Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

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When Life is Hard

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I appreciate Glenna Marshall’s advice: “When Life is Hard, Keep Reading Your Bible.” She urges us not to stew in our sadness, turning inward, analyzing the feelings, attempting to fix them. Instead, she calls us to look beyond ourselves, to God’s word.

Fascinatingly, God’s word might not even have the exact answer to “fix” life’s current hardness.

We often feel the need to dissect our sadness, to turn it inside out in an effort to understand it. We believe that if we can just understand it, we could fix it. But life isn’t always so easily fixed. Brokenness is rarely quickly mended. Suffering is often long and draining. It’s not wrong to seek to understand our sorrows, but sometimes what we need is to turn our gaze outward. We need to look to something solid and unchanging. Someone solid and unchanging

Marshall demonstrates the value of seeking the Lord through his word, which puts all the hard things into perspective, even if they’re not fixed.

She talks about finding companionship and guidance. One thing I would add is that the Scriptures also give us the vocabulary to lament the hard times. The Lord has entered into our suffering, and he gives us words to help us process it with him.

So along with Glenna, I urge you: Don’t approach the hard times as times to pull yourself away from God and his word. Run toward him to find resources to help you through.

Check it out!

Por Qué Estudiamos la Biblia

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Publicación original de Peter Krol, traducida por Sarah Oiler

¿Por qué deberíamos estudiar la Biblia? ¿No podríamos escuchar la voz de Dios dentro de nosotros? Aunque deberíamos usar la Biblia, ¿por qué no deberíamos leerla, con la expectación de que el significado será evidente? No es cierto que todas estas cosas del “estudio bíblico” nos estorbe, nos frene, y apague el Espíritu?

Déjame darte unas razones por qué es importante que aprendamos cómo estudiar la Biblia:

1. Conocer a Jesús es la vida eterna

Jesús él mismo lo dijo en Juan 17:3. Él quiere lo que es mejor para nosotros, y lo mejor es conocerle. Él oró por esto la noche antes de que se muriera.

2. Toda la Biblia es sobre Jesús

Jesús lo dijo en Lucas 24:44-47. Felipe se dio cuenta de este hecho muy pronto (Juan 1:45). Pedro lo declaró mucho más tarde (1 Pedro 1:10-11).

3. La Biblia se escribió así que podríamos conocer a Jesús y tener la vida eterna

Romanos 15:4, Juan 20:30-31, 1 Pedro 1:11-12, Apocalipsis 1:1. Es un libro antiguo, pero se escribió teniendo en cuenta nosotros! No se escribió a nosotros, pero se escribió para nosotros.

4. A Dios le parece noble cuando examinamos la Biblia para conocer a Jesús mejor

Pablo explicó el propósito principal de la Biblia en Hechos 17:3. Algunos tesalonicenses rechazaron este mensaje (Hechos 17:6-7), pero los bereanos lo buscaron con entusiasmo en el texto de la Biblia (Hechos 17:10-11).

5. Entender la Biblia es trabajo duro

Algunas partes de la Biblia son difíciles de entender, y personas que son ignorantes e inestables las tergiversarán (2 Pedro 3:16). Si queremos entender la Biblia y conocer a Jesús, es esencial que se nos enseñe bien y se nos dé un fundamento estable. Es verdad que muchas partes de la Biblia son abundantemente claras (Juan 14:6, Hechos 4:11-12), pero esas también se tergiversan comúnmente.

6. Necesitamos el Espíritu de Dios para entender la Biblia

Todo sobre nosotros se ha infectado por nuestro pecado y rebelión, incluyendo nuestro pensamiento. Ninguna cantidad de trabajo duro ni método infalible garantizará que interpretamos la Biblia correctamente. Universidades incontables tienen cursos que se enseñan por profesionales educados que pierden de vista lo más importante (ver #1-3 arriba). 

Sin embargo cuando confiamos en Jesús que se revela en la Biblia, recibimos el Espíritu de Dios que nos ayuda a conocer a Jesús mejor (1 Corintios 2:6-16). Los que creen en Él tienen acceso a la misma mente de Cristo porque tienen su Espíritu.

En este blog, queremos ayudarte a conocer a Jesús mejor. Hacemos esto por ayudarte a aprender cómo estudiar la Biblia. Continuemos trabajando para dominar los métodos, pero sobre todo, continuemos centrándonos en Jesús al mismo tiempo.

Reading Challenge Reminder

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Don’t forget we’ve got a Bible reading challenge underway. There’s still time to finish reading the entire Bible within 90 days, and you could enter to win a premium book binding (generously provided by the good people at Pro Libris Rebinding), or an additional prize package.

Reading must be completed within 90 days, and by March 31. See this post for the complete rules. Once you’ve completed your reading, you may enter the drawing with this form.

Entries that do not meet the guidelines (for example, reading period longer than 90 days, reading period is outside the allowable dates, or form is submitted before you finished reading) will not be counted in the drawing.

A Plan for Reclaiming Bible Literacy

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I am very grateful for Jen Wilkin’s recent article at Christianity Today about “The Great Omission” in our churches’ discipleship efforts.

…we have forgotten that discipleship requires learning. We have reduced its definition to attendance, service, giving, relationship-building, and mostly peer-led, feelings-level discussions. But at its most fundamental level, discipleship is a process of learning—of renewing our minds to no longer conform to the world.

We tend to view the Great Commission as a call to make converts, when in fact it is a call to make disciples—learners. It explicitly requires teaching those converts to be learners who obey all that has been commanded. According to Jesus, we are to replicate by passing along the good deposit that was passed along to us.

Conversion happens in an instant. Discipleship, on the other hand, is the work of a lifetime.

We have raised a generation of people who don’t know the Bible. And this biblical illiteracy has dramatic theological consequences, such as 28% of evangelicals believing that ““Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God,” and 47% of them believing that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”

Wilkin issues a much-needed challenge to our normal ways of conducting Christian growth, along with a wise 5-point plan well worth considering.

Check it out!

Detalles del Método OIA

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Publicación original de Peter Krol, traducida por Sarah Oiler.

Edward Louie (2011)

La frase “estudio bíblico” puede tener un significado diferente para gente diferente. Algunos usan el término para describir una discusión en grupo que quizás hable de la Biblia o algún otro libro inspirador. Estudios bíblicos incluyen cuadernos de trabajo que te ayudan a conectar con las ideas de los textos bíblicos. Otra gente considera que “estudio bíblico” se refiere a estudios académicos y teológicos sobre la Biblia. 

En Knowable Word, yo uso el término “estudio bíblico” para describir a la persona promedio con la Biblia abierta en la mano. Tienes la Palabra de Dios, un deseo de conocerle, y te sobra el tiempo. ¿Ahora qué? ¿Qué haces con este texto antiguo para ayudarte a conocer a Dios mejor? Esto es el estudio bíblico.

¿Querrías aprenderlo conmigo? ¿Querrías desatar el poder de Dios para la salvación en nuestra generación? ¿Querrías entrenar a otros así que pueden ser administradores efectivos de la Palabra? 

Mi misión es ayudarte a hacer exactamente eso.

El propósito de esta publicación es darte un esquema para el proceso. Cada enlace debajo te lleva a una publicación que explica un paso del método del estudio bíblico OIA (Observación, Interpretación, Aplicación). Para aprender más sobre dirigir grupos pequeños de OIA, ve la serie de cómo dirigir un estudio bíblico.

Introducción

Por qué estudiamos la Biblia
Todos tienen un método de estudiar la Biblia
Resumen del método del estudio bíblico OIA
Por qué OIA es el mejor método de estudio bíblico
6 razones por qué no estudiamos la Biblia

Observación

El peor enemigo de la observación es la familiaridad
5 cosas para observar

  1. Las palabras
  2. La gramática
  3. La estructura
  4. El género
  5. Estado de ánimo

4 más consejos para la observación

Interpretación

¿Por qué deberíamos interpretar?
El peor enemigo de la interpretación es la observación
Otro enemigo de la interpretación es el relativismo
3 pasos para interpretar la Biblia

  1. Hacer preguntas
  2. Contestar preguntas
  3. Determinar el propósito principal

La diferencia entre el propósito principal y un resumen
La importancia del contexto (Parte 1 y Parte 2)
Cómo ver a Jesús en cualquier pasaje bíblico
4 errores al usar comentarios

Aplicación

La transición desde la interpretación hasta la aplicación
El peor enemigo de la aplicación es conocimiento
10 razones por qué deberías aplicar la Biblia a tu vida
Aplicación: el arte de producir cambio

  1. Dos direcciones para la aplicación
  2. Tres esferas de aplicación
    1. La cabeza
    2. Las manos
    3. El corazón

Cómo aplicar la Biblia: resumen
Recuerda Jesús en tu aplicación
Sé específico en tu aplicación
Mi ejemplo de la aplicación de Lucas 2

Conclusión

Correlación: entender toda la Biblia
3 consejos por la correlación saludable (Parte 1 y Parte 2)
Ya estás aprobado para estudiar la Biblia

Articles in Spanish Arriving

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It’s like the Day of Pentecost, but on a far smaller scale (Acts 2:8)!

I’d like to introduce you, virtually, to Sarah Oiler. She’s a fine young woman who loves Jesus and the Holy Scripture.

Sarah has taken on a project of translating articles from the Knowable Word archive into Spanish. We’ve previously had the honor of a few others translating our posts in other internet spaces. But we’ll be publishing Sarah’s work right here.

So every Tuesday, we’ll publish one of her translated posts, until either Jesus comes back or our neighbors run out of jugs (2 Kings 4:6)—whichever comes first.

If you speak Spanish or have connections with a Spanish-speaking community, we pray these posts will be a blessing to you. Do feel free to share them around! If you don’t speak Spanish, thank you for bearing with the additional parcels showing up in your email or feed reader each week.

This won’t affect the rest of our normal posting schedule:

  • Every other Monday – a post from Ryan
  • Every Wednesday – something to check out elsewhere on the web
  • Every Friday – a post from Peter

“Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life” (Ps 119:49-50).

See Everything Change

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If you memorize only one passage from all of Proverbs, it should be Prov 4:20-27. This passage outlines the process of change. It shows us how to get unstuck. It describes how wisdom works in us.

Ages ago, I defined wisdom asa continual striving to know and do what the Bible says. We’ve considered at length what it looks like for us to travel this path of wisdom; now we learn how wisdom travels its path in us.

Mark this formula:

Wisdom comes in the ears, through the heart, and out the fingertips.

Wisdom isn’t so much about what you do as it is about who you are. Miss this fact, and you’ll jump to chapters 10-31 and read each proverb moralistically (contrary to the expectation set up in Prov. 1-9). So Prov. 10:1 becomes about keeping your parents happy. Prov. 11:22 appears to mean that beauty is only skin deep. And Prov. 25:21-22 encourages you to be nice to people and wait out your revenge.

Mark Tighe (2009), Creative Commons
Mark Tighe (2009), Creative Commons

Such approaches are not completely wrong. But when we understand the process of change—and especially the need for wisdom to land in our hearts before taking off into our actions—we see the wise instruction of Prov. 10-31 for what it is: the description of redeemed and transformed people. Not a list of behaviors for those in search of approval or success.

To illustrate: We have a problem with water in our basement. We fixed a downspout. We re-routed a gutter. We installed a removal/drain system. We’ve guided the water’s behavior in the right direction. And we’ve reduced the flood to a puddle, but we haven’t yet solved the problem.

We need to dig. We’ll have to remove the deck so we can re-grade the soil beneath it. We need to get to the foundation so we can brace it against the buckling pressure.

That’s how wisdom works. It comes from outside and gets under your skin and into your heart. It penetrates the depths of your character and beliefs. Then it works its way out into your actions. It comes in the ears, through the heart, and out the fingertips.

Over the next 3 Proverbs posts we’ll walk through Prov. 4:20-27 and explore each piece of the formula in greater depth.

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

What is “The Word of God”?

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John Samson has a helpful article about what exactly we’re claiming about the Bible when we label it “the word of God.” He addresses inspiration (being breathed out by God), authority, sufficiency, and clarity. He writes about the Spirit’s role and the various philosophical and external supports for the conclusion.

He writes:

This is not an academic issue.

If Scripture is inspired, then it is not optional.

If Scripture is authoritative, then you do not get to edit it to fit your preferences.

If Scripture is sufficient, then you do not need to chase every new spiritual trend to find what God has already given.

If Scripture is clear, then you can read it with confidence, not paralysis.

And if Scripture is God-breathed, then when you open the Bible, you are not merely studying a text. You are hearing the voice of God.

Check it out!

Be Aware of the Path You Follow

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In Proverbs 4, Solomon explains how wisdom gives hope that anything can change. First, we must get wisdom at all costs. But to do so, we must know where to find it. Usually, remaining in bad patterns won’t help.

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
Which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
They do not know over what they stumble (Prov 4:18-19).

Loco Steve (2007), Creative Commons
Loco Steve (2007), Creative Commons

In Prov 4:18-19, Solomon circles back for one last contrast between the hope of the righteous and the despair of the wicked. The path of the righteous faces the sunrise. Things might be a little hazy for you now; but stay the course, and it will brighten. You’ll gain more clarity, more conviction, and thus more hope for continued change.

Spelio (2005), Creative Commons
Spelio (2005), Creative Commons

If you choose the way of the wicked, you’re stuck in perpetual night. There’s a hint of mockery in the last line: “They do not know over what they stumble.” Those who tried to make others stumble (Prov 4:16) and failed against the righteous (Prov 4:12) now stumble themselves – without either realizing it or having any ability to remedy it. Folly and wickedness are both blinding and devastating, so, unfortunately, most travelers of this path don’t even understand the danger. As Waltke states:

The ignorance of both the nature and consequences of wickedness is the mark of absolute moral failure. [What they “stumble over”] refers to any agent that brings about the fatigue and death of the wicked. For example, many today see no connection between venereal disease and sexual immorality, between indulgent greed and national debt, between war and tribal thinking. Ultimately the agent is the LORD, who connects evil deeds with evil consequences. The wicked, however, cannot see the connection and die.[1]

Be aware of the path you follow, and know that what matters most is Christ. He endured the deepest darkness of God’s wrath so you could find life in him. If you stay where you are, things will never change. But in fearing the Lord, we have hope.

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

[1] Proverbs 1-15, pp.292-3. (Disclosure: This is an affiliate link, so if you click it and buy stuff from Amazon, your purchase will help support our site without any extra cost to you.)

The Surprising Benefits of Daily Bible Reading

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I’ve shared many posts over the years outlining the many benefits of frequent Bible reading. I still was delighted and surprised by some of the insights on this list by Kevin Carson and Howard Eyrich. In addition to the usual “strengthen your faith” and “deepen you relationship with God,” they observe some benefits I haven’t fully realized myself. Blessings such as:

  • #4: It equips us for special battles
  • #7: It fosters a habit of consistency
  • #9: It prepares us to encourage others

What I most appreciate is that daily Bible reading is not just for you but also for others, by equipping you to serve them better. What a terrific motivation for reading God’s word every day.

Check it out!