Peter Krol | Knowable Word

What Catching Fire (Hunger Games #2) Taught Me About Bible Study

November 22, 2013 By Peter Krol

In honor of the second “Hunger Games” movie opening this weekend, I’m updating and reposting this article (originally published June 4, 2012) about the novel Catching Fire.

I just finished reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, part 2 of the Hunger Games series (see here for my thoughts on the first book). The plot pacing and literary devices were similar to the first book, but a few new things struck me in this volume that help with Bible study.

1. Structure is Your Friend

The Hunger Games is divided into three parts; each part had nine chapters. Not bad. It helped me to remember the flow of the story: the Tributes, the Games, the Victor.

Catching Fire has the same structure: three parts with nine chapters each. A nice, memorable flow: the Spark, the Quell, the Enemy.

I must admit, I looked ahead to the third book. Guess what? Three parts, nine chapters each. Fantastic. That means the entire series is made up of nine parts with nine chapters in each part. Beautiful symmetry!

It can’t be an accident. In fact, most chapters (and some of the parts) don’t really end with a scene change the way most books do. Collins clearly set things up to have the right number of chapter and part divisions.

How does this help with Bible study? Biblical authors employ the same tactic. They consciously structure their books so readers can easily remember and assimilate the material. Here are some examples.

The Plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7:14-10:29), organized as three sets of three plagues each. Notice how the first plague of each set begins with something like “Go to Pharaoh in the morning…” (Ex 7:14, 8:20, 9:13). The tight organization contrasts with the utter chaos resulting from the plagues, and it helps us appreciate the power and majesty of the Lord.
Jesus’ Sermons in Matthew (Matthew 5-7, 10, 13, 18, 23-25), dividing the Gospel into five sections. Each section highlights a particular aspect of what it means to be Jesus’ disciple. The book climaxes with the Great Commission to go out and make disciples (Matt 28:16-20).

Pay attention to structure, as authors use it to couch their main points in a memorable way. For more help, I highly recommend The Literary Structure of the Old Testament by David Dorsey.

2. Plot Twists Have Always been in Style

Catching Fire has lots of plot twists. Some are clearly foreshadowed; others caught me by surprise. Modern stories seem boring if they’re too predictable, but Collins delivers engagingly.

Plot twists are not a modern invention; the Bible showed us how to do it long ago.

Readers of the Old Testament expected the Messiah to deliver Israel (Acts 1:6), but who would have guessed that God himself would become a man, be born of a virgin, live in poverty, and die in great shame? If the rulers of this age had known it, they would not have crucified Jesus (1 Cor 2:7-8). Many today still read the Bible but miss Jesus, the main point (2 Cor 3:12-16).

Now that we know the end of the story, however, we can go back and get the point.

P.S. For a fantastic review of the content and ethics of The Hunger Games, see N.D. Wilson’s article posted by Trevin Wax at The Gospel Coalition. And for a keen but scathing review of the popular response to the Hunger Games franchise, see Scott Mendelson’s review at Forbes.

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Come Out of Your Shame

November 20, 2013 By Peter Krol

Shame’s nature is to deceive and humiliate. It’s not something we normally like to speak of.

Sure, we’ll break the ice at a party with a round of “what’s your most embarrassing moment?” But everyone knows such things aren’t truly the most embarrassing things. We labor to hide the truly shameful things in our lives. I might speak flippantly of the time I broke a photocopier by displaying one of my least presentable body parts. But I find much more shame in my fear of being unmasculine or in the exposure of my secret hookup life.

Sometimes our shame arises from things we’ve done. Sometimes it arises from things done to us. Sometimes it arises from the work of God in us. All three sources of shame cause us to erect impenetrable fortresses to protect ourselves.

But Jesus receives the shamed. He redeems the shamed. Then he releases the unashamed to change the world. He brings our shame to the light, and he remakes us into something beautiful that reflects his saving glory. He experienced our shame on the cross, and he rose to give us new unashamed life.

Last weekend, I had the privilege of speaking to our students on the topic of shame alongside two of my heroes. From the narratives of John’s Gospel, we showed Jesus addressing the shame of sinners and transforming it by his mercy.

First, Mark Fodale spoke of how “Jesus Receives the Shamed” through the interaction with the adulterous woman in John 8. Here’s a clip:

Then I spoke of how “Jesus Redeems the Shamed” through the healing of the man born blind in John 9. Here’s a clip:

Finally, Dave Kieffer spoke of how “Jesus Releases the Unashamed” through the restoration of Peter in John 21. Here’s a clip:

You can find the full recordings of all three sessions, along with breakout sessions, on the DiscipleMakers website.

7 Principles from Driscoll

November 13, 2013 By Peter Krol

Mark Driscoll recently posted 7 principles for interpreting the Bible.

Listen for the truth
Understand the context
Let Scripture interpret Scripture
Read from the text, not into it
Trust the clarity of Scripture
Recognize literal and figurative language
Handle interpretation disagreements wisely

For more explanation, check it out!

Don’t Miss Jesus in the New Testament

November 8, 2013 By Peter Krol

I once wrote about how to see Jesus in any Bible passage, where I focused on interpreting the Old Testament. I showed how Jesus’ words in Luke 24:46-47 provide a straightforward template through which we can interpret any Old Testament passage.

Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. (Luke 24:46-47, ESV)

Every passage of Scripture reveals Jesus by explaining at least one of the following truths:

Truth #1: The Messiah would suffer (die)
Truth #2: The Messiah would rise from the dead.
Truth #3: We must repent of our sin and be forgiven.
Truth #4: This message—that the Messiah’s death and resurrection make forgiveness possible—must be proclaimed to all nations.

I’d like to add a brief word about interpreting the New Testament, because, astonishingly, we can often miss Jesus when we read it. Jesus’ four truths in Luke 24:46-47 apply just as much to the New Testament as to the Old Testament, and we miss the point when we miss the connection. Here are three examples.

1. All four Gospels magnify and climax on Jesus’ death and resurrection; they present Jesus as much more than a role model. Thus, Jesus’ healing miracles often show Jesus “trading places” with sufferers in order to save them (Matt 8:14-17); Jesus is not only an example of social justice but also a savior to the ostracized and the unjust.

2. Much of Acts and many epistles elaborate on how Jesus’ message is for all nations; since Jews and Gentiles were brought together in one body, any person of any gender, race, or class can freely receive Jesus’ forgiveness and unite with his body.

3. Instructional passages—like the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:16-26) or the love chapter (1 Cor 13)—don’t make us into more righteous, more acceptable, people; they show us what happens to people whose sins are forgiven because they have trusted in Christ.

As you interpret, don’t stop until you see Jesus in every passage.

Bible Study is Less Common than Bible Study Study

November 6, 2013 By Peter Krol

Meetings for Bible study may be at an all-time high (just my hunch), but how many of them are studying the Bible? From my observation, groups are more likely to study a Bible study than study the Bible.

In other words, groups of people with open Bibles are out. Groups of people with open study guides are in.

I’m not the only one to notice this trend. Dave Miller, writing at SBC Voices, asks an insightful question in his recent post entitled “Whatever Happened to Bible Study“:

Could there be value to a teacher sharing the fruit of his own studies of God’s Word as compared to just being a “facilitator” for a discussion of opinions about the third chapter of the latest John Piper book?

Miller doesn’t mind benefitting from the help of Piper (or David Platt or Beth Moore). Instead, he laments the habit of bouncing from one study guide to the next without learning to study the Scripture directly. He relates this counsel from his mentor Howard Hendricks:

Read the text, observe it – before you check other peoples’ opinions and insights. Let the Spirit be your first teacher. After you have studied, after you have labored over the text and figured it out, then you consult the wisdom of the wise (often to see where you went astray).

For further reflection on these points, see my posts on Four Mistakes When Using Commentaries and What Materials Do You Use.

And I recommend Miller’s post at SBC Voices. Check it out!

What Ender’s Game Taught Me about Bible Study

November 1, 2013 By Peter Krol

I’ve been waiting for this weekend for 13 years.

I first read Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card in 2000, when a friend gave it to me as a spontaneous gift. “This book is so good,” he said, “that I couldn’t wait until a holiday to give it to you.” He commissioned me to read it pronto, because that’s what friends do. This book is that good.

Now, after years of empty threats, Hollywood has finally produced the tale for the big screen. It’s now playing in a theater near you.

I plan to see it tomorrow, so I can’t yet comment on the film. I’m sure it will not meet my expectations. But it’s exciting nonetheless, and I can tell you how it has improved my study of the Bible.

Ender’s Game taught me that children are usually smarter than we expect. Young children can handle much more than we think they can, so we should begin teaching them to study the Bible early. I’ve already written on this topic, so I’ll leave it there for now.

Ender’s Game also taught me that different people can have wildly different perspectives on the same set of facts. Duh. You probably learned that lesson long before I did.

Though Ender’s Game tells the story through the perspective of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin, Card wrote a parallel novel called Ender’s Shadow which tells the same story through the eyes of a different character. Despite knowing the climax and resolution of Ender’s Game, I find myself on the edge of my seat when I read Ender’s Shadow. The change in perspective makes the story fresh and suspenseful. According to comments from the author in 2010, the screenplay fuses both perspectives from these two books for a richly unraveled story.

What does this have to do with Bible study?

It shows me the need for studying the Bible with other people. My perspective may be quite good (at least I usually think so), but I also need others’ perspectives to fully understand the Scripture.

“Other people” might include people in my church of any maturity level. They might include skilled interpreters who wrote books or commentaries to help. They might include saints from the past who wrestled with the text long before I did.

Though we should fight to understand the main point of a passage, we should always hold our summary of that point loosely unless the biblical author stated it explicitly. For example, the main point of John’s Gospel is non-negotiable: “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31, ESV). But my main point for Luke 2—God sent Jesus to be born so he might save the lowly and rule them graciously; this brings him highest glory—is negotiable. If you have a better idea, driven by the text, I’d like to hear it.

I need your perspective, and you need mine. Let’s help each other.

I’m not saying that everyone’s perspective is equally true or valid. I’m not suggesting that truth is relative. I’m proposing that “the body does not consist of one member but of many” (1 Cor 12:14). Within the church we need diversity of not only functions but also personalities and perspectives.

Vern Poythress has written at length on the value of multiple perspectives in theology. For more information, check out his book.

And if you don’t have time to read Poythress’s book, then go to see “Ender’s Game” this weekend. I commend it highly.

Question: how have you found multiple perspectives helpful in your Bible study?

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The Bible Study Podcast

October 30, 2013 By Peter Krol

I’m listening to lots of podcasts these days. Through the iOS Podcasts app, they’re easy to find, download, and play. I can set up certain podcasts to download new episodes automatically at certain times and notify me when they’re available.

The app also allows me to play podcasts at 2x speed, so it takes only half the time to complete each episode. My wife thinks I’m nuts to listen to people talking at twice their normal speed, but it’s not so bad once you get used to the rhythm of their voices.

I use podcast audio to fill some “dead space” in my life: driving, brushing my teeth, doing yard work, etc. This gives me fun and important things to think about so my mind doesn’t wander in aimless circles during these typically unthoughtful times.

I’ve tried a number of podcasts about Bible study, and only one has held my interest thus far: The Bible Study Podcast by Chris Christensen. You can subscribe to it from iTunes.

Christensen’s episodes are:

short and to the point
focused on the text of Scripture
sequential through books of the Bible (usually)
faithful to a basic understanding of the Scripture’s authority and the influence it should have on our lives

I don’t agree with Christensen on everything he says; he comes from a very different denominational tradition than I do. But I always respect his approach and his commitment to the text. Because he comes from outside my usual circles, his studies stimulate my thinking more than “insider” studies might.

I haven’t heard every podcast about Bible study yet, but many of them remind me of dusty sermons that might not be focused on the text and which might not have anything substantial to say to the current generation. The Bible Study Podcast is not one of them.

If you like podcasts, check it out!

3 Skills to Help You Find the Main Point

October 25, 2013 By Peter Krol

You’re swirling in details. You tried the OIA method of Bible study, and it yielded more observations and more questions than you could handle. You thought you’d dabble in the magic of Bible study, but the spell has taken over, and the water line has exceeded flood stage. You’re tempted to cue “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and drown your exhaustion in a bucket of popcorn.

Don’t lose hope. You’re almost there; you just need to pull it all together and integrate the details into a coherent main point.

Such integration matters because ancient authors didn’t waste space with meaningless details. Every word had a purpose. Every sentence captured an idea. Every paragraph advanced the agenda. And every section had a main point. The accumulation of these points promoted the goal of bringing the audience closer to the Lord. These main points are the ones worth fighting for.

So how do we figure out the main point? I’ll give 3 tips and illustrate them from my recent posts on Proverbs 5.

1. Always ask “why?”

The challenge of interpretation is to move past the “what” to discover the “why” of the passage. Why is this text here? What was the author’s agenda?

Though most Bibles have headings at the beginning of each section (Proverbs 5 in ESV: “Warning Against Adultery”), these headings are usually observation summaries and not interpretive main points. These summaries help when you’re flipping through and trying to find a specific verse, but they don’t always comprise the passage’s meaning. To convert these summary headings to main points, sometimes you only have to ask “why.” For example, “Why does this passage warn us against adultery?”

Similarly, you can take any or all of your observations, ask “why,” and move closer to the main point.

2. Account for the context.

We’ve seen how the book overview places the work in history. This historical context influences our reading of the text and helps us to see the main point. In the case of Proverbs 5, we see Solomon training a new generation of nobility to lead Israel with purity and integrity.

In addition to the historical, two further types of context should guide us.

First, examine the literary context. What was the main point of the previous section of text? How does the author move from that section into this section? What issues lingered at the end of that section, and how does this section address those issues? Because Genesis 1 is the beginning, we have no prior literary context. Instead, this chapter will establish the context for everything that follows. Thus, we should read Genesis 2:4-25 (and following passages) in light of Genesis 1:1-2:3.

Second, examine any intertextual context. That is, use a search engine, cross-references, or list of Old Testament quotations to find other parts of the Bible that quote this section (or are quoted by it), and figure out the connection between them. When God inspired authors to quote other passages, he was showing us how to interpret those passages.

3. Track the author’s flow of thought.

Ask: How did the author get from the first verse to the last verse? Break the chapter into paragraphs or stanzas, and figure out each paragraph’s/stanza’s main point, which is a sub-point on the author’s agenda. String those points together to see how one paragraph/stanza moves to the next. If you’re still stumped, you can break each paragraph/stanza down into sentences and track the flow from sentence to sentence. Don’t give up; this challenging skill gets easier with practice.

For Proverbs 5, I outlined the flow of thought in my first post:

verses 1-6: not all sexual temptation is as good as it seems
verses 7-14: the wrong choices have dire consequences
verses 15-20: utter unselfishness in the context of marital love is surprisingly intoxicating
verses 21-23: those who think they know satisfaction better than God does have sprung their own trap

So, compiling all my observation and interpretation, my final post on Proverbs 5 reached this main point: The wise can see through the culture’s illusion of sexual “freedom.” This main point took me right to Jesus and on to application.

Sexual freedom is truly an illusion. Jesus submitted to the cross and the grave so we could be free of both forever; he proved it by his glorious resurrection. Now we get to image him to the world. Find your freedom in self-denial. Obtain life through your death. Secure satisfaction by serving and satisfying others, especially your spouse.

The wise person sees the culture’s illusions, blasts them with Bible dynamite, and wins others to radically selfless, Christ-like joy, far more exciting than either religious prudishness or enslaving immorality.

Each text has a point. These three skills will help you get there so you can see Jesus and find eternal life in him.

You Can Lead with Influence

October 23, 2013 By Peter Krol

Over the last few months, I’ve written about how Proverbs helps us to gain not only a godly perspective on our own lives but also the influence required to lead others. Last week, The Gospel Coalition published a guest post I wrote on the topic of influence.

Paul’s recipe for influence was simple. It had two primary ingredients: hope and humility.

Paul divulges these not-so-secret keys to influential ministry in chapters 2 and 3 of 1 Thessalonians.

Humility means caring more about others than about yourself. It means being honest about your need for grace. It means refusing to trample others on the way to your own success or personal fulfillment….

Hope means believing God is at work through Christ, so anything can change for the better. It means approaching others’ sin with patience rather than anger and refusing to complain about everything that’s wrong with the world, instead thanking God for what’s still right. It means being honest about difficult things while remaining confident God will use them for good.

For a more detailed look at humility and hope, see the Proverbs series on this site. For a more condensed look at Paul’s employment of these traits in 1 Thessalonians, see the Gospel Coalition post.

Check it out!

Question: What other ingredients have you found to build influence in your leadership of others?

Fight for the Main Point

October 18, 2013 By Peter Krol

The main points of the Bible are the ones worth fighting for. Often, however, Christians disagree over things other than the main points. And while we’re not wrong to draw conclusions about secondary, debatable, or implied points, such conclusions must never drown out the Bible’s main points.

Alex Indigo (2008), Creative Commons

The Pharisees demonstrate the problem. As the fundamentalists of their day, they cared about God’s truth. They wanted to glorify God and live lives pleasing to him. They passionately protected important doctrines, and they went to great lengths to win converts and change the world.

But in the process of remembering good things, they forgot the best things.

They attended Bible studies to improve their lives, but they didn’t embrace Life when God sent him (John 5:39-40).

They promoted God’s moral standards to a degenerate, fallen world, but they plotted harm on the day designed for doing good (Mark 3:1-6).

They put God first over every relationship, but they neglected God’s own wishes for human relationships (Matthew 15:3-6).

Sometimes Jesus condemns them for doing the wrong things, but sometimes he condemns them for neglecting the best things. Consider this judgement in Matthew 23:

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! (Matt 23:23-24, ESV)

Notice that they should have continued tithing. They weren’t expected to exercise justice, mercy, or faithfulness instead of giving 10%. They were expected to exercise justice, mercy, and faithfulness in addition to it. They always drank skim milk, but then got caught eating too much ice cream.

Today, we likewise can get distracted from the Bible’s main points. The worst distractions are not bad things but good things. They’re not false teaching but true teaching. They’re not opposed to God’s kingdom but in favor of God’s kingdom. These distractions consist of things that should concern us, but they’re not the only things that should concern us. Nor are they the main things that should concern us. We should reserve plenty of bandwidth for the weightier matters.

For example, we study Genesis 1 and focus our discussion on the length or literalness of the days of creation. We spend so much time on the “what” that we forget to seek the “why,” and we mistakenly believe we know the “why” because we’ve discovered the “what.” We might get the “what” (“What is the length of each day?”), and we should try hard to get the “what.” But we must press on to get the “why” (“Why does the author tell the story of creation as a sequence of 7 days?”). We must not neglect the fact that God’s creative process sets the pattern for our lives on earth (Mark 10:6-9, 2 Cor 4:5-6, Heb 4:1-5). And we must not ignore Jesus—the creator, light, life, word, sustainer, ruler, subduer, multiplier, author of faith, image of the invisible God, and firstborn of all creation.

For another example, we study Hebrews 11 and trumpet the heroes of faith. And rightly so, as the text recounts their lives with much fanfare. But we must not miss the main point. It’s a faith hall of fame and not a works hall of fame. The point is not so much to show the greatness of these heroes as it is to show their smallness. We should fix our gaze on these heroes, but only as long as we keep Jesus in our field of vision. The heroes huddle around us, bearing witness to the real Hero, Jesus (Heb 12:1-2).

Finding a passage’s main point is hard work, but we must fight to get it. And once we’ve got it, we must fight to keep it.

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