Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible
Congratulations to all who participated in this year’s Bible reading giveaway. We had 38 entries, one less than last year; each of you acquired a treasure greater than gold or silver.
And additional congratulations to Merian Burkett and Jono Martin, the randomly selected winners of the new reader’s Bibles.
Your testimonies are my delight; they are my counselors. (Ps 119:24)
So far, I have received 22 entries for our 2018 Bible-reading giveaway. If you’re still finishing up your readthrough, you have until tomorrow night to complete it. I will then give you until Monday to contact me before we select the winners of the new reader’s Bibles (CSB Reader’s Bible and NIV Sola Scriptura Bible Project). You may either email me at peter.krol@knowableword.com or submit a contact form. Just let me know that you finished, along with what you thought of the experience.
Next week, I’ll announce our two winners!
I love hearing what people think of this experience. Perhaps some of these thoughts may encourage you as well:
I love it. I’m thinking about doing it every quarter. I’m more in love with the Word than before. Thank you for the challenge.
It’s certainly not as daunting as I thought it might be.
I didn’t see before this what a big deal all the circumcision debates were in the New Testament church. Acts, and many of Paul’s letters address this controversy, but I didn’t notice that until I was rolling through a couple epistles a day in short succession.
The pace was truly exhilarating. I can’t help wondering where I go from here, this journey through the bible was truly amazing.
I heard a few patterns throughout the scripture that spanned over multiple books, that I would not have picked up normally at a slow reading pace. For example, the pattern of mountains (Eden – Ezekiel, Sinai – Genesis, and Zion – multiple references), no wonder people kept trying to make Asherah’s on the “High Places” (Judges).
I loved loved loved it!!! One of the most enjoyable things I have ever done. I really was surprised that I really enjoyed the Histories in the OT, not that I thought they should be removed at any point, but I remembered them from seminary as dry and repetitive, but this time I really enjoyed them. Also found myself seeing things I had not caught on one of my many first reads. I am now doing a slower daily reading to compliment my daily study time, I intend to do this challenge at the start of every year!!!
Happy Easter!
When I discuss the importance of Bible study skills, an objection that occasionally arises has to do with illiterate or preliterate people groups. It appears that literacy was not widespread in the ancient world, and, for centuries, most Christians did not own copies of the Bible.
And yet they could follow Jesus and mature as disciples just fine. So why do we put so much emphasis on personal Bible study?
John Piper fields a question along these lines, and I appreciate his insights in responding. His argument seems to go like this:
Now I’m adding a bit to what Piper said, in order to flesh out the argument I believe he’s making. I have tried not to misrepresent him. And I encourage you to consider his brief and valuable response in full.
Next week, we once again give our focused attention to the suffering, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. This sequence of events marks the center of history and the cornerstone of our faith.
And why is this so? What is so critical about these events?
In a short series of posts last year, Ryan and I narrowed this question even further to only the resurrection. Why did Jesus rise from the dead? While there are many theological answers we could give to this question, our concern was with the gospel accounts themselves. What reasons did Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John have for recording Jesus’ resurrection?
Observe carefully, and let the text speak for itself! Don’t assume you know the answer, or you may grow too familiar with these beloved passages to see the true point. If you’d like a fun study during Holy Week, consider revisiting the four resurrection accounts once more, and try to discern what each author had to say about the risen Christ. Was he the proven king, renewing his world? Or was he the vindicated sacrifice for all the world? Was he truly the divine Son who gives life? Or was he God’s gracious authority for the Jewish people?
Don’t assume they’re all saying the same thing. Don’t rush into an unhelpful form of harmonization. And perhaps our posts can assist you as you examine each account once more:
John Piper addresses the question of desire: What do we do when we don’t feel like reading the Bible? After reflecting on the prayer of Psalm 119:36 (“Incline my heart to your testimonies”), he writes:
Over the years in my pastoral ministry, many people have complained to me that they do not have motivation to read the Bible. They have a sense of duty that they should, but the desire is not there. It is remarkable how many of those people feel that the absence of the desire is the last nail in the coffin of joyful meditation on God’s word.
When I ask them to describe to me what they are doing about it, they look at me as if I had misunderstood the problem. What can you do about the absence of desire, they wonder. “It’s not a matter of doing. It’s a matter of feeling,” they protest. The problem with this response is that these folks have not just lost desire for God’s word, but they have lost sight of the sovereign power of God, who gives that desire. They are acting like practical atheists. They have adopted a kind of fatalism that ignores the way the psalmist prays.
Evidently, the psalmist too felt this terrible tendency to drift away from the word of God. Evidently, he too knew the cooling of desire and the tendency of his heart to incline more to other things — especially money. Otherwise why would he have cried out, “Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain”? He is pleading with God to give him desire for the word. He knows that ultimately God is sovereign over the desires of the heart. So, he calls on God to cause what he cannot make happen on his own. This is the answer to fatalism. This is the answer to acting like an atheist — as if there were no God who rules the heart, and can restore what we have lost.
Repent. Pray. Trust God to give what we cannot drum up ourselves. Then act as though we expect him to answer. This is great advice.
I’ve created a page to serve as a table of contents for the complete series of Bible studies through the book of Exodus. You can reach it through the menu (OIA Method > Examples > Who is Yahweh: Exodus). Or you can just click this link. If you’d like to see an interpretive outline of the book at a glance, or if you’d like to revisit any of the studies, you can easily have at it!
And now that I’ve finished the study of Exodus, I’m open to suggestions about what to blog about next. I have a few one-off posts I’d like to write on various topics. And then I’m thinking about doing an occasional series on Bible verses we’re so familiar with that we fail to understand their true meaning in context. I’m compiling a list of verses to tackle, including:
Do you have other ideas of familiar verses you suspect may be commonly misused or divorced from their contexts? I do not plan to cover Philippians 4:13, Matthew 18:20, or Jeremiah 29:11, as I’ve seen them each covered adequately many times over in other places.
And are there any other topics you’d appreciate seeing on this blog to help you in your Bible study?
For those of you working to finish reading the Bible by March 31, remember to contact me to enter the giveaway for a reader’s Bible. Here are the guidelines for entry.
Also, I’ve realized that requiring people to wait until January 1 to begin is unnecessarily limiting. For next year’s event, I’ll probably adjust the guidelines so that you have only to complete the reading between Jan 1 and March 31, as long as the full readthrough took place within a 90-day period. That will give much more flexibility to those who prefer different schedules, or who like to get started over the December holidays.
We’ve got 7 entries so far. If you sent me a message and didn’t hear back, you may want to try again.
I’ll look forward to hearing from you soon!
When our Bible study focuses intently on each passage, one after another, we may find it difficult to step back and see how they fit together. But we must remember the Bible is a work of literature. It was not written to be scrutinized in bites; it was written to be devoured in gobbles. We should remember to read the Bible as we’d read any other book: moving through it at a reasonable pace and recognizing ongoing themes, climax, resolution, and character development. When we hit milestones in the text, we should take the opportunity to survey where we’ve been and how it fits together.
So, now that we’ve completed our study of each chapter, we ought to look back and put it all together.
Let me list the main points I’ve proposed for each passage in the last section:
In addition, my overview of the whole book led me to this overall main point:
Who is Yahweh, and why should you obey him? He is the God who 1) demolishes the house of slavery (Ex 1-15), 2) prepares to rebuild (Ex 16-18), and 3) builds his house in the midst of his people (Ex 19-40).
The main idea of Act I (Ex 1:1-15:21) was that Yahweh demolishes the house of slavery. He does this in two parts:
The main idea of Act II (Ex 15:22-18:27) was that Yahweh prepares the house of his people by showing them they need his law to know him.
Now in Act III, Yahweh builds his house in the midst of his people. We’ve already covered three parts:
Now what do these things show us about the flow of thought in chapters 35-40? We have reached the end of the book and have every reason to expect something even more climactic than the Passover, the Red Sea crossing, or the Ten Commandments.
These chapters show us that the tabernacle was not God’s final plan. Of course, it would later lead to a temple. But not even the temple would be the final plan. These religious structures have no power in themselves to save. Only the final Immanuel, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God come in the flesh, can fully draw us in and unite us to God.
Greg (2012), Creative Commons
Act I: Yahweh demolishes the house of slavery (Ex 1-15).
Introduction: Nobody can prevent Yahweh from keeping his promises, but we’re not sure how he’ll do it (Ex 1).
Part 1: Yahweh appoints a mediator and ensures he is fully qualified and trained for the task of deliverance (Ex 2:1-7:7).
Part 2: Yahweh delivers a deserved destruction to his enemies and a frightful joy to his people (Ex 7:8-15:21).
Act II: Yahweh prepares to rebuild by exposing how deeply his people need his law to know him (Ex 16-18).
Act III: Yahweh builds his house in the midst of his people (Ex 19-40).
Part 1: Yahweh architects a perfect paradise for the community of his people, so he can bring them near through the blood of a substitute (Ex 19-24).
Part 2: Yahweh explains how his people can re-create this paradise on earth (Ex 25-31).
Part 3: Yahweh hands them something more glorious than paradise; he hands them more of himself (Ex 32-34).
Part 4: The obedient new creators build the house, and Yahweh moves in. But not even Moses can enter the glory. This tent cannot be it; there must be something more to come (Ex 35-40).
When Yahweh finally moves in, Moses unexpectedly can’t even enter the cloud of glory. But Jesus would eventually come to finish all the Father’s work. Now he has taken up his rest at the Father’s right hand. And we who have believed enter that rest (Heb 4:3). So now, it is not the work of our hands, but the community itself that is the dwelling place of God (1 Cor 3:16-17).
Let’s be honest: The book of Exodus contains both some of the most exciting narratives and some of the most boring inventories in all the Scripture. But now that you’ve seen the point of it all, have you found eyes to see the glory? Dwell in this book for any length of time, gaze on the glory of our God’s grace and truth, and you, too, will experience something Moses and the freed slaves could only have dreamed.
Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.
Sometimes conservative evangelicals get nervous when scholars start talking about the Bible’s “editors.” But there can be no doubt that it was so. Michael Heiser explains it briefly at the Logos Talk blog:
Consider the first four verses of the book of Ezekiel:
In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the Chebar canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. On the fifth day of the month (it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin), the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar canal, and the hand of the Lord was upon him there. As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal.
The first two verses use the first person (“I”), which leads us to believe that Ezekiel himself is writing. But then there is a switch to the third person in verse three, as though the writer was not the famous prophet (“to Ezekiel”; “him”). Then it’s back to the first person (“I”) again in verse four. What’s going on? Can’t Ezekiel decide if he’s writing or not?
There’s no multiple personality disorder here. The switch between grammatical persons is simply the tell-tale sign of an editor. Someone other than Ezekiel inserted verse three to make it clear that the prophet wasn’t crazy: The prophet saw God and was led by the Spirit to describe what follows in the book.
Check it out!
God’s rescued and rebellious people have been brought out of bondage and brought back to their glorious Master. They have done all he’s asked them to do in building his tent. How will Moses conclude this book?
Most repeated words: tabernacle (17 times), Lord (14x), put (14), tent (14), Moses (13), set (13), meeting (12), up (12), altar (11), all (8), anoint (8), ark (8), commanded (8)
Scene 1: Yahweh’s speech to Moses (Ex 40:1-15)
Scene 2: Moses’ obedience (Ex 40:16-33)
Scene 3: The aftermath (Ex 40:34-38)
John McSporran (2016), Creative Commons
Some possible questions:
My answers (numbers correspond to the questions):
Train of thought:
Main point: While the tabernacle reveals the magnificent glory of God with us, there is something even more glorious yet.
Connection to Christ: These people long for the day when they can really and truly live with their God. Little did they know he would come to live with them (Matt 1:21-23). He would lead his people into yet greater obedience, as they behold the glory of his grace and truth (John 1:14).
Head: I can trust God’s good purposes when I feel tension between the already and the not yet. I already have everything I need in Christ: his presence with me by his Spirit, empowering me to obey his commands. Yet, it will become even more wonderful and glorious when I can set my aside once and for all to be with him forever.
Heart: My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. If he is not with me, what hope do I have?
Hands: The grace of God teaches me to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live a self-controlled, upright, and godly life (Titus 2:11-12) while I wait for my blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of my great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13-14). I don’t need a second helping of dessert tonight. I can restrain my harsh words to my children. I can respond to my discouragement with the hope of what Jesus is doing in the world.
Click here to see what I’m doing with this sample Bible study and why I’m doing it.
