Helping ordinary people learn to study the Bible
As a follow-up to my “check it out” post a few weeks ago, here’s a brief interview with John Piper addressing how to apply Old Testament promises today. Piper starts with 2 Cor 1:20 to show that all the promises belong to us through Christ. Then he explains how the meaning of some promises changes in light of Christ’s work on the cross.
You can listen to the 9-minute recording or read the transcript. Check it out!
To help you teach the Bible more effectively, Mark Ward writes of the basic but crucial matter of loving the people you teach. Loving them will strengthen your teaching in at least 5 ways:
Check it out!
Context matters! Many Bible readers read promises such as Jeremiah 29:11 or Exodus 14:14 and memorize them as personal promises to us today. But this is not a helpful way to read the Bible.
Stand to Reason recently published a great post about how to know whether a certain Bible promise applies to us. In this post, Amy Hall explains how to consider the context of the original text and audience, and she suggests we figure out what that promise in that context revealed about God’s character. Then we can consider how we can rest in that aspect of God’s character today. This doesn’t mean the exact promise still applies, but that God’s character is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The post demonstrates how to consider the context to discover the main point so we may apply the main point and not all the details. Here is a taste:
Always look for what you can learn about God through His dealings with human beings throughout the Bible. When God makes promises about who He is, that always applies. When God promises to give something specific, look more closely at the context to see if He’s promising it in a unique situation (or under the terms of the Mosaic Covenant).
Here’s how I would apply that approach in the case of Jeremiah 29:11. In Jeremiah 29:11, we learn that God cares for His people and doesn’t abandon them, and that He hasn’t abandoned them even if it seems everything has gone wrong in their lives. We see that His good purposes are still moving forward, even when everything looks grim. This, we can cling to, because it’s an understanding of God’s character, which doesn’t change. What we can’t cling to is the specific outworking of God’s character in that unique biblical situation. That is, in that particular situation, God’s goodness and wisdom decreed that He would bring back those who were exiled to Babylon, saying, “I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations.” But in a different situation, God’s goodness and wisdom may decree something different. John the Baptist was beheaded, not released from jail (Matthew 14:1–12). Stephen was stoned, not saved (Acts 7:54–60).
For the rest of the article, check it out!
At the DiscipleMakers Fall Conference a few weeks ago, our theme was “Firm Foundation: Timeless Truths. For Now. Forever.” I spoke on the topic of “The Glory of God Alone: The Vision that Propels Us.” As I’ve spent oodles of time in Exodus, and God’s glory is a major theme in Exodus, I couldn’t resist rooting my talk in Exodus. What better picture of God’s glory than that of a bush that burns yet is not consumed (Ex 3:2).
Some folks said I took this talk in a direction they didn’t expect. Instead of focusing on how to put God first in our lives—a critical thing to do, of course—I focused on what God considers most unusual about himself. And, of course, these traits will lead us to put him first. But starting with God’s view of himself, and not with our need of him, yields interesting results.
Here’s a short clip:
Here’s a link to the full talk.
On our main conference page, you can find more videos on the following topics:
As I’m well into my series of sample Bible studies through the book of Exodus, it’s a good time to step back and consider how to read stories such as we find in Exodus. This week’s “check it out” comes courtesy of Dr. George Guthrie, who gives 4 practical guidelines for reading Old Testament Stories:
For more explanation with some very clear examples from other parts of the Old Testament, see Guthrie’s full post.
This week, courtesy of the Christian satire site, Babylon Bee, we bring you 10 super-helpful Bible reading tips. Please remember these tips are not only helpful, but super helpful to your devotional life.
For a richer explanation of these magisterial skills and how you can perfect them, make sure to see the full article.
At For the Church, Zach Barnhart writes of those two small words that could potentially undermine everything you seek to accomplish in Bible study. Those words are “to you,” as in, “What does this passage mean to you?”
Those two words turn a glorious question into gobbledygook. They mistake the authority of the text as the authority of the interpreter. And in the name of application, they cut away observation and interpretation. Such application has no power.
“To you” seems like an innocent way to invite everyone’s voice to the table for discussion, but I contend that it’s a surefire way to kill effective Bible study. Of course, some fiction books, for example, are written for the sole purpose of leaving their interpretation open-ended. But this is not the way of historical, bona fide Scripture, the words of God Himself. Though nuance and opinion has its place at the table, the problem with “to you” is that the phrase elevates a reader’s interpretation over the author’s intention.
Barnhart goes on to suggest ways we can avoid the “to you” chaff without shutting down room for disagreement or different perspectives.
Jen Wilkin makes a critical point about context and reading, when she writes of “The Instagram Bible” at her blog. Here is a taste:
Beware the Instagram Bible, my daughters – those filtered frames festooned with feathered verses, adorned in all manner of loops and tails, bedecked with blossoms, saturated with sunsets, culled and curated just for you.
Beware lest it become for you your source of daily bread. It is telling a partial truth.
I saw in my vision by night, and behold, I dreamed of a world in which every copy of the Bible was gone, except those portions we had preserved on Instagram. Consider this Bible, my daughters, if you will:
Its perfect squares are friend to the proverb, the promise, and the partial quote, leaving laws, lists, land-allotments, and long-stretching lessons to languish off-screen.
It comforts but rarely convicts.
It emotes but rarely exhorts.
It warms but rarely warns.
It promises but rarely prompts.
It moves but does not mortify.
It builds self-assurance but balks at self-examination.
It assembles an iconography whose artists, by spatial necessity, are constrained to choose
brevity over breadth,
inspiration over intellect,
devotion over doctrine.
Beware its conscribed canvas, where calligraphy conquers context.
Beware.
Click here to see the full post. And please take this to heart as you post verses, share verses, or even memorize verses. All such verses are but a nibble of a larger passage, a broader argument. If we don’t get that argument, we misuse the verse.
For the month of October, Logos Bible Software would like to honor pastors who work hard and serve well to care for the flock of God. They invite people to publicly thank their pastors for their labors. And, by thanking your pastor, you will enter both yourself and your pastor to win a free copy of Logos 7 Gold.
Logos 7 is an amazing bit of software, which I use extensively every day. I recommend it highly. Click to see my review. Click here to get a 10% discount on a new base package (and send a small commission our way). Or, go thank your pastor and enter to win a Gold package for free.
David Murray reflects on a a sermon he recently heard, and how the preacher excelled at preaching the narrative of Naaman the leprous Syrian, in 2 Kings 5. When the preacher shared his secrets, the following suggestions came out:
These are great suggestions for anyone who wants to teach biblical narratives, whether through sermons, classes, or small groups. Murray’s brief reflections are worth reading, and he embeds a video of the sermon that triggered his reflections.
