es digno de toda alabanza (1 Corintios 10:31).

¿En qué otras razones puedes pensar?

Share or follow:

Context Matters: Taste and See That the Lord is Good

July 27, 2026 By Ryan Higginbottom

Priscilla Du Preez (2017), public domain

Perhaps you’ve heard that Christians need to taste and see that the Lord is good, that God’s blessings extend to all of our senses. Maybe you’ve been given this encouragement in the context of celebrating the Lord’s Supper or as a reminder that God cares for your body. You may even have been told that “taste and see” means that God wants you to have all of the material blessings you can name.

Context matters. When we learn to read the Bible as a whole—not as a collection of disjointed sentences and phrases ready for posters and sermon titles—we’ll find that some familiar expressions have deeper meanings than we thought.

The Immediate Context

The phrase “taste and see that the Lord is good” comes from the middle of Psalm 34.

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack!
The young lions suffer want and hunger;
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. (Psalm 34:8–10)

In the immediate context, tasting and seeing God’s goodness is tied to taking refuge in him; this is the path to blessedness (Ps. 34:8). Saints who fear the Lord will lack no good thing (Ps. 34:9–10).

Just after these verses, David (the psalm’s author) mentions one of these “good things.”

What man is there who desires life
and loves many days, that he may see good? (Ps. 34:12)

This is what seeking the Lord must look like for anyone who wants a long life.

Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it. (Ps. 34:13–14)

The Bigger Picture

Just as we must not ignore the immediate context of Psalm 34:8, we also must not ignore the larger picture. When we read the entire psalm, we see the Lord’s goodness everywhere.

God answers us and delivers us from all our fears (Ps. 34:4)
Those who look to God are radiant and will not be ashamed (Ps. 34:5)
God hears and saves us out of all trouble (Ps. 34:6)
God delivers those who fear him (Ps. 34:7, 17, 19)
The Lord is near and he saves (Ps. 34:18)
The Lord redeems life, none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned (Ps. 34:22)

We often spiritualize the psalms, reasoning that the psalmist was facing military and physical threat while our dangers are moral or spiritual. But David wrote “taste and see” in the middle of this psalm for a reason.

David experienced the Lord’s goodness with his senses, in real life. God’s nearness, his deliverance, his salvation, his redemption, his hearing and answering—and consequently David’s crying out, looking to God, seeking God, and taking refuge in him—were just as real as honey on David’s tongue or the altar in front of David’s face.

And the goodness of the Lord is just as available to us as it was to King David.

Not an Easy Life

If we’re honest, we’d like the Lord’s goodness to eliminate all sickness, hardship, and want. But that is not reality in Psalm 34.

We have fears (Ps. 34:4) and troubles (Ps. 34:6)
We need deliverance (Ps. 34:7, 17)
We need to cry for help (Ps. 34:17)
We are brokenhearted and crushed in spirit (Ps. 34:18)

We see both from this psalm and from David’s life that turning to God does not ensure a life of trouble-free blessing thereafter. Psalm 34 is written to/for “saints of the Lord” (Ps. 34:9), so all the difficulties mentioned above come to God’s people. This is highlighted in the psalm itself: “Many are the afflictions of the righteous” (Ps. 34:19).

David, even as the anointed of the Lord, faced enormous hardship and threats to his life. In the introduction to Psalm 34 he references 1 Samuel 21:10–15. As David fled from Saul, he went to the king of Gath. But news of David’s military success preceded him, so he faked madness to save his life. And it worked! David cried for help, and the Lord heard him and delivered him (Ps. 34.17).

How to “Taste and See”

I had two questions before digging into this psalm: What does it mean that the Lord is good? How do we experience the Lord’s goodness?

The answers to both questions, from a detailed look at this psalm, are clear. When we seek God in humility, he answers and delivers us.

Seeking God in humility is difficult. It means admitting that we are poor (Ps. 34:6) and that we have fears and troubles beyond our ability (Ps. 34:17). Taking refuge in God and learning the fear of the Lord also have dramatic implications for our lives: we boast in the Lord (Ps. 34:2) and bless him at all times (Ps. 34:1), we keep our tongues from evil (Ps. 34:13), and we turn from evil and pursue peace (Ps. 34:14).

But the reward is far greater than the cost. “None of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.” Given what we deserve and what we are promised, this is the best news in the world! Even in the middle of this Old Testament book of prayers and songs, we see the work of Jesus—condemned in the place of his people.

So, while “taste and see” has no contextual reference to the Lord’s Supper, and no promise of material blessings, this psalm teaches that God’s people experience his deliverance with their senses. In our actual bodies, God delivers us, he saves us, he hears us, and he is near to us.

Context matters.

This was originally posted in 2020.

For more examples of why context matters, click here.

Share or follow:

Easy Sex Will Keep You from Being Wise

July 24, 2026 By Peter Krol

A student newspaper at my alma mater once published a set of ABC’s for first-year students as something of “a 26-step instructional guide on how to get the most out of higher education.”

Along with A for Alcohol, E for Energy drinks, and Q for Questions, came the following:

H is for House Party Weekend. Three parts live music, four parts indiscriminate alcohol abuse, two parts non-prejudicial fornicating. Mix well; serve warm. That’s House Party Weekend.

S is for Sexually transmitted diseases. See letter H.

W is for Walk of shame. Alternatively known as the “stride of pride.” That long walk home wearing the same thing you went out in last night, which inevitably followed a very awkward introduction earlier that morning. When you see the steady stream at 10 a.m., just remember, “Let he who has not woken up spooning a stranger cast the first stone.”[1]

There’s a reason “higher education” and “wisdom” aren’t synonymous.

Lots of Sex

As our ongoing study hits Proverbs 6:20-35, we ought to notice that Solomon has said a lot about sex already, and he’s not yet finished with the topic. Foolish and ungodly sexual activity was common long before universities developed such a strong reputation for it.

But what makes Proverbs 6:20-35 unique? What does Solomon say here that he hasn’t covered elsewhere? Though many ideas overlap, we can observe a primary focus for each of the “sex sections” of Proverbs 1-9:

Prov 2:16-19 explains how easy sex hinders wisdom.
Prov 5:1-23 unveils God’s surprisingly intoxicating alternative.
Prov 6:20-35 enumerates immorality’s terrible consequences.
Prov 7:1-27 unmasks immorality’s seductive tactics.

We must hear wisdom on these matters, so we can find life (Prov 6:23) and avoid death (Prov 5:23). In keeping you from being wise, easy sex holds nothing for you but pain and destruction. But there was one who endured pain and destruction to give us wisdom. So there’s always hope.

The Plan

Over the next few weeks, I’ll tackle this passage somewhat out of order. First, I’ll explain ten terrible consequences of easy sex (Prov 6:24-35). Then, I’ll go back to offer four steps for fighting it (Prov 6:20-23).

Question: How do you see easy sex hindering wisdom in our day?

This post was first published in 2014 and is part of a series walking through Proverbs 1-9.

——————————-

[1] Scott Gosnell, “The BU ABC’s,” The Counterweight, Volume 7, Issue 1, August 24, 2007, pp.8-9.

Share or follow:

Difficult Texts: Slaughtering Prophets of Baal

July 22, 2026 By Peter Krol

Scott Hurst has a useful piece at TGC Canada, where he takes a look at Elijah’s showdown on Mount Carmel and the subsequent slaughter of 450 prophets of Baal. Seems a little vengeful and unchristian, doesn’t it?

Hurst takes a close look at the literary context, biblical context, cultural context, and flow of thought to help us understand the passage in its time so we can properly apply it to today. This is a good model for how to approach a difficult text.

Even if we aren’t wavering between competing gods, perhaps our choices have opened windows for sin. The urgency of Elijah putting Baal’s prophets to death is an urgency the New Testament presses upon us in putting sin to death. Consider the words of Jesus: “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell” (Matt 5:29). Wavering with sin, in any form, compromises the integrity of our walk with the Lord.

When you read 1 Kings 18, instead of thinking about how you can be like Elijah and who you want to call down fire from heaven in front of, consider the ways you are prone to wander. Then you can hear and apply Elijah’s call to repentance with the ears of faith.

Check it out!

Share or follow:

El peor enemigo de la aplicación es el conocimiento

July 21, 2026 By Peter Krol

————

Publicación original de Peter Krol, traducida por Sarah Oiler

————

La aplicación ocurre cuando entendemos el significado del pasaje bíblico (es decir, cuando vemos a Jesús y nuestra necesidad de él) y amoldamos nuestras vidas al pasaje. Esta conformidad a Cristo es el gran propósito de Dios desde la fundación del mundo (Romanos 8:29).

Pero el obstáculo principal de la aplicación vigorosa es el conocimiento. Al obtener más conocimiento de la Biblia, nos volvemos más propensos a disfrutar del conocimiento en sí mismo y no el cambio de vida que debería resultar de él.

“Debate Sobre” by Secom Bahia (2010), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution License

Por ejemplo, ¿has leído un versículo como Romanos 8:29 (referido más arriba) y lo has convertido en un debate teológico? ¿Qué significa este versículo sobre la controversia de la predestinación y el libre albedrío? ¿Qué lado es correcto? ¿Quién entiende mejor lo que quiso decir Pablo cuando habló de “conocer de antemano”?

Estoy propenso a sentirme bien conmigo mismo si puedo contestar estas preguntas. Tengo muchas ganas de ganar tales debates. He invertido mucho tiempo luchando en estos.

Pero la pregunta principal no debería ser si la predestinación o el libre albedrío son correctos. La pregunta principal es: ¿cómo se está amoldando cada vez más mi vida a Cristo? No importa con qué lado del debate esté de acuerdo. El propósito de Dios en mi vida permanece el mismo. ¿Qué necesita cambiar para que pueda ser más como Jesús y él pueda tener la preeminencia como el Primogénito?

El conocimiento también puede estorbar la aplicación de otras maneras. ¿Te has sentido decepcionado después de leer la Biblia por no haber descubierto algo nuevo o fantástico?

En contraste, ¿has sentido el corazón arder al ver algo que nunca has visto antes en la Palabra de Dios? Quizás encontraste una alusión a otro pasaje que no era obvia de inmediato. Quizás una palabra o una idea repetida se volvió clara. Quizás sentiste que podías entender a un personaje bíblico por una experiencia reciente tuya. Quizás acabas de empezar a pillar el truco de estas cosas OIA y estás asombrado por la belleza y el gozo que resultan cuando encuentras el propósito principal del autor.

Tal conocimiento de la Biblia puede ser estimulante, pero no permitas que te distraiga. La tarea no está terminada hasta que cambies. Sigue avanzando hacia la Aplicación.

Jesús nos advierte del peligro del conocimiento cuando usó la imagen arquitectónica (Mateo 7:24-27). El que escucha la Palabra y se queda ahí (posiblemente regocijándose en su gran conocimiento) es como un constructor insensato que está construyendo una cabaña en la playa en una zona de huracanes. El constructor sabio es el que escucha la Palabra y hace lo que dice.

¿En qué otros obstáculos de la Aplicación puedes pensar?

Share or follow:

Connecting the 3 Fools

July 17, 2026 By Peter Krol

For a few weeks, I’ve been examining three kinds of fool from Prov 6:1-19: the Savior, the Sluggard, and the Sower of Discord. To help you avoid them in the new year, I’d like to consider how they’re all connected.

Most foreign aid has done great harm to the Third World. Rather than helping the poor to have a better life, it has created a culture of dependence where people realize they don’t actually have to work hard to improve their communities. They just have to find a Western official who will give them a handout. So we put Band-Aids on cancerous tumors and perpetuate the injustice, instead of supporting useful organizations that educate people and train them in beneficial skills. We rescue hurting people in the name of world peace.

Coincidentally, we can do the same thing at home. How many relationships consist of the “Savior” who shields the “Sluggard” from his choices? Parents allow their perfectly healthy sons to live with them into their late 20s or early 30s. Teachers adjust the curve so no student will be left behind. Managers perpetuate the status quo rather than dealing with problem people on the team; it might be too awkward to confront them, after all. Church leaders dedicate most of their time to procedural minutiae or unteachable committee members, while turning a blind eye to the rampant gossip and slander ripping apart the community of God’s children.

And if someone has the courage to deal with such problems biblically, “Sowers of Discord” come out of the woodwork with their “concerns” at such an “unloving” approach. So godly people run in fear and perpetuate the evil.

We get into tidy patterns of behavior that reinforce our folly, and then we mistake our comfort for success in serving Christ.

Every once in a while, however, a ray of light from God’s word pierces the cycle and exposes the issues. It feels like things get worse, because all the patterns we were used to stop working. It’s easy to see such moments as disruptive or even harmful to our lives. But I challenge you to see those moments for what they are: the opportunity for new life. Before resurrection, there must be death. Put the fool in you to death, and live anew in Christ every day.

Sometimes we think we’re on the right path as long as we avoid the big areas of folly, like easy money and easy sex. But God cares about the details, and could some of those details be more destructive than you realize? Don’t we all have pieces of the Savior, the Sluggard, and the Sower of Discord residing in us? Part of wisdom is learning how to discern the folly so we can turn to Christ, set the folly aside, and avoid its consequences.

Question: How do you see the three fools in your own heart?

This post was first published in 2013 and is part of a series walking through Proverbs 1-9.

Share or follow:

Addressing the Real Reasons We Don’t Read the Bible

July 15, 2026 By Peter Krol

Marshall Segal introduces a series of posts that will take a stab at addressing the real reasons we don’t read the Bible.

If we’re honest with ourselves, a lot of modern American excuses boil down to one: I’m just too busy right now.

Really?

Am I really too busy to hear from God? Am I too busy to have my soul revived by his living and active word? Am I too busy to receive the wisdom I desperately need in all of my busyness? Am I too busy to have my dim eyes awakened again to ultimate, spiritual reality? Am I too busy to have my easily distracted mind focused on the most important things? Am I too busy to taste the sweetest honey and receive the finest gold? Are we really too busy?

We’re not — and we know it. So, why don’t we read God’s word more than we do? In part, because we haven’t admitted the real reasons we don’t read the Bible.

Segal goes on to mention apathy, pride, illiteracy, and attention spans as some of the “real” reasons, which will be covered in other posts in the series. These reflections are well worth your time.

Check it out!

Share or follow:

La transición desde la interpretación hasta la aplicación

July 14, 2026 By Peter Krol

————

Publicación original de Peter Krol, traducida por Sarah Oiler

————

Para estudiar la Biblia, debemos observar, interpretar y aplicar. Necesitamos ver primero lo que dice el pasaje antes de poder descubrir lo que significa. Cuando entendemos su significado, estamos listos para conformar nuestras vidas a la voluntad de Dios.

A veces nos quedamos en la interpretación y nunca continuamos con la aplicación. Jesús dijo que estamos en peligro de ser arrastrados por una riada (Mateo 7:24-27).

Otras veces, nos apresuramos a cambiar pero aplicamos cosas incorrectas (no hemos interpretado cuidadosamente). Jesús dijo que estamos en peligro de perder de vista lo más importante (Mateo 23:23-24).

¿Cómo podemos tener éxito al pasar de la Interpretación a la Aplicación? Aquí hay dos consejos para ayudarte a construir un buen puente.

“Bridge” by Umair Mohsin (2007), shared under a Creative Commons Attribution license

Consejo #1: Usar el propósito principal como guía

Es importante entender el propósito principal de un pasaje antes de empezar a aplicarlo. Usar el propósito principal hace más poderosa tu aplicación porque te enfoca en lo que Dios considera más importante. Tal aplicación es efectiva y satisfactoria.

Nota: Si estás en el Antiguo Testamento, hay un paso extra. Al determinar el propósito principal del autor, recuerda conectar el pasaje a Jesús antes de aplicarlo.

Consejo #2: Hacer buenas preguntas de “¿Ahora, qué?”

Durante la fase de interpretación, hicimos muchísimas preguntas. Los tipos principales son: ¿qué?, ¿por qué? y ¿ahora, qué? Ese tercer tipo de pregunta puede ser lo más difícil pero provee el puente entre la Interpretación y la Aplicación.

Demostremos esta transición mientras continuamos nuestro estudio de Lucas 2:1-21.

Determinamos que el propósito principal es: “Dios envió a Jesús para nacer, para que pudiera salvar a los humildes y reinar sobre ellos con bondad.” Esto glorifica a Dios al máximo.” Ahora preguntamos, “¿ahora, qué?”

Ahora, ¿qué diferencia hace el nacimiento de Jesús? Los humildes se pueden salvar. Su nuevo Rey es un Rey misericordioso.

Ahora, ¿qué tipo de personas se salvarán? Los humildes.

Ahora, ¿qué glorifica a Dios al máximo? Salvar y reinar sobre los humildes. Volver humildes a los grandes y poderosos del mundo.

Ahora, ¿qué tipo de persona soy si Jesús me ha salvado? No he hecho nada para ganar mi salvación. Simplemente soy otro ejemplo de Dios usando a los humildes para avergonzar a los poderosos. Soy un sirviente humilde con un Rey grande y misericordioso.

Ahora, ¿qué debería esperar de la vida cristiana? Porque Dios se dedica a glorificarse a sí mismo al salvar a los humildes, Él constantemente hará más profundo mi entendimiento de mi humildad y su grandeza. Este proceso quizás sea doloroso, pero generará un estilo de vida de alabanza y gratitud. Nada menos de lo que experimentó Jesús durante su nacimiento y vida.

Hemos construido nuestro puente y ahora estamos listos para aplicar el pasaje de una manera más específica. Durante las próximas semanas explicaré cómo hacer esta Aplicación efectivamente.

Share or follow:

Context Matters: Jesus Came to Give Abundant Life

July 13, 2026 By Ryan Higginbottom

Perhaps you’ve heard that Jesus didn’t just come to give life, he came to give abundant life. You may have seen teachers urge that Christians should not be poor, should not be sad, should not be sick, should not be lacking in any blessings God can give. After all, how does a less than existence match up with an abundant life?

When we learn to read the Bible properly—not as a series of isolated words and phrases—we find that some familiar phrases take on entirely new meanings.

The Audience

Jesus uses the “abundant life” phrase to a group of Pharisees in John 10. Importantly, these Pharisees gathered after a controversy surrounding Jesus’s healing of a blind man.

In John 9:1–7, Jesus comes across a man born blind. He anoints the man’s eyes with mud, tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam, and the man comes back with sight. This starts several rounds of questioning from the Pharisees directed at both this man and his parents. No one wants to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah for fear of the Jews (John 9:22).

However, the man’s life has been changed so dramatically, he cannot help himself. He tells the Pharisees that this man is clearly from God, and the Pharisees cast him out (John 9:33–34). Jesus seeks out the man again, and he confesses Jesus as Lord (John 9:38). The purpose of the healing is realized; the miracle points back to Jesus.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

Jesus launches into an extended figure of speech that leaves the Pharisees confused.

Jesus first tells the Pharisees about the shepherd of the sheep. The sheep will follow the shepherd, because they know his voice. But they will not follow a stranger with a strange voice (John 10:1–6).

Since this first use of a sheep/shepherd metaphor is confusing, Jesus reloads. He uses different metaphors.

So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:7–9)

And then we arrive at the verse in question.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. (John 10:10)

It’s quite natural, after hearing this, to ask: What does it look like to have life abundantly? John (and Jesus) anticipates this question, because the answer comes quickly.

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:11–15)

Having an abundant life means having a good shepherd!

Plenty of employees can perform simple tasks for the sheep, but they don’t care for the sheep at all. They will save their own skin when the wolf howls. But Jesus is so, so different. He is the good shepherd. He knows his sheep, and he lays down his life for his sheep.

Notice that nowhere in this passage do we see a discussion of money, large houses, swimming pools, or everlasting youth. The way Jesus uses this phrase has nothing to do with material possessions or anything doctors or therapists can offer. He intends something much better.

The Greatest Treasure

Jesus came to give himself for his sheep. He calls his sheep, and they perk up their ears and follow him because they recognize his voice. With the good shepherd the sheep will find pasture, shelter, and safety.

Jesus is quite comfortable at the center of this metaphor. Both his healings and his figures of speech point people back to him.

Many sheep are used to thieves and wolves in the field. But with a good shepherd, the sheep have a guide and friend who loves them. He knows them, and they know him. And this—this is abundant life.

Context matters.

For more examples of why context matters, click here.

This was originally posted in 2020.

Share or follow: