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What the Dictionary Taught Me About Bible Study

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I don’t watch many videos online. I almost always skip them when people link to them. But when blogger Mark Ward says, “This video is fantastic,” I pay attention. Mark shares my love for linguistics and for careful, contextual Bible study, so I respect his recommendations on such things.

So I now share with you Anne Curzan’s TED talk entitled, “What Makes a Word ‘Real’?” And I echo Mark’s evaluation. This video is fantastic. Watching it may be your best-invested 17 minutes all week. I believe you’ll find the video to be quite impactful, and I wish I had some way to incentivize your watching of it.

Curzan explains how language changes over time, and she peels back the curtain on the editing of dictionaries. I appreciate her comment that the dictionary is probably the only book we’re trained never to think critically about. But we should. Below the video, I’ll trace some implications for Bible study.

What does Curzan’s presentation tell us about Bible study?

  1. Because languages can change drastically every hundred years, word studies are far less important than book studies when we come to the Scripture. Our chief goal should be to understand how each author uses his language; our goal should not be to tap into the history of the Bible’s vocabulary.
  2. “No dictionary is the final arbiter of what words ‘mean.'” This is no less true of Bible dictionaries and lexicons than it is of modern English ones. The difference, of course, is that biblical languages are now dead and no longer changing. But those languages (particularly Hebrew) changed so much over the time the Bible was written that it’s irrational to think we can look back over their millennia of use and identify the single “true meaning” of any biblical word. Just think of the American Heritage Dictionary’s contradictory entries for the word peruse.
  3. Just like in contemporary word usage, biblical authors felt free to make up new words to suit their purposes (I think of “more than conquerors” in Romans 8:37 as an example). In such cases, they likely were aiming more at emotional impact than technical precision.
  4. We must be careful not to read current theological categories back into the words of Scripture. The Scriptures must stand on their own, in their own context. For example, when the New Testament uses the word “church,” the authors do not always have in mind what we think of as “church” (a local congregation, meeting at least weekly for worship services, with a pastor, a budget, a building, a set of by-laws, and an annual meeting). “Preach” is not always referring to the sermons presented by the ordained minister on Sunday morning.

Words are beautiful things, as long as we notice how they’re used and don’t expect them to carry loads they simply can’t bear. Consider this video your invite to a fruitful understanding of basic linguistics. And please don’t defriend me over it.

Check it out!

Why Context Matters

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At Stand to Reason, Alan Shlemon explains why it matters so much to consider the context of a Bible verse. After giving an example, where a Christian uses Matthew 18:20 to encourage their small group that Jesus is with them, Shlemon draws the following conclusion:

This might seem benign, but it’s dangerous. In this case, the Christian has concluded that the verse tells him Jesus is with them. You might think, What’s the harm in believing that? In this case, the belief is not incorrect—Jesus is with them—but that verse doesn’t support that belief. The believer has ignored the Holy Spirit’s inspired context and then created his own context, thus changing the meaning of Jesus’ teaching. Now Matthew 18:20 isn’t about church discipline but rather about believing Jesus is with you. That’s not Bible reading. That’s not allowing the Holy Spirit to transform you. That’s not listening to God but listening to yourself and baptizing your faulty interpretation with the authority of God’s Word. If a Christian wants a verse that supports the fact that Jesus is present with him, he can always turn to Matthew 28:20.

So we can arrive at true teaching in the wrong way. But that’s not far from using the same methods of Bible reading to reach entirely false teaching. Let’s not ignore the wishes of Holy Spirit, who inspired these sacred writings.

Shlemon is right. Context matters. Let’s continue retraining ourselves and our people to read the Bible for what it is: not a collection of memory verses, but a collection of books.

Check it out!

Context Matters: Rejoice in the Lord, Don’t be Anxious, the Peace of God, Whatever is True

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Perhaps you’ve been told to rejoice in the Lord. And again I will say, rejoice! And maybe you know you shouldn’t be anxious about anything, but should let your requests be made known to God. And you know that the peace of God, which surpasses understanding, will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. And finally, you know that you should think about whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, and about any excellence or anything worthy of praise.

I’m willing to wager you’ve heard each of these statements, and that each of them is meaningful to you on its own. But could there be anything more to these inspirational statements than that they just happen to exist side-by-side near the end of Paul’s letter to the Philippians?

Context matters. If we learn to read the Bible for what it is—and not as a collection of independently assembled proverbial sayings—we’ll discover that some of our most familiar passages don’t actually mean what we’ve always assumed.

Some Vulnerable Honesty

I’m about to propose a way of reading Philippians 4 that I have never heard anywhere else. I’ve never heard a sermon like this. I’ve never seen it in a commentary. I have yet to experience people outside my circles who put these ideas into practice in quite this way.

So perhaps I’m truly on to something, and we all need to remove our blinders on this passage. Or perhaps I’m being foolhardy.

While I believe OIA Bible study is the best method we can use to read the Scriptures, I also firmly believe that outrageously innovative Bible interpretation is not something to aim for. If nobody’s ever seen what I see, I should proceed with great caution. That doesn’t mean I’m wrong (any more than my innovation proves I’m right). But it means I need to tread softly and ensure I’m firmly grounded in studious observation and interpretation of the text, and not in my preconceived notions.

If I fail to do that, please feel free to call it out. And if you can point me to anyone else who has explained Phil 4 in this way, I would be delighted to hear of it.

That Said…

Paul nears the end of his letter to the Philippians. He’s worked through the glorious truths of when and how to build unity, and when not to build unity. He’s painted a compelling picture of the humility and exaltation of Christ, and of how our Christ compels us to follow him in humiliation so we can share in his exaltation.

But at the end, Paul hits on some highly practical matters.

First, there is an explosive conflict between two prominent women in the church (Phil 4:2). It’s so big that Paul’s gotten wind of it and he recruits a friend, his “true companion” to help resolve it (Phil 4:3).

Then we get a set of seemingly random but beautifully memorable memory verses (Phil 4:4-9).

Then Paul moves on to his closing thanksgiving for their financial support of his ministry (Phil 4:10-20).

Finally, he concludes his letter in his usual way (Phil 4:21-23).

So what are we to make of the instructions in Phil 4:4-9?

The Usual Approach

Normally, people read these verses as a series of scattershot principles to keep in mind about the Christian life. And this could be the case. Paul does this very thing in other epistles (Rom 16:16-20, 1 Cor 16:1-18, etc.). And other letter writers appear to do a similar thing (Hebrews 13, portions of James).

Also, one foundation of this approach is the assumption that “peace” in Phil 4:7 and Phil 4:9 is a psychological state. The “peace of God” which guards your heart and mind is something similar to contentment or security in one’s faith. This certainly fits with where Paul goes in Phil 4:10-20. And the word “peace” demonstrably has this meaning in other letters of Paul’s (Rom 14:17, Rom 15:13, possibly 1 Cor 1:3, 2 Cor 1:2, Gal 6:16, etc.).

And frankly, each verse in Phil 4:4-9 stands very well on its own. Each one makes perfect sense as a discrete instruction, listed in a series of reminders.

But What If…?

But what if that conflict between Euodia and Syntyche was so explosive that nobody knew what to do about it? I’m sure Paul was not the first person to try to help them. Neither of them are accused of selfish self-interest in preaching the gospel (Phil 1:15). Neither of them is named an evildoer, a mutilator of the flesh (Phil 3:2), an enemy of the cross of Christ (Phil 3:18), or one who ought to be looked out for, avoided, or destroyed by God.

No, they are “fellow workers.” Their names are in the book of life. They have labored side by side with Paul in the ministry of the gospel. They’ve been a part of the team. Perhaps they’ve even been leaders of teams themselves. They just have so completely misunderstood and miscommunicated with one another that they can no longer agree in the Lord (Phil 4:2-3).

Perhaps you’ve seen conflict this explosive. So strong and confusing that nobody knows what to do. There is no clear right side or wrong side, and yet the church is still being ripped apart. Both sides have a true perspective, but the perspectives just keep missing each other. And everybody suffers as a result.

Martin Pettitt (2008), Creative Commons

Now imagine that you are Paul’s “true companion,” whom he asks to help resolve this thing. How would you feel about that? Perhaps you’d be glad he didn’t name you so you could slink under the pew and pretend to be home sick that day! What would you do?

  1. You could start by rejoicing in the Lord (Phil 4:4). Conflict always presents an opportunity to grow more like Christ. It will be better at the end than it was before the conflict broke out.
  2. Again, you need to be reminded a second time, so you can remind everyone else: Rejoice in the Lord (Phil 4:4).
  3. Then perhaps you could encourage each disputant to let the other side see how reasonable they can be. They should each show a willingness to listen and consider. They should both be open to understanding the other before trying to make themselves understood. They should be able to clearly distinguish the facts of the matter from their interpretations of those facts (Phil 4:5). “You hate me” is not a reasonable thing to tell someone. But, “When you said XYZ, I felt like you hated me. Is that what you meant?” is a perfectly reasonable thing to say.
  4. All should be reminded often that the Lord is at hand (Phil 4:5). There is no excuse for caricaturing the other perspective or resorting to personal attacks. God sees, he is present, and he is aware. And he will not allow you to go undefended forever.
  5. Explosive conflict tends to make us anxious. We don’t know what to do about it. But we can always pray. And when we pray, we are free as God’s children to ask him for deep resolution. We must make these requests with a spirit of thankfulness for the opportunities provided by the conflict (Phil 4:6).
  6. And wonder of wonders: From a worldly point of view, we should have no reason ever to expect that warring factions could agree and come back together. But God’s peace—perhaps not a psychological state of well-being, but simply the absence of infighting—surpasses all such understanding. But that doesn’t matter, because we have every reason to believe God’s peace can and will guard hearts and minds so we can speak and act in measured, kind, and sacrificial ways (Phil 4:7).
  7. And finally: Everyone who’s ever been in a conflict knows how the conflict shades your attitude toward your opponent. When I have concluded that someone is my enemy, they can no longer do anything right. Everything they do gets interpreted as hostile, selfish, ungodly, insincere, or aggressive. We must not do this. Instead, we are obligated to go out of our way to find something—anything!—about them that is good and praiseworthy. We must think about these things, and not about our hurt or offended feelings (Phil 4:8). It’s amazing how much this simple practice can do to lower the temperature in a heated conflict.

We can have hope that these things will work because Paul has modeled these very principles all throughout the letter (Phil 4:9). Just go back to his description of his opponents in chapter 1. How kind and gracious he is, refusing to attack or label them as hostiles! He is willing to focus on their godly motives, even while they’re causing him tremendous pain through their rivalry. At least “Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice” (Phil 1:18). Such is the attitude of one who has been brought under the reign of the God of peace (Phil 4:9).

Perhaps these verses are independently composed proverbial sayings. Perhaps.

But should it surprise us that we have such a hard time resolving conflicts between Christians if, perhaps, we have failed to recognize when the Lord provides for us a manual for peace?

Context matters.

For further explanation of this contextual flow of thought in Phil 4:2-9, see this post I wrote for the Gospel Coalition.

4 Simple Language Principles

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Mark Ward writes about “4 Simple Language Principles That Will Improve Your Bible Study.” He’s writing to the Bible student who wants to learn Greek or Hebrew. Or possibly to the person who wants to use original language tools well. You know, the sort of person who can be heard saying things like, “What the Greek word here really means is…”

Ward offers some excellent advice for these folks, and for the rest of us, when he encourages us to learn first how all languages work. Then we’ll be in a better place to understand how Greek and Hebrew work.

His principles are as follows:

  1. Usage determines meaning.
  2. Usage determines meaning—no, I mean it.
  3. Look at every level of meaning, not just the word level
  4. Learn linguistic and literary labels

These principles are so important, especially the first two. Many people tend to think words have specific meaning built into them inherently, like a code. But words only have meaning according to how real people use those words in real communication. Another way to put it is that we assume words get their meaning from the dictionary. But we fail to realize that dictionaries get their word meanings by listening to people use words in conversation (for real: see this TED talk). And therefore, word meanings are constantly changing over time.

Ward’s musings on this topic are worth reflecting on.

Check it out!

Context Matters: Quick to Listen, Slow to Speak

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Perhaps you’ve heard it’s a good idea to listen more and speak less. And that, while anger is not always sinful, we ought always be slow to it. Certainly, such virtues are to be commended. But have we really understood James’s intentions when he speaks of these things?

Context matters. If we learn to read the Bible for what it is—and not as a collection of independently assembled proverbial sayings—we’ll discover that some of our most familiar passages don’t actually mean what we’ve always assumed.

The Verse

You may have already figured out which verse I have in mind:

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. (James 1:19)

The verse seems clear enough, right? It’s a perfect memory verse for the angry person or jabbering child. But have you considered what it is James wants you to hear more quickly? And what does he want you to be slower to speak about? And what does he expect you’ll be angry about?

Melissa Wiese (2007), Creative Commons

The Problem

James’s writing style differs from other New Testament authors, especially those who wrote letters. Where other authors make liberal use of logical connectors (for, therefore, because, so that, etc.), James relies more on his content to move his argument forward.

Commentators often compare James’s letter with Old Testament wisdom literature, because James draws on similar techniques (poetic metaphor, pithy wording, practical application) in his writing. But we must not forget that wisdom literature—be it Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Job, or James—always tries to make us think. The message is not always in your face or vibrantly presented. The message is something you’re supposed to ponder.

So the “problem” with James is that he doesn’t spell out how he gets from one idea to the next. He expects us to think about it and notice his careful verbal connections. His thought is less like a train and more like a gently flowing river; sometimes we need to paddle a bit, but we can always drift along behind James’s lead raft. He’ll drop clues into the water for us pick up so we don’t lose him at the next fork.

The Argument

James begins his letter with his main idea: “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” (James 1:2). James wants to help us. He doesn’t want us to be surprised when trials come. We ought not be discouraged or depressed. We need eyes to see what God is doing in those trials. This perspective is one of “all joy.”

As we work through James’s argument from here, we should observe how each new paragraph (and sometimes each sentence) takes a key word or idea from the previous paragraph to expand on.

  • Trials make us steadfast (James 1:3), and the effect of this steadfastness is to make us perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (James 1:4).
  • One thing we lack is wisdom, but we can ask for it (James 1:5).
  • When we ask (James 1:6), we can expect to receive something—wisdom, and joy in trials—from the Lord (James 1:7-8).
  • But when we think of receiving something from the Lord, we typically think of material wealth. We must remember that both poverty (James 1:9) and riches (James 1:10-11) are trials in themselves. We must view them rightly to count them all joy.
  • The greatest wealth is not found in riches (or poverty) but in the blessing that God promises to those who remain steadfast (James 1:12).
  • Another trial is related to how we understand our trials! When undergoing trial, we tend to doubt God’s promises and charge him with doing wrong by us (James 1:13).
  • But God never does wrong by us; any wrong comes from the evil desire that sprouts within (James 1:14-15).
  • In other words, what we say about our trials really matters. Let us never say God is responsible for the evil that comes from within us.
    • For example: While it may be appropriate for someone to say that God is the cause of their season of singleness (he put me here in what feels like a trial), it is never appropriate to say that God is the cause of their lust problem (if he hadn’t put me in this season, I wouldn’t have this temptation).
  • We must not be deceived, failing to see God as our unchanging Father who gives us good and perfect gifts (James 1:16-17).
  • One of those good and perfect gifts is to make us good and perfect through steadfastness in trial (back up to James 1:4). This could also be described as a new birth, which he grants us through his word of truth (James 1:18).

Back to the Verse

So when we finally reach James 1:19, having walked through the chapter to that point, we see a few things:

  • We must be “quick to hear” the word of truth (James 1:18) that declares who God is (James 1:17), who we are (James 1:14-15), and what God is doing in us through trials (James 1:3-4).
  • We must be “slow to speak” words of criticism about the God (James 1:13) who brings us trials (James 1:2) to make us steadfast (James 1:12), perfect and complete (James 1:4).
  • We must be “slow to anger” toward the Father of lights (James 1:17), who gives generously (James 1:5), promises assuredly (James 1:12), and transforms us personally (James 1:18).

The Argument Moves On

Your anger toward God will never produce the righteousness in you God desires (James 1:20). Put away your stubborn and rebelliously self-centered interpretations of your trials—which are filthy and rampantly wicked—and receive the word of God which speaks to your trials (James 1:21). And don’t just listen, but actually do it; let God’s word change your perspective and make you truly steadfast in trial (James 1:22-25). When you’re ready to bridle your tongue, and speak of your trials (even your religion) the same way God does in his word (James 1:26), you’ll be transformed to move out beyond yourself to serve the weakest among you (James 1:27).

Conclusion

So while James 1:19 remains a marvelous memory verse, it might be helpful to know James especially has in mind our listening to God, our speaking about God, and our anger toward God. We must deal with this before we’ll be equipped to love our neighbor (James 1:27, and on into chapter 2).

Context matters.

Many thanks to my colleagues Dave Royes and Mark Fodale for showing me the way, just this week, through James’s river of thought here in chapter 1.

Does the New Testament Misquote the Old Testament?

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When you look up Old Testament passages quoted in the New Testament, you may notice that they don’t always line up exactly. For example, look at Isaiah 61:1-2, and then look at Luke’s quote of those verses in Luke 4:18-19:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor. (Is 61:1-2)

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (Luke 4:18-19)

Michael S. Heiser explains the cause for discrepancy in this brief article. In short, the New Testament authors were typically working off a Greek translation of the Hebrew original. So our Old Testaments are translating the Hebrew directly into English. But when the NT quotes the OT, our English New Testaments are translating a Greek translation of the original Hebrew. The more languages involved in the conversion, the more adjustment gets made at each step.

For a helpful example, try the following experiment. Go to Google translate, and translate a normal English phrase (such as, “My shoulder hurts from throwing too much at baseball practice yesterday”) into any other language. Copy the result. Now paste that text and translate it back into English. After just those two steps, going into Danish and back, I got: “My shoulder hurts to throw too much of baseball practice yesterday.” The discrepancies from the original should not surprise us.

(I understand that going from English to Danish to English—two total languages—is not identical to going from Hebrew to Greek to English—three total languages. My point is just to show, to an audience that is likely unilingual, what happens when you have two steps in translation.)

This doesn’t mean we can’t trust translations. It just means we have to be reasonable and sensible about how language works. Remember: The original languages don’t function like a code to be cracked. They were real documents written by real people in ordinary languages. There’s no need for concern when languages function linguistically.

Heiser’s article helpfully explains this example. Check it out!

Context Matters: the Faith Hall of Fame

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Perhaps you’ve heard about “The Faith Hall of Fame” (Hebrews 11:1-40). It’s a lengthy list of Old Testament heroes and the mighty deeds our great God accomplished through them. Children’s Bibles could derive their tables of contents from this chapter, and many believers come here for inspiration and encouragement. And for good reason. But how many, like Abraham, wander into this text, not knowing where they are going? And how many of our good intentions fall like the walls of Jericho by the author’s encircling, and clearly stated, intentions? And how many come away with assurance of things hoped for, and conviction of things not seen in the text?

Context matters. If we learn to read the Bible for what it is—and not as a collection of independently assembled inspirational stories—we’ll discover that some of our most familiar passages don’t actually mean what we’ve always assumed.

psmckiernan (2011), Creative Commons

The Big Idea

You don’t have to dig far into articles or commentaries on Hebrews to get the letter’s* main idea. Few would dispute it: Jesus Christ is superior. He is:

  • superior to angels (chapters 1-2)
  • superior to Moses (chapter 3)
  • superior to Joshua’s rest (chapter 4)
  • superior to the Levitical priesthood (chapters 5-7)
  • superior to the old covenant (chapter 8)
  • superior to the tabernacle (chapter 9)
  • superior to animal sacrifices (chapter 10)

The Main Application

As the text concludes a whirlwind review of the Old Testament legal and sacrificial system, it pulls everything together. “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places” (Heb 10:19) by superior blood, through a superior way, with a superior priest, “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” (Heb 10:22). “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope” (Heb 10:23) and stir one another up to love and good works.

Remember, there is no sacrifice for deliberate sin. This was the case under Moses’ law, and it remains the case under the Son of God and the Spirit of grace (Heb 10:26-30).

Wow! Sound harsh? Sound unchristian?

Perhaps. Unless you pay attention to which deliberate sin it is that cannot be covered by any sacrifice, including Christ’s. It was mentioned in Heb 10:19-25, but he brings it up again:

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings… Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward… We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. (Heb 10:32-39)

The sin that cannot be covered by sacrifice is the sin of throwing away one’s confidence in Christ. The sin of shrinking back from enlightenment regarding Jesus’ superiority. The sin of not holding fast the confession of hope in Jesus. The sin, that is, of lacking faith.

In other words, the only people who will be in hell are those who refuse to believe in Jesus Christ as their true rest, true tabernacle, true priest, and true sacrifice. No sacrifice or religious duty could ever rescue such people. But those who maintain their believing loyalty to Christ will receive the promised reward. Don’t ever let this go; it’s not worth it. With such loyalty, you can endure any suffering.

The Hall of Fame

And on this note, the discourse launches into a litany of Old Testament examples of people whose primary hope and assurance came not from their own performance of religious duty (temple, priest, sacrifice), but from the promise of God to preserve and reward them through hardship. But the text doesn’t want us to look at these examples. No, their eyes are on us (Heb 11:39-12:1), so that our eyes can be on him (Heb 12:2-3).

The litany nearly becomes a mantra that you can’t miss: “By faith… By faith… By faith… By faith,” eighteen times. Then a “through faith” (Heb 11:33) and a “through their faith” (Heb 11:39) are thrown in for a little variety at the end.

When reading through the faith hall of fame, we sometimes miss the fact that it’s a faith hall of fame. It’s not a works hall of fame. It’s not a list of strong people who did great things for God. It’s a list of weak people who trusted that God could do great things for them. We don’t have to try to imitate the heroes of old. They’re cheering us on, encouraging us to fix our eyes on Jesus. He endured hostility so he could win us as a prize. Can we endure a bit of ridicule to win others to him as well?

Context matters.

*While it’s obvious that Hebrews comes in the section of “letters” in the New Testament, there is good reason to believe that this “letter” is really a transcribed sermon with an appended P.S. (Heb 13:22-25). But that’s another post for another day.

What To Do When the NT Quotes the OT

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Mike Leake has some great advice for what we should do when we’re reading the New Testament, and it quotes an Old Testament verse. He looks at 2 Cor 4:13, where Paul quotes Psalm 116:10, and he shows how Paul has the entire Psalm in mind as he makes his argument. Leake’s analysis is rich and compelling.

Then he concludes:

But we miss all of this if we think the biblical authors quoted verses the way that we do. So here is a little tip for your Bible reading. Whenever you see that a New Testament passage is a quotation of an Old Testament passage, don’t just go back and read that one verse in the OT. Instead go back and read the entire Psalm, or the entire context of that quote. It’ll help you to understand more fully why the biblical author quoted that verse.

Context matters. This is basic Bible study at its best, and I commend it to you.

Check it out!

Context Matters: Refrain From Anger

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Context matters. If we learn to read the Bible for what it is—and not as a collection of independently assembled proverbial sayings—we’ll discover that some quotable quotes have much more to them than we thought.

This week, I’m happy to point you to this article by Mark ward, where he walks through his process of re-discovering a familiar verse by considering its context.

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. (Psalm 37:8, NIV)

What is the connection between anger and worry (fretting), at least in the mind of this psalmist? You’ll have to read Ward’s article to find out.

Check it out!

5 Reasons to Read the Bible Every Day

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Following up on last week’s Check It Out post to “chain yourself to the Word of God,” I’m eager to share this post by Jimmy Needham with “5 Reasons to Read the Bible Every Day.” According to Needham:

Before you get into God’s word, remember that becoming Bible-literate is not about being smarter, or beefing up your spiritual resume, or lording your knowledge over others. It’s about looking through the pages to the Savior on the other side. Jesus says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40). It’s about seeing and savoring Jesus Christ through his word. We don’t worship the font. We worship the Father.

Take this to heart, and Needham’s counsel will change your life. What are his 5 reasons?

  1. You cannot love God, and not listen to him.
  2. Your faith need promises to survive.
  3. We become like what we behold.
  4. You will only find the joy you want in words.
  5. There is work to be done.

The Bible teaches us that God loves the forgotten and the misfit. It shows us the value of shepherding our families. It introduces us to the generosity of other Christians (2 Corinthians 8:1–7), and calls us to be openhanded with what God gives us. It heralds the sanctity of every human life and inspires us to fight for the unborn. It declares that race should not be a barrier to Christian unity, but a beautiful occasion for it. We become equipped for every good work in the Bible.

Check it out!