Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

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Why Read Scripture in Public?

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Paul commands Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim 4:13). But was that just something unique to Timothy? Why do churches generally make a practice of reading Scripture when the assembly is gathered for worship?

Steve Burchett runs through the entire Bible, showing that public Scripture reading has always been the practice of God’s people. From Moses to Paul, one of the main things the people of God ought to do when they gather is to read God’s Word.

…throughout biblical history, God was very interested in his people hearing his word read when they came together. They often did this, sometimes for very lengthy readings. When we read the Bible in our gatherings, we are doing what God’s people have always been expected to do, and have consistently done.

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Whose Body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit?

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I’ve argued before, from the context, that 1 Cor 6:19 is not a catch-all prohibition against anything and everything a person can do to their body (tattoos, alcohol, smoking, etc.). Nicholas Piotrowski and Ryan Johnson take it another step further to clarify what exactly Paul means by “your body.”

They carefully observe the grammar, context, and flow of thought through the entire letter of 1 Corinthians to conclude that “your body” is not, after all, your own body but the larger community (the body of Christ).

The trouble is that the Bible consistently speaks of one temple for the one God. So if each Christian’s individual body were a temple in and of itself, then that would mean God has millions of isolated temples all over the world. There is a bit of a theological problem with this.

I need to consider this further myself, especially since the “body” appears to refer to an individual’s physical in 1 Cor 6:18, the immediately preceding sentence. But perhaps my familiarity is clouding my observation of that verse as well!

Piotrowski and Johnson give four very good reasons for reading the verse in a corporate way, and I encourage you to give their reasons your own consideration.

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Help with Zechariah

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I’ve been leading my church’s preaching team through series on Jonah and Nahum over the last few months. I’m really enjoying the Lord’s messages for us in the minor prophets.

And I once considered Zechariah to be the most difficult book of the Bible to grasp. Perhaps it is, but Steven McCarthy is here to help.

McCarthy broadly walks through the book’s structure, explaining the main idea of each of the visions before covering the oracles of the book’s second half. Here is a taster:

Zechariah, along with his counterpart Haggai, speaks from this period of return from exile in Babylon and rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. (Ezra 5:1-2) He does so with a broad scope and a heavily symbolic style. Whereas Haggai’s burden is laser-focused on the specific priority of rebuilding God’s temple, Zechariah’s burden is more generally for the people to be spiritually and morally disposed for God’s renewal and fulfillment of his covenant relationship with them. Indeed, God’s grace trains us “to renounce ungodliness”. (Titus 2:11-14) The book of Zechariah leads us to the conclusion that only Christ’s coming itself will make God’s people into a fitting community for the LORD’s dwelling.

My only hesitation is that McCarthy is quick to suggest that the second half of Zechariah is “about” Jesus and his work. Certainly, the New Testament shows the fulfillment of Zechariah in the work of Christ. But I would prefer to first clarify what the text meant to the original audience (who did not know who Jesus was), and only then talk about the fulfillment in Christ.

But despite this minor qualification, McCarthy’s brief comments are well worth your time. He will enable you to get your bearings in this important book.

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Piper on Finding the Main Point of a Chapter

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The climax of the interpretation phase of Bible study is to determine the author’s main point. I have observed that skill to be one of the most difficult things for people to learn.

So here is some additional advice from John Piper. He describes his general process, using the metaphor of a 500-piece puzzle, and then he models it with the example of Psalm 8.

So, the point is to look at the pieces very carefully, to fit them together in midsize units, to jot down the main points of the midsize units until you have them all on a half sheet of paper, and then to think and think, and pray and pray, and think and pray and think and pray, and to organize and draw lines, and to try to fit them all together until they fall into place and you see how these five, six, seven, eight, nine points of the midsize units are in a flow that make one big overarching point. You will be surprised, if you take up pencil and paper and do this, what you will see.

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Why You Can’t Ditch the Old Testament

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Michael Kruger has a fabulous article explaining why recent attempt to ditch or diminish the Old Testament in the teaching of the Christian church are wrong-headed.

Kruger explains:

I think it’s worth taking a deep breath and stepping back for a moment to remind ourselves of the big picture. Regardless of how one handles these individual objections from the OT (and I am not trying to answer them here), we need to remember why the OT matters in the first place. Here are three reasons why the OT might actually matter a lot more than we think.

His three reasons are:

  1. The Old Testament is the Framework of the Work of Christ
  2. The OT is the Framework for Our Identity as Believers
  3. The Old Testament is a Guide for the Christian Life

In short: Without the Old Testament, you cannot understand who Jesus is, what he has done, or what he wants you to do to follow him.

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10 Things Jesus Believed about the Bible

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Summarizing the first chapter of Mark Thompson’s The Doctrine of Scripture, Doug Eaton explains 10 things Jesus believed about the Bible.

  1. Scripture is the final authority in matters of faith and faithful living.
  2. The written Scripture was the context for Jesus’ self-understanding and ministry.
  3. Jesus Identified Scripture as the “Word of God.”
  4. Jesus believed the “double agency” of Scripture.
  5. Jesus believed Scripture was intelligible.
  6. Jesus believed Scripture was truthful.
  7. Jesus believed Scripture was sufficient.
  8. Jesus believed in the efficacy of Scripture.
  9. Jesus believed the Apostles’ words were authoritative.
  10. Jesus believed there was an appropriate response to the Word of God

Eaton concludes:

Jesus’ identity is bound up in the Word of God. He is the Word made flesh. The trustworthiness of the Bible is inextricably tied to the trustworthiness of Jesus. If the Word of God is not trustworthy, neither is Jesus, and if Jesus is not trustworthy, neither are the Scriptures. To follow Jesus, we must obey his word; they cannot be separated.

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The Bible is Boring Only to the Uncurious

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Have you heard someone say the Bible is boring? Have you felt that way yourself?

Perhaps you’re not curious enough.

Aaron Armstrong shares his own experience:

Before I was a Christian, I didn’t really know much about the Bible. Which makes sense, since I didn’t read it. But I had a lot of assumptions about it, the same assumptions many non-Christians have about it. I assumed it was endlessly contradictory, outdated, and irrelevant. That nothing it said really mattered to life in the modern world. Most importantly, because I saw the few people I knew whose parents made them go to some kind of class at their church were bored to tears, I assumed the Bible was boring.

Then I read it, and I discovered a book that fascinated me. One that made me ask questions, and has kept me asking questions for nearly 19 years. A book that challenges me to dig a little deeper every time I think I’ve got something figured out.

Armstrong goes on to describe how curiosity about the Bible enables us to expose its bottomless wonders and riches. I appreciate his reflection and commend it to you.

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Top 10 Posts on Bible Study Methods

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The entire reason for this blog’s existence is to help ordinary people learn to study the Bible. That requires us to impart principles and methods to help you along your way. Sometimes we back up and give sweeping tools and directions. At other times we zero in on a particular skill. All along the way, we encourage you to try these things at home and keep practicing.

Image by Tumisu from Pixabay

Continuing in the spirit of the top 10 lists presented over the last few weeks, here are 2023’s top 10 most-viewed posts in the “Method” category. If you browse the full list, you’ll see that we’ve currently got 271 installments. So if you have time to read only 10 of them, you may want to consider these 10.

  1. Three Important Contexts for Bible Study
  2. Why We Reread the Bible
  3. Studying the Bible is Not Code Breaking
  4. Finding Repeated Words and Themes
  5. Two Ways to Outline a Bible Passage
  6. What We Miss When We Skip the Book of Nehemiah
  7. The Most Important Tool for Observing the Structure of a Narrative Episode
  8. My Favorite Way to Read the New Testament
  9. Details of the OIA Method
  10. Summary of the OIA Method

When You Don’t Feel Like Reading Your Bible

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We’ve all had those seasons when Bible reading feels more like obligation than delight. And thought we do have an obligation to the who rescued us from darkness into light, his intentions have always been to increase our joy in him.

To that end, Kristen Wetherell has two great suggestions for what to do when you don’t feel like reading your Bible:

  1. Feast with your church
  2. Find a fresh method

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