Knowable Word

Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible

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Chain Yourself to the Word of God

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This article by Steve Robinson is addressed to church planters, but there is no reason his words can’t apply to any believer in Christ. Steve talks about the entropy of life, which causes us to lose our bearings and drift from one complex situation to another. Eventually we get so busy that we have no time left for Bible intake. We thereby cut ourselves off from the fount of eternal life and true encouragement.

Again, Robinson is speaking to church planters. But replace “church planter” with “Bible study leader,” “Sunday school teacher,” or even “parent,” and the point does not change:

Church planter: do you want to know the most important thing you can do in your ministry? Chain yourself to the Word of God. I know you have a million and one things to do. I know the needs of your congregation feel unending. But if the Word isn’t your lifeline, you won’t have anything to offer your needy people.

These exhortations are worth considering before you begin to feel the drift. In a time of plenty, how can you lay the tracks in your life that will make it easier for you to keep chugging when you’re going uphill? What habits would you like to form now so that inertia will be in your favor when you face resistance?

Robinson’s article describes glorious motives from Psalm 119 for such questions.

Check it out!

Who Decided What Would Be in the Bible?

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On this site, we keep our sights trained on the topic of how to study the English Bible. We’ve chosen not to get too involved in related but ancillary topics, such as translation (how we got our English versions), transmission (how the text was passed from generation to generation), or canonicity (how we ended up with our current set of books in the Bible). These topics are not unimportant; we just prefer to keep things on this site focused on one thing.

But once in a while we like to refer you to another resource that does a good job addressing these fundamental questions.

That’s why I highly encourage you to check out this article by Eric Davis called “Who Decided What Would be in the Bible & When—Canonicity.” Davis writes very clearly for a non-academic audience, and he covers the topic very well.

Davis addresses questions such as:

  • How can we trust the 66 books of the Protestant Bible are the right ones?
  • Wasn’t it just a 4th century council of powerful leaders who decided, according to their private agenda, which books to include and exclude?
  • What should we make of the Apocrypha?
  • What are the presuppositions and ramifications of our conclusions on these matters?

Check it out!

Objection: Bible Study and Preliteracy

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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:

  1. It is not necessary for people to be able to read in order for them to believe in Christ and have eternal life.
  2. Therefore, we can and should preach the gospel to preliterate or illiterate people, and do all we can to instruct them in the faith.
  3. Yet, for the good of the world, we cannot stop there. We cannot be content with this (preliterate discipleship) as a perpetual state of affairs.
  4. The Bible speaks of itself as a treasure more valuable than any other earthly treasure because it reveals Jesus to us (e.g. Ps 19:10, 119:72).
  5. The Bible itself commends the act of reading the Bible to know Christ (e.g. Eph 3:4).
  6. If Christian teachers and missionaries (who are able to read and study the Bible, and who therefore know the true Christ revealed therein) are the only people who can read the Bible for themselves, this creates a paternalism or imperialism that leaves the masses dependent on the élite few.
  7. Therefore, Christianity has always sought to build schools, to educate, and to teach people to read so they can mine these treasures for themselves. Then they can know Christ without requiring a human priestly mediator besides him.
  8. Therefore, the long-term, widespread good of the world and joy of all people demand that we labor to teach all people good Bible study skills (which may begin with taking time, whenever possible, to teach people to read, and eventually to get the Bible translated into their languages).

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.

Check it out!

Consider the Resurrection Anew this Easter

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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:

What to Do When You Don’t Feel Like Reading Your Bible

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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.

Check it out!

Yes, the Bible Really Had Editors

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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.

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5 Common Mistakes in Bible Study

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We can’t hear reminders like this often enough:

The gospel is good news, but not every page of the Bible is intended to make us feel good about ourselves. Quite to the contrary, Scripture often points out our depravity and unfaithfulness. However, it also reminds of our faithful God.

When we pick and choose verses from Scripture aimed merely at lifting our spirits when we’re feeling down, we run the risk of reducing the Bible to a self-help manual.

Drawing from Jen Wilkin, Crossway lists 5 common mistakes we make in Bible study. They are:

  1. We don’t let the Bible speak for itself.
  2. We allow our hearts to guide our study.
  3. We skip over large swaths of God’s Word.
  4. We confuse reading books about the Bible with studying the actual Bible.
  5. We fail to see the big story of Scripture.

Crossway’s post explains each point further. Check it out!

How to Help Your Children Read the Bible

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Professor David Murray has great passion and exceptional skill at helping people build lifelong Bible-reading discipline into their children. In an article at Desiring God, he gives 8 tips to help your children read the Bible.

  1. Give them a Bible they enjoy.
  2. Give them an example to follow.
  3. Give them a compelling motive.
  4. Give them a clear, manageable plan.
  5. Give them questions to ask.
  6. Give them answers when they have questions.
  7. Give them encouragement to keep reading.
  8. Give them grace in their failures.

All of this comes from a simple vision:

One of the best gifts you’ll ever give to your children is familiarity with the Bible and its message.

Amen! I commend Murray’s full article to you. Check it out!

Recommendation: Best Christian Discipleship Manual

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I love it when I find others directing people to the Scriptures, instead of the latest and greatest workbook or study guide, to answer important questions. So I was delighted to see this article by Joe Tyrpak recommending the best manual for Christian discipleship, to which we already have access.

Would you like to train new or young believers in basic doctrine, worldview, finances, Christian character, marriage, sanctification, mission, conflict resolution, forgiveness, church life, endurance through suffering, the meaning of Jesus’ death and resurrection, and anticipation for Jesus’ return? All of these things—and more—are right there for you in The Gospel According to Matthew.

Matthew wrote his gospel to this end: to disciple people into maturity of faith in Christ Jesus. We are free to use his work for that purpose. Next time you want to start a discipleship class, or meet with someone to help them grow in Christ, why don’t you try it for yourself? You’ll cover all the bases God wants you to cover. And you can’t doubt the quality of the source material.

Tyrpak shows you how it can be done. Check it out!

What Value is the Old Testament to the Christian Life?

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On the Ask Pastor John podcast, John Piper fields this question: “What are the best uses of the Old Testament for giving shape to our Christian lives today?” After all, we clearly don’t keep many of the instructions in the Old Testament anymore (offering sacrifices, pursuing ceremonial purification, etc.).

After a brief but thorough explanation, Piper concludes with two glorious suggestions:

First, meeting God for who he really is so that we can know him and worship him since his character was revealed as truly in the Old Testament as in the New Testament.

Second, letting the hundreds of promises in the Old Testament wash over you as your blood-bought birthright in Christ Jesus so that every day, you set yourself free from sin by the superior pleasures of the promises of God.

Piper gives a skillful and clear answer to an important question. Check it out!