Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible
John Piper is simply a master at observing the grammar and logic of a passage to discern its argument. Here is an example, where he looks at Ephesians 5:3-7, asking the questions:
Many bloggers take advantage of this time of the year to reflect on their most popular posts. Now we know there is a time to follow the crowd (Zech 8:23), and a time not to follow the crowd (Ex 23:2). And I believe the present time to be akin to the former and not the latter. So here we go.
This post lists the top 10 viewed posts this year, from among the posts we wrote this year. Next week, we’ll list the top 10 viewed posts from the full KW archive. May these lists enable you to be warm and well fed while you celebrate the season with joy and delight.
No joke: Peter was short on time one week, and he didn’t have the luxury of thinking too long or hard about what topic to blog about. So he figured he’d just share some quick insights from his personal Bible study earlier that week, to give people a window into his observation of an unusual passage. And…it became the tenth most-viewed post of the year, spawning follow-ups showing his interpretation and application of the same text. Both of us are often mystified by the seeming lack of connection between how popular we think a post will be and how popular it actually ends up being.
“Context matters” has become something of a rallying cry for us at this blog, because … context matters. And this phrase in particular—”in the world but not of the world”—is something you won’t even find in the Bible. It’s just not there. But happily, it remains a very biblical sentiment, as Ryan shows by taking us to two passages in John’s gospel that are the sources of the slogan’s two parts.
Ryan walks through one of most beloved and memorable poems in the Bible, showing us why it is so beloved and memorable. And modeling the riches of OIA Bible study for us along the way.
Of course the mathematician among us wants people to give more attention to Numbers. He’s got some pretty compelling reasons, though. You can count on it.
Context matters yet again, and not for the last time on this list. 2 Thessalonians 2 is a really great passage to use to shake people up and alarm them. That is, if your goal is to work precisely against the author’s stated intention.
Acts was one of the books we covered this year in our periodic series of interpretive book overviews. Our goal with this series is not only to give historical and cultural background to the books of the Bible, but to walk through the author’s argument in line with the literary devices he uses to signal the book’s structure. This walkthrough of Acts has been the most-viewed post in the series to date, with the walkthrough of Job coming in second.
Not only is this post the fourth most-viewed post we wrote this year, but also it has had less than 2 months of life to attain its place on this list! It is a fact that there are parts of the Bible that are difficult to understand. But the Lord has graciously given us help—in the Bible itself—for approaching these passages with humility and hope.
The Holy Spirit is a major running theme through one of Bible’s most famous chapters. But he often doesn’t get a lot of press when we study that chapter. So here are 10 truths to meditate on from this glorious text.
This was a year of lament for Ryan as his small group studied the book of Lamentations. And we can all be grateful, for it provoked him to write some gems of reflection such as our second most-viewed post written this year. Yes, God’s mercies are new every morning. Many people would be surprised, though, to learn that verse comes from the book of Lamentations. Some might be even more surprised to discover how the literary context affects the way we ought to understand that verse. Context matters. (And for more than 50 further examples of why context matters, see our full list of posts.)
Earlier in the year, Ryan wrote about the rut we tend to fall into when we live only for the practical application, and we cannot get beyond the big three: read your Bible, pray more, and reach out to unbelievers. Those are three great applications, but making detailed, practical application is not the only reason to read your Bible. More often than not, stuff happens when you read your Bible that you can’t immediately see or feel. But the unseen effect of shaping a person, shaping a culture, is a glorious goal worth working toward. So don’t feel guilty if you don’t come away from a Bible reading session with something amazing, concrete, and life-changing. What happened while you read was amazing, concrete, and life-changing enough.
Sarah Humphrey has a lovely piece on developing a culture of Bible reading within the home that will stay with our children when they move on.
As we lead children into the Word, the best way for them to actually become interested is by seeing us already invested. I can tell my kids to practice the piano all day long, but it’s when I sit down at the bench to play that they come and sit with me. I can encourage them to make their own toast each morning, but it’s when I show them how, that they feel empowered to make their own breakfast. Teaching the Bible is no different. It comes with the patience, explanation, and the beauty of storytelling that will engage and interest them by showing them the worth of what is inside.
Not long ago, John Piper received a very challenging question over how to grapple with the God presented in the book of Job:
Pastor John, my 14-year-old daughter read through the book of Job for the first time this year, and she is really struggling with how God is portrayed in that book. She has heard all of her life that God is loving and just, and cannot understand why God would allow Job and his children, wife, and servants to suffer such devastation. She’s deeply disturbed by the fact that God pointed Job out to Satan intentionally, thus drawing his attention to this righteous man, allowing Satan to take away nearly everything Job had. And for what purpose? Merely to prove a point to Satan and the host of heaven that Job’s reverence for God was unshakable.
Piper masterfully walks through the process of learning to define just and unjust, right and wrong, not from our own perspectives but as creatures of Almighty God who defines such things for us. And this Almighty God always acts on behalf of his own supreme glory and the good of his people.
Piper’s response is a helpful example of how to wrestle through difficult texts in light of the message of the Scriptures. Check it out!
Malachi 2:10 is a verse that many cults and spiritual gurus use to show that every member of the human race is a child of God, a member of his holy family.
Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?
Bill Muehlenberg simply takes us to the context of this verse to show us that there’s something much different going on in the prophet’s train of thought.
Have you ever been afraid to study the book of Revelation? If so, you’re not the only one, and Lucky Mogakane is here to help:
In this article I will attempt to encourage believers to read Revelation. I will do this by distinguishing the fear many feel towards the book and the kind of fear we should have as a result of reading it. Then I will show that one of the messages in Revelation is reassurance, as we learn about God’s love. Thus we will see that contrast with its reception, Revelation is a great blessing to the Church—in all ages and whatever its situation. Revelation is God’s word for believers, even if it appears strange at first.
Mr. Mogakane has some wonderful insight into the themes of Revelation, along with their relevance for today.
Andrew M. King has a helpful article on the book of Amos, where he walks through the key themes of the book of Amos. His summary:
Though only in seed form, the book of Amos signals God’s redemptive purpose seen in the whole of Scripture. From beginning to end, the triune God of creation and covenant is shown to be faithful in judgment and salvation for the fame of his name.
King does a great job tracing the pieces of these themes throughout Amos’s prophecy. Accordingly, he is focusing more on the contents than on the argument of the book (the opposite of what I attempt to do in my interpretive book overviews). However, his piece is a great example of why it is also important to also understand the contents of the books we study.
I appreciate this brief video with Dr. Nate Brooks, discussing three factors that might make it difficult for us to read the Bible.
Each one of these factors has potential solutions!
Psalm 137:9 offers an alarming benediction on those engaged in a shockingly outrageous behavior: “Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!” What is a serious student of the Bible to make of this, in light of Jesus’ welcoming of little children and his admonition to love one’s enemies?
Joe Palekas has a marvelous piece asking this very question. And to answer it, he takes a thorough tour of the context of Psalm 139:9. He looks at the literary context and train of thought in the poem itself. He looks at historical context when it was written. He looks at the larger literary context of the arrangement of psalms. He looks at the covenantal context, particularly in light of Isaiah’s predictions of the Day of the Lord to be brought against Babylon in Isaiah 13. Palekas looks at the context of the fulfillment in Christ. And he examines how all these contexts then lead us to application in our day and point in history.
In the end, he reaches the following conclusion:
Now Psalm 137 begins to become clearer. The community of exiles weeping by the waters of Babylon are calling for the day of the LORD. God has promised his covenant people that he will return them from exile and visit a just reward upon their captors. He promised this before he even sent them to exile. Psalm 137 contrasts the “day of Jerusalem” with the day of the LORD promised in Isaiah 13 and alluded to in Psalm 137:9. The astonishing and overwhelming image of dashing infants on the rocks is not the product of some twisted or vengeful human imagination. It is a call for God to be faithful to his covenant promises.
This is some terrific Bible study and contextual thinking at its finest. If you’ve ever wondered about that line about bashing babies on rocks, I encourage you to check it out. And if you’d like to see a skillful example of how context matters, I also encourage you to check it out!
Andree Seu Peterson makes a fabulous point for World magazine: The “logic” and argumentation of the world has grown so demented that any disagreement with accepted conclusions is considered unreasonable and immoral. But all hope is not lost, for the Apostle Paul dealt with the same kind of worldly “wisdom” in his day. “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing” (1 Cor 1:18).
Peterson concludes:
I am going back to the simple Word. The Word that God says “is the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16). If any apologist for the New Think sexual mores comes at me with his fancy Oxford or Yale logic supposedly proving that perversion is enlightenment and enlightenment is perversion, I will make responses such as these:
“From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female’” (Mark 10:6).
“Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!” (Luke 17:1).
Hold tight the confidence that the Word of God has power—intrinsically—to change hearts. It will not return to Him empty.
Her piece is well worth your time and consideration. Check it out!
