Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

Copyright © 2012–2026 DiscipleMakers, except guest articles (copyright author). Used by permission.

You are here: Home / Archives for Peter Krol

Structure: the Shape of Meaning

By

Sometimes the Bible’s meaning is plain and simple:

  • “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31, ESV).
  • “Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven” (Heb 8:1).

Many times, however, the meaning is not so plain:

  • “Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent” (Gen 9:20-21).
  • “Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus” (John 12:20-22).
Deborah Austin (2010), Creative Commons

Deborah Austin (2010), Creative Commons

When you’re studying a Bible passage and the point is not stated explicitly, one thing you can do is zoom out and observe the structure. Often, authors use structure to convey meaning, and we might not get the meaning unless we discern the shape of the text.

For example, Noah’s nakedness in the vineyard comes right after God dismantled and recreated the entire world (Gen 6-8). When we read of a naked man of the soil who consumes a fruit, and of a sin that enters God’s pristine world, alarm bells should go off in our heads, reminding us of Genesis 3. We suddenly realize that, though the Flood may have wiped people from the face of the earth, it could never wipe sin from their hearts. The structure of Genesis (cycles of creation-fall-new beginning) illuminates this strange episode for us.

For another example: John 12 concludes the first half of John’s Gospel. (Chapter 13 launches Act II, with most of the rest of the book describing the last 24 hours before Jesus’ death.) With the singling out of Philip and Andrew (John 12:22), we remember the beginning of the story, where these two men were some of the first disciples called by Jesus (John 1:40, 43). Only this time, Jesus doesn’t have to recruit anyone; disciples are coming to him. The initial “Come and see” (John 1:39, 46) has morphed into “Sir, we wish to see” (John 12:21). These bookends on John 1-12 (among others) show the tremendous impact Jesus’ years of ministry had on the world. This impact fulfills prophecies like Zech 8:20-23 and triggers Jesus’ troubled reflections on his looming death (John 12:23-33).

Over the next month or so, I’ll illustrate the value of structure through a study of the feeding of the 5,000. Through the context and structure of each Gospel, I hope to show that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John used the same event for a different purpose. Stay tuned!

Regaining Hope

By

Regaining HopeIn his first letter to the Thessalonians, Paul gives a recipe for influential leadership that includes humility and hope. And the Thessalonians had hope, along with faith and love, in droves (1 Thess 1:2-3).

But, in a matter of months, they lost hope. Affliction and persecution and besetting sin wore them down, and they had grown weary in doing good.

Can you relate?

Hope is slippery, and this fallen world constantly threatens our grip on it.

The definition of marriage is in question. Religious liberty could be threatened. School shootings become routine. Horrific infanticide takes place in unaccountable clinics. Chemical weapons endanger world peace. Government shutdowns inflame disgruntlement.

Through it all, we try to do good. We love our neighbors, we support the community, and we preach Christ and him crucified.

But it gets wearying.

You’re not alone.

The Relentless Fight blog recently published an article I wrote about 2 Thessalonians called “Regaining Hope.” In the article, I reflect on what Paul might say today to any of us in danger of losing hope.

Check it out!

Why Did Jesus Feed the 5,000?

By

This short series illustrates both the importance of context and the danger of harmonization.

Context is the literary or historical situation surrounding a passage of Scripture. Harmonization is the process of combining different accounts of the same event into a single story. Without careful observation of a passage, we can easily miss the context and unintentionally harmonize narratives, tricking ourselves into thinking we understand the story.

For example, you may have heard of the “rich young ruler,” but you won’t find him in the Bible. Matthew 19:16-22 speaks of a rich young man. Mark 10:17-22 calls him a rich man. Luke 18:18-30 calls him a rich ruler. We think of him as the “rich young ruler” only because we’ve harmonized all three accounts.

This harmless example affects only minor details in the story, but what happens when our tendency toward harmonization (apart from the context) affects how we understand the meaning of a passage?

Jill M (2007), Creative Commons

Jill M (2007), Creative Commons

To answer that question, we’ll look at the feeding of the 5,000. But before we dive into it, I need your help.

This miracle is the only one (other than the resurrection) to appear in all four Gospels. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all considered it a necessary part of their narrative portraits of Jesus. Thus, it’s rightly familiar to us. If you’ve been a Christian for any amount of time, you’ve probably heard this story multiple times.

Here’s how you can help: Would you be willing to take a moment to answer the following question in the comments below?

Key question: Why did Jesus feed the 5,000?

Why do you think the Gospels tell this story? What is the point of the story? What did Jesus hope to do or communicate by this miracle?

Here’s another way to think of the question: If you were teaching this story in Sunday School or to an unbeliever (and you had to make it plain and simple), what would be the main takeaway you’d want people to get out of it?

I’ll come clean with you about my intentions. I don’t want you to feel like I’m setting you up to give a wrong answer so I can jump out from behind my virtual candid camera and shout, “Gotcha!” No traps here; I promise.

My point (over the next few weeks) will be this: Each of the Gospels has a different reason for telling the story. They all recount the same event for a different purpose. And I think many people unconsciously harmonize the four accounts and so flatten the unique intentions of each Gospel writer.

But before I unpack those four different points, I’d like to hear what you think “the point of the story” is. That way, I’ll gain an idea as to which of the four Gospels has been most influential for most people.

You can find the other posts on the Feeding of the 5000 here: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.

Big Bible Words: Glory

By

Though it won’t earn many Words with Friends points, “glory” is a big word.

Glory to the newborn king!

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Glo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ria in excelsis Deo!

Christians consider it a buzz-word. Non-Christians liberally biff it around. No less than two musical artists, three albums, and nine pop songs are named “Glory” (including the likes of Kanye West and Jay-Z).

HMS Glory

We’ve got battlefield glory, the road to glory, the glory of love, glory days, blazes of glory, and morning glory. Through history, the British Royal Navy has commissioned or captured ten different ships named HMS Glory.

Glory is not an obscure word, but do you know what it means? Could you explain it to a child?

More Than Praise

We commonly treat “glory” as though it’s interchangeable with “praise.” So we give God “all the praise and glory” for good things. Whether we “praise” him or “glorify” him, we do the same thing: We speak well of him.

But there’s a slight difference between “praise” and “glory” that can be helpful to recognize. Glorifying something means more than speaking well of it; glorifying something means acting in every way as though this thing is the best thing.

For example, in my house, we praise dinner but we glorify dessert.

Dinner Series (2011), Creative Commons

Dinner Series (2011), Creative Commons

I married a terrific cook. Countless culinary aspirants stew in jealous longing for a fraction of her talent. Because her secret arts have been known to bewitch hungry souls to the verge of insanity, an invitation to dinner at our house could make a killing on ebay. We used to have an after-dinner family chant that went, “Good cooker, good looker, good mama,” and we could have drowned out the mobs of Ephesus with it (Acts 19:34). Perhaps I exaggerate just a hair, but the point is this: We eat well here, and we’re not afraid to say so. We praise dinner.

However, dessert is what truly rocks this house. There is always, always, always room for dessert. A child could ask for seconds and thirds on homemade potato rolls and leave the table stuffed to the eyebrows, but he’ll never resist an offer of dessert. We Krols claim to have two stomachs; we reserve the second one for dessert.

Dessert always gets pre-eminence. It’s more important than toys. It’s more important than dolls. It’s more important than television. It’s more important (regretfully) than visitors. The children—who can’t hear me when I say, “Clean your room,” from two feet away—come running if I whisper, “Time for dessert,” from across the building. We glorify dessert.

God’s Glory

God is like dessert. He’s the most important thing (the weightiest being) in the universe, and we glorify him when we treat him as such. Giving glory includes offering him praise, but it also means so much more. We arrange our lives around that which we glorify. Whatever is most important to us will capture our attention and receive our time and resources.

Glory is not a difficult concept. Everyone glorifies something, which is why we talk about glory so much. We can discuss the idea simply with our children, our friends, and our unbelieving neighbors. We don’t need to toss the word around as another piece of Christian Klingon.

And, as the people of God, every little choice we make ought to show the incomparable importance and value of the Lord our God (1 Cor 10:31).

The 10 Most Biblical New Year’s Resolutions

By

After Friday’s year-end roundup, I’m on a top 10 kick. So here are 10 New Year’s resolutions you might want to try this year. They’re biblical, after all, but I take no responsibility for the outcomes.

Lori Ann of MamaWit (mamawit.com), Creative Commons

Lori Ann of MamaWit (mamawit.com), Creative Commons

10. Drink water and eat vegetables. If and only if, by January 11, you are fatter, prettier, and smarter than the rest of your generation, keep it up (Dan 1:11-16). Otherwise, feel free to ditch the vegetables.

9. Do whatever Jesus would do (Matt 14:28-29, 1 Pet 3:18-20).

8. Husbands, always tell your wives what to do (Esther 1:10-12).

7. Act shrewdly enough that your potential enemies and your real enemies won’t be able to team up against you (Ex 1:10).

6. Wives, do whatever your husbands tell you to do (Acts 5:1-2, 7-10).

5. Dedicate to God whatever he brings your way (Judg 11:30-31).

4. Keep your hands to yourself (1 Cor 7:1).

3. Get more money, so you can answer everything (Eccl 10:19) and eliminate all pain and insecurity from your life (Luke 12:18-19, James 5:1).

2. Obey all the lesser-known, but not less important, commands of God, such as: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Drink, be drunk, and vomit'” (Jer 25:27).

1. Build something great for yourself (Gen 11:1-4).

Ridiculousness aside—as for me, I’m going to begin my annual blitz through the Bible. The dark winter months can be so discouraging for me, and the most effective treatment is to drown myself in Scripture to draw closer to its Author. Would you like to join me in a speed-read through the Bible this year? If so, check out my recent post at The Gospel Coalition: “A Bible Reading Plan for Readers.”

Reading the Bible in big chunks might help us not to take individual verses out of context.

What other “biblical” resolutions could we add to the list?

Connecting the 3 Fools

By

Simon Lutz (2013), Creative Commons

Simon Lutz (2013), Creative Commons

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 some of those details are more destructive than we realize. Pieces of the Savior, the Sluggard, and the Sower of Discord reside in every one of 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?

Top Posts of 2013

By

Knowable Word LogoBy God’s grace, the readership of Knowable Word tripled from the beginning of the year to the end. I praise God for the opportunity to help ordinary people learn to study the Bible.

The “Popular Posts” list in the sidebar shows which posts have been most popular in the last 30 days. For your New Year’s delight, here were the most popular posts in all of 2013.

 

10. Top 10 Old Testament Verses Quoted in the New Testament

I wrote this post as part of my “NT Quotes the OT” series. It arose from my own Bible reading early in the year, when I kept track of every explicit OT quotation in the NT. The raw data made it onto the Resources page.

9. 10 Old Testament Books Never Quoted in the New Testament

Another post from the “NT Quotes the OT” series.

8. The Best Wedding Sermon Ever

As an aside from my series on Proverbs, I posted this recording of Paul Browne’s sermon from my own wedding in 2004. The recording is almost 10 years old, but the sermon remains the best I’ve heard (and—really—not just because it was my own wedding).

7. Don’t Abuse the Sexiest Parts of the Bible

From Proverbs 5, I challenge modern Christians to avoid two of the commonplace mistakes about sexually graphic Bible texts.

6. How to Honor God with Your Money

This post from last year on Proverbs 1:10-19 contains specific financial advice and continues to be heavily read.

5. How to Study the Bible

I sort of cheated on this one. This post serves as a Table of Contents for the entire series on the Observation-Interpretation-Application Method. At first, readers had to click back and forth to this post in order to read through the series. It’s fixed now, though! At the end of each post, there is a direct link to the next post in the series.

4. Teach Bible Study to a 4-Year-Old

The short series of posts on teaching Bible study to children offers tips for teaching different age levels. My unique twist is that I don’t just want to help you teach them the Bible; I want to help you teach them how to study the Bible (though, see the “4-year-old” part 2 post for a more focused list of suggestions). They don’t have to be old or brilliant to get it.

3. Teach Bible Study to a 2-Year-Old

This was my first post in the “Teach Children” series. It’s been viewed almost 30% more than the 4-year-old post. May it help you to bring the beauty of Bible study to your littlest ones.

2. Our Bible Study Method: OIA

This post serves as the cornerstone for the blog. It’s linked to in the top menu to make it easy for new visitors to find. It’s called “Our Bible Study Method” because I wasn’t the only blogger here when I wrote it! In the last year, my partners have all had to move on, but I can’t bring myself to call this terrific method “my” method.

1. The Only Intoxication the Bible Advises

This post on Proverbs 5 is all about sex. And most of the post is an extended quotation from that “Best Wedding Sermon” (see #8 above), which shows that I’m not biased in my belief that it truly is the best wedding sermon.

Thank you for reading the blog this year! I’m delighted to partner with you in bringing the gospel of grace to our generation through God’s knowable word.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions for the next year, or if you’d like to contribute a guest post.

My Christmas Gift to You

By

Glory to the newborn King! Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!

Alan Cleaver (2007), Creative Commons

Alan Cleaver (2007), Creative Commons

In honor of the incarnate King, born to bring the gift of life to the world, I have some special treats for you.

I’ve updated the blog’s Resources page with worksheets for observation, interpretation, and application that you are free to download and distribute for use in Bible study.

In addition, my colleague Dan Miller created a beautiful infographic about OIA Bible study, which summarizes the entire method on a single page.

Check it out! And have a Merry Christmas.

Don’t Mess with God’s Wife

By

The Sower of Discord is the third of Solomon’s three fools in Prov 6:1-19. The first poem (Prov 6:12-15) addressed this fool’s characteristics and fate. The second poem (Prov 6:16-19) focuses on God’s attitude toward this fool. This week I’ll tackle the second poem.

There are six things that the Lord hates,
Seven that are an abomination to him:
Haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
And hands that shed innocent blood,
A heart that devises wicked plans,
Feet that make haste to run to evil,
A false witness who breathes out lies,
And one who sows discord among brothers (Prov 6:16-19, ESV).

In this second poem, Solomon reinforces the characteristics of the Sower of Discord (Prov 6:17-19) so we’ll learn how to recognize them. But his chief concern is to reveal God’s opinion of such fools. God hates the person who sows discord among brothers. “Abomination” is the strongest possible word for God’s loathing; there is no possibility of softening this hatred.

Also, let’s not fall into the trap of thinking God hates the sin but loves the sinner. Not in this case. “There are six things that the Lord hates…[including] one who sows discord among brothers.”

Draco (2008), Creative Commons

Draco (2008), Creative Commons

The church is Christ’s body (Eph 5:23), his household (Eph 2:19, 1 Tim 3:14-15). That means that both those who sow discord and those who support the sowing of discord are murderers and home wreckers. We listen to sowers of discord because it feels like indulging in our favorite desserts (Prov 18:8), but really it’s like swallowing razor blades. It’s like wearing a “suck it up” t-shirt in a maternity ward. We might as well paint targets on our chests and think happy thoughts, because the Lord is a crack shot. He is a jealous, avenging husband, who will not stand idle while fools screw with his wife.

As you celebrate Jesus’ birth this week, remember that his body was broken once before to pay for the sin of the world (Luke 22:19). He won’t suffer it to be broken again. “Do you not know that you [plural in the Greek; referring to a community, not an individual] are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Cor 3:16-17).

But for those who set aside the sowing of discord, hope flows from the body once broken.

Jesus died for sowers of discord so he could reunite them with his father. His disciples had their fair share of disputing and jockeying for position. But Jesus paid their debts, gripped their hearts, and gave them a vision for community based not on position or prestige but on mutual service. He gave them an effective method for resolving conflict and offense (Matt 18:15-20), but their motivation to follow through on it wouldn’t come from inside themselves. They had to remember how Jesus loved them and died for them so he could forgive them and heal them.

This is how we do it as well. We remember Jesus’ sacrificial love for us, and we can’t help but to forgive others and speak well of them:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you (Eph 4:29-32).

Question: How have you seen Jesus heal his body from discord?

Get to Know the Word this Year

By

Rob Pongsajapan (2006), Creative Commons

Rob Pongsajapan (2006), Creative Commons

In my home office, there’s a fireproof safe where my wife and I keep our most precious possessions. While we partly use the safe for legal papers, we’ve filled most of it with the 45 love letters that document the development of our romance. This bundle of letters is more than a memento; it’s our story.

The story begins with a question mark. A love-struck young man composes a poetic thank-you note to a sweet girl who has done a nice thing for him. He ends the note with a simple question—a question clear enough to give her reason to write back, but vague enough to prevent any guilt should she choose not to. Either way, the presence of the question mark is indisputable, and with it, he takes a chance.

Thana Thaweeskulchai (2008), Creative Commons

Thana Thaweeskulchai (2008), Creative Commons

She chooses to write back, asking her own vague question in return. Queen’s knight to c3. Game on.

The remaining details will remain private, but I’m willing to share this much: We pored over those letters. We wrapped our hearts in them, and we squeezed every juicy jot and tittle for another drop of meaning. We didn’t read those letters because we had to, though I admit there was a sense of compulsion. We didn’t read those letters to learn about each other, though it’s true each delivery brought more information. Technically, what we did with those letters wasn’t exactly reading. It was more like fixating or indulging.

And all for what? We sought this one thing: to get to know each other. We wanted a relationship.

Similarly, you and I get to read the Bible to build our relationship with the God who wrote it. He already knows us, and he wants us to get to know him. He became a man to reconcile us to himself and live with us forever, and he left a book documenting the whole affair. “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3).

Sometimes we think we need a special encounter to know God. We seek a mountaintop experience where we can behold his glory and see him face to face. We want to hear his voice speak with clarity and power. We long to be wowed from on high.

The Apostle Peter had such an experience with Jesus, and he concluded that you and I don’t need to share it:

We were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain. And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place. (2 Peter 1:16-19)

The text isn’t clear whether the prophetic word is more sure than the mountaintop experience, or more sure than it would have been without the mountaintop experience (does the word trump the mountaintop, or is it confirmed by the mountaintop?). Either way, Peter says this word is sure. We don’t need the mountaintop; we need to pay more attention to the word that has already been spoken.

That’s why, when Paul wanted to introduce people to Jesus, he introduced them to the Bible (Acts 17:1-3). The apostles were clear that Jesus was the main point of the Bible (John 1:45, 5:39-40, Luke 24:44-49, 1 Peter 1:10-12).

We study the Bible to know Jesus and to help others know him.

Maybe you’ve never studied the Bible without a tour guide or commentary, and you want to learn the basics. Perhaps you know the basics but want to make them instinctive, like an athlete perfecting a skill through endless repetition. Or perhaps you already teach the Bible, but you do so intuitively, unsure of how to take what you do and package it up for wholesale distribution among your flock.

Whatever your situation, a simple and sensible Bible study method will help. This year, how can you be more intentional about both learning to study the Bible and teaching others to study it? Do you think it would be worth it to get to know the Word who is the Truth?